milestone sunday

These pics are from tonight, but they don't capture any of the action. I couldn't get the timing right.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled vacation blogs (many more are in the works) to bring you Milestone Sunday!

I was thinking about posting a blog today about Vivienne because I had been expressing pretty consistently what an unhappy girl she was on vacation. There were times that I got sincerely worried that it would be a permanent condition rather than 'just a phase.' Anyway, Vivi, was in such a happy, laughy, splendid mood that I thought it worth mentioning it on the blog.

Well, she took her fantastic mood a step further and turned this into Milestone Sunday. I will start by saying that she doesn't roll over. She may have done it once or twice on accident a few months ago, but certainly not recently. I know, this is something babies half her age master easily, but not our girl (she did fail the gross motor assessment portion of her 1 year checkup). Whenever I try and help her roll over, it's like her back is glued to the floor and if I go as far as to force her over, she starts darting her head back and forth with this look in her eyes that says, "What the hell just happened to me? What the eff am I supposed to do on my tummy?" She did the same thing today the first time I flipped her over, but we persisted.

With just a couple of practices, she was consistently rolling over! The whole reason for teaching her to roll over is to help her get from lying on her back to a sitting position and this two step process involves being on one's tummy and then pushing backwards, up and over one's feet. And wouldn't you know, she mastered that as well tonight! All three of us were cheering, clapping, hugging and kissing. I love that this is what my house sounds like.

In addition to the rolling and sitting she also put 2 words together for the first time. "Hi, Dada." She has about 25 words, but has yet to start stringing them together. I told you Milestone Sunday!

I will now return you to your regularly scheduled vacation blogs. Posted below.

michigan | last day & getting home

I'm in love with the light in this photo.

Nice. A picture with both my kids in it.

Love it!

I saw lots of this on vacation.

I think it's time for a smart phone. My brain calendar is malfunctioning.

Our outbound flight was scheduled for Monday morning. I was comfortable with this. Everyone could get a good night's sleep and we'd be on our way. Since I thought the flight was at 11am, we had a nice leisurely morning, got packed up and made it to the Grand Rapids airport at 10am. Plenty of time.

As I was checking in, the attendant gave me a funny look and asked when my flight was. I said, 11am. He said there wasn't an 11am flight. I could hear my heart hitting the floor. The flight was at 10:11am. I asked if there was any way we could still make it on the plane, even if our bags had to fly out later. No.

To say I reacted badly, would be an understatement. I was hysterical. I had no idea what to do or how to get home. All of the flights for the rest of the week were booked except one on Thursday with 4 stops. An impossible option. 

So, I'm frantically trying to call Scott, going up to every other carrier to see if they have space, all while having a melt down. It was not my finest moment. I had to quickly book another flight with Frontier before our originally scheduled flight took off because otherwise we would have lost our flight credit. So, with much hesitation, I booked the 6am flight out of Chicago Midway on Tuesday morning.

I get truly nervous flying with both kids by myself, even under the best circumstances. I was mentally prepared to survive the next 3 hours getting home and now I was dealing with a situation from left field. I have never had a traveling snafu. I even made my flight during the blizzard of 2006 when thousands of people were stranded at DIA and I had to run barefoot from security to the gate. 

So now I am trying to wrap my head around the logistics of waking the kids up at 2am to drive 2.5 hours to make a 6am flight. Yes, there were lots of positives to the situation. We just packed up and went back to my mom's house. We were not stranded at the airport. My mom and Arlin were more than willing to wake up with us and drive us to Chicago, but I was frazzled. Vivi's clinging and whininess had worn me down over the week. I needed a break from the intense amount of emotionally draining childcare I had been providing. At that point, another day seemed like an eternity, not to mention another 20 hours of anxiety about flying by myself with 2 kids who, by that time, would be well off their schedules and very, very tired.

The above pictures are from our last day and I love them. It was the one day during this trip that Vivi played and actually seemed to enjoy herself. Avery was more than happy to stay and was pumped up for his middle of the night adventure.

2am came. The alarm sounded. Avery was delightful. He was in to the adventure. "Good morning, Night!" Viv did great too. She got transferred to the car, but did not go right back to sleep. It took over an hour, but she eventually drifted off. Avery too. He fought it and kept telling me that he "can't fall asleep."

Since it was the middle of the night, there wasn't any traffic and the drive was pleasant. We made it to the airport, checked-in, and went through an incredibly long security line. I was the model of fake patience. We had just enough time to get through security, buy milk and walk right on to the plane. It didn't even occur to me to check our seat assignments, but we ended up in the front row, and if you don't know, you can't have any bags in the front row. NOT an ideal situation when flying with kids. All of the crap (toys, books, DVD player) helps you survive. Avery held Vivi, while I frantically tried to decide what was absolutely necessary. I shove everything in the seat with them and our bags end up at the back of the plane. Shoot me now.

Luckily, I had the forethought to buy Avery 2 push-up pops and with the purchase of TV, he was set and had no trouble with his ears. Viv required constant entertainment and attention. My children DO NOT sleep on airplanes. There was some whining and crying and even during the worst of it, I kept reminding myself that with each minute we were closer to home, "Survive. Survive. Survive." I also purchased TV and watched the flight tracker channel the entire time. Nebraska is a wide state.

