Mother’s Day Nod

I thought I’d take a look back at those very important moments that made me a mom…

39 Weeks with Enzo.  Huuuuuuge.

38 Weeks with Phoebe.  Seriously, I was enormous. No wonder people stared…

Little Enzo baby!

Little Phoebe baby!

I wish those first couple of months (or so) with both kids were easier and that I remembered them with great joy, but they were easily some of the most difficult of my life. Oh how I love both my babies, but postpartum depression and anxiety is no joke.

Motherhood is rarely all rainbows and sunshine, but thankfully the ups tend to cancel out the lows and I’m able to focus more on the moments that make me smile.  I am filled with gratitude every time one of them strokes my hair and tells me they like me a lot or tell me the wonderful gifts they wish to bestow upon me.  They know me really, really well too! Unicorns, jewelry, books… what more does a gal need?  Oh… maybe wine…  have a glass on me, Moms!

 

Road Trip Part 2.5 – Smelly Sea Lions

Is it any surprise that the kids were really excited about seeing the beach?  It was one of the things they wanted to do right away, so the day after we arrived in California we had an easy, lazy day that included seeing at least one beach and the sea lions (as one does).

The kids were okay with not actually going swimming that day and they had fun just getting their feet in the sand and finally in the water. Enzo was more cautious partially because it was cold, but Phoebe doesn’t really care how cold water is.

The kids started to get braver and ventured slightly further out and would giggle and run when the waves came in, however, the tide was also coming in which is something the kids know nothing about.  Enzo was taken off guard and ended up on his face with a (thankfully gentle) wave washing up over him.  He was not impressed.  I had extra clothes in the van, so we got him changed and then we went to see the sea lions.

Oh, the sea lions. Never have I smelled anything so awful in my life.  It was hard not to gag and we only lasted a few minutes up close and personal with them.

Oh you smelly, smelly things.

We ended the day with lunch and a Target run because… always Target.  It was also important to get the kids to bed at a decent time because the next day was Disney Day!!

Tune in…

Road Trip Part 2 – California

We got up bright and early to leave Colorado Springs to head towards California, but first we had a stop in Winslow, Arizona to spend the night and get to see family I haven’t seen in far too many years.  Alas… somehow we didn’t get any photos, so you’ll have to imagine it.  We got a picture of lunch, though…

So glad we had AC for the desert portion of our drive.  We definitely aren’t used to 100 degree temperatures coming out of a cool winter and we would have been miserable. However, for the most part, we were quite comfortable.

At around the Route 95 point in California, however, the smiles ended and Phoebe became carsick and extremely unhappy and vocal about all of the dips in the road.  She cried, she kicked, she yelled, and then finally she passed out.  We will never drive on that road again.  She asks almost every time we get in the car if there are going to be dips.

Eventually, the kids had to go pee again and we figured we would check out Joshua Tree National Park for a bit.  Alas, we really only checked out the bathrooms because a pass was more than we wanted to spend considering we only had so much time in the area.

The kids were tired and a little cranky, so they stayed in the car while I got out here and there to explore and look at flowers and use the little Sony a bit more.  There were so many pretty plants and after living in a very different climate for so long, it was nice to see new things.

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Road Trip Part 1 – Packing and Colorado Springs

We (Josh and I) love road trips. He loves to drive, and I like to watch the scenery go by.  We are hoping the kids will also grow to love road trips in time. So, why did we decide to drive rather than fly?  The biggest reason is that it’s just cheaper, but it was also a good excuse to get to see lots of family, if only for a brief amount of time. Next time, we’ll probably simplify and shorten the journey, but for some reason we decided that we were going to go big and be gone for 16 days.  At the time, it didn’t really seem like that big of a deal, until we got nearer the day and especially once the packing commenced.  I have never been a light packer, but even I thought I was doing pretty well for 16 days.  In reality?  I didn’t wear everything I packed and absolutely could have packed fewer clothes. The bigger trouble always comes with all of the toiletries and stuff and hair dryers and everything takes up so much room.

The kids each finally got their own suitcases and it seems like I just barely managed to fit all their clothes inside.  Once again, in hindsight, we could have done with less, so now we know for next time.

Okay… brace yourselves.

Notice Vega in the background trying to sneak in with all of our stuff?  Also… I apologize for closeups of all undergarments. Probably more than you want to know about us, but oh well. I like to document the massive amounts of craziness.

We also neglected to bring any emergency cold weather things like long-sleeve shirts, which we will do next time.  Whoops.

On to the fun!  I picked the kids up from day care around the usual time while Josh was napping (after the bed was packed up) and they were excited to get on the road. I finished packing our smaller cooler and the rest of the snacks and we were ready to drive overnight to Colorado Springs!

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Week in Review – A Preview of Things to Come

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Meghan from Clean Eats, Fast Feets for another Week in Review!

Considering we were on vacation the past two weeks, things have been anything but normal and a week in review would probably take a while.  Therefore, I’m going to do a brief recap of the last two weeks’ accomplishments and then spend time going through pictures and writing up who knows how many posts about roadtripping with two small children.

  • The biggest accomplishment by far of our two week road trip was making it home in one piece and no one committing murder.  We were all delirious by the time we arrived home on Saturday evening. I need a vacation from vacation.

  • We managed to only forget two or three things along the way, which I consider to be pretty good when you’re packing as much as we did and have kids who forget where they put everything… and me.
  • Fit in some last minute spontaneous stops trying to make the most of our crazy family vacation.
  • Saw so many different things!!  And encourage the kids to try and do new things… like peeing in the desert, for instance.

  • We handled unaccepted things with ease and grace. No air conditioning in the van and have to pay $800 to fix it?  No problem.  We aren’t even thinking about how over-budget we went on this vacation because we needed it and we had fun.
  • Had some meltdowns along the way and learned that two weeks was way too long to be away from home for our kids, at least at this age.  Live and learn and then have melatonin on hand to help with time changes.
  • Only “cried” a little when we went from sunny weather to cold and then just plain lame.  Oh well, we laugh at snow in our sneakers and then find indoor activities and let the kids have too much screen time.  Do what you can to survive, right?

Seriously, though, it was quite the adventure and it was exciting to see the kids try new things and even more fun to see family and friends.  I feel a little bad we pushed the kids as hard as we did, though. Sometimes it’s hard to remember they’re as little as they are and we don’t always know their limits until we push them. Whoops.

I’m sure you’re all looking forward to every little detail, so fear not!  All the crazy fun is yet to come!

Happy Monday all!!!