A Visit to Your Nana and GG-Ma's

You and I took our first trip this weekend without Dad. You and I went to Seattle to visit your Nana and Great Grandma and Dad went to Vegas for a bachelor party. We won't post about Dad's shenanigans, but needless to say he had fun with his friends.

I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of taking our first trip by ourselves and getting through the airport but we made it. I managed to haul you in the baby bjorn while carrying the diaper bag, our suitcase and the car seat  in and out of the checked baggage area. You were a model baby on both of the plane rides and we received numerous compliments on how well behaved you were. You didn't cry at all even though you were awake for portions of each plane ride.

We left Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend and waited for my friend Brooke to pick us up. She was delayed due to traffic and car troubles so you and I sat outside of the airport (thankfully it was a nice enough day for us to do so) and waited. You were a great baby for that hour that we waited! We went out to dinner with Brooke and Marlon. Brooke thought you were super sweet. Marlon was grossed out by you spitting up everywhere and gagged every time you puked. It was hilarious. After dinner they dropped us off at your GG-Ma's house. Both her and your Nana were waiting for us.

We didn't do much in the way of activities over the next few days but we had a good time. You did come down with a fever Saturday morning and so you were a little fussy over the visit, but for the most part you were a happy baby and they loved to snuggle you. They were even so great and watched you while I took a nap on Saturday because I was feeling under the weather, and then they also held you Saturday night in the middle of the night when you woke up so that I could keep sleeping. You gave them lots of loves and faces and were the source of our constant entertainment. In fact, we didn't turn the tv on once the whole time we were there because you were all the entertainment we needed.

Saturday you got to meet your Uncle Ryan for the first time and he did great with you. He picked you right up and carried you around. You felt pretty familiar with him since he was hairy like your Dad!

We left Sunday evening and headed home so that you and I could spend Memorial Day alone at home just the two of us. You slept on the car ride to the airport but then woke up right when we got there and decided you needed to eat. This was probably the worst part of the trip because you cried the whole time we checked in and got through security because you wanted to eat and I didn't want to feed you until I knew we were going to have time to eat before getting on the plane. Other than this crying stint you did great. What a wonderful trip to see your family. Our only bummer was you still haven't gotten to meet your Great Papa our your Great Aunt Angie. Some day though, maybe next time!

I did end up taking you to the doctor today and we got you new meds for your sinus infection since you developed the fever over the weekend and never seemed to get better from the last bout of sickness.

Sweet Moment

I sit here watching a moment I want to remember...

Your Dad is holding you and giving you loves. He has you on your tummy for tummy time on his chest and Bailey came over and you and Bailey are exchanging interactions. Bailey is giving you kisses while you give her smiles and reach out to touch her. It is very sweet  I will cherish moments like these and lock them away for they are few and far between. I love quiet nights like these at home with our little family.

Your New Favorite Game with Mom

I love the new game you play with me while you are eating. You have taken to eating for a few seconds, then unlatching yourself from me, then looking up at me and supplying a huge grin. Then you latch back on for a few minutes and repeat. It is the sweetest thing ever. Feeding you now has a new level of entertainment for me as we bond and play this game. This will be a mental video that I will store in my head for forever.

Your First Family Vacation

Not too shabby, only three months old and you got to take your first road trip and airplane ride with us. Your Uncle Grae graduated from college at the University of Wyoming in Civil Engineering and since this is a big accomplishment and we hadn’t been to visit him once during his college career, we went to go celebrate with him for your first vacation. Since we were going all the way to Laramie and flying through Denver, we decided to do a few other things as well. We stayed the night in Denver and then the main add on to the trip was a drive over to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

As I write this, we are on our way back from  South Dakota so we haven’t yet encountered your second plane ride, but I am hoping it goes as smooth as your first one. You were a little fussy as we boarded the plane I was trying to hold off on feeding you until we started the climb into the air to make sure your ears popped alright. However, I didn’t think you would make it that long as you were already irritable, so I fed you while we were on the ground and waiting to taxi on the jetway. You fell asleep while eating and then slept the whole plane ride. So I didn’t even need to feed you during the descent. You were complimented on what a wonderful baby you were.

Friday night we went to Casa Bonitas in Denver. Mom went there as a kid and it is one of the few childhood memories I have from Denver so I wanted to go back. Obviously you are too young to really appreciate this, but we still had fun with you anyway.

