Our sea container

This is what arrived at our house Friday, July 22nd.





And we filled the whole thing!



And rumor has it.... it departed the port of Savannah on July 29th, and will arrive in the port of Antwerp on 8/16! Woo hoo!! That means I may have all my worldly belongings by Labor Day, allowing two weeks or so for customs clearance and bureaucracy, etc. etc. etc.

Playing!

So thankful to finally have a backyard!











And so thankful we brought the bouncy seat (and that Audrey finally likes it)!

Jet lag

Let me tell you a little thing about children and jet lag. It is ugly. Friday night we put Grace to bed a little before 8pm. She was 'sweepy'. She went to bed pretty easily, but was up (as was Audrey) by 10pm - it was just getting dark outside. And stayed up until almost 1am. Matt and I were zombies. She wanted to party.

Both girls were asleep by 1am and up at 8am - we had to wake Grace, but Audrey was up and happy.

We went to IKEA Saturday morning, which by the way, it is universally a madhouse on Saturday at IKEA. Grace fell asleep on the way there, less then 20 min drive. Never happens. She fell asleep while we were there in Matt's arms. Never happens. And she fell asleep on the couch after dinner watching TV. Never happens. She went to sleep again around 8pm, and slept till 9:30am !! We had to wake her!

Hopefully we're back on track.

We made it!

We made it!

Our drive to Atlanta from Florida was pretty uneventful. We were feeling soooo good about it, we even stopped at the Tanger outlets south of the city and did some light shopping and had lunch at Denny's. Little did we know that it was going to take us 2 hours from the time we parked the car until we got to the gate.

Even though we had the rental, we parked in short term parking to unload at 3pm. We had 7 bags to check plus stroller, 2 car seats (1 base), bouncy seat and 5 carry-on's and the boppy. We took all of our checked luggage inside, me pushing the stroller and pulling one suitcase, and Matt pushing the cart loaded high. We left most of the carry-on's in the car for Matt to bring with him after he took it back to the car rental place.

We go inside ATL and check in, which after going to two different counters and 3 different Delta agents, was rather uneventful. Then Matt headed back out to the car to take it to the rental place and ride the train back with all our carry-on's. I entertained the girls as best I could. Grace ended up getting her first lollipop during that time to keep her from getting agitated in the stroller and/or removing her shoes and socks and throwing them at people passing by. Sigh. Audrey was also getting fussy, as it was slowly passing her feeding time.

Matt finally got back around 4:15 and we headed towards security. We zipped right through, but after dismantling the stroller, kids, carry-on's with 2 laptops, boppy, car seat and base.... and then putting it all back together again, it was slowly approaching our boarding time. We headed downstairs to the train and rode it all the way to Concourse E (6th, and last stop!), and went as fast as we could all the way to the end of the concourse to our gate - wouldn't you know it was the last one! We got there right as they were boarding.... and we really wanted the bassinet for Audrey, so Matt went to the counter while I stood off to the side with all our stuff. So they are calling for first class and families with small children to board, and I'm waiting for Matt, and a few guys started offering to help me get everything on the plane. People were so nice. I've never really noticed people being nice to people with children before. I thought most people were more annoyed with families and (loud, crying) children. So these guys took most of our stuff to the front of the line at the gate entrance, and then waited for us to get ourselves together to board. We got on, and we're in the first row, and had to ask a lady to trade seats with us, so we could get the bassinet. She was more then happy to oblige once she understood why.

So in general, we did ok on the flight. All of the flight attendants were very nice and helpful. I held Audrey through most of dinner, so they brought me out my dinner in stages. Grace got a special toddler meal; chicken fingers, mac-n-cheese, and corn. Could it be any more yellow? What's the rule? One yellow food a meal? Ehhh, whatever. We're on an adventure.

Audrey decided that she finally could tolerate a pacifier. That was a blessing. It cut down on some of the screaming. (You can see it in the video below.)

So that bassinet we were so worried about getting..... Audrey didn't end up using it. We attempted it twice. Once, she laid in there staring around for awhile and then started fussing, and the second time immediately started fussing. So I gave up and just held her. It wasn't that horrible since I had the boppy and the seat fully reclined. Once she was swaddled, she fell asleep and slept ok.

Grace finally went to sleep around 9:30 or so. She was having too much fun and hopped up on sugar. So without further delay, here is what first class looks like to a 2 year old:



Yes, an ice cream sundae, with chocolate sauce, nuts and whipped cream. And yes, Elmo and Abby on the in-flight TV. Thanks, Delta. You rock first class for 2 year olds! Not so bad for adults either! :)

Giggles with a side of Hiccups

You know you miss me!

