Seth had his checkup today and got his chicken pox vaccine and his last DTP. He was so mad about those shots! They gave him a Thomas sticker, but he wanted to put it on top of one of his band-aids, so that made him mad, too. He weighed 21 lbs, 6 oz (15th percentile), and 31 inches tall (50th percentile). Another way he is definitely his daddy's son: medical paranoia. He rubs his legs and whines if he wears pants, but if he's pants-less and can see the band-aids, he thinks they're pretty fun! As I've told you, the boy is up on everything lately. I put a trunk across my bathroom doorway while I shower, so Seth can't get in, but I can still see him (my shower is not in a tub, but it does not have a door either, only a curtain). Today I saw a streak of green out of the corner of my eye as I was shaving my legs. The turkey had climbed over the trunk and was headed for the toilet to climb up on it! Needless to say, my shower was done! Now what am I going to do?
My friend Sherri kept Seth today because our sitter has strep throat. I guess Seth took a big nap, woke up, and fell asleep again eating his snack and watching PBS while sitting in her lap. While they were on the couch, her cell phone rang. She must have a fun ringtone, because he started dancing in his sleep to her phone! How silly is that!!!!
Okay, we have just gotten back from our final "trip" of the summer. The last three months have flown by with all this travel! This weekend we stayed in N Myrtle with Marie, Eric, and the boys. We had very unique hotel rooms that adjoined, so the boys had more space to run around. Seth tries to be so big hanging around his cousins. He even got bossy...I guess he figured since they know how to talk, he should try too, unfortunately it was only a more insistant form of his regular mumbojumbo. The hotel had several pools, several hot tubs (one of which was cool enough that we could let the boys get in), and a lazy river. And right on the beach! It was great! Thursday night we had terrible service at Hamburger Joes, but the food was good! Friday we went to the beach in the morning, the guys golfed during naptime, we went to the pool in the afternoon, and then Marie and Eric had a date night. Evan kept saying that they were out "at a dis-ness", it wasn't until the next morning that I figured out he meant they were in the distance! That kid is a riot! Ryan has really expanded his vocabulary, he says a lot, but his favorites are "yellow". "mo (no)", and "where Nay-Nay?" (aka Uncle Nathan to the Johnston boys). Saturday morning we went back to the beach, where Evan and Ryan played at the seaside and Seth took a huge siesta under the tent. After lunch, Marie and I got some mommy pooltime in while the daddy's supervised naps (oh, and watched the Ryder Cup). The boys joined us at the pool, and then Nathan and I had our date night. We got home early enough to play with the kids before bedtime. Evan said (while building blocks): You can make a tower, or you can make a mess, like Seth! HA!!!!!! We got on the road fairly early today to make it home in time for the Panther game. It's only 4 hours to get to Myrtle from here...that's about as good as going to Wilmington! Here are a few pictures from the trip, and tonight Seth sipped Nathan's Kool-Aid...look at that mustache!
Today Seth is 15 months old. It is so fun to watch him explore the world around him. On Monday he FINALLY learned how to clap his hands. (He used to slap his thigh or wave instead.) And yesterday while I was getting ready for work he climbed up on the toilet seat and stood up. I didn't think he was agile enough to do that! As I type this he is trying to climb on his play table without me noticing. Can't take your eye off him for a second! We are having a busy week...Monday we went to Chris's baby shower, yesterday I worked, today we are having a lunch with Chris, Jamie, and the kids (I haven't even met little Matthew yet), and tomorrow we head to Myrtle with the cousins. Hopefully he'll pig out on vacation, because he goes to the pediatrician next week, and I'd love for him to be above 10th percentile!
The NICU has been gawd-awful busy for about 3 months now. I keep saying it's the worst I've ever seen it, but it continues to get worse! Without going into too much detail, we pretty much don't sit down the entire shift and are lucky if we get 15 minutes to eat! Friday was insane, and Saturday started out good but ended up just as bad as Friday. I drove home spent, knowing I still have to do it again tonight. Anyways, I was checking my email once I got home, and Seth must have had a bad dream, because he woke up wailing, and it took almost 15 minutes to calm him down. He'd had an accident, so we had to change pjs (but luckily not sheets), but that didn't settle him down. Thinking it might be teeth (he still doesn't have any molars), I tried Motrin, that didn't help. At that point, Nathan got out of bed, thinking I wasn't home from work yet (which shows you he was in a coma, poor guy, he's working too hard too). Seth wanted to go in the living room, but he just wanted to snuggle. So at 11:30 we shared a banana popsicle, and it may have been our sweetest moment yet. He was so sleepy, but he'd take a bite of popsicle, then smile and snuggle again. It helped to center me again. I hope Nathan gets those little moments too, because his work is gangbusters right now, too. After the popsicle, Seth was ready to go back to bed, and I hit the shower refreshed, without a care in the world. Thank you, little man.
