Vacation by the Lake

Nice day for a sail!

After saying goodbye to Granny and Danpa we headed west, and after a quick stop to visit my alma mater, Berry College...

Beautiful Ford complex at Berry College :)

...we were off to Alabama and our lakeside destination in Guntersville.

The occasion for this vacation was to join James' parents in celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. 

My in-laws, John and Bea, decided that they wanted to celebrate this special anniversary with all their children and grandchildren. So we all gathered at a big house on the lake. James' brothers had their boats there for sailing, skiing and tubing. James is the youngest of six siblings. Between their six children, John and Bea have 16 grandkids! So when we get together we are quite a crowd!

Calvin and Henry were great little sailors! James and I never get to sail anymore, so it was a real treat to be out on the boat!

There was also a pool at the house, which was perfect for Calvin and Henry. We even brought the kiddie pool from Granny and Danpa's house.

Though John and Bea's actual anniversary date was later in August, we picked one night to do a special anniversary dinner for them. James' brother's wife cooked a special family recipe - Grandma's Spanish chicken and rice - and ordered a fancy cake for the occasion, and we set up banquet tables and decorations to make it feel really special. 

 

One of James' sisters made a family scrapbook as a gift for their parents and the grandkids gifted them with beautiful pictures they had drawn. I helped everybody make a fingerprint family tree as another small gift.

Amazing artwork by our niece, Isabel - capturing one of John and Bea's wedding photos!

Bea brought a very special dress of hers - the dress she wore when she first met John at a college dance! James' sister Debbie modeled the dress and the two of them, James and Debbie, posed to re-capture an old photo of their parents.

The next night we did another big party dinner, this time with an island theme!

The whole trip was wonderful. We had so much help with the babies that we really got to enjoy ourselves. It was such a blessing to see Calvin and Henry get to spend time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I think the best part was seeing how lovingly our nieces and nephews played with and cared for Calvin and Henry. Calvin had an absolute blast. He adores his cousins and he had so much fun with them. And Henry, sweet as ever, baby of the entire family, enjoyed all the attention and love he got too :)

16 grandkids!

 

Wonderful vacation with a wonderful family that we are blessed to be a part of. Hope we get to do it again!

To Granny Anne's House We Go

Airplane selfie!! #blurrybecausewiggly

My #1 travel tip for flying with babies/toddlers is... (drumroll)... bring Granny! Disclaimer: This only works if your kids' granny is as awesome as Granny Anne. The four of us flew from CA to GA so that the kids and I could spend a couple of weeks at Granny Anne and Grandpa Dan's house. James has a big boy job and couldn't take so much time off, so he joined us later. The flight with Granny was great. She was totally prepared with snacks, episodes of Mickey Mouse on her Kindle, and toddler headphones. Also, I remembered to count the diapers that time.

Staying at my parents' house with my two kids was... awesome. Are you surprised? I was a little surprised. I had been worried about being away from James for so long and feeling like a single parent. But Granny and Danpa are so great with Calvin and Henry - not just the fun part of cuddling and playing with them, but the work part too. Mixing formula, giving Henry his meds, changing diapers, taking Calvin to the potty, packing the diaper bag, putting them to bed... my parents helped with all of it. They were amazing. And the boys LOVED spending so much time with them. Here are some pics from our Georgia vacay... being touristy, visiting family, and just hanging at Granny Anne's house :)

Big fuzzy cat and books about animals. Calvin is in heaven. 

Splashin' in the fountain!

Splashin' in the kiddie pool!

Everywhere we went, Granny sat between the two carseats!

Zoo Atlanta

Cooling off with the mist fans at the zoo... #hotlanta

This sweet beluga whale really took an interest in Calvin! I think they became friends. 

Calvin made friends with the penguins too

Brunch at the Cracker Barrel with my grandparents

Even Henry ate some grits! Yum!

So nice to visit with my cousin Sandy and my grandmother, "Mama Sheila" 

Calvin runnin' around with his cousin Alex

Sittin' on the porch at Mama Sheila and Daddy John's house

It's Uncle Alex!

When James arrived, my parents babysat so we could go out and see some friends. Date night in Atlanta!

Oh we hated to say goodbye to Granny and Danpa!! The boys and I spent the whole month of July with them and it was wonderful. We had a great time in Georgia and I felt very thankful to have gotten to see my grandparents and my brother and some of our long lost friends while we were there. But we had other grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins to see... so off to Alabama we went! And that is another trip for another post!

Baby Sitting!

Henry has been working on sitting up, like, for. ev. er. Ok, more accurately, Henry has been working on strengthening his neck and tummy muscles for lots of reasons, not just for sitting. Over the summer we have really been able to see and feel him getting stronger. And as he has been getting stronger, little by little, in teeny tiny increments he has been making progress with being able to sit up on his own. A couple more seconds... a little less wobbling... slowly, slowly... those teeny tiny improvements have added up!

Hooray for Henry! 13 months old

Sitting opens up other possibilities for Henry - He can sit in a park swing! He can sit and play in the sand at the beach or the sandbox at the playground! Yay for more ways to play!

Henry's therapists saw him this week after a 3 week break (while we were on vacay - pictures still coming!). His PT said she can tell he is stronger and more stable. His OT seemed impressed that he was able to reach for toys while sitting. It's always great to hear our therapists and docs say that Henry has made progress, and I know it's thanks in large part to their work with him, especially our PT, Krystyna!

Here's Henry back in April working on kind of a "tripod" sit (meaning that his arms are supposed to be helping support him). You can tell by the blurriness that he was wobbling!

April, 9 months old - Trying to "tripod" sit with the help of his arms. It only lasted as long as it took to snap the picture!

Fast forward to the end of June and here he is sitting with a little help from his PT. Krystyna has one hand on his lower back, and one on his leg. She's not really supporting him, but she is helping him not wiggle so much. I don't have any pics of him trying to sit from April - June because there wasn't really anything to see :\ He could barely sit for a couple of seconds without keeling over, and for those few seconds, he would wobble so much that he'd basically throw himself over! He just wasn't ready. In June, after he got really good at rolling, we started to see progress with sitting. 

Late June, 11 months old - sitting with a little help from his PT

Two weeks later, on his birthday, we tried a little sitting at his Teddy Bear Picnic. At this point, he could hang for maybe 10 or 15 seconds. Still wobbly, but not immediately keeling over :) I do have my hand on him in the picture. (And what a handsome birthday boy!)

Mid July, 12 months old - can sit for 10 or 15 seconds

Then we went to Georgia to visit my parents and we put Henry in a kiddie pool for the first time... and look what happened!! I guess the buoyancy of being in the water helped him out! He was able to sit in there for a few minutes unassisted!

Late July, 12 months old - sitting in the kiddie pool!!

And now here we are mid-August and he can sit for a few minutes even out of the water! Here he is on the beach at Lake Anza here in California. You can even see him reaching for Calvin's toy in the second pic!

August, almost 13 months - Sitting on the beach! Don't mind if I do! 

August, almost 13 months - Sitting on the sand and reaching for Calvin's toy!

Now, at 13 months, I think we can pretty much call it: Henry can sit! 

Ok it's not perfect, but it's awesome. And we're so proud of him!