Woot Woot! We got a check-in from the Cayman Islands! Missy can not live without us! Hope you are having fun in the sun and taking lots of pictures!

2 Month Stats

Audrey did very well at her appointment this morning. Until the shots.....whoa! She let everyone know she was NOT happy about those shots. But she was actually pretty good/pleasant most of the day....which was good, because we did a lot of running around doing things to get ready for our big move.

Here are her stats:

Height: 23 1/4 inches - 75th percentile
Weight: 11lbs. 7oz. - 50-75th percentile
Head: 391/2 cm - 75th percentile

Audrey is Two Months Old!

Again, we're a day late.... but by the time I got a picture of Audrey, this is what she looked like:



And although this is what she looks like a good part of the day, I thought our readers would much rather enjoy a picture of a sweet face girl, like this one:



A much happier young lady in the morning.....even with bed head!



I can't even really call it bed head, because her hair is almost always wild and sticking up. And lately, full of knots in the back from where she lays on it.

Big sister loves her baby!



She is so protective of her, too. Every morning when I drop her off at school, Audrey draws a little crowd of Grace's friends who want to see the baby. One boy in particular is about to become a big brother and he is fascinated by Audrey, and even tells his Mom every day that he can't wait to see baby Audrey. But Grace keeps a close watch on all of Audrey's admirers and anyone who gets too close, gets told to move along, in Grace's own very special way.

Our appointment isn't until Monday, so I'll post stats then. That should be fun - full of shots. I bet I'll hear about that all day long..... that brings to me a few things about Audrey this month.

Audrey continues to be a fusspot. I guess it's colic. I don't know what else it could be at this point. I just always thought that if it was colic she wouldn't sleep well at night, but she does....we'll get to that in a minute..... She is fussy most of the day. Usually starts mid-morning, and gets progressively worse throughout the day. We get a few breaks when she falls asleep and occasionally, she'll forget to fuss, and actually just be content looking around, staring at the fan, or something, but that doesn't last very long. I've started using "Colic Calm" on recommendation from Missy. It's a homeopathic medicine with 9 natural ingredients to help relieve discomfort. I think it does help. I just need to be consistent. It also helps knowing that this should end within the next month or so.

So sleeping.....Audrey is sleeping between 7 and 10 hours at night. She goes down shortly after Grace around 8pm, and sometimes wakes around 3 or 4am. But I've been really lucky and haven't heard from her until 5:30 once and 6:30 another time!! I am hoping for a few more nights like that very soon.

So in addition to being the world's fussiest baby, Audrey is one of the smiliest babies ever. Isn't that weird? She goes from one extreme to the other! I just wish the smiles lasted longer then the fussing...... maybe that will be our big 3 month revelation!

Bath Time for Two

This is what bath time usually looks like with both girls.

Tummy Time

So we had a rare content moment, and what do I decide to do? Tummy time!!! I am a glutton for punishment!

Visit to Florida

I was a brave (crazy) girl and drove down to Florida with the girls last Thursday. What is normally a 6 hour drive took us 8 hours on the way down between potty and feeding stops. But both girls were really good, so it wasn't completely miserable.

Grace and Audrey's Maryland cousins were also in town - they are staying with Granny and Grandpa for THREE weeks.

We went to the beach every day for about an hour and a half. Just enough time. Although the first day, I literally had to drag Grace home kicking and screaming..... but she really enjoyed playing in the sand and sitting at the water's edge. Got washed over by one wave while trying to boogie board with Quinn, and decided she wasn't the sporting girl type!





We also feasted on crabs - my favorite thing when we're in Florida!



(You can really hear the true Audrey Caspermeyer in this video!)




Hmmm, how do I use these things?



Passing out the claws....



Another night, the kids all made pizza for dinner.



Future Food Network Stars.



And of course, we went to see the fireworks for the 4th!



It was a great visit. Grace loved hanging out with her big cousins and her Granny and Hapa.

The drive home was going even better then the ride down, in terms of length of time. But had an incident south of Atlanta where I had to slam on my brakes, and it caused my traction control system to kick in and do crazy things with my speedometer....... I got home safely, and took the car to the dealer this morning, and it turns out my transmission had overheated, so the incident was almost like a blessing in disguise. At least that's what I'm telling myself now....