I realize I'm almost a month late with this post, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that's ok. I've been focusing on a lot of different things in my life other than blogging, and for right now I only want to come here when it makes sense for me and I really have something to say. And today, I guess I've got something to say about Christmas ;)
This year our Christmas was pretty low key, and pretty perfect. The weekend before Christmas we went to Oklahoma to spend some time with my Dad, which Grayson absolutely loves. He could spent an entire day out at the barn with my dad, playing in the dirt and just generally being a real country boy. This is hilarious to me because when I was a child I had zero interest in my dad's barn or any of the horses inside of it. I was so not "country". And somehow I've got a son who is being raised right smack in the middle of a city and loves nothing more than being inside a smelly barn.
The next day, we went on to see my Uncles. We love spending time with those guys, and their place is pretty much our home away from home. Things are quite relaxed when we visit these days since Grayson is involved. Before he was a part of the group, we spent a lot of time going out and having drinks and staying up all night. Now I typically go to bed with Grayson around 10 or so (he gets to stay up late at the Guncles house), the hubs will stay up with the Uncles and mom having a glass or two of wine, then everyone's usually in bed by midnight. BIG change.
On Christmas Eve we had A's family as well as my parents over to our house for a little Christmas gathering and lunch. Grayson and his "big" cousin Haik played together more than they ever have before (Haik hasn't been Grayson's biggest fan thus far haha), so he had an absolute blast. After a very long and relaxed lunch/dinner, all of A's family headed home and we did our gift exchange with my parents. This year I swore I wouldn't go overboard because this kid already has so much stuff and doesn't NEED anything else, but I really just can't resist. And neither can my parents, apparently. We set out cookies for Santa and G got to stay up pretty late that night, too.
Christmas day we woke up early and did Santa gifts, as well as opened our stockings. Stockings have always been my favorite part of Christmas for some reason, so I made sure A knew he better stuff my stocking with some good stuff! After that, we headed north to Oklahoma for Christmas with my mom's side of the family. There are so many littles running around now with that side of my family, so it's just so much fun to watch them all playing together. There's Grayson who is 20 months, Isabella who is 21 months, Jayden who just turned one, and Jonah who turned one on Christmas day. It's so cute to see so many tiny ones right around the same age together. Wish we all got together more!
This year was so much fun because Grayson was really into it. He got excited about all his gifts, opened them on his own, and loves his toys so much. Last year he was just kind of taking it all in, but this year he was running around like a maniac and enjoying every minute. I can tell that every year is going to be more fun than the last one - hopefully in the future I can get it together and refrain from going overboard with things one spoiled little boy really doesn't need. Ha, good luck, right? Even though it's so ridiculously late to say this, I really hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with loved ones!
Every year at this time I reflect on how good I really have it. There are so, so many things that I am thankful for, and I'm so incredibly blessed to have the life I do. Of course there are struggles, and life lately has certainly had it's sadness and challenges, but overall I am so lucky to live this life, with this husband and this baby and this family and my lovely home and sweet friends and food on the table and a reliable car to drive. I take for granted so many things that would be such a miracle for others. I truly strive every day to appreciate the good in my life and to recognize how amazing it really is that my family and I are all safe and healthy and happy. And on this day, I'm more aware than usual. That's what I love about the holiday season. Although it may have it's downsides, it seems to bring an awareness to what's important in life.
I hope that you're all having a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. This time of year can be so stressful and overwhelming, but I hope you're able to sit back today and count your blessings. Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!
We recently had family photos taken by the amazing Fairytale Photography here in the DFW area, and they were phenomenal as usual. I'll be sharing more soon!
As I mentioned in my post last week (Six Tips for Road Tripping With Young Kids)we recently went on our very first family vacation. We drove out to Orange Beach, Alabama for a five night stay at a cute little resort right on the beach. Even though we always say we're going to plan out our days beforehand whenever we take a trip, it never fails that we just kind of wing it once we get there. And that's exactly what we did.
A and I are the worst about weighing our options and finally picking a place to stay , so it took us awhile to decide on Perdido Beach Resort, but I'm glad we did. It literally was like a two minute walk to the water. The interior decor could use a little updating, but it was clean and well taken care of, and the staff was all super nice. Definitely recommend it if you ever happen to visit the Alabama coast.
I also mentioned in my last post how we came about visiting Orange Beach, since Alabama seems like a random vacation. If you didn't read it, a few months ago when we were trying to figure out where to take our trip, I came up with the brilliant (if I do say so myself) idea of making it a goal to see all 50 states as a family. I've always said it's a goal of mine, so why not rope everyone else into it with me? A said sure, whatever you say (he was probably watching sports and half listening)...so then I decided to make it even more interesting. I said something to the effect of "Babe, wouldn't it be fun if we saw all of the states in alphabetical order? Wouldn't that be such a fun and random way to see everything? Oh my gosh, yes! Let's do that! OK, so we'll go to Alabama this summer! I love it!". And he said something to the effect of "Alabama? What the hell are we going to do in Alabama?", and I said "They have beaches.", and he said "Oh. Ok.". So that was that.
So that's how we ended up in Orange Beach. And no, we won't be going to Alaska next year because someone doesn't like the cold and someone doesn't understand why anyone would ever want to go to Alaska and someone said they are vetoing that idea and we will skip to the next one, thankyouverymuch.
