The Gs do Colorado

Brace yourself for a massive photo dump.

Last week we headed out to Colorado Springs for a close friend's wedding. The best thing about this locale is that my best friend also lives there. We stayed with her and her adorable family for a long weekend.

Truth be told we were a little nervous about how this was going to go. We have flown with Carina a number of times (and it usually involves projectile vomit), and this was Aurelia's first time in the air. They were better than we could have ever expected! People on the plane fawned all over Aurelia and remarked how well behaved Carina was. The secret? We brought new toys, books, and snacks and this occupied their time for most of the duration of both flights each way.

Our weekend consisted of lots of play time for the girls, a trip to my best friend Maggie's Mom's pool club at the foot of the mountains (gasp! GORGEOUS), an afternoon at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, a beautiful wedding, and a few drinks. We left feeling surprisingly refreshed and relaxed and wish we could go back already.

Only 3.5 months apart - Abby and Aurelia are going to be best friends someday!

Sharing blueberries on the kitchen floor

At the Zoo - LOOK AT THAT CRAZY TONGUE

Proof that God has a sense of humor

Carina wasn't afraid to feed him

They don't look alike at all, do they? ;)

 

My best friend Maggie

Oh hai!

Carina's first ever carousel ride

Sister high-five...or was she trying to hit her? Not sure...

We asked Carina where she was going in the car, and she told us that she had to go to work. Mike probed further, "what are you going to do at work, Carina?"

"I gunna go do science!"

And then Mike's heart exploded. What an awesome trip.

Making up for lost time - Toddle Along Tuesday

After not being able to get away at all last summer due to Mike's crazy rushing-to-finish-his-PhD schedule and my having no vacation time at all before I stopped working at the end of August, we were so excited to be able to get away on a number of occasions this time around.

In June we spent some time on Cape Cod with my family. My favorite photos:

In July we took a few trips to visit Mike's family in Philly, and my sister and family in Massachusetts.

 

In August, we spent a week in Virginia Beach with Mike's family after my weekend at BlogHer!

For us, visiting our families was the theme for the summer. We were on the road quite often (sometimes 3 times in a month!) which was tough, especially with Carina's frequent bouts of car sickness, but after being half way across the country out in Wisconsin for 5 years, we felt compelled to make up for lost time :)

What did you this summer?


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This week's Toddle Along Tuesday co-host is Meghan from Crazy Casa K and the topic is Vacations! Where did you go this summer? Show off some pics and tell us what you did! There are no rules here, except that you link up a relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog (or business, #comeonnow).



Next week's topic is Things You Actually Say! I LIVE for posts like this. Tell us some of the crazy things that have come out of your mouth lately. Check out some of mine from a few months ago!

If you like advance notice for TAT, check out the bottom right of my blog - topics for the next couple months are listed. Would you like to submit a topic idea and/or volunteer to co-host one week? E-mail me!

My Breastmilk's Excellent Adventure

While Carina and I arrived in Philly on the early flight, unfortunately my breastmilk did not.

I had painstakingly packed away my remaining 150+ ounces of frozen milk in two thermal tote bags with lots of ice, and many prayers. I knew there was a good chance the milk wouldn't remain frozen, but faced with this or ascertaining a large quantity of dry ice, a cooler, and paying to ship it, I chose the former.

When we arrived at the airport and were notified about the staggering delays, I thought about taking the milk out of my checked luggage and carrying it with me instead. In retrospect, I probably should have done this, but I was already traveling with Carina, umbrella stroller, and diaper bag, and I didn't know how I could manage two more {sizable and heavy} bags.

Carina and I snagged the last seat on an earlier flight to Philly (yay!) but when we arrived around 9 PM it became clear my milk didn't make it. I told the US Airways baggage claim employee, Judy, that my milk was on the later flight and I was so sad that it was going to spoil.

The flight ended up getting in around 3 AM (again, SO GLAD we made the earlier flight). I received a call from Judy at 6 AM letting me know she found my bag, took out the totes and put them in their employee freezer. Somehow, my milk was still frozen after almost 18 hours.

So thank you for saving my stash, Judy at US Airways in Philly, my breastmilk guardian angel. Carina and my boobs thank you.

We picked it up a little later that morning and stuffed it in the freezer at my Mother-in-Law's work (wouldn't fit at their house), then brought it on the drive to Connecticut a couple days later, stuck it in the hotel freezer there, and then finally on Monday it found it's new permanent home in the freezer in our new apartment. Rock on, most resilient substance ever.

Safe and sound in our freezer

I'm back (sort of)

We're back from our trip to New England to visit family and look for apartments in Connecticut in one piece! Well, mostly.

I'd love to tell you about meeting my squishy newborn nephew.

I'd really like to share details of some of the uninhabitable apartments we saw on Monday and the comedy of errors that plagued that day.

