Travel Notes....or...Changing 3 Time Zones with a Toddler is a Bad Idea.

Let's see if I can remember what we did... I worked the morning of the 22nd, and by some miracle actually got out early! Jason had Will all ready to go and we had him nap on the way to the airport. The first flight was about 4 hours long, and it went ok. He slept some of it, and arrived in Salt Lake City a little wired and goofy. He walked and walked around the terminal with us and climbed on the seats. When we boarded the second flight he started to get fussy. By this time it was about 3 hours after his bedtime. He kept trying to fall asleep, and was desperate to turn over onto his belly. This is not possible in a car seat. The kid is a stomach sleeper just like Jason and me. So we took turns rocking, and singing, and reading "Mr Brown Can Moo" at least 25 times. He cried on and off for about 30 minutes. When he finally went to sleep it was very fitful. I felt terrible for him. We will never again fly at night. When we landed at 11pm in Seattle we were all pretty much exhausted. We got our rental car and proceeded to drive the 2 hours to Camano Island. Will slept the whole way home. I am wondering now if my goal of a routine driven baby was such a good idea. Monday we stayed home at my Mom's and recovered. We did go in to Stanwood to get groceries and Mom took us to a consignment store where she had seen a cute Little Tikes Rocking Horse. Will loved it so she bought it for him, along with an enormous pink Hippo chair that he fell madly in love with for only 6.99! We went in to Everett the next day and stopped in at Aunt Julie's and Debbie's. They had Mardi Gras beads for Will which he loved. She also let him see his birthday presents early, including a sweater that she knit for him which is so cute! Later we met up with Grandma Jeanie and visited St Mary Magdalen. We caravanned over to Bridget's house and went to lunch. It was so great to see the kids, Connor is getting so big, and is very smart, Laura is very much a 3 year old girl, loving all things pink and princess, and Sophie is just like her favorite word, "Cute!". Jason and I miss them so much and wish we could see them more. Will was fascinated by the kids and watched them a lot. Connor gave him lots of attention, sometimes a little too much! Bridget and Patrick were moving in to the Erickson's old house that Mike just bought. He has been doing a lot of work on it, and Bridget has been working very hard making it "Home". She painted the playroom with some adorable murals, including some chalkboard areas. So cute! We spent to next few days visiting and watching the kids so Patrick and Bridget could wrap up things at the old place. Bridget and I went to quite a few consignment stores too. We didn't end up doing much touristy stuff this time, but family time always trumps that kind of stuff! I can visit the Pike Place Market in 20 years but Sophie will only be this little today! Sunday the 1st we had a party for William at Patrick and Bridget's. I grilled in the typical March weather. Will decided to have nothing to do with his cake or ice cream and seemed overwhelmed by most of it. We spent a lot of time with my Mom and met Julie and Debbie for lunch one day. We shopped at the outlet mall twice, and scored some great deals! We got Will his first pair of big boy shoes while we were there too. 5 1/2 Extra Wide! Big feet! Monday we went to visit Sam and Teresa and their kids. I had some clothes for Booker that we were happy to find a new home for. It was so interesting seeing their kids in real life after seeing them on the Blogosphere for so long. They are all so cute and 3 dimensional! Ha! The rest of the week was spent visiting with family that was available that day, and Jason and I did some work on Mom's house. Jason put up a great new porch and we fixed a window in the garage that needed some altering. I planted some Roses and we pruned some trees too. Will spent his days at my Mom's house chasing poor Cookie, Molly's old cat. She tolerated him surprisingly well. It took him about a week to adjust to the time difference. He ate very strangely and slept weirdly the whole time though. He loved my Mom since she would read to him over and over. He handed her book after book and she kept on reading! The day before we left was his Birthday! We had a great party at the Children's Museum. Will seemed to enjoy this party much more. Mainly because he had slept I think! He ate some cupcake and pizza and even helped open his presents. Thank you notes are coming! The next day we flew home, which went much better and by the next night he was totally back on track. He seems to feel relieved to be back in his own bed and his own world again. Poor Guy! I wish he was a better traveler, but neither Jason or I are very good at it, so I guess he is doomed.

One Year...

Yesterday was Will's one year birthday. Amazing. Tonight we drove past the hospital on the way home from the airport and remembered where we were one year ago tonight. We were fighting to get Will out of the NICU and in our room for the night. I remember so little of that time now, it all seems like a nightmare. It wasn't till we got home, and Jason went to pick up my Mom at the airport that I had a moment to stop and look at this little person I had created. He amazes us frequently. He has made Jason and I bond even stronger to each other. He has made life exciting and fun. It is a different kind of fun than we used to have, granted, but so much more worthwhile and fulfilling than it was before. He is a huge responsibility, but I look forward to the challenge. I will post a full story of our trip home when I get a chance, but for now I will simply say, Thank you God for William Olen Simmons. He is a blessing like nothing else can ever be.

Warning:Posts may be sporadic!

We are off to Washington for 2 weeks starting tomorrow 2/22. We will be celebrating William's first birthday while there! Crazy how fast my little baby has changed. I will be posting as technology allows. My mom's house has really bad dial up, so Internet is sketchy at best. We will back on 3/6, hopefully all in one piece!

Cousin Day!

Today Gabi and Alessandra came over for a visit. Here is a picture of all 3 babies enjoying thier "Babas". They played pretty well together, Gabi has figured out though that William is smaller than her so he is at the bottom of the pecking order. Poor William! The girls were very cute as always and they had a great time! Tomorrow we are off to Washington for 2 weeks so wish us luck!

Zoo Day

Will is checking out the Pandas. Check out all those teeth in the bottom picture!

Gorilla Mama and her baby- the reflections are always bad, but you can kinda see the baby's head under her boob to the left.

The elephant was on the scale- Check it out that's over 5,000 pounds!

William and I took off to the zoo today. The national zoo is very fun, it has Pandas and most importantly a newborn baby Gorilla! I wanted to see this baby very badly, as I seem to have a magnetic attraction to baby primates. I envied Michael Jackson terribly when he had Bubbles the Chimp. Anyway, we had a fun time, it was cold but there were lots of animals out and it was sunny. Will liked seeing the Elephant up close(Check out the weight on the scale!) and was very interested in the Gorillas and the Orangutans. The mommy Gorilla was so sweet with her baby, she had her about 4 weeks ago, and actually gave birth during the day, and some people actually got to see it live! That would have been so cool! We also saw the cows at the petting farm and he tried to climb over the fence. We ate at the cafe there and had a lunch of a small cheeseburger,small fry and hotdog and one drink for 19.55! Yikes! I keep reminding myself that the admission is free...

The Black Hole...

There seems to be a black hole somewhere in my dryer. I have purchased dozens of pairs of socks for William and yet somehow when I go look for a matching pair I always end up opening an new pair once again! Any ideas on how to keep them together in the wash? I have tried the lingerie bag, but they don't seem to get clean enough in there.

Presidents Day at the Baby Gym

Jason had today off work so he got to join us at the Baby Gym! It was hoppin and there were lots of other daddies there which was really unusual. You can really tell when there is a government holiday around here. Will had a great time with Daddy there but was a little overwhelmed by all the kids.