But I'm so glad I came up with my random plan, because Orange Beach was awesome. It was the perfect beach to have a kiddo in tow. Very low key, quiet, lots of older couples and families and basically zero people who were there for a party. Grayson was a little hesitant with the water the first day, but by day two he was running into the waves as fast as he could and causing mini heart attacks in his mama.
We basically spent our time on the beach, at the pool, and eating. On our third day we went to Pensacola Beach in Florida, which was about an hour drive, and I think that may have actually been our favorite day. The beach there was beautiful, the water was a clearer blue, and we found a fun little outdoor boardwalk area to walk around for awhile. The time passes so fast while you're on vacation, I can't believe we were actually there for four full days. But it was an absolute blast, and Grayson was seriously amazing. With a 16 month old it's kind of a gamble, and we were so pleasantly surprised.
A decided that he wanted to extend the trip by a day, so we debated on staying an extra night or stopping in New Orleans on the way home for a night. When we woke up our last day it was dark and gloomy with a high chance of rain all day, so that made the decision for us. New Orleans was only about three hours away, so we were there early in the afternoon and got to spend several hours exploring the French Quarter and Jackson Square.
I had been to New Orleans years ago, I believe the summer after I graduated high school, and I remembered it vaguely as being a very cool city. It was fun to be there again though, and I'm glad A got a chance to see it. His verdict was awesome city, would love to go back, but definitely not with a kid. Surprisingly, we saw several other people with little ones, but it's definitely not a super kid-friendly area. I never felt uncomfortable or like Grayson was unsafe in any way - but we did take a maybe five minute stroll down Bourbon Street and I can safely say that it is NO place for a baby. It was like we were on a casual little stroll, we turned onto Bourbon and everyone was NUTS. It was loud, people were screaming and dancing and literally 90% of the people looked wasted. Luckily G was napping in his stroller, and I have no idea how, but he slept through that entire debacle. The minute we turned down the street we looked at each other and started laughing and were like we have to get out of here!
The cutest part of the New Orleans stay was watching Grayson. That kid loves to dance, and the minute he hears music he starts moving. In stores, in the car, while he's eating, no matter what he's doing. There are street performers everywhere and music on every corner, so he literally danced his way through the entire French Quarter. He drew in quite a crowd at one point and some drunk guy came and gave me a hug and thanked me over and over again, telling me how amazing and wonderful Grayson was. It was hilarious. I swear this kid has a future in entertainment.
Overall the trip was pretty amazing. There were obviously some tantrums here and there (mostly from G), some bickering over where we should eat or what we should do, but for the most part it was wonderful. It made me want to take a vacation at least once a month. I mean, that seems totally reasonable. Can't wait for our next trip!
I know what you're thinking: Easter? Really? Come on, it's JUNE for cryin' out loud!
Yeah,yeah, I know...but somehow I haven't blogged about anything important...or really, anything at all, since like February. So when I was browsing through my photos and saw these I thought, now or never.
So it's now.
Easter this year was not the greatest. The day started out just fine. It was beautiful and sunny, and we went to the Armenian church to attend their Easter festivities. We saw the husband's family, Grayson got to meet a zillion people, we hung out for a bit and chatted, then we headed home to meet up with my dad.
Oh man, these pictures of G and all his cousins crack me up!
Quite possibly the only smile of the day....look at those poor eyes. How did I not know something was up??
We went out to grab a bite to eat, and Grayson was just so fussy the entire time. Earlier that day I had told A (remember, husband is now going by "A" on the blog...when I remember, that is) that he felt hot and I was a little worried. He told me it was probably just from being out in the sun and he was fine. Well, I noticed again that he was a little warm when we were on our way to lunch, but he always gets hot when he's been in his carseat, so I kind of brushed it off as that being the reason.
After we got home from our lunch with Papaw, I kept trying to make it a fun Easter - but it just wasn't really working. As the day went on I couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't ok. He was dragging around and not playing like normal. He obviously wasn't himself. He was so not into his new Easter toys and was super duper clingy to me. After a bit I kind of decided to just give up on the fun and start in with the cuddling, which seemed to be much needed.
Our sad attempt at a family photo...
After my dad left a couple hours later I finally took his temperature and it was so high! I can't remember what it was now, but it was over 100...I'm thinking around 101 something the first time I took it. My child had never been sick (aside from a tummy virus) at this point, so I kind of started freaking out. Plus, I felt AWFUL that I basically ignored the signs all day. Ugh, talk about mommy guilt.
His temperature kept climbing as the night went on, and I really started panicking. It got up to 103 and I decided it was time to call the after hours doc. She assured me that fevers in babies aren't near as worrisome as they are in adults and to just give him tyelenol or motrin, maybe do a cool rag on his arms and hands, and watch him. I felt a teensy bit better, but not much.
All in all it took the poor guy around three or four days to kick whatever it was that he had. We ended up going into the doctor and she said it was just some type of virus, but there wasn't a way to really tell exactly what it was. It was so, so sad to see my baby in that condition. Totally broke my heart!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that his birthday was the Thursday following Easter. So we made it 11 months and three weeks with not a bit of sickness, then he just felt absolutely terrible leading up to the big day. Fortunately he started feeling better Wednesday and was basically back to his normal self when he woke up on his birthday.
So, needless to say Grayson's first Easter wasn't exactly what I imagined it would be. We didn't hunt Easter eggs, he didn't care too much about anything in his Easter basket, and he was a big old grump all day long - for good reason! Even though it wasn't picture perfect, it sure did make me appreciative for that sweet baby's health!
