Adventures in Travel

There's always a moment shortly after becoming a parent when you realize you've become THAT mom. The mom you said you would never become. Those moments have come more frequently for me since we had Nora. For example, recently I was unsuccessfully trying to navigate a double stroller through the narrow aisles of the Eddie Bauer store in the mall. The salespeople were giving me dirty looks as I bumped into their displays and knocked things to the floor. Even though I realized it was hardly my fault they designed their store for people of supermodel thinness, I couldn't help feeling self-conscious. To my chagrin, I had become THAT mom...wielding her diaper bag and snack container with multiple babies in a monster truck of a stroller. *sigh* Other moments like these have followed...giving my child a meal consisting entirely of Teddy Grahams because that's all he will eat, looking with longing and envy at the moms driving the new Honda Odyssey, and now...being the parent of the two extremely loud, crying, screaming, kicking kids on a 1.5-hour flight.

This weekend, Mike and I took the kids up to Minnesota for a big family reunion. My Grandmother's 85th birthday is coming up and everyone met in the North Star state to surprise her. We debated on driving versus flying up there for the long weekend. After finding some low fares online, we chose to fly. I spent weeks planning for every possible need and situation we might encounter on the plane, and I thought we'd have a fighting chance of making it through the flight without incident. Ha! Oh the luxury of naivety!

The trip actually started out surprisingly well. We made it from remote parking to ticket counter through security and to the gate without much trouble. Carter was thrilled to look out the windows and see airplanes up close and Nora was on her way to falling asleep. The dream came crashing down when we boarded the plane. Carter panicked after seeing a hundred pairs of eyes on him while walking down the aisle. The well-meaning flight attendant made things worse when she tried to talk to him about his first flight. Nora woke up as soon as we sat down and proceeded to scream in Mike's arms. Carter didn't want to sit in his seat and he kept trying to escape into the aisle. The flight attendant got on the airplane speaker and invited everyone to welcome Carter and Nora on their first flight. The passengers repeated the welcome in monotone voices like school kids forced to greet their teacher. Mike and I tried to look like she wasn't talking about us.

After takeoff, I held Carter on my lap and tried my best to keep his legs from kicking. But my two arms were no match for his four flailing limbs. I felt awful for the guy sitting in front of me. Even Carter's favorite snack, applesauce in a pouch, didn't come through for us. Carter gave it a hard squeeze and an applesauce volcano erupted in my lap. Mike wasn't having much luck with Nora either. While she cried, he shushed and rocked as best he could in his cramped window seat. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the tray table of the woman sitting behind him. She had to hold her drink to keep it from spilling. We decided to switch kids...Mike took Carter and I took Nora. Things calmed down a little after that. Carter was more comfortable away from the aisle with his DVD player and favorite movie. Nora seemed happier with me as well. She actually fell asleep just as we landed. Whew! We were exhausted and the trip had hardly begun!

My whole immediate family stayed at my sister's house. It worked out really well since they have lots of room and tons of toys! Carter loved playing with his cousin Dalton's trains and cars. He also seemed to get a big kick out of chasing their cats around the house. He would laugh anytime they came into the room and say "Kitty cat!" Nora's experience wasn't so positive. She had a hard time sleeping in a new place, waking up every two hours. Over the course of the trip, she developed a fail-safe, guaranteed pick-me-up-NOW noise. This noise isn't crying or wailing, but it is by far the most annoying sound in the world! I am not exaggerating! Jim Carey from Dumb and Dumber has nothing on Nora! Mike and I took turns getting up with her, but we still felt it in the morning. I surpassed my normal weekly caffeine intake within the first day!

The best part, the whole point of the trip, was Grandma's party. Her face was priceless when we walked in the door. She seemed to be in shock. I loved being able to see so many family members that I hadn't seen in so long. I think I might have been 9 when Uncle Dwight last saw me! Carter and Nora lasted longer than I thought they would at the party. However we still had to leave after a couple hours. I wished we could have stayed longer to visit with everyone and take more pictures. I feel like I missed some opportunities there, having everyone in the same room for the first time in so long.

To wrap up the weekend, Mike and I took Carter to a Halloween trunk or treat with Dalton. Dalton was a cowboy, complete with leather chaps. Carter was a Star Wars jedi, though he shed most of his costume by the end of the event. He seemed to enjoy running around and looking at the sights. Since he didn't collect any candy, I had to steal some of Dalton's (shhh!).

The flight home was the complete opposite of the flight up. Nora slept the entire time. Carter sat in his own seat, quietly watching a movie and eating a snack. After the halfway point of the flight, he sat in Mike's lap and fell asleep. It was kinda peaceful sitting there, looking over at my two guys and down at my baby girl, all sleeping on the plane.

Now we're home with piles of clothes threatening to suffocate us. I hope to kids adjust to the normal schedule without much effort on our part. Click the link below for photos from the trip on Facebook.

