Hanging with the fellas

Yesterday we went to hang with some friends for a mid-day play session. It was Mak and a couple fellas, and boy oh boy did they have fun.

Her boyfriend got a new buzz lightyear ride on toy that was quite the hit, and surprisingly they all played together on it, instead of fighting for it. I think I hear angels singing.

At one point the boys took turns pushing Princess Makaela around. She had a smug look on her face the entire time. 

Good thing her buddies have big strong muscles. 

Well who is going to push me now?

Later she finally gave up the seat and realized it was rather fun to push (err pull) her friends around...

Not long after that they decided to pull some books off the bookshelf and climb up and down the slide and THEN Mr. Man tried to give Miss Makaela an open mouth kiss on the lips. It was romantic. 

When we got home I told Makaela to tell Daddy how her friend tried to kiss her, and he said "Well tell him I'll cut his BEEP off!" I'm sure you can imagine what word was actually used in place of the beep. 

Yep, that's my husband making threats on a toddler. He's probably shining his guns now in preparation of the teenage years. Sigh. 

Social Butterfly

Makaela went to three birthday parties over the span of two weeks. For some reason this was so crazy to me. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me that all her little buddies, so close in age, would obviously all have birthdays close together. Common sense, I sometimes lack. 

I'm glad Mak's birthday is one of the later ones, because now I've gotten to see how other people tackle the all important FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY and I've learned what seems to work well. 

Eeeeeee, baby girl's birthday is SO soon. I just can't believe it. Okay, I'm going off on a tangent. Reel me back in before I launch into the detailed plans for her party.

She has four little friends that she spends time with every week. We've met them at playgroups or story time and now regularly hang out. Makaela seems to love hanging with her pals, and especially enjoys playing with toys they have at their homes, that we do not have! 

The other moms and me all agree that the kids are a lot less clingy to mommy when they are in a different space and with other people. Win, win. 

Oh and they really do seem to learn from each other. It may sound funny, but after hanging with her friends Makaela always seemed more determined to try new things (like walking!).

It's been fun to watch all the kids grow and hit different milestones. They are all unique and it is wonderful. Some have more teeth than others, some walk, some scoot...you get the point.

The first time I took Makaela to a playgroup I was super nervous. I was worried other parents would be judgmental and would sit there comparing the kids "Well MY daughter..." Eww. Who likes that?! But fortunately I've been lucky to meet some cool parents! We mostly talk about random non-baby related stuff, but when we do get on the topic of baby we tend to talk about how we miss napping and sleeping through the night :-p

My advice to anyone looking to take their little one to a play group is to not get discouraged. You may not love the first one, or the first five, that you go to, but you will eventually find one that is a good fit for you. I take Makaela to a few different ones, and they definitely each have their own "vibe." 

And yes, that is cake on her face. Incredibly delicious chocolate banana cake, to be exact.

Can't leave a birthday party without a messy face now can we? Of course not. That'd just be silly.

Playdate at our house and a trip to the park

A couple weekends ago, we babysat a friend's kiddo so they could go enjoy a mommy-daddy date before baby #2 arrives. We lucked out and had nice weather, so we decided to spend some time at the park across the street.

The swings were a big hit. Swinging started with lots of laughter and big smiles, and ended with two munchkins nearly asleep.

It was Makaela's first time having a little person over to HER house. Her little buddy loved driving her car, and she loved carrying around his stuffed animal. They did a pretty good job playing together. No bumps, bruises or tears.

Lunch was rather interesting, and these two had to be separated because they were having a little TOO much fun sharing and flinging spaghetti around. I have no pictures of that escapade because, oh yeah that's right, my hands were covered in spaghetti sauce...yummmm.

It's always fun to spend time with a toddler...gives us a slight glimpse of what the future has in store for us. We better start stocking up on coffee now. Oh, and we better watch our mouths ;-)

Because we had so much fun swinging, I decided to take Mak back to the park one day while Tim was at work. It was a bit colder, so we had to bundle up. 

And someone had to rock her shades because it was darn sunny...

There were a couple little boys, probably about 5 years old, at the park with their mom. The second they saw Makaela swinging, they begged their mom to push them on the swings. Poor lady was enjoying her quiet time on the bench, haha. She said "Why don't you guys run around and get some energy out?" Nope, they wanted to swing. Man, oh, man, did she give me the stink eye.

