Last month Sam had the opportunity to add two more states to his list. We took a road trip down to Atlanta to visit Dede and G Daddy and then flew to Dallas to meet up with some dear college friends! This was our first road trip since May, when Sam was four months old and we drove to Ashleign & Gabe's wedding in Knoxville. It went about as well as I expected. There were some rough times, but I think I timed it as well as I could. I did the same thing both ways: Departed immediately after he woke up and ate (stayed in PJs to keep it comfy), and stopped for a 30 minute break after his first nap to refuel the car and our bellies. Mom had everything we needed in Atlanta: Pack and Play, highchair, stuff for the bath, diapers, etc etc so it was pretty easy to pack a few clothes and go. I have seen the DVD players that attach to the back of the seat, and while I am generally against TV for babies, I think it could make the travel easier when we get to the "I'm just mad at being tied down in this silly seat" stage of the trip.
We got to meet Maddox Low and Huck Belknap while we were there, and hang out with Martha and Lyndsey too! Hopefully next time I will get to introduce Sam to my other friends from high school.
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| Hanging out with G Daddy |
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| On the slides with Dede |
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| Barkley wanted to go too... Sam thought this was funny :) |
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| Here I come! |
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| He just loves these two. And they spoiled him with kisses and toys :) |
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| So squeezable. |
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| Aunt Aylett came in town to visit, too! |
We returned home on Saturday just in time to make it to Sam's buddy Will's 1st birthday party. Will and Sam spent 4 months together during the day after I went back to work, so we were eager to help him celebrate his big day. Will had a blast at the party and once Sam took his time observing everyone, he made some friends too. Will and Sam's sweet nanny Stephanie was there too, so it was fun to be reunited with her.
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| Buddies in the ball pit |
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| Reunited. Sam's not sure what Will's doing to his ear. |
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The next Friday we packed up again and hopped on a plane to Dallas! I was very nervous about this flight. Although Sam did great on the flight to Florida in May, he is a very wiggly worm these days, and also much louder. :) Thanks to our kind seatmate who switched into another open seat (I'm sure he was just as happy about this arrangement), we had 2 seats to ourselves which was KEY. I had brought a pumped bottle, which I gave him as we took off. I thought he'd go to sleep after eating his bottle but he had a hard time falling asleep so I ended up nursing him to sleep anyway.
When we got to Dallas, Anne picked us up and we went back to her house to pick up the twins. They are so much bigger than the last time I saw them (about a year ago) and so cute and active! Their personalities are totally different, so amazing even at 18 months. Sam had a blast crawling around after them all weekend. After that, we got back in the car, went to the airport and picked up other friends. Then back in the car down to the ranch, which ended up being a little longer than planned. :) Sam got flustered at one point when he was having a hard time falling asleep, but overall I was so proud of him for being a great trooper. He went straight to bed when we got to the ranch.
It rained pretty much the whole weekend but that was ok as the guys all stayed inside watching football and golf and the girls got to catch up over coffee. And the babies just crawled around and played. Trips are MUCH different with children!!! We did go for a walk on Saturday and saw some horses. Unfortunately, I ended up catching the tummy bug on Saturday night and decided to change my flight to go home Sunday instead of Monday, so we got to see Jess for a few minutes, but missed visiting with our other Dallas friends. Maybe we will make it out there again sometime soon.
I forgot to pull out the camera to take too many pictures, but here is a pic of the three nuggets in the bathtub!
