A Week With Oma and Opa

I don't know what it is about the week of Ty and my anniversary, but for whatever reason the last 2 years he's had to travel for work that week. It would seem to be coincidence but he literally takes one or two work trips a year... We were going to be at my parents' house for the 4th and then again the following weekend for a race we were signed up for. Ty doesn't like me to be at home by myself when he travels and I don't sleep the best so we decided I'd just stay with the kids at my parents' house all week. Then the kids and I wouldn't have to travel at all. We were sad to miss out on the possibility of time with Ty but he flew out early Monday morning and returned late Thursday night and then had to work Friday so we really wouldn't have gotten to see him even if we had traveled home with him. Plus it was so nice to be in my hometown and get to catch up with friends.

Monday morning I took the kids in the stroller on a run to a park we don't go to very often when visiting because it's a ways from my parents' house. My mom drove to meet us there. After playing for almost 2 hours Carter said he was ready to go home so we started out on our journey home. On our way we stopped at my dad's office to say hello and visit with him for a bit. My mom and Jeremy met up with us again to walk over to a sno cone stand and then walked the rest of the way home with us. We arrived home in time for lunch and naps. Carter took an especially long nap, about 3 hours. When he woke up he wanted to take Bobbie on a walk so we walked her around the block. My dad got home right at the end of our walk so we ate dinner and then headed out to Storytime at the library where we met Erin, Addison, and Hayden. Carter started out sitting next to Hayden but the story was a puppet show with loud sound effects and a mean turtle who ate people so Carter got scared and wanted to sit in my lap. He kept saying, "No, no more!" when the turtle would show back up. He definitely wasn't a fan of the stories but had a blast playing with the toys in the children's section afterward. We got to FaceTime daddy before bed which Carter loved.

They were both having fun although their faces don't show it.

Waiting for our sno cones.

Walking Bobbie

Carter sitting in my lap at storytime because he was scared.

Elise enjoying storytime.

Facetiming daddy!

Tuesday I took off for a run solo. Then we went to Erin's house for a visit. We stayed for about 3 hours and the kids had a blast. Elise and Addison laid on the floor kicking their legs and swinging their arms, sometimes talking to each other. Carter and Hayden played with pretty much every toy Hayden owns which included a sword fight with foam swords. Erin made us lunch and then Carter started getting really tired. When it was time to leave he didn't want to go so he wouldn't tell Hayden good bye which was so sad. Poor Hayden kept trying but Carter was having none of it. I was impressed that we left at naptime and he stayed awake for the entire 30 minute drive home. We talked about what we saw out the window, what color the cars passing and cows were out the window, and played eye spy. It was actually quite a fun drive home! 

Elise and Addison playing together.

Wearing the matching dresses I bought for them when Erin found out she was having a girl too!

The best shot I got of all four of them.

Eating lunch

Upon our arrival Carter got to see Opa, who was home for lunch, before heading to bed. That's the nice thing about living in a small town, my dad works about a mile from their house. Right after putting Carter to bed I started seeing spots and could tell I was going to get a migraine. I immediately headed up to bed with Elise. I was hoping for one of the mild migraines I've been having pretty much since Carter was born where I sleep it off for a few hours and then can function decently well. I laid down at 2:00 and woke at 4:00 when Elise wanted to eat. My vision still hadn't returned and I could tell this one was going to be a monster. It hurt to lift my eyelids to open them, it hurt to sit up, my teeth even hurt from all the pressure. When I sat up to feed Elise I realized how nauseous I was. It was pretty bad. I laid there so thankful that I wasn't at home by myself. My parents played with Carter and came to get Elise when she was done sleeping. My dad got me Sprite and my mom kept offering to make me oatmeal or go buy me Excedrin Migraine. I made the mistake of getting up for a while because I missed Carter and wanted to see him but ended up going back to bed when I lost my vision again and a whole new round of ache in my head began. I took Elise to bed with me to nurse and then sleep. I tried putting her in the Pack N Play but she was restless and kept fussing and spitting out her pacifier. My head was killing me and it hurt to bend over to reach into her crib so I gave up and let her sleep in bed with me. I was bummed that I missed a FaceTime call from Ty during that time but I wouldn't have been able to look at the screen anyway, it was too bright! After Carter went to bed I slept until 2 am when Elise wanted to eat, after a 5 hour sleep stretch, woo hoo! It was an awful evening but I survived and thank goodness had the help of my parents so I wasn't alone! It was by far the worst migraine I've had since my pregnancy with Carter so I'm hoping I go another 3 years before having another one like it! So if you were wondering why I missed posting on Tuesday, that's why. I had my post all typed and ready to go but even then it was not happening!

Wednesday morning Carter woke up at 4:50, thankfully I was able to convince him to come to bed with me and he then slept until 7:20. I guess Miss Elise decided since he was in bed with me she wanted to be too and fussed and cried until I finally put her in bed with us 30 minutes later. She was really fidgety but slept. Then to top it all off I woke up to a phone call alerting me our home alarm was going off at 6:30 am. I was hopeful that an alarm had just been tripped and we hadn't been broken into for a 3rd time in just over 4 years! Of course after that I couldn't go back to sleep and I knew Ty was on a flight so I tried to just rest and wait to hear back from the police or the alarm company. Thankfully it turned out to have been our hallway censor and there appeared to be no broken windows or doors forced open!