It would be great to perform a comedic tragic reenactment of our night in the hotel room with Carina during which she woke up every 20 minutes to scream and spit up.

BUT

I've been chasing Carina around all morning wiping snot off of her, myself, and almost every surface with which she has come in contact. She has her first cold, and her first fever :(

I need to fold the semi-wet laundry that just finished in the dryer because I don't have enough quarters to spin it again. Sorry M, all of your boxers are damp. Really lends a new meaning to swass, doesn't it? {yes, I really just said that}

I have to do the dishes in the sink because I swear I see something growing in the saucepan. I don't even want to know how many days it has been sitting there.

I'm e-mailing back and forth with the landlord of the apartment we want to rent, and have no idea if it is actually going to happen because they aren't sure if they'll close on their house before we want to move into their apartment.

SO

After I'm done with the aforementioned, I am going to break out the liter of Jose Cuervo in our bar and drink it straight out of the bottle. Cups {and waiting for 5 o'clock} are for pussies. Cheers.

I'll tell you all that and more soon, if I haven't checked myself into the looney bin yet ;)

Nom nom nom on the hotel crib

P.S. Thank you so much to all of my great guest posters!

P.P.S I just found a GIANT booger on the back of my hand. Awesome.

A Little Nervous - Need Some Advice

I'm flying home with Carina this weekend to visit family and check out some apartments in Connecticut. M will be staying home to work on his thesis.

We've flown with Carina a couple times before: the first time was a nightmare, the second was better (if you don't count our oversleeping and missing our flight). My fingers are crossed it goes smoothly this time...third time's a charm right? But alas, no M to help this go round.

This is going to be fun, Mom...I promise!

What sort of things have you brought or done to keep your baby happy on flights? Should I bring her brand new umbrella stroller? Or the carrier? I would love to hear what worked or didn't work for you when you traveled by air.

The good, the bad, and the pukey

Good: Carina was baptized this weekend! My Grandfather is a Catholic Deacon and he performed the ceremony in Cape Cod on Saturday. She slept through most of it, right until it came time to pour water on her head. She woke up crying, the poor thing.


Here we are right after the ceremony:


Carina with her Godparents (my sister, and M's brother):


Getting kisses from her cousin later on:


It was so great to see our families.  Aside from the baptism, this weekend was special since it was the first time that M's brother and my younger sister met Carina.

Bad: Her behavior while traveling on Thursday and yesterday must have been retribution for all of the times that I judged parents of screaming babies while flying.  Whenever I was forced to sit near a crying baby on a flight I rolled my eyes and asked my travel companion, "why would you ever travel with a baby?"  Payback is cruel. 

Carina almost never stopped crying while at the airport or on the plane.  There was literally nothing we could do to calm her down most of the time, and we tried everything.  She didn't want to be in the Moby, she didn't want her pacifier, she would only nurse here and there.  When we arrived at my parents' house we must have looked like zombies.  I will never judge again.

Pukey: For the few days leading up to our travels, Carina started spitting up projectile-style much more frequently.  We saw the doctor right before we left for the airport and they gave us a new reflux medication to try.  Unfortunately it wasn't really in time to stop her from spitting up all over me while in mid-air on Thursday.  The logistics of trying to clean all this up while the seat belt light was still on were rather difficult. 

The meds still hadn't really kicked in on Sunday, either.  When we ran from our first flight's gate to get to our next flight (which was already boarding), as soon as we stepped off of the moving walk BLAAAHHHHH.  She spit up almost everything she had eaten that day.  It was running down her clothes, my coat, and into the diaper bag.  There were pools of spit up in the diaper bag pockets ::cringe::  I started tearing up from frustration as we boarded the plane.  Lucky for us, Carina slept from then on. 

We finally arrived home at around 11 PM.  I cursed the clock as I set my alarm for 5:30 AM.  So.freaking.tired.

So much screaming

Those would be the three words I would use to describe the last few days.  Carina does not like to travel nor does she like being in a new place.  She also has had theatrical timing with both projectile spitup and poopsplosions.  I am running on very little sleep and am hurting pretty badly since this idiot frazzled Mama forgot to bring all of the manual pump parts and Carina doesn't want to nurse this morning.  ::sigh::

Please cross your fingers for a happy smiling baby today, the day of her baptism.  Also, if you could pray that spitup does not end up in the baptismal font and her little white dress remains free from poop stains, that would be much appreciated.

To cheer you (and myself) up, here is a cute video I filmed recently of Carina blowing raspberries.  Oh-so-cute.  Enjoy.

Boston Baby Shower - 10/17

On Sunday my Mom and sisters threw me a baby shower at my Mom's house in Taunton, MA. The shower had a princess theme. My Mom really went all out with the decorations...there were tiaras and tutus and all sorts of cute little pink things (which I love!)

