Sunday, April 6, 2014

Spring Break in Indiana :)

So two weeks ago I was on Spring Break from school. The original plan was for my parents to come down here and take Xavier and I to Gulf Shores where we often vacationed when I was little. After speaking with my sisters, however, they all decided they would rather the two of us come to them. Dustin obviously couldn't take this time off work so we reluctantly went without him. My parents got us a VERY last minute flight out of Tallahassee (the smallest airport ever...) and it was decided.

Because Tallahassee is only a Regional airport, not an international one, they don't have direct flights to Indianapolis. Because of this, we were scheduled to fly to Charlotte and then out to Indy. Sunday afternoon as I was doing some last minute cleaning and packing when my phone rang to let me know that the plane had been delayed. This happened two more times and by the third time, I knew there would not be enough time to make our connection in Charlotte. I got on the phone with the airline and rescheduled a flight out of Charlotte that would put us in Indy in the middle of the night. It wasn't ideal but I didn't have any other choice. Dustin reluctantly dropped us off at the airport and we hugged and kissed him like we wouldn't see him for a week.

Xavier and I got through baggage and security and were heading to the gate when we got another call. Our flight had been delayed again. Awesome. We waited and waited until our flight time began to approach. After sitting at the airport for 2.5 hours, my phone rang one last time. The flight to Charlotte had been canceled. We got in line and spoke with the representative about next steps. We opted for an early morning flight as the likelihood of getting to indy that day was slim. I called Dust and he came to get us. It was annoying but also nice to get an unplanned night at home with Dust :)

The next morning we flew out bright and early. No problems and we even had great seats. Because it was the redeye, Xavier slept the whole first flight. We went through Atlanta (which is usually the BIGGEST pain) but it was easy! We hopped off the plane and had just enough time for a diaper change and juice break and got right on the next plane. This was an easy flight too! He was totally into looking out the window and watching Mickey Mouse on the iPad. He did amazing and was complemented by everyone who walked by!

Once we got off the plane, my dad greeted us in baggage claim. It was so nice to see him and Xavier reached out for him! He remembered him! :) It was such a special moment! Once we got back to the car, Xavier recognized my mom too and we had a great breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Plainfield.

The rest of the week was totally low key. So low key that I spent the whole week in yoga pants and tee-shirts :) It was nice. We spent time with Dust's family and mine. We saws aunts and cousins and grandparents. It was nice. Rather than write a novel for the week, I thought I would share the pics and use the captions to tell the story. Here are some pictures of Beanie in Indiana for Spring Break 2014.


Waiting at the airport


Waiting on daddy to come back for us!

Let's try this again! 

His serious face

Watching Jake on the Plane

Fell asleep on the drive back to Terre Haute holding Mimi's hand

Their hide out aka my moms laundry room

Closing the door- No Moms Allowed!


He and Bryar were obsessed with each other

:)

Playing in Mimi's jewelry


Uncle Evan!

Long Day! Whew!

TROUBLE!


Sneaking papa's chili!

Boys Boys Boys!

This was the cool thing to do this week!

They loved it!

Bath with Jack!

Veggin' Out!

ZzzZZzZZzzzZ

Found this little gem! Circa 2004!! 


Full Load! 

Breakfast!

Grandpa and Papa






Dare Devil


Jack

Kimberly--8 months pregnant!



Weee!



Aunt Kylee, Bryar and Bean



tuckered out!

Grandma's Grave

Great Grandma and Grandpa's Graves

Rehydrating after the park!

Love this


It does my heart good to see him with cousins

He LOVED this!

Time to head home!




P.S. This was his 8th trip to Indiana. Can you believe it?!

Friday, April 4, 2014

Missing Her So...


I thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new.
I thought about you yesterday and the day before that too.
I think of you in silence.  I often say your name.
But all I have are memories and your picture in a frame. 
Your memory is my keepsake, with which I'll never part.
God has you in His keeping.  I have you in my heart.
I shed tears for what might have been.  A million times I've cried.
If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died. 
In life I loved you dearly.  In death I love you still.
In my heart you hold a place no one can ever fill.
It broke my heart to lose you but you didn't go alone
for part of me went with you, the day God took you home.  
<3

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Beanie Updates!

