Monday, July 8, 2013

Anniversary Weekend

My wonderful hubby & I shared our sixth anniversary yesterday.
Did you do the math? No? I wouldn't have either. We were married 7/7/07!
At the last minute practically, we made plans to go to St. Louis to visit my sister and a friend who's like a sister/aunt to me. I was originally planning a trip for me & the kids, but when our anniversary weekend ended up being the best weekend for everyone, hubby joined in too. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I could have made that trip without him. It was hard enough with both of us and both kids!
Traveling down there was fine. Kevin slept about half the way & was surprisingly content the rest of the way. We made the whole trip in one shot! Even when traffic was slow in the city, we did pretty much keep moving & got there without any kiddo meltdowns.
We met up with my sister at her boyfriend's mom's house. She and her bf joined us & directed us to their favorite restaurant: Zia's. Amber was rather crabby at the restaurant, but the food & company were great. Thankfully, the lady sitting nearest Amber didn't seem too bothered by her antics. She kept telling me how cute she was. :)
Then, we went back to the house & hung out for a bit. Everyone but Amber was ready for a nap. Sis' boyfriend spent much of this time looking around his house for things that might entertain a 3yo. He had a good hit with crayons and paper, but that only lasted a few minutes.
He found a board game, but she wasn't old enough & just played with the pieces a bit. He found a soccer ball and they rolled it around a bit. Then we decided we were ready for the amazing cupcakes my sister had been talking about for the whole visit. We decided to drive separately. Paul & I had no idea that the place was Jilly's (a 2x winner on the TV show Cupcake Wars) nor that it was waaaay on the other side of town! At least Amber got a quick nap in on the way there. We went in and enjoyed some ginormous fancy cupcakes. They were pretty much dinner for us, and even then Paul & I could each only eat about half of ours with help from Amber!
After that, we said our goodbyes and headed off to the hotel. Kevin got tired of being in the carseat & became inconsolable. We stopped once & fed & changed him. After that, the GPS app Paul was using on his phone went crazy. It refused to recognize that we'd gotten back on the highway & kept giving us directions from nearby streets back to the highway. The map wouldn't update. It seemed to think we were driving backwards at times (It'd tell us to turn left at a street that was only on our right.)We barely avoided panicking, but we eventually got it sorted out & made it to our hotel.
Turns out, the hotel had some good points and some iffy features. They were pet-friendly. There were at least a couple different dogs in the hotel. This wouldn't be such a big deal if there weren't also some... people... setting off fireworks.
This was the first time all four of us had stayed together in a hotel. It wasn't a two-room suite like we like to get when traveling with the kids, just a room with two queen-sized beds & a crib. An actual crib: most places just have a Pack 'n' Play.
So, we haven't actually had Amber at a hotel in quiet a while. She's stayed with grandparents the last few times we stayed at a hotel. She's got her new "grown-up" bed at home; but it's a trundle bed she's sleeping on. No box springs, it's only about a foot off the floor, as was her toddler bed when converted from a crib. So, this was also the first time we'd attempted having her sleep on a tall bed.
It took her almost no time at all to fall out & hit her head on the night stand! We didn't even realize at first how bad it was. It sounded like she had gotten hurt, but we didn't see any bruises or anything. I got a washcloth wet with cool water and went to apply it to her forehead where I thought I saw a little bruise & she said (between sniffles) that her owwie wasn't there. She lifted her head off of Paul's chest then and then we saw the big goose-egg! Poor kiddo. At least she didn't show any signs of a concussion.
This picture is from later the next day, when the bruise wasn't so swollen.
We had her sleep between us the rest of the night. She did pretty well. Kevin woke up a few times and needed binky-retrieval services. Amber got up earlier than Paul or I was ready for and they kept alternating. She'd start to settle down again and he'd wake up and vice-versa.

With that, I think I'll pause for now, and finish my tale later. :)

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