Catching Up

Well, I guess I have at least two dedicated readers because I had a couple of people ask how last weekend went. Sorry I haven't posted. It was a crazy week as we got ready for our trip back to Charleston. I won't let it happen again. So the visit from Trish was wonderful. We had a full day of wedding dress shopping planned for Saturday, but she found what she wanted at the very first store. They were so kind and helpful there that she went ahead and ordered it! I'm so happy for her. All I'm going to say is that it is white and beautiful. We also found the bridesmaid dress for me, but she hasn't decided on a color yet. I won't tell you what that looks like either since they are similar in style. I'm sorry Trish could only stay a couple of days, but I know I'll see her again soon.
The rest of the week was kind of a blur. Wednesday I planned a little birthday celebration for Jalal (he turned 30 on Saturday) and made him a special dinner and dessert. His favorite dessert since he was a kid is strawberries and angel food cake, so I fancied up a store-bought cake with layers of fresh strawberries and whipped cream. I thought it looked pretty good, until yesterday. He told one of our friends that it didn't look like much but it tasted good! Well, fine then. See if he ever gets it again.
On Thursday, Quinn had a couple of big tumbles. He tried to climb the coffee table and bumped his forehead. He got a little bruise and a bit of a lump, though it didn't look half as bad as I thought it would. He let me put some ice on it, too, which surprised me. Later that day, he tried to climb over my leg (I was sitting on the floor with him) and tumbled into his sippy cup. That looked worse than the coffee table!! He has about an inch-long scratch on his temple. He even cried a lot longer on that boo-boo, I guess because it scratched his skin. Poor kid. Jalal keeps telling me that this is just part of the process, and I know that. I know he's going to fall, and he's going to hurt himself, but I still feel like I should be able to protect him better. I could cushion the coffee table (which I've said I was going to do for two months now), but I can't keep his sippy cup from him! All weekend I called him Captain Lumpy-head.
Speaking of the weekend, it was back to Charleston on Friday! It was finally time for the first annual Charleston Dragon Boat Festival. I called Sterling when we got into town and she got me on a practice boat later that afternoon. It was a tight squeeze, though, since we were supposed to be at a rehearsal dinner for Dave's wedding at 7:00, and the boat didn't get back to the dock until 6:15! Whoops!
Dave and Stephanie's rehearsal dinner was at a beach house on Isle of Palms, and it was nice and casual. Quinn was a hit and tried to stay up the whole time we were there. He was extremely well-behaved until he fell asleep on me around 10:00. The next day was the big day. We had 49 teams participating, which is huge for a first festival. The weather was gorgeous, but it was a little windy at times. I paddled four times, three for the regular heats and once for the cancer survivor race. We came in 2nd, 1st, and 2nd in the regular races. Go team! Our team name, by the way, was Paddle Like You Stole It. How funny is that? It was wonderful to see everyone again. I even got to see an old friend who used to paddle with us, Kellee, and her husband and daughter. Some of my friends came out to see us, including Billy and Laura and Dave, Cam, and Marshall. Jo Ann was awesome enough to take over Quinn-sitting when Jalal had to leave to get ready for the wedding. All in all, it was a great day, even though I got a little too much sun. I reapplied potent sunscreen a few times, but I guess it just wasn't good enough. So I'm a little tender from that and a little sore from paddling. Not to mention my tailbone hurts from the boat seats. I think it was a success. Well, Quinn is awake now and starting to beat things against his crib rails, so I better go get him. I'll try to finish the rest of this tonight and get some pics up. Later. Love, Us.