Travelin' to Traverse City

Thursday we headed up to TC. My Mom had surgery on Tuesday and my Dad and brother headed to Minnesota for a hockey tournament. The thought of making the long drive with both children was enough to make sleep the night before very difficult. I stressed about every detail and packed enough things to last a week.

The drive was actually not bad at all. I think all my stressing prepared me for everything that could go wrong. The children only whined for a total of about 10 minutes for the little over five hour drive. We made one stop at a fast food restaurant for lunch and bathroom breaks. I was able to take care of both children, feed them, change diapers and go to the bathroom with no trouble. I guess all the traveling we do has paid off because they are little angels. A few dropped cups, stuffed animals, and night-nights were our only obstacles.
Noelle was extremely excited to see Granma and of course her "best friend" Abby and Duke (the dogs). Max was put down and the menacing ensued. He was into everything and had his first encounter with stairs. I had a feeling he would not have a problem with them and of course he was up them before we could even react. He's my monster through and through. That night Max was in the pack n' play in the room with me. He will never be doing that again. Every move I made he shot straight up and cried. I would try and not move until he settled down, the just move the slightest and he would again wake. It was a long night! I tried bringing him to bed with me and he climbed on me as if I was a jungle gym. Oh, what a long night. There were times he would nestle up against me and I would look down as his sweet face and just be in awe of him. Shortly thereafter one of his big meat hooks (we have dubbed his very large hands meat hooks) would come and slap me across the face! He is such a boy, a rough and tumble boy

Friday morning Aunt Ceecee arrived and was greeted by a very excited Noelle who ran out when she pulled up and shouted "I love you!". After a bit we headed out to do some shopping and to leave Granma alone in a quiet house to get a much needed nap. Noelle picked out a bunch of blue shirts, her favorite color as of now.

Here is a picture of Max doing his infamous pout:

Anytime Aunt Ceecee told him "NO!" for touching outlets he would bust out this pout and go into a very deep felt sob. We couldn't help but laugh!

We had a wonderful visit. I don't think we were much help to my Mom, more of an exhausting distraction! We headed out Saturday morning and again it was a fairly easy trip back with minimal complications.