Grams' Visit for the Bridge Run

My mom, aka Grams, came to spend a week with us at our house and to spend the weekend in Charleston babysitting Savannah while Oscar and I ran in the Cooper River Bridge Run.  While at home, we spent a lot of time just playing around and I took advantage of my free babysitter by going to some doctors appointments and getting a hair cut.  Savannah loves her Grams and she attempts to say her name but it usually comes out like a growl---"Grrrrrrr".

This is what happens when Grams comes to visit---the little "Outlaw"

Last Friday we left around lunch time for our 4+ hour drive to Charleston.  Savannah did great on the drive---ate lunch, took at 2 hour nap, and finished up by watching Fresh Beat on the i-Pad.

"Who's ready for a road trip?!"

We went directly to Caroline's (one of my oldest and bestest friends) beach house where she treated us to a Low Country Boil---delicious!!!  Then we headed to our hotel and tried to get a little sleep before the alarm went off at 5:15am.  Unfortunately, Miss Savannah was battling a tooth so no one really got any sleep.  By 6am Oscar and I were on the shuttle to Mt Pleasant for the start of the race.  I finished the 6.2 miles in just under 49 minutes (not my best but oh well) and Oscar finished just under 60 minutes.  For a man who doesn't run and didn't train, that's pretty good.  Grams and Savannah met us at the finish and we all lounged around in the sunshine enjoying our fruit and bagels.  After a warm shower we all headed out for some shopping downtown and a seafood lunch on the water.

Savannah is helping Caroline refuel after the race.

soooo Charleston-esque

On a side note----while waiting for lunch, my sweet Savannah exposed her devilish side.  Because I would not let her climb on someone's golf cart she proceeded to bite me on my shoulder so hard that she broke the skin and now even a week later I still have a big bruise!!  Can we say "hello, terrible 2s!".  My child has a temper like I never imagined.  Thank you Uncle Michael for somehow passing along your unwanted traits.
For dinner we went to OAK Steakhouse---the site of our wedding rehearsal dinner.  Unfortunately it wasn't the same since our chef friend Bret is no longer there.  Oh how I miss his shrimp and grits!

Before heading home on Sunday we visited the South Carolina Aquarium.  It is such a neat place and all 4 of us had a great time seeing the sea otters, sharks, fish, birds, and even snakes.

Outside the Aquarium. Notice the bridge in the background--yep, we ran over that!

"Hello Mr. Frog"

Checking out the sea otters.

"Yikes! This could actually be in our backyard?!"

Savannah and Grams visiting Camp Carolina

Check out those sharks!

After a stop at the gift shop, she's ready to head home.

Back at home Grams had 3 days left with us.  We spent those days playing outside, going to the mall, and of course going to Target--our favorite store.  We hate that Grams had to go but we know Grandad and Buster need her, too, so we'll just have to plan another visit here or there soon.  

Our New Play Set

I am a little behind on my blog posts so I'm going to try to catch up today.  Let me start with showing our new play set that was built on March 17.  We love playing outside on it especially since Spring has finally come!

Savannah isn't a big fan of getting dirty just yet.

She's queen of her castle!

so far, the slide is her favorite

but she loves the swing, too

showing her silly face

this is my favorite spot

"Wheeeeee!"

Our future ballerina

Today Savannah started raising herself up on her tippy-toes.  She thinks it's the most hysterical thing and cracks herself up every time she goes up and down.  I know all toddlers go through the phase of walking on their toes but secretly I'm already envisioning her at ballet recitals :)

Here she is going up......

.....and the cracking up afterwards!

The Sweet Sixteenth

My sweet Savannah Grace at 16 months

It's been another exhausting month and I definitely don't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet.  It probably hasn't helped that Oscar has been sick for about a month, too.
Our little Miss Savannah is becoming quite the trouble maker.  I seriously can't turn my back for second without her getting into something that she shouldn't.  So I've given up on ever being able to Savannah-proof my house.  Just when I think it's totally safe, she's learned how to climb on top of the breakfast table.  She actually uses her high-chair as a ladder to climb on top of it!  Right when I think I'm about to lose it, she looks at me with one of her scrunched up smiles and I can't help but laugh.  She reminds me of someone else more and more every day (ahem, Uncle Michael)!

