Vacation

It has been quite awhile since my last post. We took a 10 day vacation back east and things are just now settling down. This was our second big road trip in the last few months and the boys did so much better this time around. A lot has to do with how and what I packed. When we drove to Texas in March, I packed a huge variety of snacks and so many toys with lots of pieces. The magnets got thrown on the floor, the crayons got eaten, thrown, broken, and stuck in car seats, the snacks were too sugary and there were too many choices for the boys. We spent half the trip picking things up, searching for the last piece of the puzzle, and breaking up fights about snacks. This time I wizened up and packed much differently. Toys needed 2 or less pieces, the options were far fewer but more enticing, and we were also less accommodating in fetching thrown toys. Their snack buckets had about 5 options and those were all the snacks I brought. I also packed  a lot more fruit and veggies. This trip was longer than our first, but more successful. We are hopeful for more road trips in our future.

We got to see lots of family this trip and it was great. The boys are remembering their cousins, Aunts, and Uncles and get excited to see them. We made a short stop to visit Aunt Amy, Uncle Chris, and their cousin and then we headed to MI for a family reunion with most of their Aunts and Uncles from my side of the family. The kids has a great time playing together and it was nice to have the extra helping hands around too! They got to play in a huge sandbox my brother built, drink slushies, swim in the pond, play in Grandmas basement playroom, and spend hours with their cousins. I got to see my parents, siblings, cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandma, best friend, and lots of my cousins kids that I have never met before. It was nice.

Dave driving a tractor and filling up the huge sandbox. "Best vacation ever!"

Archie enjoyed his 2nd time in the lake much better.

The best of the bunch. Dave looks beat!

Sisters being silly. 

The hardest part was really watching what I ate because of my gestational diabetes. Since most foods did not have the nutritional information readily available, I had to be conservative in what and how much I ate. I don't think I ate enough honestly as my weight stayed the same from my last Dr. appt., but at least I didn't overdo it and spike my sugars too much over and over. The humidity was also killer! The first few days in the Midwest I had a persistent headache. It was most likely a combo of the heat, humidity, and not drinking enough water. I forgot how sticky that extra moisture makes you feel. Getting back to my dry, high altitude was a welcome change even if our swamp cooler broke in 95 degree heat!

I am now 34 weeks pregnant and cannot believe how close we are to delivering. My oldest was born at 37 weeks exactly which means I could have a baby in as few as 3 weeks and at most 5 weeks. I now have weekly NSTs (non stress tests) and at 37 weeks they will become biweekly. My appts will also become weekly once I am 36 weeks. The nurses and receptionists know me by name now! My nurse is also fantastic with the boys. My normally shy Fletcher will go with her to get toys and let me do my own thing. They have also been great playing while I am hooked up the monitors for my NSTs. On the flip side, the nursery is not painted, clothes are not washed, the swing, car seat, bouncy chair, and pack n' play all need a good washing,  and we still need to agree on a boys name if this one comes out XY. I am feeling the time crunch.

In other news, Dave has accepted a new position with a new company starting in two weeks. He is very happy since he will be doing what he loves to do - programming...a lot! I am selfishly very excited too since this is a work from home job. I am fully aware that he needs to be able to work uninterrupted and it will actually be quite difficult for me to keep the boys away from Daddy while he is working. However, it also gives me the flexibility to make Dr. appts and have Dave either come with us or watch the boys while I am gone. It also means that his hours aren't strictly 9-5 so he can do some things that would be harder for him to get done if he had to be at work during certain times. Once things settle down a bit, he is going to look for a place that rents desks for people that work from home. He will probably also head out to the library or coffee shop some days to work too. I think he is excited b/c it will feel like he is in college again and Dave loved college!

I am not sure if I mentioned before about Dewey peeing in the house. I am thankful, in a weird way, that he ended up having a urinary tract infection. That is way more easy to treat than a behavioral issue. He is on a 2 week course of antibiotics and once we are sure they worked we are going to get someone in to clean our carpets. I am looking forward to having the basement not stink anymore! In other dog news, they managed to get out of our yard this past weekend after a big storm knocked out a fence slat that we didn't notice. They must have been out about 30 minutes before we noticed they were missing. They are tagged and micro chipped, but that doesn't stop you from imagining the worst case scenario. Luckily, karma repayed us for all those times we have gone after stray dogs and found their owners for them. They were only a few cul-de-sacs away and together. Piper was getting some loving from the people that found them, but Dewey was evading capture like the little turd that he is. Another advantage of Dave working from home is that he can slowly start replacing our fence in the morning before he "goes to work".

