May is such an interesting month...

May begins and too much drama happens all at once for our little family. Some good and some bad.

On the good end, my sister and her family have finally relocated to the US from Naples, Italy! They are living a mere 4 hours from us in lovely Washington D.C. This is a dream come true for me and I am looking forward to the day our little ones can finally meet. For those of you who don't know, my sister is a JAG officer in the Navy and has been stationed in Italy for that last couple of years. Brett and I were able to go out there for the birth of her first son, Ben, but they have never had the chance to meet our little boy. This Memorial Day weekend the Dunbar family will all be together for the first time in almost 5 years! Plus, this time there are 2 new members! I am beyond elated for this weekend and counting down the days until I see them!!!!

As for the bad news, our family as been dealing with one illness after another. Brayden has had multiple ear infections...SIX since November 07' and has been on over 5 different antibiotics. We are in the process of setting up a surgery to have tubes put in his little ears and to have his adenoids taken out. This is a relatively common procedure now, but it still freaks me out to think my little boy will have to go through surgery at such a young age. Brett and I have weighed the pros and cons and the pros definitely win! No more ear infections for this kid!

On top of ear infections Brett came down with strep throat at the same time as Brayden's double ear infection, my terrible sinus infection and Brayden's random other virus that sent us to the ER with a 105/106 fever for the evening. Not fun! Everyone warned me about the lack of sleep that comes with ids, but not the constant sickness. Yuck!

Other than that we are happy and thriving here in North Carolina. Brett is excelling at his job and has been selected for a mentor program that grooms certain individuals for bigger and better things at the company. Brayden and I are both so proud of all of his hard work.

On my end, I am adjusting nicely to the daily life of a stay at home mom. I couldn't have asked for a better time in my life right now. Brayden is such a little joy and a pain all at the same time. He is literally bursting before my eyes and I am loving every minute of it.

As for the little guy...he is getting more and more talkative every moment. His official first word was "Hi!" With such an inflection that melts you right then and there! Other than "hi" he has some other words in his repertoire: hi, bye-bye, water, car, Nascar, color, house, doggie, froggie, crackers, milk, tree, bird, choo-choo, night-night, mama, dada, mommy, Ha Ha (Auntie Heather's name), nana, and the newest is binky and baby. On top of the new words he is signing more and more. This has been a HUGE help to us and I am so grateful that I took the time to teach him how to use American Baby Sign Language. It cuts down on frustrations and confusion on both of our parts. He can sign please, thank you, milk, more, food, book, all done and we are working on hurt and I'm sorry.

He is such a little monster and I wish you could all see him and enjoy him as much as I do.

I think that is about all I have for right now...will post more once I get a chance.

Sweet dreams...

- Sue -