Here are a few things that are new with Beanie that I thought we would share :)


Beanie is talking more than ever.  What is more exciting is that he is starting to use two and three word sentences! For example, a couple nights ago, he decided he didn't want the rest of his cheese stick so he gave it to the dog. When I caught him, he pointed to her and said "Midnight not nice!" He blamed it on the dog! He is a smart little thing :)




His current favorite words are dog, mine, Midnight, ju (for juice), hi, and hot. His ABSOLUTE FAVORITE right now is saying "Not Nice!" He uses it a hundred times a day! He usually says it to Midnight but every once in a while, he will say it to Dustin and I. His teachers have complimented him numerous times for using his words and not his fists. I translate that to mean he is a bit of a tattletale but I am ok with that ;)

He has also has gotten all four of his eye teeth within the last two months! That means lots of restless nights, slobber and fevers. We are almost over it though, as the last one is pushing through now.

Another thing about Xavier that we are noticing more and more is that he is a little OCD. You might laugh but it is true! He is definitely a creature of habit. He LOVES routine. For every "chore" or activity we complete throughout the day, there is a set of steps we MUST take or he will get frazzled and insist that we back up and start over. For example, if he is done eating, we have to first take his plate and spoon to the sink, then take off his bib, take off the tray, put him down, put the tray back on, and push the highchair bak to it's place. If we don't do it in that order, he is not pleased.

Watching dada cook!

As far as the potty post we made a couple weeks ago, we've made no REAL improvements but that's ok because he is only ONE! He is starting to understand the concept and is using the potty a couple times a week. The other day, he was naked because I was getting ready to give him his nightly bath. He started to pee on the floor and then STOPPED! He ran to the bathroom and finished in the potty. So we are pleased with his progress.

Xavier has gotten to the point where he no longer likes to play alone. I can remember in Seminole, his playroom was part of the open plan floorplan and so if we were in the family room he could see us and still play. Now, his playroom is one of the back bedrooms and he isn't into it. He doesn't go back there unless one of us will go with him. We have decided to keep this in mind as we transition in to the 'househunting' phase.

He will even settle for playing with a box and the dog!

We recently had an alarm system installed in our home. It is easy to use and gives me that "mommy assurance" that I need so we think it is a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately, we are still getting used to it (2 months later) and have set it off quite a few times. This scares Xavier to death! The alarm is a death curdling screech and I spend at least five minutes after calming him down :(

Finally, we come to the sleep situation. It is ugly. I haven't written much about it but Xavier started experiencing night terrors right around the time I had Penelope. We aren't sure if it is coincidental or something that threw off his schedule but there is no doubt that he has not been sleeping the same since.  Once we moved to Tallahassee we combined that with a new bedroom, HMFD, teething, new daycare and a whole list of other new things that turned his little world upside down. We have traditionally made a rule that he wouldn't sleep with us  because we didn't want our marriage to suffer. After a couple weeks of sleepless nights, however, we had to rethink this logic. We have had a huge range of sleeping arrangements the past few months. Xavier on his mattress by our bed. Xavier in bed with one or both of us. Xavier on the couch. We have finally found a solution (albeit not traditional in the slightest) and have settled for an air mattress. That's right. Our child has a beautiful bedroom set and he sleeps on an air mattress in our living room. Whatever works, right? Well this works! We air it up at night and it gives him just the amount of room he needs to sleep. It is a queen and he ROLLS and ROLLS! He uses every bit! What's better is that when he wakes up scared, there is room for me to go our there and sleep with him :) He loves that part. So, I usually do the first part of the night in our bed and spend the second half of the night with X. It works and at this point we are all sleeping so judge away, we don't care! HA!

Silly Beanie wrapped up tight after a bath!


Anyway, that's what's new with us. Blessed to call him ours :)