Florida Recap - Part II

After a few days on the beach, we relocated to the hotel where most of the wedding party would be staying, about a half hour away in Boca Raton.  Truthfully, we couldn't get out of that last hotel fast enough.

The day of the wedding, some of us girls who were not part of the wedding party decided to get our hair and makeup done too.  I just wanted to feel pretty and I found a dress that I absolutely loved and was incredibly comfortable.  

This dress, except mine was black (and on clearance, yay!).  No longer available.

Can these ladies do my hair and makeup every day?  Pretty please??

With the dress and my new favorite earrings.  They seriously go with everything.

Lots of selfie opportunites during the downtime.  Which there was a lot of when you're not in the actual wedding.

 

 

Such a handsome tiny tornado.  I was crazy for him in this little suit!

I think we were at the wedding/cocktail hour a grand total of 1 hour before I had to throw a screaming, maniacal 2-year old over my shoulder and take him back to the hotel. 

We didn't even to see the actual wedding because as soon as Joey saw Daddy walk down the aisle he was all "There's Daddy!  I want Daddy!  I want CAKE!  Where's the CAKE?  I want to dance wif da pretty girls!" Which just spiraled into a 7-course tantrum from there.  I kept trying to keep him happy (away from the wedding and out of ear shot) but it was no use.  At one point, my MIL and I took the kids in the bathroom, who were both losing their minds, and barricaded off the door to let them work out their demons.  It didn't work.  I'm sure people wondered what the heck was going on in there.  I had hit my breaking point and was about to lose my false lashes from the tears.  #reallife

I left Morgan at the wedding where I'm told she & her Daddy were dancing machines til the very end.

Joey and I hit up the McD's drive-through and he was so upset he just threw chicken nuggets at the back of my head while I tried to find our way back to the hotel.  He finally ate some chocolate chip cookies, calmed down, and we capped off our evening watching Bridesmaids in the hotel.  If there ever was a time a little wine would've come in handy, this was it.

Thank God for you, Kristen Wiig.

Later on, while I'm trying to get him to sleep, my 2-year old son says to me "I sorry Mom."
I asked "What are you sorry for honey?"
He said "I cryin' in da car and scweamin".  OMG.  I couldn't believe he was really saying that!  Poor kid was so miserable and I was such a spaz.  I felt terrible.  I was mad because we missed the whole wedding and what was supposed to be a fun night for all of us.  I was mad because I had wasted money on hair, makeup and a dress that I only wore for maybe 3 hours?  I was mad at myself for not being able to "get my kids under control".  I was mad at myself for how I reacted toward my children.  I was just plain mad and totally disappointed.  But while I snuggled with him in bed, and realized he was so much happier and more comfortable, I realized we can't always force our plans onto these little people and expect them to cooperate.  I am the grownup here and I needed to act like one, while showing this sweet little boy a little extra love and compassion.

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and we all started feeling just a wee bit better by the very end.

I will love this pic strip forever.  The fun they had at the wedding!

This one fell asleep like this, protesting, trying to get out during landing.  Her feet were dangling off the floor, it didn't look remotely comfortable.  The flight attendant looked at me, shrugged, and said "Well, at least she's buckled."

We decided it will be a while before we attempt another trip again with kids.  Like maybe 2025.

Meanwhile, the kids ask multiple times a day "When can we go back to Florida?"

HAHAHAHA.  Not. Funny.

Florida Recap - Part I

This is a two-parter, lest I bore anyone to tears with all the details & pics.  But this was our first time taking the kids on a trip, so it was a big deal!

Last week, we packed up the kids and boarded a flight for southern Florida.  Joe was a groomsman in his cousin's wedding and we thought "Hey! Let's make a vacation out of it!"

I'm not sure where we went wrong, exactly.  But let me just say it was the trip.from.hell.  Mostly because both me and the kids were pretty sick the whole time.  Pneumonia, bronchitis, tonsillitis, you name-it-itis.  We had it and couldn't shake it.  The night before we left, we stayed up late packing and Joey chose THAT night to start wandering out from his bedroom, asking "Hey guys! What doing?"  He thought it was hilarious, too.  Little turkey.

And of course kids don't sleep well in new places, so it was almost like having newborns all over again with all the night wakings and bed-switcharoos.  The last night of our trip, they FINALLY both slept through the night. Of course. On top of the oppressive heat AND being 30 weeks pregnant AND being sick myself.  I'll try to stop complaining at some point, really I will.  Frankly both the hubs and I are still trying to block it all out.

