Month 2 recap

We have had a great month!! May is always crazy - and June was filled with lots of fun also!  I have really loved and cherished my time at home with my littles - and I know I will always look back on these 3 months with very fond memories that I will treasure for always.  It fills my heart to know how blessed we are, how good God is, and how much joy just having time for friends and family brings.  I just feel very at peace and happy now, and am going to enjoy the last week and a half we have together.

Ellie's 2 month checkup (besides having to wait 2 hours at the doctors office, trust me, was NOT happy, and was HUNGRY!) - the good news is that Ellie looks great, she is growing and was at 12 lbs (50%)  The doctor mentioned that we try to put her to sleep while she is a little awake to get her used to it.  Up until then, we were swaddling her (Miracle Blanket - was a recommendation from a friend) and that was helping her sleep pretty good in between feedings in bed with us. She would also start out and do pretty well in the swing for several hours, But, I knew I wanted to get her out of our bed as soon as we could (whenever we set her down in Pack and Play, she wakes right up) - so I had heard lots of good things about the Rock and Play - cradle/bassinet like thing to put her in, and the reviews were all raving, so we bought that hoping she would like it.  And we just tried it last week - and it's been GREAT!! She has slept through the night for the last 3 nights!!!! AMAZING!! So happy for all of us to be getting more sleep, and she wakes up and just has the HUGEST smile on her face.  So, everyone is feeling more rested.  She is doing a bit better with being put down and likes her swing in small doses and her playmat a little bit more. 

Some recent highlights:
Thomas the Train in Baldwin City, KS w/ Amy, Cody and kids:

Trip to Florida: Last week, we took a family trip down to Fort Walton Beach, Florida.  It was SO great!! I knew Ellie would be great, but was more concerned with how Will would do on the flights (we had 2 legs of the flights to get to Pensecola, FL and then an hour drive to Fort Walton)  The trip started with a 6am flight, and I assumed that it would be a pretty quiet time at the airport - WRONG!! What was I thinking?? That's when everyone needs to fly out for their week - UGH.  I have never seen the line so long to ticketing for Southwest.  OMG - we looked at each other - there was absolutely no way we would make it through that line.  So, we went outside to the Skycap and even that line was super long, but we hoped that we could possibly make that one.  We checked bags 40 minutes before flight, and luckily nothing else went wrong.  Our bags made it to Pensacola, Will did great on the flight, and we got upgraded to an SUV rental.  Ellie did blow out her diaper, but just when we got to the car, so we put on the back-up outfit and no big deal.  We went to a store there to pick up supplies for the week and were good to go. 

Monday - once we arrived, we were all exhausted from being up since 4am, so we all took a nap in the condo, and then we all got changed and went out to the beach.  Will did great!! He got his feet a little wet and even jumped in the water!!  He played in the sand, and we were thinking he did so much better than last year at the ocean.  After about an hour or so, it was time for dinner, and we went to Rick's crabhouse and had an awesome dinner of fresh seafood.  I had Redfish, Amberjack, and Ahi Tuna, and Patrick had a big seafood platter.  It was really fun.  Once Will went to bed, P, Ellie, and I sat outside on the patio and played some Gin and had a few drinks.  Love listening to the ocean waves and feeling the ocean breeze.  Ahhhh....

Tuesday - even though Will slept awesome, he still woke up and HATED the beach that morning.  He did not like the sand all over him, he was getting sand in his eyes, and even Ellie was being pretty fussy - and everytime I reached through the sunshade to give her a binky - it was getting sand all over her.  So, we all didn't last too long out there, but thought we would try the condo pool since we were all dressed.  Will actually played quite a while there and enjoyed throwing the ball around and let Patrick walk him in the water.  We went back up to make sandwiches and then went to the Air Force Museum they have there - which was AWESOME!! I had no idea how impressive it would be to see all those fighter planes, jets and helicopters.  It was a very nice set-up and Will also loved all the airplanes.  Then was time for Will's nap, and during that Patrick and I took turns spending time on the beach.  While it would have been nice to all be down there together, was still nice to be there, relax, and just soak up the sun!  That night we went to a place that was called Stewy's shandy- just a sit on picnic tables for dinner, but they had GREAT, fresh seafood as well.  After that we went to the Pier/boardwalk - and it was super fun!  There were people fishing from the pier, and we saw a few great catches of some BIG fish - and also saw lots of dolphins jumping out of the water!  So fun, and was great to just let Will run around a bit!

Wednesday - we woke up and it was very overcast and rainy.  We had decided that we would go out for brunch in Destin, so we drove the 10 minutes or so into Destin.  Destin is way more the resort type of area, very nice, (Fort Walton is definitely more quiet) - we really liked Another Broken Egg Cafe - and then drove around Destin for awhile.  I will say - at this point - Will was being SUPER crazy, fussy/whiney, and we were all sort of losing our patience.  We couldn't wait to get back to the condo and have him take a nap!  He was pretty much a stinker until finally the sun came out around 4pm, so we thought not to try the beach again for him, and just went ot the pool - and we actually had a really nice time there.  Then, we really wanted to try a restaurant called Boshamps for dinner in Destin, and it was AMAZING!! We sat outside (even though pretty breezy and possible chance that it was going to rain again) - and it was really nice view, we had a great server - had a fun strawberry, lemonade drink - and one of the best meals!! I had a seared grouper with spinach on top of a feta souflle with a tomato jam on top.  It was just the BEST flavors.  Even Will's fish sticks were really, really good!  Then, we finished up an awesome evening walking down the boardwalk area there, and it was really fun.  Lots of people and shops around - people rock wall climbing, balloon makers, face painters, zip lining, bungee jumping, etc.  We each grabbed a beer, walked around and enjoyed the live music too!  It was one of the best nights!

