Erin Akin Carroll

We’ve all got our lists of what makes your summer special. To me, it’s about the summer state of mind. There’s a general feeling of being relaxed– especially in South Carolina. It’s about a slow day and the sun being out until almost 9:00 p.m. It’s about good recipes. The smell of sunscreen on your baby’s cheeks. Feeling like you have all the time in the world to read your books because there aren’t any distractions. Listening to Dave Matthews Band with your windows rolled down. Sitting outside after dinner with a bowl of ice cream.

These items are on my must-have list. What items are on yours?

Pool and Beach Supplies

Lands’ End Natural Zip Top Canvas Tote – I prefer the zip top for the beach because you can keep the sand out of your bag and off your stuff

Pottery Barn Kids Spencer Clear Food Storage

One Step Ahead Baby Spring Float Activity Center (that is obviously not Hudson in the picture!)

A Good Dose of Reality TV

The Bachelorette {ABC} and Real Housewives of New Jersey {Bravo} are both in full swing. Both are train wrecks and both are highly entertaining.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey are by far my favorite of the housewives because I love how they’re all related. I’m so sad to see Dina leave the show. Danielle is cuckoo!

A Brilliant Scripted TV Show

Mad Men returns to AMC in July! Hallelujah!

A Big Pile of Books

Because there aren’t as many TV shows on in the summer, I’m able to take more time to read without being distracted. My 2010 reading list is on track, but I did take a small detour. I’m up to 8 books so far in 2010 and my goal was 12. Here’s what I’m reading this summer:

Heart of the Matter- Finished!

Water For Elephants- Finished!

Nanny Returns- Finished!

South of Broad

Return to Sullivan’s Island

The Real Real

Bed Of Roses

Savor the Moment

That’s kind of a lot of books. Maybe I’ll just read a few and save the rest for the remainder of 2010! Because I did say that I was going to start the Twilight series… But first I have to read the new Tori Spelling book. I love her books!

Uncharted TerriTORI

Delicious, Fresh, Summer Recipe

Barefoot Contessa’s Linguine with Shrimp Scampi- I’ve posted this before, but it’s just so fresh, clean, and light (even though it has tons of butter), that it has become my summer go-to recipe.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt plus 1 1/2 teaspoons
• 3/4 pound linguine
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
• 1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 lemon, zest grated
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
• 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Just a Little PSA…

My number one must-have item for summer is Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunblock SPF 50. I also love the Neutrogena Age Shield Face Sunblock in SPF 55. I actually wear this every day of the year when I leave the house.

What do you need in your beach bag? What shows are you watching? What books are you reading? What are you favorite summer recipes?

On Monday morning, I woke up ready to tackle the day. I had a list of about a dozen things that I needed to get done including grocery shopping, laundry (including folding and putting away), deliver the gifts from Hudson’s party to the local charity (the charity has rescheduled 4 times– oops), work on Music Camp curriculum, go to the UPS store, respond to emails, make dinner, make the Wild Dunes reservations, and go to my annual doctor’s appointment. That last one was put at the bottom of the list for a reason!

A dear friend of mine from church is an elementary school teacher and offered to come sit with Hudson so I could go to my doctor’s appointment yesterday morning. Hudson has been a little congested and she was so sweet to love on him and cuddle with him.

When I got home from my appointment, I put him down for his nap and he slept for almost three hours. Then he woke up and his head felt like it was boiling. He has never had a true fever– above 102– but I knew that he was going to be hot. Sure enough, the thermometer was up to 103 and he was no happy. I had to use the bulb syringe and the saline spray. TC had to rush out from work and get some children’s Tylenol with the proper conversion rate (are the infant Tylenols and generic brands STILL not back on the shelves?). I just hated to get Hudson out in the heat when he wasn’t feeling well.

Our day took a turn. My productive Monday turned into a non-productive Monday of cuddling and playing.

I have a sick little boy and when he’s sick he’s the sweetest little guy. He climbs up into my lap, rests his head on my chest, puts his thumb in his mouth and holds his Lovie close. And, you know? I was happy to oblige him. I was happy to rock and rock and rock.

When TC got home last night, we spent our time hanging out on the floor with Hudson as Hudson toddled around with his Lovie.