First plane and car trip with the boys

Last week we took the plunge and endeavored upon our first plane trip and first car trip with both boys. Having flown a lot with Archer we weren't terribly nervous about the trip but we were wondering how we were going to carry all of our stuff and keep Archie from running off. He does not like to be contained making shopping trips especially enjoyable (note sarcasm). Anyway, we got a GoGo Babyz Tavelmate off of Craigslist for Archie's car seat and it was a lifesaver! Archie loved riding in his car seat through the airport and we didn't have to remove it to install his car seat on the plane. I highly recommend this product if you plan on flying with a convertible car seat.

So the plane trip was fairly uneventful. We had a layover in Milwaukee and Archie got to run around and play for a few hours and slept most of the trip to NJ. Fletcher slept most of the time as well. At the end of our long day of travel was Grandma and Grandpa R.! I love when we visit our parents b/c nobody loves our kids as much as we do except them.

Our two main reasons for traveling to NJ were to spend time with family and to attend the wedding of Elizabeth and Kevin K. Kevin is a friend from U of M so we got to see a lot of our college friends and their lovely children. Seeing everyone really made me miss the camaraderie and closeness of everyone. I cannot wait until we move back east one day and are closer to friends and family.

After the wedding we headed up to Vermont for a mini vacation within a vacation. Dave and I love VT, NH and ME and Burlington is only about 6 hours from the grandparents house. We all loaded into the minivan and headed to the land of Green Mountain Coffee, Lake Champlain Chocolates, King Arthur Flour, Ben & Jerry's, maple syrup and my cousins Lori, Erik, Corie and Zak. We ate at some great restaurants recommend by Lori, went to the aquarium, Lake Champlain Chocolates, walked around town, and went out to dinner with aforementioned cousins. The only downfall of our trip was our last night there when Archie came down with his first stomach bug. Thank goodness for Grandma R. who jumped in to save the day. Dave and I would've been a panicked mess without her.

While we were in NJ we went to visit the Whippany Railway Museum and Archie had a blast! It was a hot day and then it started to rain while we were there. Archie walked out into the downpour with the wild abandonment that only a toddler can truly pull off. Luckily I had my camera ready and took dozens of pictures. Fletcher was content to sit on Grandma's lap and watch. I don't think he's ready for the rain just yet.

The day before we left I was struck with the same stomach bug that Archie had. It made for an uncomfortably long day of travel, but it was nice to get home and sleep in my own bed. All in all, we had great time on our vacation and Dave didn't get sick until after we arrived home. There is always a silver lining!

10 weeks to go, or less.

In a little over 2 months we will be a 2 child household. I am still feeling pretty good relatively speaking. I have the usually heartburn, difficultly getting up, putting on shoes and socks is a chore and carrying Archie upstairs makes me feel like I've run a marathon. However, I feel like I have fairly easy pregnancies compared to what I hear from other people. I am getting very excited to meet Baby F though and cannot wait to fall in love all over again when I first lay eyes on him!

(Almost 30 weeks. Ignore the fake smile.)

Archie will be 17 months old tomorrow and I cannot believe how much he has grown and changed in his short life. Every new thing he discovers and learns is such a treat as a parent to watch. Just over the last 2 days he has started walking a lot more. He will go 10 or more feet without faltering. He also chooses to walk about 1/3 of the time compared to just once or twice per day as he had been doing for a few weeks.

Another of Archie's newer developments is to point to things he wants you to see. Before he would point to things that he wanted, but now he points out things that he thinks are interesting and wants to share with you. At the airport the other day he wanted to show me how cool the luggage carousel by pointing and smiling. I love that he wants to share his world with me!

(Sleepy boy)

We spent the last week in NJ at Grandma and Grandpa R's house. It was actually quite a relaxing trip as G & G provided 2 extra sets of very helping hands. Archie did not display any sort of anxiety towards them and Dave & I were able to spend some adult time together without worrying about him crying the whole time. In fact, we were told that he didn't cry at all after we left. We got to hang out with some of Dave's friends, eat some good food, sleep in and veg out. Thank you so much Bob and Joan for giving us the gift of date night and the letting us relax while you watched Archie!

(Family picture)

(Archie with Grandma & Grandpa)