Saturday, October 29, 2011

(Finally!) Family vacation!

Back when Blaine and I were just "Blaine and I" we took a little vacation about once a year. Then, along came children. We haven't done a real vacation (ie, something other than going to visit family...which we do love, btw!) since May '09 when we took a cruise when I was ~25 wks pregnant w/ Audrey. And since then, well, you've seen what our life has been. :)

So we decided to use at least one of Blaine's vacation weeks this year for an actual vacation. We chose Branson, MO as our desitination since it's 1) not too far. 2) Family-friendly. 3) Lots of fun from what we've heard! We also invited Blaine's parents along, since a vacation with kids isn't a vacation. It's just real life somewhere else. We figured if we had an extra set of hands, it would at least spread the work around a bit! Oh, and we like them...that part too. :)

We were packed and ready to go Tues morning, and when Nana and PopPop got to LR, we loaded up the carseats and all the STUFF you need for 3 days away from home in their Trail Blazer. The drive went pretty well overall. Once Wy woke up (and after Audrey never went to sleep...we traveled during naptime) she kept saying, "I'mma wake Momma! I'mma wake!" I guess she wanted me to see how chipper and non-sleepy she was so I'd quit trying to make her sleep!

In Clinton, AR Audrey required a pit stop, so we pulled over at Walmart. She had also been complaining of carsickness, and I left the Dramamine in our car, so we had to get more. We ended up buying more than that though...while in the bathroom, I stepped out of the stall to give her some privacy (this was our 3rd stop for her potty calls, yet she couldn't produce once we got to the potty, if you know what I mean). A moment later, I hear her whimpering so I step back in...her arms apparently got tired and she had lowered herself into the toilet!! UGH!! And she had already peed. AND her shirt got wet with potty water. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nasty public bathrooms. I cleaned her up as best I could, then we headed to the kids dept to buy a new shirt. I was able to laugh about it later, esp. once we caught up with Blaine in the store, and she announced "I got wet, Daddy!" with a big ole' grin!

Here's the short version of our trip:
Eat. Eat. Eat. Eat some more. Eat. Eat. Eat. Eat. Eat dessert. Kidding!! (Kind of.) More like this:
Tuesday: Cram 3 hr drive into 4.5 hrs, check into Thousand Hills Condos, eat supper at cool outdoor mall with really cool musical/pyrotechnical water fountain thingy.
Wednesday: Eat breakfast at local place (yum!), back to condo for kids' nap, shopping during nap, then to see The Duttons (awesome family performers; think America's Got Talent a few yrs ago), then eat again!
Thursday: Quiet morning of breakfast, playing on playground at condo for A and morning nap for W, more shopping during afternoon nap, then to the Dixie Stampede Christmas! Audrey LOVED it! The horses, Baby Jesus, and even Santa!
Friday: Breakfast, then packed up and headed home already! Uneventful trip home, which included stopping for local-grown apples and a slight detour to Gilbert, AR (location of Blaine's ONE family vacation growing up)

We had so much fun venturing out with the kiddos, and a big thanks to B's parents for helping us! This story wouldn't be complete w/o some bragging on my kids though...I really was quite nervous that we might have to watch our shows from the lobby. Kinda risky taking 2 little kids to see 2-2 hr long shows (1 of which was at 2 pm, smack dab in the middle of naptime)! But they did GREAT!!!!!!!!! Both sat through both shows w/o a meltdown, and were actually quite entertained by it all. Good thing they both love music!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Oops! Or, Finally!

A few weeks ago I posted about Wyatt's un-fun teething routine. After we got through those rough few days, I realized in hindsight that likely the real reason for the disrupted sleeping was his new-found skill of standing up in his bed, and not being able to sit back down. He probably was also having some teeth issues, but it wasn't the main problem. Within a few days, he learned to sit himself down and all was well again.

The really embarrassing part of the teething proclamation...at Wy's 6-mo checkup I told the doc about the "tooth" that had popped through a few weeks prior. He checks it out and decides: not a tooth. ???? How did I mis-judge this one??? This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to the baby stuff. There was clearly a small white bump on his lower gumline. The drooling and chewing were through the roof. What other signs do you need in order to call it teething?? Well, I felt silly calling it a tooth when he just flat said "Nope." Said it was a clogged-pore thingy, sorta like a whitehead on the mucosa. Um, ok. I guess that's why the tooth hadn't continued to break through any further in a like a month. Shoulda clued me in, I suppose. :-/

Now, y'all notice I didn't come right out and admit my goof-up a few weeks ago when I was informed. I'm telling you, I felt really silly making the wrong call here!! But I bring it up now to say, he cut his first (real!) tooth today!! Haha, pretty darn sure about it this time! It's alot sharper than the "bump" on his gum (which is oddly, still there?). The past few days, everyone taking care of him (church nursery, MDO) kept saying he just wasn't himself and was quite cranky. Well now we know why!

Just another reminder that my "baby" is growing up toooo fast. Feel like I barely even got to hold him before he was off and running!

Latest installation of "toddlerese"

Audrey's current hilarious (in her mind) phraseology includes saying things in 3's, adding "-ie" to everything, and/or adding "-o" to everything. For example:

"Wy-uht fussy, fussy, fussy-o. He needs his paci paci-o!"
"Be quiet quiet quiiiiiiiiettt. Sssssss!"
"I'n dinking my milk-ie-o! It's yum yum yuuuuuuuummmmmmm!"
"Dat's my book-ie-o! I'mma read-ie dat."

Not sure why this is hilarious, or how long it'll last, but it sure is entertaining (in small doses ;))!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Job update

The short version is this: they un-laid me off. Praise the Lord for a continued job! It's been quite the strange series of events, mostly just confusing and mysterious, but either way, I get to keep my 8 hr caseload. :) Hopefully things will settle down and stabilize since I really do enjoy working here. Just praying for wisdom that I will be where the Lord wants me to be. Thanks for all your prayers!