My friend said it best, mama shoulda taught those kids how to pump. LOL.

A swinging baby should brighten anyone's day, no?

Michigan Trip: The Wedding and a Whole Day Away from Baby Girl

Last month, while in Michigan, I was honored to be part of the most beautiful wedding. It was perfect. And magical. And fun. And gorgeous. And PERFECT.

Every detail was carefully thought out and executed. It was a dream.

I had the BEST time and will never forget it.

S and A were getting hitched and I got to be the matron of honor. I am so happy that I got to spend this day with them. I admire them and their relationship very much. They make it look effortless and seem like they truly have a BLAST together. I love it. They are perfect together and there is nothing fake or forced about it. They will still be this happy and in love in 60 years, I know this for sure.

A little bird poop on the groom right before the ceremony ain't no thang...

While I was at the wedding my dear friend M came and watched my baby girl. I've been away from Makaela before but this was the longest stretch (about 15 hours). At this time Makaela was new to foods, and was still drinking quite a bit of breastmilk. I was nervous about having enough milk for her, because as you may recall, some leaked on the plane. But I knew, worst case scenario M could always bring Makaela to me at the wedding for a quick feeding. Fortunately, it didn't come to that and there was plenty of food and milk to keep my girl going while I was away.

M was such a doll. She took Makaela swimming in the pool, took her on a walk at the beach, brought her tons of toys to play with, went out to lunch with her, facetime'd with Daddy and kept her happy all day long (all while she was teething! her first two teeth popped through 3 days later). She is a miracle worker. I never worried and knew that she was in good hands. I am so thankful for what M did. I am always blown away by my wonderful friends' kind hearts and generosity.

It was really nice to have this day be baby-free. I mean, I love spending time with my girl, but this day was for spending with my favorite bride!! We drank delicious coffee and ate yummy sweets while getting our hair did, we took a "detour" to the wedding venue which was full of laughs, we got ready in the bridal studio and jammed to old school Christina and other late 90s/early Y2K hits, and had a blast with her amazing photographers (they were so sweet, they even worked around my need to pump! haha).

Once the wedding started, the fun continued. S and A wrote their own vows, and they were the PERFECT (I know I keep using that word, but it's true) balance of funny and sentimental. They even snuck in a surprise tribute to their mamas. They made me get teary eyed in front of the whole crowd.

The reception was the best party ever. I didn't pass out or choke during my speech, so that was good. There was delicious food, yummy cupcakes, tasty local craft beers, late night pizza, smores at the fire pit, cigars on the balcony....I told you....every detail was perfection. The music was awesome and we danced the night away. That bride and groom know how to throw a par-tay.

Afterward, a giant school bus came and shuttled anyone who needed a ride back to their hotel or to the after party at Applebee's. Holla! I skipped out on the after party, but heard it was awesome. I'm not surprised.

Michigan Trip: Makaela's First Flight

Earlier this month we went to Michigan for a friend's wedding that I was lucky enough to be part of (the wedding was phenomenal and I can't wait to talk more about it in a special post). We weren't sure if Tim would be able to go or not due to his school schedule, and unfortunately at the last minute it ended up that he couldn't come. We toyed with the idea of making the 13 hour drive, but since me and Mak were going solo we thought flying would be the better bet. Thirteen hours probably would have turned into something like 20 hours, road rage and lots of tears and headaches.

Of course we've all heard the horror stories of flying with infants. The ear pain. The screams. Exploding diapers. Glares from fellow passengers. Man, I'm getting anxiety just thinking about all that COULD go wrong.

Honestly, I think I was most nervous about the logistics of traveling alone with a baby. Two extra hands would have definitely put me a little more at ease. Babies have A LOT of crap. I seriously had nightmares about toting all the baby necessities, plus normal travel necessities AND a little one through the airport....oh and then onto the shuttle to the car rental site. Hives anyone?

Sit here while mommy gets everything situated, okay?

Now that I've set the stage for a disastrous experience, let me blow your mind by saying the trip went better than I could have EVER imagined. Like blue skies, sunshines and little-birds-chirping good.

There were several things that got me through the travel...