Thursday - our flights back were a little later.  Unfortunately, I was having really bad stomachache, and was in the bathroom prior to our flight and was praying I was going to make it on the plane.  Ugh.  Luckily that flight was uneventful and thank goodness for iPads and Will's love for Cars, he basically just watched that during all the flights.  We had a 2 hour layover in Nashville, so we lucked out and there was a kid's play area right by our gate, so he played there and we had lunch.  I made a Mama mistake and didn't pack enough diapers for Will in the carry-on, and turns out right before we are boarding our last flight, Ellie started getting really fussy (really her only big crying moment on the trip) so I am trying to calm her down, and P took Will to the bathroom, changed him and had to put on one of Ellie's diapers on him!!! Haha!  Poor kid - we knew it could hold a #1 - but if he went #2 again, it would be a BIG mess!  Thank goodness we all made it back, he was only tugging at the side of his diaper a little bit :)

I think the most afraid Will was the whole time was on the shuttle bus back to our car!  It was a pretty jerky ride, and after one particularly quick brake, Will says' Whoa, what's going on in here?' :)  We laughed pretty hard!  Another funny thing, Will would always get pretty nervous on elevators, but since our condo was on the 4th floor, we had to take it a lot.  He started looking forward to it, and then got excited to go on what he called the 'alligator' :)  So, he got over a few fears at least on the trip!  Both kids were troopers, and we have some sweet memories.

Visit from Great-Grandpa and Grandma Alternhofen -whom Ellie shares a name with! :)

Pool Day:

Lastly - we all had a great Father's Day as well.  We visited my Dad Saturday in Atchison, and then celebrated Patrick and Bill on Sunday.  I am so blessed to have such a great dad for my kids and they both absolutely adore him (ok, me too :)) 

Will has also graduated into a toddler bed (I know, finally) and so far has been doing pretty good job of staying in bed and telling us when he is awake so we can come get him.  We did however put up a gate outside his room so he can't 'wander' during the night!

Locked out

A story from my maternity leave that I know will be re-told over the years:

It was a Thursday, June 5th to be exact, and we were getting ready to visit my friend Lauren and their new baby boy, Blaise.  I knew that I had a Bearcat onsie downstairs in our baby clothes bins, and thought I would see if I could find it for Blaise, since he has Bearcat parents.  Anyway, I told Will I would be right back, and I close the door to go downstairs and open the bins quickly.  After just a few short minutes, I walk up the stairs, and turn the knob and the door....is....locked.  OMG!!!!!!  My heart started racing, and I started hitting the door and telling Will he needed to unlock the door.  I said, as calmly as I could, Will please come unlock the door, just like you locked it, please turn the lock on the door and unlock it.  His response was NO!!  NO!!! NO!!  I could tell he wasn't standing close to the door, but I was starting to panic.  My baby girl is up there, she is crying loudly already - and all I can think is 'I can't get to my baby!!'.  I tried to keep talking to Will to get him to try to unlock the door, but that wasn't working.  So, I figured, I was going to have to break down the door.  So, I heave with all my body weight and shoulder against the door, and see it barely budge (dang, I guess we have a good lock)  but I can tell that he didn't do the deadbolt (would have been too tall for him really) but must have just turned the darn lock on the door. 

After a couple tries of trying to break open the door, at this point, Will is screaming 'Mommy, Mommy- where are you??' and he is starting to panic.  So, I wiggled my fingers through the bottom of the door hoping he would see where I was.  I could tell he was climbing the stairs upstairs, perhaps thinking that's where he was hearing my voice come from.  So, I'm trying to talk him into coming down the stairs, and I had the thought to ask him if he could give Ellie her binky - just so she wouldn't feel completely abandoned, and then I thought NO- he is HER biggest threat right now.  If he tried to help, who knows if he would have picked her up, or something.  So, I am completely panicked at this point - I felt so trapped, like I couldn't get to my babies no matter how hard I tried. 

I grabbed a carseat he have in the basement and was trying to shove that against the door too, but still nothing budging.  Finally, I thought, I wonder if I can make it through the window in our basement.  It's pretty small, but I was determined at this point.  So, I took a kitchen chair and heaved it through the window and broke the glass (thankfully, it was plexiglass) and it broke easily.  So then I stood up on the chair, and all I had to do was make it through the window.  I wiggled my way through, and then crawled through our front bushes, and then put in our garage code to get in the house!! OMG!!!!  I have never been so relieved to hug my babies.  In the process, I didn't even feel it, but I was bleeding from the cut glass, on my hands, arms, legs, etc.  So, I was trying to clean myself up while calmly Ellie, and reassuring Will, but also having a very stern talk to him about not locking doors! AHH!  So, anyway, we all made it - I was down there for about 15-20 minutes - and since then I have to tell myself several times not to think about what would have happened if I couuldn't make it through the window! 

I had some nice cuts/bruises on my body for a good week after to show my battle wounds!  Ah--- what a crazy story --- I can't wait to tell Will's future wife and his kids some day about this one!!