Arriving at the airport with their little backpacks and full of excitement.

All strapped in and ready for takeoff 

His first flight.  Brushing up on what to do in case of emergency.

Riding the shuttle to our rental car.  The face of two sick bebes.

 Things took a turn for the scary on the flight down, Morgan started having trouble breathing.  Between this nurse and doctor, we don't get too rattled, but this was freaking us out.  Luckily I had her inhaler in my purse.  She hates her "breathing treatments" and screamed like a tortured wildebeest as we pinned her down to get a few puffs into her.  (But that was no comparison for Joey's screams of protest at being buckled into his harness.)   I'm sure our fellow passengers loved us.  As soon as we landed, got the rental whip, found our hotel, and checked in, the hubs took Mo to Urgent Care where she was diagnosed with Pneumonia, bronchitis and an asthma flare-up.

I will say, the harnesses and renting the car seats from the rental car company was a great decision.  The kids weren't fans of the harnesses, but really only had to wear them during takeoff and landing.  Renting the car seats was SUCH a convenience.  Definitely the way to go.  We also brought our double stroller which came in handy for hauling kids/bags/extra junk.  When traveling with kids?  Your hands are ALWAYS full.

Joey was acting like he might be getting sicker by the day too, but it was hard to tell - a case of the Twosies?  Or real sickness?  We put off hauling him to Urgent Care until Saturday, the day of the wedding.  Big mistake.  He was miserable.  He had tonsillitis and adenoiditis.  Oh, and they diagnosed him with finger sucking.  Is that a thing??

At Urgent Care eating all the popsicles and so miserable.

But then we had this view and things were looking up:

Until we discovered our first hotel was, in fact, the most dilapidated crap hole I've ever stayed in.  NOTHING worked.  Including the AC, which was set at approximately -70 degrees. There was black fungus everywhere.  Super therapeutic for those with upper respiratory infections.  There were homeless people in the lobby!  We didn't exactly book this room ourselves and high-tailed it out of there as fast as we could.  I'm still shuddering thinking about the disgusting bedspreads.  It reminded us of one of those places you cram 10 college kids into for spring break and who cares because it was on the beach.  Ew.

We spent more time in Urgent Care than we did on the actual beach.  The beach, btw, was SO BLAZINGLY HOT, that by 9am it was burning our feet and we had to leave.  I guess that's what we get for going to the southern tip of Florida at the end of August.  However, the hotels always had a pool and the kids absolutely LOVED that.  We tried to swim with them almost every evening.  It was a fight to get them out of the pool they loved it so much.

Luckily I had this eye candy to look at ;-)

We took the kids to Butterfly World and they loved it.  It was pretty neat to see thousands of butterflies of all different shapes, colors and sizes.

 They got to feed the parrots nectar from a cup.  Joey wanted to do it himself, but kept freaking out a little bit.  Again, I think he was just feeling rotten.

 Whoever invented those puddle jumpers deserves a medal.  Or large sums of cash.  They came in really handy and while our kids are not swimmers (we are never in a big pool), they were getting pretty confident by the end of the trip.

Part II, including the wedding, is coming next.

Our Weekend

Our weekend flew by; they always do when the Hubs is off.  He was on call last weekend and will be again this upcoming weekend.  Womp womp.  So we tried to get a few things done, but kept it pretty relaxed.  The countdown is on...11-ish weeks til baby arrives.  

Up first, this nugget, who keeps us on our toes every.second.

"Look Mom, Look!  I'm an Angel."  Yes dear boy...yes.

Wearing his Daddy's shoes all the time.  Funny thing is he has ONE pair of shoes that fit him right now and they are getting too tight.  Looks like we'll be doing some shopping.

He got a much-needed haircut.  No tears this time!

We finally converted Joey's crib to a toddler bed.  Not because I thought he was so ready, but because I can no longer reach in and lift him out with my pregnant belly.  I was worried how he would do, but so far, so good.  No fall-outs or unauthorized wanderings.  Now I just need to buy some bedding for him.

And this happened.  

 Every morning the kids stop in the stairway on their way down to say hi to the "DEERS" in the yard.  The past several weeks, there's always a Mama and two baby fawns, sometimes they are joined by another Mama and baby.  Breakfast playdate.

Picked these up on a whim last week and oh boy:

Snacked on these alllllll weekend.  They taste like a banana split!  Guaranteed to make a pregnant woman happy. Get some NOW.  

