All Things Haley: Long Weekend

What a glorious long weekend! We spent this three-day weekend out and about most of the time, and ended up having a very productive trip to a furniture store, a fun excursion to the zoo, an exciting trip to Nana and Papa's house with the whole fam, and a semi-failed attempt at a Mommy and Daddy date night!

But before the big weekend, we had an eventful week as well- complete with the babies' 15 month appointment (I know, a little late), a visit from our new DDD Support Coordinator, and a big Valentine's Day dinner! Ben and I took Thursday off of work because Amanda asked for the day off. So, I took advantage of our down time and scheduled some appointments. We needed to get the littles in for their well-baby visit and the new doctor down in Chandler had an opening. Then, the new support coordinator needed to do Caleb's six month evaluation, so we snagged some spare time for that as well. Finally, we had to cap off Valentine's day with a glutonous meal of filet mignon, crab legs, sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli, and about two dozen homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We felt gross and totally satisfied when that was over. ;)

The well baby visit went great for Mr. Caleb. He LOVES our new doctor almost as much as he loved Dr. Rampley. He was all smiles and giggles and didn't make one peep when he got FOUR shots at the end. The same could not be said for Ms. Gracie pants as she spent nearly the entire exam in full-blown tears- howling and screaming at the top of her lungs. She doesn't like doctors because she has been vaccinated almost every time we go to a doctor's office. She also is skeptical of pretty much all men when she first meets them, and we didn't really have ample time to allow her a warm-up period, so when our new male pediatrician started doing the exam and forcing her to open her mouth so he could check out her sprouting teeth, she lost it. Let's be honest, she lost it the second she had to lie down on the table to get her height measured...she's not exactly "tough" in that arena. The four shots at the end were the last straw. By the time we got out of that office, Grace actually had welts on her face from crying so hard, it was awful. Not really much we can do about it, just hope she gets over it for the next time (two months from now).

We had some productive discussion with the new doc about Caleb. Found out we shouldn't be giving him Milk of Magnesia because of possible side effects. Also got set up with referrals for a pediatric orthopedic doctor, a hearing exam, a vision exam, another swallow study, and a genetics consultation. They actually helped me get through to the genetics office so I could set up an appointment- I had called four times before and got nowhere. Our appointment isn't until September- that's the earliest they have. Crazy, I've heard it was bad but was hoping it wasn't that bad.

We have a lot of appointments in March now, which is good and bad. It's going to be a crazy month, especially because we just found out I have to go to Pennsylvania the first week of March- leaving Ben home alone with the babies for almost five days. Ugh. We're also closing on the house in March if all goes well. Plus, Becky is coming out in March which is awesome!!! Then the vision, audiology, swallow study, and ortho are all in March. Woo.

In other news, the zoo today was a blast and it was fun to have Nana join us to watch the kids' reactions! Grace is much more into the animals right now than Caleb- he was more about taking in the people watching and all of the loud noises. He was fascinated with a couple of plants and then really liked the baboon! :) That's when I let him stand and walk around a bit and he perked right up. If we had a little bit more time on our hands and didn't need to also entertain Grace, I'd let him slowly walk around the zoo as much as he wanted. I wish he could run around like Grace, but in due time! They did so well and didn't fuss at all until the very end when Caleb woke up from a very short nap in the stroller, probably a little confused at where he was and why it was so loud. The zoo was jam packed today with the holiday!

Last night was family dinner at Nana and Papa's house and we got to go out on the boat! Grace did really well this time and Kate was a big help ensuring she didn't try to leap overboard (we had her in a life vest just to be sure...). When we first got to their house, I let her walk around out back and followed her around (totally helicopter mommy...). She immediately went right for the lake and when I grabbed her hand, she just kept going. I walked with her to see what she'd do and she walked right up to the dock and tried to step directly over and into the lake. Not good. She'll be requiring helicopter mommy for a long, long time. ;)

We had William over on Sunday and he was super helpful watching the kids for an hour so Ben and I could run to Costco for a quick trip instead of the ordeal that taking both of them always turns into. It's fun, but definitely not necessary every time. I still can't figure out how to get out of that store without spending a small fortune, though.

Saturday was incredibly productive because we furnished our entire house! Yes, we hit up a new furniture store down the street and really liked a few pieces that had great deals, so we bought them! Hopefully nothing goes wrong with the house since we've now purchased furniture specifically for it...yikes. We sent over the repair request a few days ago and should hear back on that in a couple of days...keep your fingers crossed that they are willing to work with us.

Saturday also saw a super Caleb melt down. We drove pretty far to go to the Sears outlet- we heard there were good deals on appliances there (need a new fridge and washer/dryer). Right after we finished walking through there and headed over to the Dollar Store (because how could we resist?), Caleb started fussing. About five minutes later, he was full on bawling unlike his typical cry. We decided to leave but he screamed the entire way home! Not sure if it was just tiredness because the night before wasn't exactly a great night's sleep...

Friday night, Ben and I were really excited to go out on a date to celebrate buying a new house! Nana and Papa were VERY nice to let the kids go to sleep at their house, so we tried to make it as easy on them as possible. We brought them over and fed them dinner, got them dressed in their pj's, and put the down before heading out. The plan was to go on a progressive dinner- four different restaurants, one for each course! Then, Ben would go home and I'd go over to Nana and Papa's house to take over baby duty from them if the kids woke up. I'd crash there and then take the kids home in the morning so I wouldn't have to wake them up to go home.

Unfortunately, they once again knew we were excited and they weren't all too happy about being left out. All was going well until we put them down in their pack n plays at Nana and Papa's. They both started screaming and spent the next 45 minutes doing the same. We tried to calm them down but they weren't having it. Finally, Papa told us that we should just go and they would hold them until they fell asleep. I didn't feel great about it, but it had worked for them before so we tried it. Ben and I had missed our first restaurant, but headed to the second one for appetizers. About 45 minutes later, we had reservations at the third restaurant for dinner but checked in on the way. Of course, Caleb was still awake in Papa's arms and Grace had just fallen asleep- it was almost 9:30! We decided that was no good, and we couldn't let Nana and Papa stay up any longer trying to deal with our kids. We called it quits and headed to pick them up. Grace was completely out but Caleb completely perked up when we got there. Who knows how long he would have stayed up! We put them in the car and before we even got out of the neighborhood, they were both passed out in the backseat. They went down easily at home and then Caleb woke up at 2am a couple of times and then they both were up at 6:30. Not a great night's sleep, that's for sure.

We'll try it again one day. ;)

Ok, here are some pictures from this week - sad I didn't get any from this weekend on the camera, just on my phone.

Ooops Mommy fell asleep so here's Daddy with some pictures!