Friends, family, and one really long day

I'm back in Missoula after an adventuresome weekend. JoAnn and I ended up carpooling to Spokane Friday because the 3 inches of snow and sheets of black ice on the roads spelled disaster our good ol' Jeep. That meant I'd have to rent a car one way to come back to Missoula but my life is worth it...I passed a car flipped over in the median on the interstate while driving 45mph trying not to slide all over with 40mph winds pushed the Jeep around like a kite. Not to mention I'd have a more comfortable ride both directions.

The trip to VA/PA was great. My dad picked me up at 7:45pm so I didn't get to spend much time with my folks as I got up at 6:45 Saturday to drive up to Pennsylvania. The purpose of the trip was to attend my college roommate Colleen's wedding!!! But fortunately my good friend and maid of honor from my wedding Amanda also lives in the area so I had breakfast with her (no pictures because we were too busy talking), drove over to Messiah to check out the campus,

grabbed Italian ice from my favorite off-campus eatery (so lucky for me...Saturday was the last day they were open for the season!), and headed to the wedding. Here are Colleen and Scott on their special day!

It was a lot of fun seeing people I hadn't seen since college and being back in that area at this time of year is very special because Justin and I got married in October in central PA. The changing colors of the trees and corn fields are something I miss dearly. And of course the beautiful sunsets!

I managed to also sneak in a visit with my grandma on the drive back to Virginia. She was gracious enough to let me drop in for an hour late in the evening. I love visiting her and her home...it was one of the only constants in my life growing up in a family that moved every few years. Fortunately she continues to thrive and even though she thinks she looks 150, I think she's still a beauty at 87!

I was chauffeured back to the airport by my dad early on Sunday for a very long day of flying. My flight from BWI to Salt Lake City was diverted to Chicago due to a fuel tank problem. Of course we had already passed Chicago when they announced this! After arriving, I was put on a flight to Reno which first landed in Boise and then continued to Spokane. That gave me a little time in the Reno airport to fix my car rental situation. Hertz said they didn't have my reservation and were going to charge me double what I had agreed to pay the night before so I contacted Kevin at the Hertz desk in Spokane and he took great care of me. He even got me a better price than I had originally found! Needless to say, after 5 take-offs and landings, I was eager to be on the ground although the 3 hour drive back to Missoula at 9pm through the mountains wasn't my favorite part. Fortunately no animals crossed my path and I kept a good pace. Yesterday was a fun day with Justin and the kids and for the moment, life is back to normal. Tomorrow is Parker's 1-year birthday and our 5-year wedding anniversary is this weekend but it's also the last weekend of archery hunting so it looks like we'll order out Chinese to celebrate. There's always something going on with us it seems :)

Flying solo

Justin's mom JoAnn has been visiting us this past week and she and I both drive to Spokane tomorrow morning to fly out...she's headed back to PA and I'm going to VA for a wedding. Be back with pictures next week :)

Changes

Parker's weaned and Madeleine now sleeps with a blanket on her. It only took two nights of really chilly air for her to decide she'd be okay with an "intruder" in her crib as long as it helps to keep her warm :)

Update

Since posting the last post, I've only nursed Parker once (partially for my own sake). But that was at 2am Saturday morning so we've gone a good stretch with just soy. He even drank over 8oz. of it this morning with no complaint which was a first. Things are headed in the right direction.

Madeleine has let the paci issue go. I know she's already upgraded one of her "hand" pacis to a "mouth" paci but that's okay because she's chewing it and it will eventually break and have to be thrown out too which will leave us with one. Slow and steady is the best pace for her.

She and I went to a yard sale yesterday to see if we could find a dresser for one of the kids' rooms. I found one but it will require a bit of work as the woman's teenage sons covered the drawers in stickers. I'll have to peel the stickers off then sand and refinish the whole thing but it was a pretty good deal and the little project will give me something to do this winter.

Anyone remember me mentioning a Sesame Street ditty performed by Feist called "1,2,3,4"? Well, they showed it on Sesame Street again some time last week and Madeleine became infatuated. Every night she says, "Watch lady sing? Please, please, please, please, please?" I took a really cute video of her watching it and will try to post it later.

The last bit of news is that Justin's mom, a.k.a. "Nanna," will be here this evening for a short trip. She has to leave on Friday but it will be nice to have her around for the week. Madeleine's declared that Nanna is to take her on a hike up a big hill and Parker, Daddy, and Momma are to stay at home. Sounds good to me :)

Risking it

I'm taking some big risks today.

First, I'm trying to wean Parker. I think he'd be happy nursing forever but seeing as I have a wedding to fly to next weekend, I'm interested in not carting him around for two cross-country flights and a day of driving all in three days. He's been a pretty good trooper but I'd be lying if I said it's been easy. We'll see how tonight goes.

And then there's Madeleine and the great Paci(fier). She goes to bed with three pacifiers: one for her mouth and one for each hand (her "lovey" I suppose). She had apparently decided that certain ones go certain places and the one that usually goes in her mouth got torn from all of the chewing that she does. Seeing as she's over 2 1/2, I figured this might be a good time to start letting go of them one by one. So this afternoon before nap time we threw her "mouth" paci away and said bye-bye. I explained to her why it wasn't good to use it (choking, bad for her tummy, etc.) and although she understands, she was understandably reluctant to let the issue go. She's not yet asleep in her room and she may not sleep at all but at least she's not crying. I consider that a small victory for dealing with a huge issue like this with a highly sensitive child.

Elmer Fuddin' it

Here are a few fun shots of our fun afternoon hanging out in the yard before dinner.

Justin's off for another three and a half days of hunting so I'm flying solo (not including the awesome assistance of Jen Sunday and maybe Tuesday...please Jen?) until Wednesday afternoon/evening. Due to his absence, I was given a tutorial this afternoon on the fine sport of cat hunting. You see, we have neighbors two doors down from us who own three Garfield-sized gangsters. Sure, they look cute and fluffy but they're nothing but trouble. Oreo and another neighbor's cat are regularly harassed by these brutes so Justin's taken to shooting at them with the bb gun when they're on our property. No worries PETA members...they aren't getting hurt, just some serious warnings. I'm not a perfect shot (yet) but I hit the target every time so that's a good start. Maybe after this cat hunting Justin will slowly upgrade me to various small vermin and pesky domesticated deer who eat my raspberry and strawberry plants!

Scary, isn't it? :)

Where did "it" go?

Nothing like showing up to play a soccer game, run for 2 minutes, and limp off the field. Yes mom and dad, I pulled my quad, again. And yes dad, you're right, I didn't stretch enough. Can you believe it? We stayed to cheer the team on and they won so I have a week to rest, ice, compress, and elevate my leg to get it in some sort of shape for next week. I doubt I'll play the whole doubleheader next week but I'll hopefully be well enough to play one half of one game. At least I had the sense to get off the field. Momentarily I thought "I'll just push though" but the 30-year old within overcame that 16-year old mentality, fortuately.

On a lighter and happier note, Parker LOVED his first "real" meal of Zatarain's black beans and rice mixed with plain goat yogurt (dairy allergy means no sour cream). He has been incredibly eager to get his hands messy and this did the trick. It's hard to believe he's almost a year old and feeding himself! This last year has flown by.

And even though it's not great, here's little video of the kids playing in my closet.