On Saturday we drove to Laramie for Uncle Grae’s graduation. You did pretty well. I caved and realized I wasn’t going to be able to keep you in the car seat for the full 15 hours of driving we were going to be doing over the next few days, so I took you out as needed to feed you or to calm you if you were screaming. For the most part you have done well in the carseat though. Fortunately a lot of the driving has been during your nap times so you were able to sleep in your cars seat quite a bit. Below are a few pics of you in the hotel we stayed in while in Denver. You were so cute in the giant king sized bed.

After the graduation we went back to the hotel for a bit and Nana and Popper watched you for a while so that your Uncle Grae and Dad could celebrate while I took a short nap before dinner. After dinner we  took you in your first swimming pool. You did really well despite the water being somewhat cold. In fact I am convinced that if the water was warmer you would have done even better. I tried to lay you on your back in the pool and you didn’t love that. So mostly you just clung to me with your tiny little goosebumps all over your body. After playing in the pool for a bit we took you into the hot tub. The hot tub fortunately wasn’t much hotter than a bath tub (much cooler than a normal hot tub) and you preferred that much more than the pool. In fact I was able to lay you on your back in the water of the hot tub and you were very relaxed at that point. After your water excursion you were tired and fell asleep on my chest. It was so precious I just had to take a picture! I think you will love the water as you get older.  :o)

Sunday we left for Mount Rushmore. Your Uncle Grae came with us.  We arrived with enough time to go to Mount Rushmore on early Sunday evening. You sure do love your baby bjorn, Dad strapped it on and sure enough you slept through the majority of the Mount Rushmore experience too.  We walked around the viewing site and then went on the Mount Rushmore trail loop to explore. You finally woke up at the very end of the trip and we were able to get a few pictures with you awake. Most of the pictures you are asleep in though, much to my disappointment.  I’m excited for you to go back to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse some day though, knowing that you have already been with your Mom and Dad.

We woke up on Monday and headed out to Crazy Horse before heading back to Denver. Crazy Horse isn’t finished being built though and so it  was neat to see it as a work in progress. It is amazing to think they have been working on this since 1948. Maybe it will actually be done during your lifetime and you can go back and visit it in its completed state and compare it to the pictures we took today. It was very windy and even though you were awake, you weren’t very happy at the level of the wind and so getting a photo with you was not as easy. The site truly is amazing though. For a first vacation it was nice. You did great for the most part considering all of the traveling we were doing. I know you won’t remember it, but we do have pictures for you to see when you grow up. 

Marcus Playing with Dad Videos

Below are a few videos of you playing with Dad. They were taken at nine and ten weeks old.

Click here for link of Marcus Practicing Standing with Dad 9 Weeks



Click here for link of Marcus playing with the ball and Dad 10 Weeks

3 Months Old!!

Marcus I can’t believe you are already 3 months old! I know I have already said this a lot, but you are growing so fast. The amount of change that has occurred in this last month is amazing. Everything that I have read says that your newborn starts to get really fun around 3 months, and it is so true.

Some of the developmental things that you are doing now:

*Practicing your gross motor skills by holding your ‘O Ball’

* Cooing and making noises when interacting with people

* Grinning from ear to ear when people make faces at you

* Even better control of your head, including following people with your eyes and head when people move about the room

* Discovering your tongue by sticking it out and playing with it in your mouth

* Sucking on your whole hand, you’re not one to suck just on your thumb . You literally stick you hole entire hand in your mouth to suck on it.

What I love about you right now:

·        *  The huge grin you give me when you wake up in the morning and I greet you.

·         * Watching you suck on your hand

·         * Getting you to laugh and coo while tickling you and watching you smile because you are entertained.

·         * The fact that you can just sit with us on the couch now and just chill for a bit. We don’t have to be constantly   

         moving you around to keep you happy (although there are times where this still is needed).

·         * Watching you concentrate and learn while playing with a toy

·         * I can talk to you just the two of us and tell you how wonderful you are in a low voice and you stare lovingly 

        up at me as I speak to you then flash me a huge smile and coo after I am finished talking to you about how 

        great you are.

·        * How you lovingly and gently rest your hand on my chest when I am breast feeding you as if to show 

        affection to me while I feed you.