Beachy Fun!

We're back from a trip down to North Carolina where we spent the 4th of July and a few days following the 4th enjoying some time at the pool and with friends and family.  Bill's parent's have a vacation home in a golf community, St. James, which is located just outside of Southport, NC and about a 10 minute drive from Oak Island.  We try to make it down there about twice a year and usually for the 4th of July, but last year we only made it down once over Labor Day.  Stephen was actually in the hospital last year over the 4th following his hernia and Mediport surgery and we were stuck there for about 10 days while they got all of us numbers and tummy back in shape.  But this year we were in the car on the way to the beach! 

Here was Stephen last year on the 4th of July:

 It was also his 6 month birthday.  You might remember, I attempted to be crafty a few times when he was in the hospital.

And here was the little guy this year and on his 18 month birthday:

A huge difference!  Stephen had an absolute blast riding around the cal-de-sac (when it wasn't blazing hot) in his new wagon!

Since we were traveling on the 4th down to NC (and it was so hot), we ended up having a very low key 4th of July at Bill's parent's house.  Stephen has yet to see any fireworks, but I think that's probably a good thing right now considering how loud noisy things and strangers scare him.  He's really into this stranger-danger/anxiety/shy thing right now.  But I heard we missed out on seeing some celebrities down in Southport.  John Dummell, Fergie, Julianne Hough, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hilary Swank, and Robert Downy, Junior were all in town shooting various TV shows and movies in the Southport/Wilmington area.

We also spent some time enjoying the pool this year which was so great.  One of the pools in St. James has an awesome kiddie area with fountains that Stephen loved to play in.  He had a blast walking through the fountains and sitting on the ground with his bucket and watering can playing in the water.  He's still not really into his raft, but he likes to be held and splash in the pool.  And this year we decided to introduce Stephen to the beach for the first time.  We went late one afternoon after it had cooled off a bit and Bill took him out in the water and into the waves.  Despite the rough water, he loved it!  The sand on the other hand was a different story, but I kind of expected that.  He wasn't too keen on sitting in the sand, but I think overall the beach was pretty cool.  And I feel much more confident taking Stephen to the pool which is a major plus as well.  We've got a routine each time we get ready for the pool and routine for "cleaning up" afterwards.  It seems to work best for me to change his wet PD cath and gtube dressings and put him into dry clothes before we head home and then he can just go down for a nap when we get home.
 

Thank you to Kristin and Tish for taking pics of us at the pool and beach!!!

Vacation of course was way too short and Bill spent a lot of it working, but it was still nice to get away for a few days and leave the hustle and bustle of Northern Virginia behind.  And I worked a lot on my tan during nap time, which was the goal for me!!

Now it's back to business as usual for Stephen and I with appointments every day including his VCUG on Thursday at the hospital.  Hopefully all will go smooth without any major meltdowns (which have been par for the course lately).  Yesterday I was feeling like my adorable little boy was either possessed by the devil or we are have early on-set terrible twos (especially at 4 AM when he woke up and decided to stand up in his crib and scream for an hour and half...two nights in a row!).  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's a just a very very short lived faze!

Hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July!!