Favorite quotes from the trip.
"What is on my leg?" - Mike wondering out loud on the airplane while he held Nora.
"Did you want sauce and cheese in the 2nd layer of lasagna? Or meat and sauce?" - Me getting confused about how Mom wanted me to help make the 4 giant lasagnas for the party.
"Look at the cute cowgirl!" - Random person at trunk or treat admiring Dalton's costume. Is it time for a haircut?

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=238678&id=1012296258&l=5f0cc90b62

Cross Your Fingers...

Apparently I'm lapsing in my blogging responsibilities...at least according to various friends and family. I swear it's not intentional! These days, it seems like I blink my eyes and a whole week passes. In fact, today I actually put a dirty diaper in the mailbox instead of the trash bin. Thankfully the mail had already run today, but at least you see where my head is (or isn't) these days. :-)

The last couple months have been as uneventful as a household can be with two babies in it. But this last week or so has seen a lot of changes. Nora has been eating solid food for her dinner. Between Carter and her, Mike and I are lucky if we actually get to eat hot food at the same time together. Sometimes we postpone our dinner until after the kids go to bed just so we can enjoy the meal! But it's fun to see Nora figure out how to swallow rice cereal, and Carter finally eat some of his food with a fork.

As far as sleeping goes, we've been pretty lucky as parents...both of ours are sleeping through the night. I almost dread the day we introduce Carter to a toddler bed on the likely chance that he will wake everyone up during the night when he falls out of the bed. In his crib, he hardly ever sleeps in a normal position...usually I check on him to find his feet sticking out through the slats.

Couple of other firsts this month...I took Carter to the movie theater to see a Thomas the Train movie. It was a complete failure! Oh well, maybe next time.

In a few days, my fingers will be crossed for a more successful "first". Mike and I are taking the kids on a plane to Minnesota for a long weekend. I'm really excited about the actual time in Minnesota, but also dreading the travel part. I'm sure the next blog entry will have lots of interesting stories from the trip. Until then, check out the new pics on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=238678&id=1012296258&l=5f0cc90b62

Photos and Videos Finally!

Time to catch up on my photo and video posts. Here is a link to a bunch of new pics on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=238678&id=1012296258&l=5f0cc90b62

Scroll down to see a couple new videos too.

News bits from the Bunn's in St. Louis...

• At least two teeth have sprouted in Nora's mouth. She's taking the change well, not a lot of crying but definitely a LOT of drooling.
• Both kids sleep through the night...Woohoo! (doing a little celebration jig)
• Carter is one of the best behaved kids I've ever seen, but he does occasionally test my limits. The other day I stepped into Nora's room for a few seconds to change her diaper. When I came back into the living room, Carter was sitting cross-legged on top of the dining table playing with the train I had set there earlier.
• We're looking forward to some upcoming holiday travel...though we are a little nervous. First flights for the kids in October and first road trip for Nora in November. We may need to be institutionalized come Christmas!

Happy Birthday Carter!

It's official! Carter is 2 years old! The birthday party was a big success, thanks in part to good weather. We invited a ton of people and being able to go outside made all the difference. We were so happy to share the event with all our friends and family, but for those of your who couldn't make it (or if you're just interested in the party details), here's the low-down...

Decorations

The theme was transportation. Planes, trains, and automobiles are all favorite toys for Carter so I tried to incorporate all of them into the party. I hung sky blue and white balloons (no helium) from the ceiling to make it look like the sky. Then I put my grade school skill of folding paper airplanes to use and hung some of those from the ceiling too. For a tablecloth, I ordered a bunch of transportation die-cuts from Little Extras, and arranged them randomly on top of a sky blue tablecloth. Then on top of all, I laid a huge piece of vinyl (available at fabric stores) to hold the die-cuts in place and make for easy cleanup.

Activity

You gotta have something for a bunch of kids to DO at a party, right? Since we had kids of various ages attending, I thought long about an activity that everyone could do. Something easy for little kids, but also fun for the older ones. I decided on The Great Paper Airplane Contest, with prizes for the best decorated and the best in flight. I gave the kids prefolded planes which they covered with stickers and decorated with crayons. Then they threw them off the top of the deck outside to test their flight skills. I designed the prize boxes in Adobe Illustrator.

Cake

I was inspired by Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. For the middle cupcakes, I made red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Then I used royal icing to make the letters. On the outside, I had chocolate chip cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting. I added a yellow dashed line and gummie cars to make it look like a road. The cupcakes turned out okay...maybe a little dry. But I had baked them the day before the party so maybe that had something to do with it. Both frostings were very tasty though!

Goodie Bags

I received many compliments on the goodie bags, but I have to come clean here. The idea was not mine to claim. I found the idea here and made mine to be pretty similar. The suitcases were made from cereal boxes, spray painted brown and embellished with yellow bands and travel stickers. The luggage tags were my own creation (Illustrator again) though. They turned out great and tied in nicely with the theme. The guests picked them up from the "Baggage Claim" table as they left.

