Wednesday, July 27, 2011

A Tale of Two Trips

On Sunday we returned from our second family camping trip. 
In one word...
AWESOME! 
My children are amazing campers.
However...(you knew there would be a however)...camping hasn't always been that great for our little foursome. 

A little over a year ago we decided to go on the maiden voyage camping trip of my in-laws new travel trailer.  We went over a long weekend to the beautiful North Georgia Mountains.  Here are the names of the poor souls who were involved:
Tim, Brittney, Graham, Lilly, Jan, Lee and Grandma Holland (Gigi)

The trip started off just fine.  It was beautiful, cool mountain weather.  The trailer set-up perfectly...and all was well.
That is...until the sun went down.
The kids went to bed just fine while the grown ups went outside to enjoy the night air.  Shortly after they went to sleep a mountain monsoon hit.  Since there was nothing we could do outside in the rain, and since the kids were asleep inside, we had to just go to bed. 
We were all spread out on different beds throughout the camper.  Graham slept beside me in the pack-n-play, Lilly was on the bottom bunk, Tim on the top bunk, in-laws in their snug little room, and Gigi on the table-bed. 
Suddenly the trailer was awakened by the sound of a blood curdling 8 month old screaming.  I leaped out of bed only to realize I was drenched from head to toe!  The camper was leaking right above mine and Graham's bed!  And sure enough...Graham was as wet as I was...AND ANGRY ABOUT IT! 
After drying us all off my selfless father-in-law said he would sleep in the wet bed and I could take the big bed with Jan. 
Here's the problem...
Graham is now wide awake!!  So I put him in bed with me and tried to get him to go to sleep, but that just meant play-time with Mommy! 
After about 45 minutes of this we heard a loud THUD by the bunk bed.
LILLY FELL OUT ONTO HER FACE!!!  She was lying in a limp little pile of sheets not moving or saying a word. 
Being the super-hero that he is, Tim threw his legs over the top bunk to rescue his little adventurous sleeping beauty.  However (there's that word again!) as his legs were flying through the air they hit the unsuspecting thermostat on the wall and broke it clean off. 

Commence the bunny hop!!

Since he was too busy screaming in his mouth, while holding his broken toe, and bunny hopping as quietly as possible...I had to rescue the still limp sleeping princess. 
I threw the hyper wet baby at Grandma and dashed across the trailer, lifted the STILL sleeping babe and placed her back in the bunk.

And she never woke up.

At this point I thought the night would never end.
We couldn't find a clock anywhere! 

Finally Graham fell asleep in my arms.  I was able to get him to stay asleep in the pack-n-play and then crawled back into the bed.

All the while Gigi never woke up!  We found out later she took a sleeping pill before bed...smart woman!


As you can see I was a little hesitant to agree to another camping trip.  I was assured the leak had been fixed, that a rail would go on the bunk for Lilly, and Tim would be nowhere near the thermostat in the middle of the night.
So trip number two began, and I quickly saw how much a difference a year makes.
Graham loved every second of camping.
The swimming in the lake (as long as that mean old life jacket stayed far away from him), the eating outside (as long as he didn't have to sit in that insulting booster seat), the sleeping in a tent (as long as Daddy was in there with him and a window air conditioner unit was in place)...he loved it.

Moral of the story (for the Holland's at least) it's great to be able to laugh at the hard trips...because it makes the great ones even greater.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Happy 18 Months!

Dear Grambo,

I cannot begin to tell you what a wonderful little boy you are becoming!  

Of course you have always been fabulous...but who am I kidding...you've been a handful for about the past 10 months.   
The 15 months of sleepless nights.
The evening anger...or colic...who knows!
The holding your breath until you pass out because your sister had your bike...you get the picture.


But now...I don't know...it's like you have started growing up a little.
Now you sleep through the night!!!!!  
Now you know that mommy can't hold you while I'm cooking dinner...and you're ok with it!!!!
Now you only turn a slight shade of blue while holding your breath!!!!  (glad to have learned the trick of spritzing him with water to snap him out of it)


And through all of these learning stages you have become more and more snugly and lovable!   


I love the way you look at me.  No one in the world...not even your Daddy...looks at me the way you do.  
I love the way you are so proud of me when I play a softball game.  You are my biggest fan!
I love the way you say my name 22 times in the car so I will look at you in the mirror...and then you give me the biggest cheesy grin!
I love the way you have started smiling at the camera...instead of being insulted by it.
I love the way you think Lilly is the most amazing person to walk the earth and that anything she does deserves to be copied.
I love the way you dance in the middle of the store to whatever song is on...Justin Beiber or not.
I love the way you love your "Deef" (Chief) and your "Bop-Bop" (Pop-Pop)
I love the way food excites you...and always gets a happy dance.
I love the way you tell me it's time to listen to music by waving your hands in the air.
I love the way you are insulted by a high chair or booster seat.
I love that you are still not on the percentile chart at the doctor for height or weight...and they are cool with that!
I love that you love to slide backwards, and that we have to all swing together on the swingset...because we are a family!!
I love the way you run to your "Da-Da" when he comes through the door.


And I could go on forever...


So happy 18 months my son.  You are amazing.







Monday, July 4, 2011

A Blogger's Vow

Lately I have noticed that my blogging entries are few and far between...about one a month...
That is not enough!!!!
My daily life is full of bizarre moments.  It is full of jaw dropping gasps.  It is full of precious freeze-frame incidents.
Yet, when those action packed days come to a close I am doing good to keep my eyes open long enough to look at my husband.
I am going to try and do better.
I know that all of those precious moments pass so quickly and this blog has been the best way for me to keep a record of everything.
So here is my kick-in-the-pants speech.  Here is my do-it-for-the-little-guys vow.
I WILL GET IT TOGETHER BETTER!!!
...and I'll start tomorrow.