Wow, that is a lot going on in a title. But I guess that is what happens when you don’t blog for a month. Life just got in the way – and that is fine. We had a bunch of travel and trips and I am still recovering. I won’t bore you with a ton of details, but I will inundate you with a ton of photos.
First up: Cape Cod.
My cousin and her husband rented a house in Cape Cod for two weeks and our side of the family met up there for a long weekend to hang out.
It was GREAT. We don’t all get together very much because we live so far apart (i.e. my cousin and her husband live in Singapore) and I love family reunions – so I was the first to sign up for a reunion trip to Cape Cod. Luckily others signed up to – so we had a nice bunch of us. Not everyone was able to make it, but it was good to see those who could.
Our trip included beach:
hanging out:
amazing meals (my cousin’s husband is a chef):
adventures to see lighthouses:
and cousin time (I don’t have any pictures of my cousin’s son Lucas but he was there too):
Next: New Orleans.
Every year I have a big work conference that I have to go to and this year it was in New Orleans. My lovely sister agreed to meet me in NOLA and watch Evan while I worked.
I was VERY thankful because I am not quite ready to leave Evan behind (will I ever be???). Unfortunately, this conference requires a lot of work and time, so I didn’t get to hang out with Evan and Elizabeth too much, but I think they had fun exploring the city together (and hanging out with my co-workers in the evenings).
Eating beignets – my favorite thing to do in NOLA. Don’t worry – Evan didn’t get to eat any. We brought oatmeal along for him.
Evan sleeping on Elizabeth. She makes a good bed! He wasn’t sleeping very well (travel, time change, new people, and hotel crib all make traveling with kiddos difficult), so he spent a lot of time cuddled with his Aunt Elizabeth.
Work trips make me realize how difficult it is to be a working (outside of the home) mother. Aside from the regular difficulties, I had to find a place to pump at the convention center. And there was no place. Someone actually suggested the bathroom – which was being used by hundreds of people, was filthy dirty, and didn’t have an outlet near a stall (umm, no, I don’t want to pump by the sink). So I ended up having to walk across the street to a Marriott and pump in their bathroom. It was much nicer and had an outlet close enough to the handicap stall that I could stretch my pumping cord – but I still had to sit on the floor. Not really fun. And especially not fun since I had to do it twice a day the entire time I was there.
My pumping station in the bathroom…fun times.
After: Camping.
I got back from NOLA on a Tuesday and that Friday Evan, Ivan, and I all left for our first family camping trip. We were going with some golf friends (Ernie and Lola) and I had been looking forward to it for ages. My goal for 2013 was to go camping, so mission completed.
Our camping trip was more like lujo camping – a step under RV camping. We had a campsite with a gravely area to pitch the tent:
(and we had a huge 10-person tent with three “rooms”):
a fire pit to cook our food:
and electricity. And our cars were two feet away (and a grocery store was ten minutes away). So, we weren’t roughing it by any means, but it was still a lot of fun.
I went hiking with Evan and Lola (excuse my hiking “look”, it’s not so amazing):
while Ivan went fishing with Ernie (sadly no fish were caught):
and we played lots of Yahtzee and hung out in front of the tent:
Very relaxing and fun. The only negative was that it was a tad bit difficult with Evan because he likes to be crawling around and mobile these days but if we set him down he ate all the gravel. We put a tarp out for him to play on but of course all he wanted to do was crawl to the end and eat the gravel. It also rained Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday morning. Here we are trying to cook pancakes and bacon in the rain:
It was still a great time. And some of us were exhausted by the time we got home!
And last: Teeth
During all the adventures, poor Evan was finally getting his first tooth! Not the best photo but if you look really, really closely and put on your reading glasses you might be able to see a smidgen of a bottom tooth in that mouth of his (and that is oatmeal on his tongue).
Yup, he waited until he was almost 11 months old to break his first little tooth. And it wasn’t too fun. There were a few long nights in New Orleans and a few long nights since (he broke his first tooth in NOLA but his second one is still trying to break free), but it hasn’t been too horrible. The worst part is that he doesn’t really want to nurse anymore so we are struggling to continue for a little while longer. I’m not sure if it just hurts his gums to nurse or if he’s getting tired of it, but he always tries to push me away. He eventually does nurse but a few times I've had to give him a bottle and then pump. We’ll see how long this “phase” lasts and if it ends up being permanent.
So that’s what’s been going on with me the past few months!
What’s new with you????
Aw.... Evan is freaking adorable. That picture of him on the beach is too stinking cute. :) I don't know about nursing, but I remember both of my kids refusing the bottle around 12 months and I panicked that they weren't getting enough food. They were far more interested in sippy cups and actual food so I just started the transition to do that exclusively. It took about a month and by the end neither wanted a bottle ever again and would scream if I pulled one out. BUT, it's kind of nice because you don't realize what a pain it all was until you're done. It's a very freeing time. :) Ah.. the little things!
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