1. I packed very lightly for myself. Normally, I'm indecisive about my outfits. But this was CERTAINLY not the time or place to be indecisive. Everything I brought I would have to carry. I planned each outfit carefully and matched things so that I wouldn't need to bring many pairs of shoes.

I kept reminding myself that worst case scenario, I could just buy what I needed when I got there if I left something out. I also checked with those I was staying with to see if I could do laundry at their homes.

2. I arranged to borrow the big stuff from friends and family. I would have had a serious meltdown if I had to tote a stroller and a pack and play through the airport. Thankfully, family and friends stepped up and offered to let little Mak borrow theirs while we were in town. They also offered toys and other helpful items like bouncers. I couldn't have survived without this help!!

I bought diapers and a majority of her baby food when we got to Michigan so I only packed what I needed for the flight and first day.

3. I checked her carseat with my luggage. Carseats are heavy and awkward and I complain just carrying it into the grocery store, so I knew I didn't want to lug the baby in that thing through the airport . We had a short layover, so I also knew gate checking would be a hassle because I would have to wait for them to unload the carseat, and then re-gate check it. Since our layover was only 40 minutes I had JUST enough time to get off one plane, change the girl's poopy diaper and jet over to our next gate (which of course was in an entirely different concourse, thanks Atlanta, thanks.)

I complain about Delta all the time, but I have to give them props on this one because they allow you to check carseats for free.

I wore Mak through the airport and it was easy-peasy and it freed up both hands. Hallelujah.

4. I accepted help when offered. Nine times out of ten when people offer assistance I respond without thinking and say "Oh that's okay I've got it, thank you though!" Not this time! On the way back when a Detroit Airport employee offered to have someone get me a cart and transport all of my stuff from the rental car shuttle to the ticket counter and oversized baggage drop, I jumped on the offer.

5. I let the TSA agents know I would be carrying on baby food and breast milk. I'm sure they probably figured I had that kind of stuff since, after all, I did have a baby strapped to my chest, but I gave them a heads up anyway. On our way there they tested some of the milk in their little bomb testing machine. It took about 5 minutes and then we were good to go.

6. When I booked my flight I told them I needed the "infant in arms" stamp on my ticket. On our first two flights (Dothan to Atlanta and Atlanta to Detroit) I had NO ONE sitting next to me. Yes, you read that right. The first flights I've been on in YEARS that weren't overbooked. On the first flight there were only two open seats, so I felt very fortunate to have one next to me. On the flights home, I did have people next to me, but the seats next to me were the last ones to be filled (they got taken by standby passengers). So here is what I think: If you have the "infant in arms" designation on your ticket early on, I believe that the airlines do their best to keep a seat open next to you if at all possible.

7. I let the baby do whatever she wanted on the plane as long as she wasn't disturbing others or harming herself.  That meant letting her look out the window, playing with the tray table, chewing and crumbling SkyMall, playing with her toys and nursing. I'm relieved to say she didn't have any meltdowns. I also had nice passengers behind me and in front of me that would make silly faces at her. She loved that.

8. I took my time. Slow and steady wins the race keeps their sanity. I didn't rush at all. I made sure to allow much more time than I would have normally needed. At one point when I was unpacking the rental car the representative started to take my luggage to the shuttle. Normally, I would have gone into panic mode and just quickly through everything together to catch that shuttle, but instead I told him I was going to need another 5 minutes and would rather wait for the next shuttle. No biggie!

The airport nearest our house is super small. Like, I'm pretty sure the ticketing agent also runs the gift shop and cafe. There is only 1 gate, and 4 flights a day. All of which go to the same place. With that being said, it made things less stressful on travel day. I didn't have to worry about crowds of people rushing, as I figured things out.

On one of our flights she decided to sing and entertain the whole plane. It was nice to hear everyone laughing instead of seeing glaring eyes. The girl is SUCH a ham though. She was literally hanging over the arm rest and flirting with anyone who would make eye contact with her.

On our very last flight, I do believe that her ears bothered her at one point because she pawed at them and fussed for a couple minutes. My ears bothered me almost that entire flight, which is odd for me, so I'm thankful that my little girl wasn't in too much pain.

Now the flights and airport adventures weren't completely flawless, don't get me wrong...

