Nana's Knee Surgery

So my mom has had two knee surgeries this summer. She had a partial knee replacement on her left leg in the middle of May. She went to physical therapy with Val (Harrison's mommy) and diligently did her exercises at home. Because it was her left leg, she was able to drive not too long after her surgery. She was well enough to go back to school half-days for the last few days of the school year, roughly 4 weeks after her surgery. Last Tuesday she had a partial knee replacement on her right knee. She was very strategic and worked so hard to rehab her left leg so that she could have the right one done as soon as possible. If she has the same success with her right leg as she did her left, she should be okay to head back to school just in time for the new school year to start. Both times she had her surgery at the North Carolina Specialty Hospital in Durham. She had the surgery on Tuesdays and went home on Fridays. My sister spent the night with her on Tuesday and stayed with her all day on Wednesday. I went there after work on Wednesday and spent the night with her and stayed through Thursday. I didn't take Deuce to see her after the first surgery but I took him to see her on Tuesday after the second surgery.

He was a little scared at first. He gave her a kiss if he was being held and we tried to get him to lay in the bed with her but he wasn't having it. We showed him her big knee brace and told him Nana had a boo boo. He looked sad and then showed Nana his boo boo, which is a barely there anymore scrape from a few weeks back.

After a few minutes he loosened up and became his normal self. My sister had brought us dinner so we set up and ate in the room. Deuce found the box of gloves on the wall and they were at the perfect height for him to reach them. I found him getting frustrated trying to put them on. He finally said "help!"

So he put his Dr. gloves on and he crawled up on Nana's bed and pretended to check her out. It was adorable. We only stayed for about an hour because mom was really tired and it's pretty difficult to contain a 2 year old in a hospital room. He much preferred running walking up and down the halls waving to all of the nurses.

Mom is doing well with her recovery and is back to PT with Val today.

Burlington City Park

TJ is heavy into his AAU basketball season and it seems like he has a tournament every single weekend. Most of the time they just pop up the week before so without notice Ed is gone on the weekends. This leaves a lot of time for me and Deuce to do whatever we feel like doing since we are by ourselves. I have taken him to a few of TJ's games this season but it is so hard with him right now. He loves to play ball so he only wants to go on the court or sit on the bench with the boys during the game. I am constantly chasing him around and don't get to watch much of the game anyway. Plus, if the game is not close by, TJ could have 3-4 games in 1 day and that is just too long for Deuce {and me} to be at the gym sitting still. Ed has taken him to a few tournaments with him if I've had plans already and I know it's been hard for him too.

With that being said, a couple of weekends ago Deuce and I were alone one Sunday so we met my mom and sister at Burlington City Park. I had heard about the park for years but had never been and since it's sort of in between my house and mom's, we decided it would be a good time to try it. It was perfect for Deuce. Ride tickets were only .75 cents a piece and the rides only cost 1 ticket each. We bought 10 tickets for $6 and that was plenty.

We rode the train. 

 He rode the carousel at least 4 times, getting on different animals each time. He made us all ride it with him at least once.

 He drove the blue car around the track.

 Then he wanted to do it again and be the leader in the fire truck.

 He also rode in the airplanes. He loved flying.

 And before we left, we ran into Will & Candice!

If you haven't been to the Burlington City Park and you have little kids, I suggest you take them there! The rides are pretty small so I'm not sure that kids over 5 would really like it all that much but it was a great afternoon of fun for a great price!

Easter 2012 at the Beach.

Me & Deuce headed down to the coast with Nana and Wawa last week for a few days of rest and relaxation. R&R can be hard to come by with an almost 2 year old but we made the best of it. I am trying to take more pictures lately because I am truly realizing with each day that passes how quickly these years go by. My child will be 2 in 11 days. 2!!! So here is a picture heavy post for ya! Deuce was really good the entire time we were there and only had 1 or 2 meltdowns, neither of which lasted very long. He was very good in the car both there and back, mainly thanks to Pop's Christmas gift of the TVs and Elmo, Toodles & Nemo.

He ate really good while we were there and climbed in the chair to let us know that he was hungry by saying "EAT Mama."

Laura had to work on Thursday so mom and I hung out at the house with Deuce all day. Mom took a little siesta before lunch and then after lunch she took Deuce on a walk so that I could get in a little nap. That was a great nap. In the crisp, cool sheets. Blinds open so the sunlight was shining through. And alone in the bed. That. Never. Happens. Anymore.

Friday it rained all day. And I mean ALL day. It sucked. We couldn't do anything. By the evening the rain had stopped and although it was pretty chilly outside we were going a little stir crazy and decided to go into town. We drove into Beaufort and checked out all of our favorite shops. Then we went over to Atlantic Beach and stopped at the AB Surf Shop. This was Deuce's first trip there. Me and Laura used to go hang out there every single summer growing up. Nana bought Deuce his first AB Surf Shop shirt. The smallest they had was a child's small. It looked like a dress on him. But he didn't care because it had a goldfish on it. And Wawa liked it so much on him that she got one for herself.

After stopping by the shop, we went over to my Aunt & Uncle's house to visit with them. They hadn't seen Deuce in several months so it was nice to visit with them. Then we headed back to Beaufort to eat dinner and walk the Boardwalk to check out the boats. We ate at one of our favorite spots, Clawson's, and Deuce was great through dinner. Right as I was finishing up he wanted out of the booth and when that happens, I know it's time to go. So while mom and Laura finished up at the table, I took him over to the boardwalk.

We watched {okay, I watched} the sunset over the water and it was gorgeous. Deuce just kept trying to sneak onto the boat docks so he could jump on some rich persons yacht.

Reading the important stuff. He would not take his dress of a shirt off.

