ADCHOO!!

Well, my kids will never be combat pilots. They apparently have a reflex where they sneeze whenever exposed to sunlight or bright lights and this is considered a risk factor for combat pilots. It is more pronounced in Matthew than in Corinne, but they both do it. We noticed it within the first few months of Matthew's life that whenever we took him outside when it was sunny he would sneeze. We thought it was a coincidence at first until it happened every time. We looked it up online and there is actually a name for this reflex called ADCHOO (Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst), no joke. The scientists are not sure exactly what causes it but they do believe it is genetic--which is odd since neither Jeremy nor I have this reflex. We're just used to the phenomenon now and get the kids to laugh every time we go outside on a sunny day and they both sneeze--Adchoo!

Update

Since the last post, Corinne has become afraid of walking. I guess she fell one too many times while trying. Now every time I try to get her to stand up to try to walk, she gives me the jelly-knees and won't put her weight on her feet. I'm looking for any suggestions to get her excited about walking again.

Finally...

Well, she's 14 months old and finally decided to start walking. She has slowly progressed from the belly crawl to crawling normally on her hands and knees to walking upright on her knees. Last night she took her first few steps and decided she liked it. So, today she has been taking a lot more steps.

What a lion says

Corinne likes to do animal noises now--well, mostly one animal. She seems to think that all other animals make the same noise.

Kisses

This is what was going on during our family prayer on Sunday night. It was hard to be upset because it was so cute!

Unpacking

While we were unpacking our many boxes of stuff (where did it all come from?), I would throw all of the empty boxes out in the backyard just to get them out of the house. So we eventually had to break down all the boxes so the trash would come pick them up. We let Matthew come out and help us and he thought the boxes were great! Sometimes I couldn't find him and I'd call out his name and hear a little distant rustle and see his little redhead pop up from the boxes. What fun!

We've Moved!

The packers came on Tuesday and boxed all of our belongings. Then the movers came on Wednesday and moved everything into the truck. We cleaned the house and headed out around 6pm. We had only been driving about 15-20min and were just about to reach the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (From shore to shore, the Bridge-Tunnel measures 17.6 miles (28.4 km) and is considered the world's largest bridge-tunnel complex) when Matthew vomited all over himself, his carseat, and the car underneath. It was a beautiful reddish-pink color from the kool-aid he had just been drinking. So, we pull over to the nearest Wendy's and clean Matthew up, change his clothes, clean up as much of the car as possible and eat. Looking on the bright side I'm glad it happened before we went on the bridge tunnel because there are no shoulders to pull off onto.

Our journey then continued uneventful except for Corinne's occasional cryings because she's tired and not in her bed until about 10pm when another episode of vomit occurred in the backseat. Yes, Matthew threw up again. We pulled over to a Dairy Queen and cleaned Matthew up again and found a nearby hotel to spend the night. It looked luxurious with a separte room for the kids and a king size bed with jacuzzi for Jeremy and I. However, this "non-smoking" room definitely smelled of smoke and one of the toilets wobbled whenever you sat on it. At least it was a place to sleep and we weren't in the same room as the kids.

The next day began on a drizzling rainy day. We drove through Delaware, New Jersey, past New York City, and into Connecticut. Most of the drive consisted of Corinne whining on and off with me throwing crackers back at her, constantly looking at Matthew to see if he's about to throw up, searching wallets and coin purses for toll roads, changing movies for Matthew to watch, and trying to entertain Jeremy who is getting severe cabin fever from being on the road too long. Did my mom have to deal with all that on car trips? We were on a tight schedule since Jeremy arranged a 1 pm appointment in Groton to look at housing. About an hour away from Groton (at noon) another episode of vomiting happened. We pulled over to McDonald's to clean up (we couldn't change Matthew because we didn't have any more clean clothes for him) and eat. Jeremy then had to call and postpone our appointment by an hour.

Everything worked out well in the end, though. We received a newly constructed townhouse style house provided by the navy. It is approx. 2000 sq ft, has a garage, a bigger kitchen, wood floors, 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, free utilities, free house and yard maintenance, and plenty of storage! We couldn't have asked for more. The movers came on Friday and we've been unpacking since. I'll post pictures of our place once it's all put together. We're glad we've got a place to live in, that we didn't have any car problems this trip, and now that we know Matthew gets carsick we can better prepare for future trips!

Partners in Crime

I think I have a little Jackson Pollock on my hands. I was looking up some stuff on the computer one evening and saw the kids go upstairs. I thought, "how cute, they're playing together." And they were. Usually they will just pull stuff out from under my vanity like hairspray or rollers and scatter them around. But I had completely forgotten about the thoughtful gift of ugly orange and purple nailpolish we received in a gift basket from the USS North Carolina. That's when Matthew's creative artistic juices started flowing--all over my carpet. And Corinne was a good helper of smearing it around. When I saw what was going on, I took the kids away from the mess and went downstairs to research how to get nail polish out of my carpet. I had Corinne on my lap and looked at her and noticed some purple around her lips. I looked into her mouth and sure enough, there was some purple on her teeth and that smell on her breath. Just great. Now I had to research the number for poison control. Luckily, nail polish (at least this brand) is non-toxic. So, I give the kids a bath and scrub all the polish off of their little arms and legs. When the bathwater drained there was a pretty trail of purple along the bottom of the tub. After the kids went to bed, I started using all of the home remedies I found online. At first it just seemed to smear the mess. So I pulled out my scissors and began cutting out the polish. This took hours and days. A week later (today) I have finished cutting it out and used the home remedies again of nail polish remover, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, carpet cleaner, Windex (many people swore by this--they must have watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), WD40, hot water, and a washcloth. After several minutes, maybe hours, of scrubbing this is what was left:


Now tell me if you think we need to replace this carpet. We are moving in a few days and have renters coming in. Jeremy hasn't seen it yet and I need some opinions.