I'd love to take the credit, but...

I didn’t do it. My new blog banner, that is. My dear friend, Holly, so kindly offered to make a banner for our blog that had pictures of the fam AND matched our background. She didn’t have to twist my arm! She is clearly gifted in that department and actually knows what’s she’s doing in Photo Shop. You should check our her blog, and she how beautifully decorated it is…AND check out her adorable little man, Liam: http://thegranings.blogspot.com

Thanks again, Hol! You’re the best!

These are a few of my favorite things...

• The fact that Scott is FINISHED with being on nights for the rest of residency and fellowship! I just can't seem to sleep well when he's gone, so those weeks are just exhausting. But, they are no more!
• My newly recovered kitchen chairs (which I recovered one night at midnight while Scott was on nights in August). Having upholstered chairs with 2 little ones is not ideal, but luckily, it just takes about $30 of fabric, a staple gun, and a few extra hours to recover them. Check out my before and after. Here's the before...loved the fabric, but notice the stains! Had too many light colors for my boys.

Here's the after:

And ta da! Here's the whole thing! Gotta love a $150 table and chairs from Kmart that keeps on kicking for over 6 years!

• Celebrating birthdays. Mimi and Dudaddy both have birthdays in August, so we had them over for a special dinner and homemade birthday cookies. Here they are listening to the boys sing Happy Birthday to them.

• How well (most of the time) that my boys are playing together. I don't know, but I think one of my favorite parts of being a mom right now is seeing them play together. I just can't explain how it makes my heart feel that these 2 little people that I made (with Scott's help!) love each other.

Tyler following around Bubba (as he calls Carter) in the golf cart. Tyler wants to be ANYWHERE that his big brother is.

When Papa was visiting, the boys decided they wanted to take a bath outside in the little plastic pool. Don't know how they come up with these things. This was the most G-rated shot I could find.

• These curls. Oh. My. Gosh. Don't these just melt you? Unfortunately, now that it's less humid, the curls aren't really showing up. It's about to be time for a haircut, since Tyler seems to be sporting a mullet now.

• Pullen Park. We've recently been to this park in Raleigh a few times, and it is just great fun, with playground equipment, paddle boats to rent, a historic carousel, a train, and more! We had fun there at a birthday party AND when Papa came to visit!

• Friday pizza nights. This summer, we started a "tradition" of ordering pizza on Friday nights and taking it to the pool or a playground. There's nothing like some good family fun and a Papa John's pizza.

Hey Bubba, give me a bite of your pizza.

• That my Carter is pretty much a naturally born athlete. Yes, I am his mama, and I may be a little biased, but even other people and his teachers comment on his athletic skill and agility. Most recently, this boy can do pretty much any length and height of monkey bars ALL BY HIMSELF! I don't know about you, but I'm super impressed.

• A family photo. They are so few and far between around here. Here's a pretty good one that we were able to capture before Ellen's sweet babies were baptized.

• Having boys. Granted, I know there are wonderful things about having girls, but there are just some special things about having boys. How about this one? Can't find a potty? No problem! Can't really do that with a girl, no can you?

• Speaking of girls...I have a lot of favorite girls right now. My cute niece Anna, who is coming to visit soon. My sweet niece Story, who we got to spend a whole week with at Isle of Palms. And my sweet "nieces" Claire & Caitlin, who are growing and getting so big!

Here's Story at a restaurant in Isle of Palms. How cute is that dress?

And here's the other cute niece, Anna.

And, of course, the adorable Powell twins!

I often poke fun of Scott because every time a good song comes on the radio, he says, "Oh, this is one of my favorites!" I always kid him and ask just how many "favorites" he has, and if he really has that many, are they truly favorites?

So, here I am ending my list of recent favorites, and I feel like I could go on and on. Okay, Scott, maybe you're right about there not being a limit to favorites. And yes, you better write that down, because I said that you were right. You know that doesn't come around too often.

Thing are busy and crazy as usual in the Duncan household...just the way we like it! :)

Viva la Vida

I couldn't help feeling younger and cooler this week than I have in a long time. As part of Scott's anniversary present from me, we went to the Coldplay concert at the Walnut Creek Ampitheater. It turned out to be an incredible night, with a beautiful sunset, cool temperatures, and some awesome music.