With such a fun start to the day and my head still pounding plus the fact that it was pouring down rain, I decided it was a day to lay around and be lazy indoors. We didn't leave the house and I didn't shower until after nap time. Then we headed to Target and the mall for Carter to play in the play area. He enjoyed the toys and being chased by Opa carrying Elise. Then a couple of boys showed up and Carter played chase around the play area with them for the rest of the time. He was panting and thirsty when we left so I called that a win! On our way out he saw the toys that cost a quarter to ride and wanted to play on them so I distracted him by telling him Opa was the leader and we had to follow the leader out to the car. He thought the game was a blast and didn't catch on to what I had done. He followed Opa exactly even when Opa grabbed Oma's hand for the parking lot. Carter grabbed my hand and then looked back realizing Uncie J didn't have a hand to hold so he held his hand too. When we got to the car he wanted to keep playing so we promised him we'd play when we got home. It was so cute watching Carter walk backward and then hop up the stairs just like his Opa!

Opa and Elise chasing Carter at the play area.

Oma and Elise watching Carter play.

Thursday we had scheduled a play date with 3 of my co-workers from the first school I taught at. We met for lunch and then headed to a bounce house. One friend has a son who just graduated high school. Then the other 2 have kids who are 6 and then younger kids close to Carter's age. The 3 younger boys are December, June, and August birthdays. Carter is the oldest of the 3 at 2.5 and then the others are 2 and almost 2. Carter immediately hit it off with Dagger who he called Digger the whole time. He may have partially liked him so much because he thought he was named after construction equipment! Carter shared his blocks and stickers with Dagger and generally just enjoyed him. On our way to the bounce house Carter kept asking, "Where Dagger go?!" and spent most of his time in the bounce house either playing with Dagger or looking for him. They even played at the water fountain together. The bounce house didn't open until noon so I figured I'd take Carter's lead to see how long we stayed. Finally at 2:30 I decided it was time to call it quits. He would be playing and just randomly lay down on the floor in exhaustion. He napped the whole 35 minute drive home but didn't go back to sleep when we arrived at Oma and Opa's so I gave up on naptime and decided on an early bedtime instead. Ty called to FaceTime since it was our anniversary and we enjoyed talking about how we'd get to see him the following day! Earlier in the day I had pulled down my parents' photo album of our wedding day to show Carter. As I looked at the pictures I was reminded how much fun it was but kept thinking how much more fun it would have been if Carter had been there. I explained to Carter that his daddy and I had gotten married on that day 4 years ago and showed him my ring saying daddy also had one because we decided we wanted to live together for the rest of our lives. Carter wanted to see daddy's ring when we facetimed and then decided he wanted a ring too so his Oma dug one out that she had as a baby. It was pretty awesome!

Carter and Dagger playing with blocks at lunch.

Group shot of all the kids at the bounce house.

Carter and Dagger playing at the water fountain.

Moms with all the kids.

Group shot!

Showing daddy his ring on Facetime.

Elise wearing Oma's baby ring.

Friday Carter was wiped out and slept in until 8:30! We lazed around for a bit and then walked to the park to play. At the park I told Carter a story about his Uncie Taco falling in the lake as a kid. He thought it was hilarious and asked me to tell it over and over. Oma had rushed Opa in the morning and in his hurry he slammed his head into the doorframe peeling skin back and bleeding down his forehead. He had made an appointment for me so we could have the windshield on our van fixed (a rock bounced up and put a chip in it a few weeks back on the way home from Ty's parents' house) and he offered to drive it to work and then drop it off for me. He just needed someone to pick him up or he joked he would just wander his way home. We left the park in plenty of time to get back but Carter insisted on walking so it took us 3 times as long as it should have. By the time we made it back dad called to check on a ride and I joked that we had expected him to wander home as he'd said! My mom did go pick him up once we were home to watch Elise who we'd left sleeping at the house. We were supposed to meet Hayden at the swimming pool after Carter's nap but he didn't fall asleep until after 2:00 so he was still asleep at 4:00 and the pool closed at 5:00. Instead Oma started filling 100 water balloons she had picked up while Carter was sleeping. When Hayden arrived she had all the balloons filled and waiting for them along with water guns. They had an absolute blast! While we were outside playing Ty arrived after his week of traveling for work. It was the absolute best feeling seeing him walk through the door and I didn't want to let him go once I had my arms wrapped around him.

Carter and Hayden playing in the water.

So excited to have daddy back!

Water guns with Oma!

My parents agreed to watch the kids after dinner so Ty and I could go on a late anniversary date. We ended up going to a restaurant to sit and talk while eating some chips and queso while enjoying a drink. Then we stopped off for some ice cream before heading home. It was so nice to have some quiet time to talk after a long week apart! I left Elise with 6 ounces of milk and when we got home she had just polished off 4 ounces. Little lady had a surprise in store for us as she went from 11pm-6am before wanting to eat again! I felt like a new woman after almost 7 hours of solid sleep. If only I'd gone to bed right away! To keep this post from being too absurdly long, I'm going to do a separate post about our weekend.

Reunited and it feels so good!