He was only interested in eating Popsicles and oatmeal and I let him. Popsicles and oatmeal are better than an empty stomach.

His poor Lovie has been through it. He has chewed on and carried this little elephant mini-blanket around since he was a tiny baby. Even when we wash it we can’t get the elephant’s trunk to turn back to its original blue color. He loves his Lovie.

Even with fever and super hot rosy cheeks, he was a happy guy. We let him run around the house in just his diaper right before bed and I think he thought it was pretty funny. It was good to see his spirits lift for a while.

Something about being in Mama or Daddy’s arms just makes you want to take a nap, I guess. He just snuggles up with his Lovie and pops his thumb in his mouth. So sweet, that boy!

TC puts Hudson to bed every night and last night he didn’t quite make it bed. Even after two 3-hour naps, he was still ready for bed right at his 8:00 bedtime. We are still giving him one bottle every day– just at bedtime. We just put the warmed up whole milk in his bottle for this transition time away from formula and bottles. He was only able to take 1 ounce of his 8-ounce bottle before crashing last night.

Even now, at 9:20 a.m., he’s still asleep from last night. I’m praying that he feels lots better today. But if we have to sit inside and cuddle again today in order to get him feeling better, I’m not going to complain.

I can’t say that summer is my favorite season. It’s just so stinkin’ hot here, so it’s hard to find a little relief. We’re already up to averaging 97 degrees every day. To me, that’s “stay in the house and stay as still as possible weather.” We need a swimming pool, but we’re not about to pay to install a pool.

We actually found a strong bit of relief when we got Hudson a baby pool at Walmart. And I got in with him and cooled off immediately! The pool was huge. All three of us, plus both dogs, could have played in there. But there’s just something yucky about dirty dog and dog hair in the baby pool. Baby pools are yucky enough as it is!

Boudreaux was wishing he could get in, too! And Fiona is not at all interested in getting in any water. Ever.

I think Hudson’s hair looks so funny when it’s wet! And he loves the train pool toys that his KK and Poppie gave him. Thank goodness for the UPF 50 swim shirts by Circo for Target. I’m a sunscreen freak when it comes to Hudson, so this way I can count on these little shirts protecting his upper body.

After we got Hudson all wrapped up in his towel, we let Boudreaux take his turn in the pool. Boudreaux may have been the hottest out of all of us. He has been dropping huge white fur balls all over the place. Poor guy. I think the baby pool cooled him off for a little while!

Anyone else out there prefer the cooler months to these high temperatures?

Tonight, I swapped emails with a sweet reader who emailed me to encourage me and to share the story of her father’s battle with melanoma. The blogging and Twitter community have brought some of the smartest, most loving and encouraging people into my life. Who says blogging and tweeting are a waste of time?

In our email exchange, we talked about the interesting and careful balance between the parent and the patient. She cautioned me to continue to treat my mother like my mother and not like the melanoma patient.

This was something I had been thinking about a lot over the past few days. And I’m sure my sweet mom has noticed it, too. I wake up every morning and the first thing I can think of is to call her to check on her.

“Are you in pain?”

“Are you able to get around okay?”

She hasn’t begun treatment yet, so I’m sure these questions will change as this road continues. And we still don’t know what treatment, if any, is required.

But why haven’t I thought to ask her what she thought of the season finale of Glee when she was finally able to watch it?

I love her so and I know that she is so grateful that my brother and I were able to come to Dallas to care for her last week. This is what the Lord would have us do and what I only pray Hudson will do for me someday.

“Honor they father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12

But my heart was beating out of my chest tonight as I thought of how I’ve probably hurt her feelings by turning her into the patient and moving the precious titles “parent” and “friend” behind “patient.”

I know that for us, she wants our lives to press on. And I know that she has every intention of pressing on with hers.

Well, perhaps the best way for me to honor my mother is to not only care for her, but to help her maintain her identity. Her warm, loving, talented, creative, funny identity.

This whole melanoma thing will no doubt change us, but I only hope it will change us all for the better. I pray it will cause us to love more and focus on the fun stuff and hold her hand through the rough stuff. But I don’t want to take her identity away from her.

My prayer is that this whole process is just a blip in time and we will have 30 more years to laugh and love together. But in the meantime, we’re going to live like we do have 30 more years together. No matter what diagnosis we hear.