Me with my sisters (yes I am wearing a tiara):

Is it me or does the pattern on my dress and angle of the photo somehow make me not look as pregnant?

Me with my best friend:


Some of the adorable decorations:


We played a few games including 'guess the baby photo' where all of the guests brought a photo of them when they were young. I got them all right! Then we played gift bingo and 'guess how big my belly is' where people cut a length of ribbon and we measured it up against my belleh. Lots of fun.

I still can't believe how generous everyone was with gifts. We don't have many things left to buy for baby!

After the shower in my favorite Red Sox shirt (with my sister):

Haha definitely look pregnant here.

Thanks again, Mom, Amanda, and Jessie! I had such a fantastic time.

Have to wake up at 3:30 AM tomorrow morning...

...since we are flying to Philly bright and early! We're spending Friday and Saturday with M's family, and his neighbor is throwing me a shower on Saturday. Sunday morning we'll be flying to Boston to see my family. My Mom and sisters are throwing me a shower on Sunday afternoon. We're flying back home on Monday night. It's going to be an amazing weekend!

See you next week!

P.S. I hope Carina likes flying :)

Can't wait...

...for my baby showers in about 2 weeks! M and I are flying home to Philly on Friday, October 15th. His neighbor who we are both close with is throwing me a shower on the 16th. I am so excited to see M's family and all of our friends!

Then, Sunday morning (the 17th) we are flying from Philly to Boston just in time for my Mom and sisters to throw me a shower! We'll be staying until late Monday, the 18th. I can't wait to see my family!

It will definitely be a tiring weekend, and I have no idea what flying at 28 weeks will be like, but I'm sure it will be well worth it to see those I love and miss so much :)

Great weekend at home

Why are vacations never as long as they should be? I flew home to Massachusetts on Thursday and spent the day shopping with my Mom. On Friday, we picked M up from his Chemistry conference in Rhode Island and drove out to my parents' vacation home on Cape Cod. We had so much fun playing with my niece and nephew all day, and had Lobster for dinner. Mmmm...

Here is me with Riley. Please forgive my makeup-less face.


On Saturday, we went to my favorite place for lunch to get fried clams. Then, it was time for Daddy's birthday party! My mom had chartered a sail boat to sail around the Atlantic Ocean for a few hours and my dad had no idea. He was so surprised when he saw everyone (about 40 people)! After the sail we all headed back to the house for a BBQ. He has such a fantastic birthday.

Not a great photo, but here is M, me, the bump, and my Mom on the sailboat.


On Sunday we went to the beach before heading to the airport to go home. We both loved getting to spend so much time with our niece and nephew this weekend. Every time one of them cried or spit up my sister said, "just you wait!" hehehe.

Conor loved throwing sand at M at the beach.


::sigh:: I can't believe vacation is already over :(

Disney World!

I arrived in Orlando on Friday afternoon and after getting a little lost, we managed to find our hotel. We stayed in a suite at the All-Star Music resort. On the way to the hotel, I had my first bout of morning sickness (the vomiting kind). It was only appropriate that I experienced this while in the car with my ladies LOL.

Heather and me on the bus to Downtown Disney

We had a nice dinner at Downtown Disney and did some shopping. In the morning, we started at the Magic Kingdom and went on all of my favorite rides!

The castle!

I wish I had bought more Disney things when I was there. I got a cheshire cat mug for myself, and a mug with Grumpy on it that says "I hate mornings" for M (perfect!) Lastly, I bought a little pink jumper that has Minnie Mouse in a princess dress and says "Princess in Training". So cute. If we don't have a girl, we can use it as a gift for someone else.

The ladies

Here we are just starting our day. My favorite ride was the Haunted Mansion. After a long day we headed back to the hotel to relax for a little while we headed over to Hollywood Studios for dinner and a few rides.

Hollywood Studios

We started Sunday at the Animal Kingdom, but didn't stay too long since Heather and I couldn't go on any of the rides. We couldn't even do the safari. I will definitely have to go back there someday.

The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Then we went over to Epcot (my favorite!) and had a great time visiting the countries. We spend a lot of time at Canada, where Sarah is from, and got some great pics. We really lucked out with the weather the whole weekend, it was gorgeous.

Canada Pavilion

Sunday night we had dinner at Downtown Disney again, at a restaurant called T-Rex. It was awesome! My favorite part was a giant octopus hanging from the ceiling that had moving tentacles. Priceless.

On my way home on Sunday while on my layover in Chicago, a woman offered me the seat next to her and said "congratulations!" I was completely shocked. I am bloated, but I certainly don't look pregnant yet. ::sigh::

Best news ever came yesterday. After a magical weekend at Disney World, Jolene is pregnant!!!