More photos can be seen on Facebook. Click this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=225952&id=1012296258&l=68d16c6c42

Month of Milestones

This has definitely been a month of highs and lows...and it's only half over!

Highs
Nora has mastered the skill of rolling over. It's practically an automatic response if you lay her flat on her back. She seems to like the view of the world from there since she'll sit there for a while before getting frustrated. Unlike Carter who cried immediately after roll over.

Carter has finally talked! I was beginning to worry a little. Within a 24 hour period, he said "Ma-ma", "Da-da", and he sort of counted to three. He still mainly jabbers in his nonsensical language, but if I say, "Can you say Ma-ma?" he nearly always replies with a smile. It's so cute and also weird...before my eyes, he's becoming a different little boy than the one I've known.

Carter's birthday party is in a couple weeks! It's been fun planning and getting things ready for the big celebration. We're going with a transportation theme since Carter is obsessed with all things vehicular. We've been practicing blowing out candles, but he's too interested in the flame to actually blow it out. Typical boy I guess. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to post later.

Nora had her 4-month checkup and she is the picture of a healthy baby. She weighs 15 lbs 14 oz (92%) and measures 25.5 inches (91%). She's a chunk. I continuously hear phrases like "She's a good eater, isn't she?" from complete strangers.

Lows
The last couples days have been rough since Carter contracted a case of croup. It was a bit scary at first when he had such a high fever (104F!), but after a couple days he is mostly back to his normal self. We did go to the emergency room when the fever spiked just to be safe. It was the first time to the ER for one of our kids...really tough to see my little guy listless in a huge hospital bed. But the news was good and he's on the mend now.

We think Nora might be teething. After several weeks of blissful sleeping through the night, she now wakes 1-2 times and also seems crankier than her normal self. We can just barely see the whites of her teeth beneath the surface so we might be in for a few more sleepless nights.

Couple new pictures posted on facebook. See the link in the previous posts.

The Summer of Trains

Time seems to be flying even faster than ever these days. Nora is already 3 months old and next month my little boy will be 2 years old. They are both growing so fast!

It pains me to say that I am no longer the love of Carter's life. He has found a new passion and it comes in the form of a little blue steam engine. Thomas the train has taken over Carter's world. He absolutely loves playing with the wooden train sets that are covering the family room floor. If we didn't make him stop to eat, Carter would probably play with those trains all day long. We even got him a new tricycle, but nothing tops the trains...he's happy pushing them around and around (and around again). A couple weeks ago, Grandma and I took the kids to the Museum of Transportation. Carter was in heaven...real trains everywhere! It was actually one of the best museums I've ever been to.

Nora seems to be the opposite of Carter in nearly every way. Where Carter was long and lean as an infant, Nora is a chubby butterball. Her cheeks literally hang off her face. She so cute and cuddly though and she always has a smile for me. No signs of rolling over yet, but she has slept through the night several times, for which Mike and I are especially grateful.

It's been especially hot here lately, which I both love and hate. Hate it because it's hard to really enjoy any outside time with the kids. Within 10 min of playing at the park, Carter is covered in sweat and Nora's face has turned pink. But with the heat comes the bounty of fruit at the farmers' markets. We have been gorging ourselves on peaches and watermelons. Carter's face might be stained red permanently with all the watermelon he eats. Sadly, our garden never really had a chance this year. We just haven't had the time to take care of it. Instead we've provided the local deer and rabbits with a steady diet of greens and I can no longer differentiate the vegetables from the weeds. Oh well, we'll do better next year.

Hope everyone's doing well and staying cool. More pictures are up on my Facebook page so click here to see them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=214942&id=1012296258&l=c0623b2cda

Forehead "Kisses"

Thought I would try a new blog design on for size.

I am typing this in a hurry while both kids are napping. I consider it a miracle when these moments happen and I try to make the most of the time. I really should be napping myself, but there's so much stuff that needs to be done all the time!

Nora just had her 2-month checkup with the pediatrician. She's doing really well! She weighs 12 lbs, 6 oz (87%) and measures 23.5 in long (89%). I can't believe how fast she's growing. Soon I'll have to swap out the newborn clothes for the next size up. Every time I look at her, I marvel at how perfect she is. When she's awake, she will follow me with her eyes. She even smiles and coos when I talk to her. She still lacking in the hair department, but her little eyes have sprouted some eyelashes (although she's got nothing on Carter's lashes).

Carter is adjusting well to being a big brother. He still needs to learn some patience at times but he really loves his baby sister. Whenever I ask Carter for a kiss, instead of puckering up, he leans forward and presents his forehead to me. I guess this is because when I hug him and say I wanna give him kisses, I always smother his forehead with smooches. So if I ask him to give Nora a "kiss", he bends down and touches his forehead to hers. It's too cute!

No new pictures just yet. But soon! Hope you all are well.