There haven't been a lot of developments over the past month so I'm just going to do a quick bullet list:
~she has figured out how to give a real kiss--complete with the closed mouth and the kiss sound.  Unfortunately, she uses this as a weapon against me when it's time for her to go to sleep.  She is able to stall for about 5 minutes by continuing to give me kisses.
~we have temporarily moved beyond the Pinkalicious series and she is now loving animal books.  While reading, she is constantly pointing to the pictures saying "dis (aka this)"---translation "what is this".
~she is doing really well on her animal sounds (dog, cow, duck, cat) even if they are all whispers.
~she is OBSESSED with The Fresh Beat Band!!!  Now that she knows she can watch it any time on the ipad, that's all she wants to do.  I usually have to hide it or else my toddler will officially become the youngest couch potato ever.

Savannah's reaction to seeing Fresh Beat on tv---sooo cute!

she's mesmerized

~we are loving this warmer spring-like weather and we have been having so much fun going to the park.  Savannah loves to swing and slide down the slides.  We can't wait until our play set is built next week!

~we have finally had a couple of easy drop offs at the stay-and-play at my gym.  In the beginning, Savannah would scream every time I left her but lately she walks in, sits at the table, and eats a snack with no protests.  I'm hoping this isn't just temporary because it sure is nicer to work out without worrying about her.
~her new favorite toy is play-do and surprisingly she's pretty good about not getting it on the floor.
~she has 12 teeth---8 in front (4 top, 4 bottom) and all 4 molars.  Those 4 molars have caused cold-like symptoms for over 2 months---ugh!!
~after her 15 month check-up she got sicker than she has ever been before.  Those 4 shots really did her in!  She was so pitiful that she crawled up in my lap on the sofa and fell asleep, and this was 2 hours before her usual nap time!  This girl never sleeps at random times and rarely sleeps when she should so it was obvious something was wrong.
~she has been battling either dry skin, an allergy, or eczema.  The doctors aren't even quite sure what's going on.  It began with red patches on her legs and progressed to totally red arms, legs, and back.  I am now very familiar with all creams and lotions and even though she's cleared up a lot, her legs are still splotchy most of the time.

Here are just a few random pictures from the past month:

afternoon stroll around the neighborhood

listening to music on the airplane

having lunch with Dad at work

quick break from shopping at the mall's kids zone

cheesing for the camera

Disney World 2011

Last weekend we had a very last minute trip to Disney World.  It was a little sooner than we had planned on going.  I had hoped to delay Oscar's planning until Savannah was at least 3 or 4 years old but some friends of ours from San Francisco were going and asked us to join them down there.  So we decided "why not" and down we went.  Even though Savannah is only 15 months old, I think she had a super fun time.  She loved watching and pointing to Mickey and Minnie until they started to head her way and then she started screaming.  It was like seeing Santa all over again.  She must have issues with people in costumes (how in the world did Uncle Harlan pass that gene on to her?!).  She also loved riding the rides as long as it didn't get too dark in the tunnels. 

Savannah wearing her Minnie dress and getting ready to leave for Disney World!!!

Saturday morning we had breakfast with Donald, Minnie, and Goofy.

Savannah is thinking, "Don't take one step closer to me or else!"

Minnie came closer so she got yelled at by Savannah.

Entering the Magic Kingdom

The park is only this empty when you go right when it opens.

Savannah's first ride--Snow White and the Scary Witch 

That witch was pretty scary!

on the carousel

She was in awe during It's a Small World. 

Soooo excited to ride Dumbo!

Not so excited when it went up really high.

She LOVED the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Quick family pic

We LOVED the tea cups!!!

Dancing in the street during the parade. 

Checking out Mickey from afar---just how she likes it.

ohhh, pretty fireworks!

Nap time--can you believe she actually slept for an hour like this!?

Sooo great to see the Berkovits family

Me and Savannah with Jared, Sophie, Nina, and baby Zane.

On Sunday we visited the Animal Kingdom.  One of the great things about having a toddler is that she rarely sleeps in so it makes it really easy for us to get the park before they open and before the big crowds arrive.  We were totally finished with the park and never had to wait for the more than 5 minutes to do anything.  The coolest thing here is definitely the Safari ride but I think Savannah would argue and say that the petting zoo is the best.  She absolutely LOVED petting all the goats and sheep.

entering the Animal Kingdom

on the safari ride

lazy hippo

see the hidden giraffe?

It's amazing how close we got to some of the animals!

Savannah loved seeing all the animals!

There were sooo many elephants and even one baby!

"This is great!!"

a white rhino

"Let's go pet some animals!"

"Ewww this goat stinks--I'm not touching this one!"

"Now this is a nice goat!"

"These are good ones, too!"

"I really like this little black one!"

What a great weekend!!  It was so fun to watch Savannah experience all the new things.  It's like being there for the first time all over again.  We already can't wait to go back in a couple of years.