Our little monkey has been climbing for awhile now...he's been able to get onto the rocking chair for over a month. TODAY, he figured out how to get on the couch and the computer chair within minutes of each other....let the games begin! He already thinks he is master of the mouse as it is, this should be interesting! 
We had a very rainy Wednesday, and both Seth and the dog were stir-crazy by 9am! We started a new game where Seth takes Colette on walks around the condo. Poor Colette still thinks she's going to get to go on a real walk. Yesterday we went to Concord Mills with Chris, Pam, and the kids, and all four kids were very good. Seth got his Halloween costume and a Seth-sized backpack, so I no longer have to use my lunch bag to take to the nursery on Sunday. I'll have to get a picture of that, too, he thinks he's something with that backpack on!
Seth and I are back from our third trip in less than a month. Whew! This weekend we went to Edisto Island, SC with my parents and Lisa. It is a very quiet beach, especially now with it being after Labor Day. Seth went on twice-daily treks on the beach, though he had no interest in getting into the ocean (that's okay; neither did I!) Lisa and I did some beach time each morning, and Saturday on a whim we went to downtown Charleston because we had nothing better to do. Seth has done a lot of grunting for things the past week, we taught him how to say please in sign language, and that has sorta helped. When he wasn't whining because he wanted something, he was a very silly boy showing off! Sunday we barely made it to Charlotte to see Nathan before the Panthers game, and Seth got to play with his cousins. He is starting to play now, rather than just watch them in awe. Here the boys are getting ready to walk their daddies to the game.
As some of you have already heard me whine about, Nathan scheduled lab work for our life insurance policies at 11:30 today. I thought I was going to chew my arm off by 9 am! Between my hunger and Nathan being convinced there's still a piece of the needle stuck in his vein, we decided we needed to go to Jason's Deli for lunch. (the tech even offered to have me stick Nathan, but he thought that would make him more nervous) We got Seth some milk, which came with a kid's cup and a Dum Dum. He was playing with the cup and lost the lid, so I assumed he'd lost the Dum Dum, too. WRONG. We turned around to find him eating his first lollipop in the carseat. I brought home one soggy paper stick and a very sticky baby! But it's made him extra sweet, because he's running around singing and squealing, I'll take that over the grunting of the past week anyday!
Nathan had to go to Atlanta for 3 more days of COGNOS training, and Seth and I went along for the ride! We stayed in a very corporate area outside of the downtown area, I felt kinda weird taking Seth to breakfast with all the business professionals every morning! Wednesday Seth took a big nap, we met Nathan for lunch, and then Seth and I ventured out and found a strip mall with lots of discount stores, so that killed the afternoon. Thursday we drove into town to meet Steph at Piedmont Hospital for lunch. Then we drove to Bryan's apartment and hung out with him for a couple hours. That evening we went with Bryan and one of his friends to a Braves game. We sat in the 22nd row behind home plate. Great seats! And Seth was so entertained by his uncle, we didn't have to move until the 7th inning! Then Friday Steph got cancelled from work and we got to have some more time together in the morning, which was so nice. Seth took a big afternoon nap and was borderline cranky the rest of the day (did I mention he got his 8th tooth while we were down there?) Saturday morning we checked out early and did a quick run through the aquarium. We REALLY wanted to see the aquarium. Through the first two exhibits, Seth was pointing and saying "ISH! ISH!" Then he got overwhelmed and was content to sit in his stroller or be carried. But at least he let us enjoy ourselves! Our ride home was uneventful, and Seth was very glad to pick up his doggie in Kings Mountain. We are going to keep the rest of the Labor Day weekend quiet...we have a couple more small trips in the near future, we need to pace ourselves!