The plane we took from Dothan to Atlanta was SMALL and I mayyyyy have accidentally knocked Mak's head into an overhead bin as we were trying to find our seats. Oops.

And then on the plane ride from Atlanta to Detroit one of her bags of frozen milk some how thawed and leaked all over the floor of the cabin. Of course I didn't realize this until I picked up the cooler when we were deplaning and saw milk dripping all over the place. I was able to clean it up, but was stressed about losing milk!! I already was freaking out that I might not have enough to get her through the day she would be away from me, but more on that in another post, this is getting wayyyy too long.

Oh and I can't fail to mention the fact that Mak pooped on each flight. She's a master at pooping in the most inconvenient places at the most inconvenient times. She'll go days without pooping with no problem, but put her on a plane and apparently multiple poops in one day are absolutely necessary. Thankfully our flights were short, and she didn't poop until the end of each flight, so I was able to change her in the airport bathroom. Phew.

So there we have it. Mama and baby survived baby's first airport, flight, rental car extravaganza. It went so well that I'm not afraid to do it again. I mean, don't expect Mak to become a frequent flier just for the heck of it, but we definitely won't be afraid to get out!

Road Trip - Move Cross Country

The trip from Washington to Alabama was....long (and so is this post). I tried to tell myself it would be fun. I'd eat snacks, and listen to great music and audiobooks. I'd watch movies and Tim and I would play road trip games. Wellllll, Polly Positive those were great ideas in theory but then Rhonda Realist kicked in and the optimism faded after about a day and a half in the car. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a miserable trip by any means...it was just a long time to be confined to a seat everyday for a week straight. With a crap load of stuff. And two dogs. And a baby.

We traveled an average of 500 miles a day. There was a lot of "Yes!! Only 3 more hours!" We actually traded in both of our vehicles (yay for not having to figure out how we were going to get car #2 to 'bama) and got a GMC Acadia before the trip. It is spacious and wonderful and I'm not sure we would have survived the trip without it.

We thought Mak would do a lot of sleeping in the car but she really didn't. Boredom started to kick in for her around the time we got to Chicago. We did lots of rattle shaking, singing songs, making funny noises and funny faces, petting the puppies and eating.

Lots and lots of eating. Hey, even babies like to snack on the road! While I was stuffing my face with Hershey bars, Lays potato chips, and gulping down lots of pop and coffee, the little lady was downing an unheard of amount of milk. We brought some frozen milk that we kept in a cooler, but we could only use that until it thawed. Thankfully I was able to pump on the road, but there were times we didn't think the supply could keep up with the demand. We stopped at the store to buy formula just in case because we didn't like the idea of not having at least a back up bottle. The first formula stop was a fail...we went to open it to allow her to try it out and discovered it had an expiration date of April 2013. Um, yeah. Later we stopped to get more, but it didn't matter anyway because when we gave her a taste she made a ridiculous face and would not take it. Oh well. We made it without formula, but I had anxiety about supply the whole time.

The dogs did MUCH better than we expected. We knew Rocky would just sleep like a champ.

But we were worried about Taylor. They both had to go to the Vet before the trip to get up to date on shots and get health certificates, but Taylor also got a special prescription to help her with her travel anxiety. The stuff definitely worked, but our little puppy girl looked so dopy and had blood shot eyes the whole trip.

Fortunately, we got to visit some friends and family along the way, which really made this road trip seem like a vacation within the long journey.

We stayed the night in Missoula, Montana; Miles City, Montana (Did I mention what a huge frickin state Montana is!?!), Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan (not on the way but a great detour to see friends and family); Etowah, Tennessee and finally Dothan, Alabama y'all. 

In Montana there were hardly any billboards, but when there were they were mostly for the Testicle Festival. Yes, you read that right. You can visit their website at www.testyfesty.com if you're curious...I would not lie. Miles City, Montana was special in other ways though because Makaela gave us her first REAL laugh there. It melted our hearts after a long day in the car.