2.5 hours later we landed in Denver. Oh, the relief. Scott and Avery had a beautiful reunion at the baggage claim and one short car ride later, we were HOME. It was surreal. I hardly believed that we made. It felt so good. 

Yes, I know this experience is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but I was tested. I would have never made it as the pioneer I dreamed of being as a little girl. Laura Ingalls Wilder, I am not.

This is the last vacation post, so go ahead a scroll back to make sure you've seen them all.

 

michigan | the park

Avery mastering the toad stools.

Getting a much needed drink of water.

Hey, I take my photo opportunities when I can get them.

Little swinger.

michigan | the sprinkler

Even though it's blurry, there is something intriguing about this picture. Plus, it looks like Avery is going at 'Turbo Speed.'

There is something so sweet about this one.

200 pictures and I got it!

Guess who loved running through the sprinkler?

michigan | cousins

Vivienne, Giselle, Avery & Ava. Yup, that's the best I could do with 4 kids. I tried to pose them, but then there was some crying, so we abandoned the mission.

Silly faces.

Ava tolerating Avery. There were a lot of Aves.

Takin' a walk.

On Saturday, we had the whole damn family over for a picnic. Aunt Lynn, Uncle Jim, Craig, Joey, Ava, Alissa, Giselle, Auntie Streena (Christina), Sam, Grandma Heidi, Papa Mel, and Auntie Sarah were all there. It was awesome. My mom kept trying to pick water fights with the grown ups, who as you can imagine were not interested in getting wet. So, to end the water fight nonsense, I had to teach her a lesson and dunked her in the baby pool. This required some ninja like moves on my part! It was definitely a vacation highlight, and my mom was a great sport about it. Another highlight was when Avery doused Grandma Heidi with a water balloon. It may or may not have been at my suggestion. Some things should remain between mother and son.

Everyone had a fantastic time playing with the kids. One of the things I regret about not living in Michigan is that Avery and Vivienne won't grow up intimately knowing their same-age cousins. We try to get together with them every time we're in Michigan, but it's not the same as being in the same state. Having same-age cousins is pretty important in my book and I will always do what I can to foster their relationships. 

It goes without saying that the Aunties, Sam, Grandma and Papa just ate the kids up. It is really too bad that no one loves my children.

michigan | felt mansion

How old is Vivienne?

Playing in the grass

Thanks, Itens for loaning us the ergo. It's where Vivi spent A LOT of the vacation.

A few miles from mom and Arlin's house is the Felt Mansion, built in the 1920s for a couple with lots of daughters. Through the years, it was a house, a convent, and a prison. Maybe I should have taken a picture of it. Here's one from the internet for your reference...

There were actually a lot of pictures that I didn't take on vacation. It's hard to carry around a small girl and a DSLR at the same time. 

Anyway, on Thursday nights, there is live music and food vendors, so we went to check it out and then have a tour of the house. It was a fun evening, but I could have used a few more food tickets for wine :)

michigan | the backyard

Vivi playing with the crayon water shooters. No guns for us.

Avery took great care in watering the flowers each day.

Here's just a couple more shots of the kids playing in my mom and Arlin's backyard. Like I said, we need to get these kids a backyard and hire my mom to care for it.

michigan | avery smiling

What you see here, folks is the ever elusive, rarely captured "natural smile" of the species Avery Aarononicus. I do believe Arlin was providing some sort of silliness that brought forth the rarity.

michigan | the beach

My little beach babe.

The many beach faces of Vivienne Sam.

Scootching in...

Taking it in.

Avery had some sort of long-term, on going sand project.

The boys had a blast running into the water.

Clean up.

Taking the kids to Lake Michigan was probably the one thing I was most looking forward to on the trip. Kathryn and Eli accompanied us and I have to give this lady credit. Instead of going to the beach a mile from my mom's house, we decided to go south a little to a better beach. Well, in order to get to this better beach, we had to descend a staircase of no fewer than 50 steps. No problem you may think, but add 3 kids, one of whom had to be carried, 8 bags of beach gear and Kathryn was 34 weeks pregnant. She handled the trek down and then back up the stairs like a champ.

It was so hot and there was a water warning for the lake, meaning the lake was not clean enough to swim in. We went in anyway (fully scrubbed after) but I was very hesitant about dunking or going in too far. Vivi enjoyed the water, but not nearly as much as I had envisioned. My mom had told Avery the day before that the fish would nibble his feet and he wouldn't go in until I assured him that a) there weren't any fish and b) if there were fish, they would be gentle. Eventually, he and Eli were running into the water over and over, having the best time. 

Truthfully, the beach trip did not really live up to my high expectations. The sun was brutal. There was sand everywhere. Vivi wanted to be held, but we did it. We survived the beach. Somehow it was much more fun when I was young.

michigan | the hammock

As part of our quintessential summertime experience, we spent some time in the Hammock.


Okay, I forced my kids into it with the hopes of capturing some great shots. As you can tell by Viv's outfits, I tried more than once.

michigan | ice cream

Choosing just the right flavor.

Vivi was not interested and gave her cone to Avery. I actually think she doesn't like ice cream...wow.

Well, if his goal was to choose an ice cream that his mom would not want even the littlest of tastes, he succeeded. I think it is only possible for kids to like superman icecream. Gross!

Double fisting.

Practicing walking.

It wouldn't be a quintessential summer vacation without having ice cream for dinner at least once.