She's back...

Thursday, my Mom came down to visit us. We hung out with the kids, playing in the pool and having fun. Friday morning Granma and Noelle packed up and were off, headed to St. Clair. My Mom wanted to spend some time with Noelle while visiting her parents and sisters. I was hesitant for a millisecond when she asked if she could take Noelle with her! I knew I would miss her, but I always knew she would have a great time. As soon as they left, I felt lost! It was so quite and calm. I had no little person to talk to. No one to whine at me and talk back. I was able to take a shower without someone barging in the bathroom and throwing back the shower curtain. Max and I were able to clean up the house and have some really nice Mommy time. Tom and I looked forward to a great night sleep. Well, Maximilian had other plans and decided to scream most of the night, not being comforted by me or anything else. Tom was able to sleep in while I tended to our little teething terror. After we were up and ready we headed out to look at some carpet for the basement. We enjoyed meandering around not having to worry about an inquisitive tot reaching her limit far before we actually were finished. We were also able to clean the carpets and rearrange the furniture, a very productive day for us!

While Noelle was away she enjoyed being the center of everyone's attention. My Aunt Barb and her family were up from Texas, along with my Grandparents and two more Aunts that were around, all fawned over Noelle. She went swimming in my Aunt's pool and in the St. Clair River. She was kept busy every day and was even able to skip nap time. She was very well behaved, we were told, and never even asked about us!

Sunday morning we headed to St. Clair to enjoy our fourth straight year viewing the Off Shore Boat Races, and also to get our little Noelle. I couldn't wait to see her and wrap my arms around her little body. It was a wonderful break we all needed and it was great that my family was able to spend so much time with Noelle.

Over at my Grandparents condo food, family, and friends were plentiful. There was no shortage of arms that loved to embrace the little man and he loved it too! Max ended up being so exhausted he fell asleep on my cousin Lindsay (pictured below). The races started a few hours late, having to wait for the freighters to go through, but that didn't seem to bother anyone much. We all loved talking and eating! There is nothing better than catching up with family and friends we haven't seen in awhile.

On the way home both children were exhausted. We ran into horrific traffic and there was a lot of crying and whining from not only the children! We finally made it home safe and only semi-frazzled! Noelle saw the new arrangement of furniture and twirled around exclaiming "This is so awesome!". She was very happy to be back at her home base.
We are back to normal and just having an enjoyable week taking it easy and playing.