Portofino Paradise

This post is a litte late, but let's just consider it the typical back-to-school "My Summer Vacation" report. In mid-June, we went on a five-day vacation with The Lewis Family to Portofino Island in Pensacola, FL. The eight of us piled up into a Suburban and made the 8-hour road trip from Houston. The highlight of the trip was the condo unit itself: roughly 2,034 sq feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, extended tile throughout, a 472 sq ft balcony with entries from each bedroom... ahhhh... you just have to check it out for yourself (http://www.portofinoisland.com/). Highly recommended.

Other trip highlights:

Swimming, swimming, and more swimming... I mean that's what beaches are for, right?

Janai, Brooke and Bayli in their bathing suits about 5 minutes after our arrival. Believe it or not, the straight-back cornrows theme was unplanned, but necessary, given all of the water they would be in throughout the week.

We took a spin on the Go-Karts.

Janai and I led the pack! Ok... not really!
(Ahem, to all of my Dow friends, did you notice my safety glasses?)

Monica and Bayli (or is it Brooke?) wait patiently for the race to begin.

Juan and Brooke (or is it Bayli?) rolling in the Hot Wheels go-kart.

You can't go all the way to Florida without a playing a round of miniature golf, can you? How creative were we in our activity selection (NOT)!

Monica and Brooke (or is it Bayli?) give it their best shot.

We also pretended to want to do something semi-educational and visited the Air Museum at Pensacola's Naval Air Station.

Watch out Blue Angels, here they come!

Oh... how could I forget? What's a vacation without a visit to the emergency room? The little guy ran a fever of up to 103 - pneumonia was the culprit.

Jay and James in the local emergency room

After a healthy dose of antibiotics, and alternating Motrin and Tylenol, Jay was able to suit up and go out and enjoy the dolphin cruise.

James and Jay aboard the local Dolphin Finder boat (I can't remember the real name)

If this 6-month old could talk, he'd probably say "how long have we been out here in all of this water... I ain't seen a dolphin yet!"

It took a while, but we finally came upon a school of dolphins.

Overall, a very nice and relaxing vacation. We liked the place so much that we decided to do a bit of retirement house hunting. Whatta ya think? Should I scrape up a few million for this one?

Prediculous

Another Janaism...

"Prediculous"

Definition: Pretty ridiculous

Context/Used in a Sentence: When forced to wear an outfit that she doesn't want to wear, Janai responds "This is just prediculous, Mommy".

It's been a while since I've posted. Things are insanely busy on all fronts. James started with 2-a-days this week. So, I now have drop-off and pick-up duties at the daycare, 100 miles of commuting, and crazy 9.5 hr days at work. It's prediculous.

On top of this, Jay has decided that sleeping through the night isn't something he wants to keep doing. It obviously keeps me awake... and it wakes up Janai. So I'm quite the zombie. In order to get a little sleep, I've spent the last week curled up in a twin size bed with two kids. It's prediculous.

Did I mention that I am also trying to wean Jay and transition him to formula? Well, the iron in the recommended formula is causing all kinds of issues. Let's just say that his stools are the opposite of "throw up poop". I've never seen a baby grunt like this. It's prediculous.

Oh... and one more thing. Ms. Janai is toggling between the sweet, helpful 4-year old big sister and the child that likes to act a plum fool. Let's just say I got a call from the school on yesterday saying that Janai just decided to sit Indian style on the bathroom floor and hold a full conversation with Ethan (yes, a little b-o-y!) while he was going potty. It's prediculous.

So forgive me for not posting sooner. My hands are full!

G.I. Jay

Most of you know that my father-in-law loves to take pictures. After every visit to Chicago, we receive a fairly thick photo album in the mail. The album from the recent visit came in today and this picture was among the bunch. I couldn't resist posting it for all of you to see. First of all, it's just a cute shot. And secondly, it again illustrates how funny PaPa is (I mean how much fun he is :-).

The story behind this one? All I know is that Jay was outside playing with PaPa near the pool in his regular clothes. They came in and PaPa said "Oh Al (that's me), I turned my head for a minute and he got wet -we're gonna have to change his clothes". Well I assumed that he would go and pull an outfit from his suitcase. But instead, when they returned, Jay was dressed in this army garb - purchased by (ahem) PaPa and a perfect photo op. Too bad you can't see the camoflouge shorts in this pic. And... did ya notice the camo paint underneath his eye?

Bad Hair Days

So, I've been avoiding the topic for a while. But since you all keep bringing it up, I guess I have to address this issue of Baby Jay's hair. Just like his sister, he was born with a beautiful head of hair. As a chemist, I keep think it might be a good idea to develop an African-American hair product based on a synthetic version of amniotic fluid. That stuff works wonders! (I digress..)

As the story all too often goes, after only a few days out of the womb, Jay's hair turned for the worst. It developed somewhat of a split personality - "do I want to be curly, or straight?" ... "how about both? . A few months later, the signature bald spot became apparent in the back of his head. Next came the thinning around the sides. All the while, the top continued to grow. Each strand pointed in a direction of its own choosing. The result of all of this is what you all have referred to as a "back-in-the-day Kid 'n Play high top", a "mushroom topper", "a bald fade".

I have refused to comb it, because it would stand about 4 inches tall. And we all know what the Williams kids look like with an afro! Check out this picture of Janai at about 6 months old.


And what about this one from just a few months ago?



So...I had been trying to convince James to let me give Jay a few cornrows - but he was, is, and will forever be vehemently opposed to it. Nevertheless, during the trip to Chicago a few weeks ago, the in-laws psyched me up enough to do it anyway. The braids lasted long enough for me to snap this picture, and have James to be pretty upset about it. Me posting this picture on the blog may be grounds for divorce! So take a quick look, you'll NEVER see this again!


For my friends who may not know, there is a method to my madness. As the old tradition goes (that mean grandmama and 'em used to say), baby boys aren't supposed to get their hair cut before they turn one year old. Rest assured, that Jay's appointment with Uncle Juan (our friend, and -more importantly-a fantastic barber) is already scheduled for November 25th, 2008 (You guessed it... Jay's first birthday!)

In the mean time, let's just all agree to keep pretending that high top fades are still in style!

Peace.

Bracing for Edouard

Tropical Storm Edoaurd has weakened but is expected strengthen before making landfall tomorrow. Dow will continue with normal operations through the storm, but us non-essential personnel have been told to stay home. The the daycare will be closed. Unfortunately James gets to go into the office and talk X's and O's. Ahhh... Texas high school football.

Forecasters now predict that the storm will go to the Texas-Louisiana border, but we still have to be concerned about flash flooding.

Will keep you posted.