Twins at a diner in Miles City

In North Dakota we had the best burgers of our life. And possibly the least expensive burgers of our life. We went to a place called Clara's. It was the ONLY restaurant within an 80 mile range. I may or may not have thrown a hissy fit and said I was not going to eat (the place looked a little terrifying from the outside!) When we walked in it looked like a big VFW hall. It was packed and I think EVERYONE in the restaurant turned to look at us when we walked in. We were clearly outsiders. I could hear them thinking "Oh there's some more big city folk passin' through." But man oh man am I glad we stopped because the burger was amazzzzzing. Ahh my mouth is watering as I type.

The next stop for sleep was all the way in Minneapolis. We were champs of the road that day. That was our longest stretch, but we decided to take advantage of little miss Mak's good behavior and our ambition to get to our new home sooner rather than later. We always had to search for pet-friendly hotels, and as the trip progressed learned that La Quinta Inn tended to work well for us. They were pretty much every where, they had free breakfast and were pet friendly without a pet fee! We were literally just stopping to sleep, so we didn't really care about any other amenities.

Minneapolis was cool because we were back in our Midwest roots territory. They had restaurants we missed which brought huge smiles to our faces and bellies. In fact Tim snuck out and got White Castle. The people in front of him ordered ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY sliders. I thanked him (and his bowels thanked him) for not ordering such an insane amount. After I went to sleep Tim got a little wild and decided to give himself a Joe Dirt makeover. It was super sexy to wake up to the next AM.

Our next stop was CHI-TOWN! This was our only truly planned stop of the trip. We had made arrangements to meet up with S and A and were beyond excited. They greeted us at our hotel with cupcakes and banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. I mean...could life get any better? That night we ate at Giordano's for their famous deep dish pizza. It was the best deep dish OF MY LIFE. I wanted to eat the whole 10 lb pie. We love any time we get to spend with this couple. I wish we could be neighbors and have dinner dates and fun outings everyday. That is my dream lyfe.

A preview of Mak with long hair

Mak looks like she could be Chjanea's child. Am I right? Love that they were twinsies in matching colors.

Before we left S and A treated us to Big Star for some delicious tacos. Big Star is THE spot in Chicago right now and although there is normally an hour wait, we just strolled right in. Unheard of! Obviously, I feel pretty cool right now.

S also took some family photos for us, with her gorgeous neighborhood as the backdrop. Gosh I love that place and we l-o-v-e these photos!

And then we were on to Michigan! This was a last minute change of plan. We had some extra time, needed more of a break and heard that Tim's Nana was in town and it was her birthday. We knew we had to make the detour and we are SO happy we did. It gave us the opportunity to introduce Mak to some of our family and friends back home. Although we were only there for a short time, we squeezed in a lot of quality time.

When we got in, we headed straight over to Nana's house to surprise her and enjoy some cupcakes.

Clearly, it was instant love for Mak and her one and only Great-Grandma. We stayed the night at Tim's sister's house and Mak got to play with her cousin G. G was adorable with Mak; it was so fun to watch them play. G will make a great big sister one day!

Luckily since my aunt lives right down the street from Tim's sister, we also got to introduce Mak to her. It made my aunt feel really special, and we loved spending the time together even if it was short. 

Later we visited C and A at their new place. C and me kept it a secret from A and totally surprised her when Tim, Mak and I walked through the door. Why oh why did I not get any pictures of the three of us ladies?!?! I suck! I did however get these hilarious shots of C's son J with Mak. Can we say love at first sight!? Haha. These two are getting married in about 25 years. 

Before we left we met up with the Martins at Starbucks. They were so sweet to drive to the other side of town to spend a little time with us. I just adore them. Again, no photos. WTF Erin. 

As much as we didn't want to say goodbye, we had to hit the road. Next stop, Tennessee. We were on a mission to make it to Tim's parents house to stay the night. Truth be told that was a VERY rough ride. Mak was NOT having it and we weren't sure we could make it all the way down there. Once Tim and I switched seats (I became the driver and he sat in back with Mak) things took a turn for the better. I think little one just needed some daddy time. We made it to Etowah, and got to enjoy time with Tim's parents. We ate some down home cookin' at a great little small town place. There was lots of gravy and cheese and butter and it was glorious. Oh, and Mak got to meet Papa's favorite friend. Yee-haw. 

One week after we set off on our journey we made it to our new home in Alabama. It felt really good to be "home" (and to get out of that car!)

Baby bird Mak