We rode with our neighbors, Rod and Anthea, and sat just a few rows away from them. They are expecting their first baby in just a few weeks. Aren't they so cute???

We enjoyed Mellow Mushroom pizza at their house before heading out to the concert. What made us feel EVEN younger was that my parents kept both boys over night! Thanks Mimi and Dudaddy for giving us a great night away!

National Night Out

Every year, our neighborhood participates in National Night Out, a program put on by Neighborhood Watch organizations. Ours includes free ice cream, balloons, glow bracelets, fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars. Is this not every little boy's dream??? Needless to say, our boys had an amazing time hanging out at National Night Out! Here's the proof:

Tyler was super excited to see a fire truck up close!

An attempt at a brother photo with the fire truck.

Carter even got to spray a real fire hose!

And Tyler's addiction to steering wheels continues. Can you see the sheer joy in his face??? We had to PRY him away from it to let other kids have a chance.

Carter even got arrested! A cop put handcuffs on him (look closely in the picture) and put him in the back of his cop car! All of this with Carter's and our consent, of course. I don't think he really got it, but we certainly got a kick out of it.

The night ended like so many summer nights end around here...playing outside SOME MORE!

It has begun...

The terrible twos that is.

My sweet little Tyler is a mere 16 months old, but I believe he is crossing over to the dark side already. I remember this tough time beginning around 18 months for Carter, but then again, Tyler has seemed to reach these "milestones" a few months earlier than even his "advanced" brother.

He is into everything he knows he's not supposed to... and he really does know now. He gets a little smile on his face, looks at you, and then continues with his devious behavior. He doesn't want to sit in a booster seat at the table anymore...evidently, he's too cool for those now. He doesn't want a lid on his cup...too cool for those, too. He DESPISES having his clothes changed for any reason, and will even rip off the clothes that you just put on. The kid can also throw a mean tantrum and hit and kick with the best of them. Some of the tantrums have been so good, I've just had to document them on camera and video. See for yourself.

Here, he's climbing in my seat at the table and trying to get into my breakfast (which, by the way, I happily share with him on a normal basis...but I didn't want him grabbing the breakable bowl off the table and spilling it all on the floor). I told him to stop and to get into his seat.

He got mad.

He got even madder.

Later that same morning, he threw a huge tantrum and wore himself out so much that he fell asleep on the door mat in the kitchen.

Now, 18 months to 2 and a half was a very difficult year for my sweet Carter, so I'm bracing myself for possibly worse with this little man. But I've lived through it, and survived, so bring it on!

But please don't start to think that this Tyler Man (as we like to call him) is not quite possibly the sweetest, cutest thing you've ever met. He is! I guess this is part of the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde complex that comes with being a toddler. When he is happy, his smile can absolutely melt you. He blows kisses and has the cutest good-bye wave ever... with his arm extended straight to the sky and pressed against his ear and his little fingers opening and closing. He gives hugs out of the blue, and has an incredibly contagious laugh. Sometimes, in the midst of a tantrum, I just look at him and think, "It's a pretty good thing that you are so darn cute!"

Here was one of his cute moments, at the pool with Gigi and Papa, exploring the plants.

Tyler Man, we love you! Tantrums and all!

The Attack

Last night, as we were playing in the backyard with the boys and Scott's dad, Tony, we were attacked by wasps out of nowhere. Everyone was down in the grass, except me, and I was standing right on the deck watching the boys play baseball. All of a sudden, it felt like a knife just stabbed my hand, and I just started screaming, holding my hand, and yelling, "Oh my gosh, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" As the others are coming over to see me, Scott starts yelling things that I won't write on the blog and ripping off his shirt. Amongst the madness, Tyler starts crying and Carter starts running after Scott. I get myself together and grab the kids to get inside, and Scott runs all the way around the house and rings the front doorbell to try to get inside. After our nerves are a bit calmed, we realize that I have one wasp sting on my hand, and Scott has one on his arm and three on his stomach. I'm still complaining how mine hurts, but Scott already seems to be better... making me think that I'm pretty much a big baby. HOWEVER...by bed time last night, Scott's were nearly gone and not noticeable, while my whole hand began to turn red and swell. The sore hand woke me up several times last night, and after Ibuprofen and Benadryl, the swelling and pain continues and is worsening today. Clearly, I know I'm overreacting, but I'm beginning to have visions of hospital trips and amputation in my head. Please pray for me and my nasty looking hand....which I'm hoping to be able to post pictures of when Scott gets home...I'm no good at pushing the shutter button with my left hand.