Throughout our next couple of days at the beach we went on more walks. There is nothing like a boy and his dog. Okay... a boy and his aunts dog.

We walked over bridges.

We found our shadows and played tag.

We stepped back to admire the beauty of our beach house along the most amazing back drop of the intracoastal waterway.

Yeah. That's right.

It's the neighbor's house.

You know he played football.

And tackled his newly found shadow.

He walked Mac on a leash for the first time.

And he was proud about it. My big boy.

He played airplane on the run back to the house. And when Nana was in sight he hollered her name he flew right towards her.

Wawa liked playing airplane too. She's such a good auntie.

We all enjoyed the beautiful water that sits right behind the house.

The poor dock. It has yet to be repaired after last fall's hurricane.

He waved to every boat that came by. Every. Single. One.

All weekend.

"Hi, boat!"

He's a hell of a grass cutter. Papa would be proud.

He played in the sand. With paint cans. We had no sand buckets but these sufficed.

And since the dock hasn't been repaired, the frame left a nice little sand box for him.

Seriously, does the scenery for cutting the lawn get any better?

They are best friends. Well Deuce thinks so anyway. Mac is sometimes scared of him because Deuce chases him everywhere calling his name, "Nac, come!" He wants Mac to sit with him all the time. I tease Laura because Mac is a herding dog and Deuce does nothing but herd him.

"Hey little cruise liner!"

He hauled loads and loads of sand.

And threw sticks in the water.

And he took naps. Good, long naps.

Easter morning he woke up to find the Easter bunny had left him a basket full of books. He loves to read so it was no surprise that his pop up book was ripped to shreds a mere 10 minutes after he found it. Good thing the Easter bunny shops at the dollar store.

He went on his first Easter egg hunt and once he got going he was off. Wawa had to show him how it was done.

He ate as many jelly beans as he could stuff in his mouth at one time. And then he would offer me one when he realized he couldn't fit any more in his mouth.

Hope you all had as wonderful an Easter as we did.

Family History Lesson. The Elkins.

A few weeks ago was the Elkins family reunion in Greensboro. Prior to the reunion, my cousin Autumn had the genius idea to bring her scanner so that anyone who has old pictures of the family could scan them in to Autumn's computer where they could be stored electronically, without giving up the actual copies. Since most of the family is on facebook, Autumn created an Elkins Family page where all of these pictures could be stored. At least until a central location is determined that would ultimately give everyone access, even those without a facebook. So I thought I would share a little bit about 1/4 of my family with you. {These pictures are for sure out of order but I have no idea of the dates so sorry for jumping around.}

This is my maternal grandmother's side of the family. Her name was Rachel Lugenia Elkins and she was one of 10 children (8 girls and 2 boys). There were actually 12 but 2 died at a very young age. Here is my great-grandparents with their 10 children. My grandmother is sitting on the left side of the sofa with the bow on her dress.

This is my grandmother on the left with her sister Ree on the right.  My grandfather is behind my grandmother and Ree's husband Sam is behind her.  I am not sure if they were all married at the time of this picture or not.  I think that my sister looks a lot like my grandmother in this picture.

I find it humorous that I was named after my grandmother and Ed has always called me Ree (my initials before I was married), just like my grandmother's sister. Ed's entire family calls me Ree. My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps. According to my mom, the Army and the Air Force were combined during WWII.  They became separate divisions around 1948.  Grandaddy was a pilot instructor in Dodge City, Kansas, which is where my mom's older brother was born in 1944.

Here are portraits of my grandfather and grandmother: Carl Edison & Rachel Elkins Wallace

My grandparents with my uncle and my mom, who are almost 10 years apart.

This is another picture of my great grandmother with her 10 children. This picture is how I remember all 10 of them.  This is closer to how they looked when I was born, although I wasn't born during this picture.  I never met my great grandparents.  My grandmother is in the front left with the super cute yellow print dress on.

This is at my christening in Hampton, VA in THIS church.  My grandaddy officiated at my baptism and used water that he had brought back from Jerusalem, I believe... I'll have to ask my mom and correct myself if necessary on that one.  In this picture is my grandparents and my aunt, uncle and 3 cousins.  We are all roughly 2 years apart.

This shot is from a family reunion back in 1984.  Can you spot me??

YES!  That's me...the little boy in the front with the bowl haircut!  I still give my mom grief about that one.  Check out my cute sister with her chunky cheeks like Deuce sitting with my mom behind me.  I'm sure people thought my parents had a boy and a girl...

This is a picture of my grandparents in their last house, which just so happens to be right down the street from where Ed and I currently live.  When I think of the few memories I have of my grandparents, this is how I picture them.  That couch still sits in my mothers house and has been recovered on multiple occasions.  Below is a picture of a reunion we had in 2007 at my parents beach house.  The group was not as large at this event but it was still fun and a beautiful day.

And here are some pictures from the 2011 reunion.  Out of the 10 children in my grandmother's family, there is only 1 left.  Aunt Jerry, who is 89.  She & Deuce both learned how to fist bump at the reunion.

Nana just loooooves showing off her grand baby to all of her cousins.  My uncle Wally had his first grandchild about 6 weeks before Deuce was born so they became grandparents at the same time. My Aunt Diana said that she thought Uncle Wally was going to lick Kate, he was so in love with her and my mom said well she would eat hers...

We took pictures of each individual family.  Grandpa Bob had shoulder surgery a few days before so he wasn't able to come.

And then the big group shot.  I still can't believe we were able to get everyone in it and actually looking at the camera, for the most part.

We missed those that were not there (like a good chunk of people couldn't make it - there are so many people when you come from a family of 10!) but we had a great time catching up.  I loved every second of Deuce meeting and hanging out with his new cousins!  He was worn out from playing so hard.  I hope to pass on these pictures to my children who will then continue the tradition.