 We had a date night Saturday night.  We had our tickets to the Reds game, but I was in no mood for ballpark food.  I've really been craving better/healthier food lately.  So we ate a grown-up dinner out and then went to the game.  On our way in, a couple offered us some upgraded tickets, "Scout Seats" behind home plate, for free, because their friends canceled on them at the last minute.  Um, yes please!

It was such a gorgeous summer night for a Reds game

 Getting to see Chapman pitch up that close was pretty awesome.  It's like the ball just spontaneously blasts out from within his arm.  Unreal.  I started having some pretty painful contractions so we left shortly after they put him in.

And the highlight of the weekend (no, not the selfie) was that we got to meet all our neighbors at a neighborhood party on Friday night.  It was SO much fun!  Most of the couples were around our age, with young children.  The house was like something right off of Pinterest, wowza.  Great food, great company, great time.  The kids had a blast and we even stayed out way past their bedtimes.  OK, Joey didn't handle it so well.  Coming home at 10pm might've been a mistake, but hey, ya gotta have fun once in a while, right?

Beyond excited to be social for once!

We ended our weekend with pizza and popsicles outside.  My sister and her boys are coming to visit this week and we are excited to have company!

My sweet girl, snuggles with Mom in our jams.  The rare window when she's NOT in her princess dresses these days!

Let's Go!

We've been on the go a lot and it doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.  The month of August is jam-packed with stuff!  I am happy to be busy and this helps pregnancy time (which as we all know is different than "real time") go much faster.

Doing their Mama proud at the St. Joe's festival.

A little evening park & ice cream outing at the Silver Grove Dairy Bar.

Trying to win a gold fish.  Good thing they didn't, I doubt it would've had much life expectancy left in our home!

Date night - another Reds game.  I told the Hubs we need to change it up!  I just go for the free food.

Currently I'm trying to figure out the details of an upcoming trip to Florida for a family wedding/vacation.  Do I take both kids' car seats on the plane for them to sit in since we will need them to get around in Florida?  Or do I skip all that headache and just get those CARES straps for the flight and rent car seats with our rental car?  I'm leaning toward the second option, but if anyone has any other input to flying with two toddlers, I'm all ears!  I will say I've heard nothing but BAD experiences from people who've checked their car seats, so I'm planning to avoid that.  The whole thing is giving me a headache.  I kinda miss the days where I packed myself a carry-on, hopped on a plane, and went wherever I felt like it!

And assuming I'm able to make the trip (I have my doubts at times), good luck to me finding a formal dress to wear to the wedding.  Any suggestions?  I've sent back 4.  FOUR.  I'm finding non-maternity clothes are just not flattering this go-round.

I've recently discovered a new health/pilates blogger and credit her for helping me get back on track with eating clean(er) and doing some Pilates again.  (This is not some sponsored plug either, she doesn't know I exist although I did comment today thanking her, haha!)  This pregnancy I've only wanted junk to eat.  Mostly in the form of baked goods, sweets, cereal, etc.  It's so bizarre!  If you're interested, her name is Robin and you can find her over at The Balanced Life.  I love finding blogs/IG users like this!  People like her help remind me and keep me focused on my own personal values.  It's a lot of good common sense and self-care.  Just what I need right now.

I finally canceled MoJo's preschool registration at the preschool we attended last year.  I think I seriously had tears in my eyes when I sent the email.  Knowing Joey won't get the same wonderful experience that Morgan had last year....seeing the same littles and their parents who I've come to know...visiting with Judy in the office while I wait for class to let out.  Sentimental Mama here.

Morgan and her school friend Everly at the pool.  

Instead, Morgan will be going to the same school her Daddy went to...out in the country.  It's only a 10 minute drive from our house.  I'm excited (and nervous!) for this new adventure.  I've got a good start on the mile-long school supplies list and they are supposed to start in 2 weeks -- already?!?!

And I still have not bought a minivan nor any other child-toting vehicle.  I know.  You were dying to know that.  I'm testing out keeping my Highlander - either with removing the 2nd row middle seat (making captains chairs) and utilizing the 3rd row OR cramming the infant carrier into the middle of the 2nd row.

We've also been waiting on the sale of our condo.  We had buyers and a contract and everything last week.  We signed our counter offer and then?  They backed out -- cold feet at the last second.  Gah!  Guess we better keep praying to St. Joseph!

Winning.  Until I unload them and lay them down for naps.  Then not so much.  Happens EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.