UPDATE: Here are my hands, as of 4:00 on Tuesday... about 20 hours after the wasp attack. Notice the hand on the left (my right hand) and how it is red and swollen. It's worse in real life... I promise.

Here's Scott gearing up to go kill wasps and knock down nests. Let's hope this works.

NEW UPDATE: On Wednesday morning, my hand was continuing to get worse and worse. More redness and more swelling, even after lots of Benadryl and Ibuprofen. At this point, I decided to go to the Urgent Care. I felt that my situation was out of my radiologist husband and radiologist father-in-law's area of expertise...though, I'm pretty sure that the Urgent Care doctor really didn't know any more. Here are pictures I took of my hands while I was waiting to see the doctor:

My normal left hand:

My swollen right hand:

To make a long story short, the doctor thought that I had a bad hand infection, that resulted from the wasp sting. He put me on 2 rigorous doses of antibiotics, and gave me a brace to hold my hand still (which I didn't even really use and later got a $75 bill for!). The redness and swelling continued to get worse that day and night... Scott even had to stay home from work, because I literally couldn't even open the kids' sippy cups. Thankfully, by the next afternoon, the swelling and redness began to go down. It wasn't until almost a week later that my hand felt totally normal! It is still a debate as to whether or not I had an allergic reaction to the wasp sting or whether I got an infection as a result of it. We may never know, but boy am I glad to have all of this behind me!

Gina Weekend 2009

To make a long (and probably not as funny to you as it is to us) story short, I have a group of girlfriends from college that we call the "Ginas."  Now that weddings seem to be slowing down, we've not had as many opportunities to pull us from all the places we are over the eastern part of the U.S. to get together.  So, alas... Gina Weekend was officially created in 2007.  

This year, for Gina Weekend 2009, Gina Cam so graciously offered for us to stay at her in-laws' home on the Reynolds Plantation in Georgia, which is home to a Ritz Carlton, 4 golf courses, and a community of beautiful homes.  Here's the clencher... Cam's last name is Reynolds.  Her father-in-law is THE Reynolds of Reynolds Plantation.  Needless to say, the Ginas were living lives of luxury this past weekend that we will probably never ever live again.  Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds were SO sweet and generous with us, and allowed us to live in this home like it was our own... at least for a few days.  

We stayed up WAY too late each night, ate chips and dip all day, had LOTS of girl talk, and just enjoyed each other's company.  This year, I was fortunate enough to only be a Gina on Gina Weekend!  Last year, I had to be Gina and Mommy, as still breastfeeding Tyler tagged along.  This year, my wonderful hubby kept both boys, and my incredible in-laws came in for the weekend, too!  Clearly, the boys were well taken care of, so I felt foot lose and fancy free.  Literally.  I just kept saying that I felt like a kid again... with no one to worry about except myself.  I did flips off the diving board (even a one and a half!), giggled, laid around, and did running jumps off the dock into the beautiful Lake Oconee.  I hadn't felt so free in a long time.

Although I THOROUGHLY enjoyed my freedom and girl time, it felt SO good to hear my Carter say "Night night, my girl" (our nightly routine) the evening that I got home.  

I hope our Gina Weekends can continue for many years to come!   

All the Ginas (plus the two Gina baby boys)... except Julie, who was visiting her hubby in Africa... pretty good reason to not make it.

I didn't take many pictures of the house like I meant to, but this is just a snipit of the area by the pool.  The landscaping is exquisite!  

The pool and the diving board that got great use!

Cam's little man, Whit, who's only 10 weeks old.

Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds admiring their grandson and daughter-in-law.  

Blair holding Holly's little miracle, Liam.

Liam loves him some carrots!

Chillin' by the pool on a hot and beautiful Georgia day.

Proof that I really did do flips.

I convinced Holly to do flips, too!