We planned the trip so that Grandpa could be there since he has been traveling for work on occasion; but Brian wasn’t able to join us this time. Instead, Aunt Holly joined us for the ride down to Meemaw and Grandpa’s house, which was an event! After Coraline’s doctor’s appointment, I picked up Jameson from daycare right at naptime. All was on schedule with the hopes that both of them would sleep in the car. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
We did have about 45 minutes of quiet and Jameson actually did fall asleep, but Coraline woke up screaming in pain in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t have any Tylenol with me; we had only had Advil at home which you cannot give to babies her age, so I was going to pick some up when we arrived. I should’ve listened to my initial instincts and picked some up at home and pre-dosed her before the pain set in. She was so unhappy that nursing didn’t help either when we finally stopped about 45 more minutes later. She finally fell asleep from exhaustion and slept most of rest of the trip.
When we arrived later that afternoon, all was well. We were all excited to get out of the car, and Jameson managed to hold his bladder for the entire ride.
Even though we just introduced Jameson to the big boy swings on his swing set at home, he was more than happy to get into the baby swing so he could swing higher! higher! in Grandpa’s home built swing set.
Grandpa tried to get Jameson to fly a little remote airplane, and even though Jameson loved looking at the airplanes in the basement, he kept telling Grandpa to “put away” the little one that scared him when it buzzed too close to his head once!
Our days went something like this: wake up, pass off a child or two so I can shower, eat breakfast, play inside, play outside, watch tv, play outside more. — Oh, and snack snack snack! Meemaw had to go out to get popsicles and fruit snacks which were requested.
Our first full day there we went to the park just Jameson and I to meet my friend Katie and her son who is Jameson’s age, Mark. We also got to meet her daughter, a few weeks older than Coraline, named Finley.
When asked what he did at the park, even though we went three or four times after that first visit, he remembered the first and told us that he played with Marky!
Jameson just loved to help Meemaw water the flowers each day. He very much wanted to do it himself, but he couldn’t until the watering can was light enough.
Coraline turned 9 weeks old at Meemaw and Grandpa’s too! After this was taken, we changed, came back downstairs, spit up, and went back upstairs to change again. Then had a nap. Phew!
The days were so warm while we were there that we could enjoy breakfast outside. Meemaw bought Jameson his special baby oranges for his visit, but when he saw the big oranges, that is all he wanted to eat all week for breakfast, snack and dinner! So Meemaw is left with all her baby oranges, and no “big” oranges left. Oops!
Coraline also loved the time outside, relaxing in the warmth with a nice breeze.
We went to the park a few more times, and even made it to the library once to pick out some movies. We saw baby geese in the pond and Jameson told them bye bye when we left without prompting; so cute.
He wanted to push his stroller himself.
On the warmest day, we brought out the sprinkler. Jameson didn’t want to run through it, but he was happy to put hands and feet in it. Or run through it with mommy!
One of the most hilarious moments was learning the “open shut them” song. Jameson had clearly heard it before but no one knew all the words. So Meemaw looked it up one night at dinner. While we sang the song, Jameson told us he needed a shirt for the “creep them crawl them” part which made all of us laugh.
And of course we couldn’t help but do some Trotty off to Boston; only Meemaw does it right.
This photo seems to sum up Jameson’s excitement while he was there:
When it was time to go, Jameson told me he didn’t want to leave; and when it was time to get in the car, he asked each of them Aunt Holly, Meemaw and Grandpa if they would “come to my house?”
It was a tough drive home because a half hour in, we got caught in traffic due to an accident which set us back by an hour. Which took the 3-1/2 hour drive to 4-1/2 hours! Coraline woke up during the stopped traffic and cried. Jameson slept for about an hour total, but was a real trooper for the whole trip and didn’t need a lot of occupying with toys or snacks. We even stopped so we could all go potty, and Jameson went in a public restroom! That took the drive from terrible to awesome just like that, I was so proud.
Coraline, after crying on and off for the hour before that, was actually happy after her diaper change… and then, in the last 30 minutes, screamed her head off all the way home from hunger. She got fed immediately before even unpacking the car when we finally go home. Phew. We made it!
Even though we got way out of routine (and by Sunday, Jameson was totally exhausted from not napping all week long!), it was totally worth it. And I enjoyed having some moments without either child or household chores to do. Mom even did laundry for me, so it really was like a mini vacation with kiddos.