This is the first time we've gone to Cleveland since last year. Since Chris's parents spend the winter in Florida and we were busy with the move in the spring we really just didn't have the time or energy for a visit. We were all happy to be able to go, especially the kids.
Friday was Rylan's birthday and we had a nice time with cake, presents, and catching up. We also got to meet baby Gavin for the first time, well first time for all of us except Chris. I didn't get to meet my other nephew Dylan until after his 1st birthday so I was very happy to meet Gavin at just 3 months old and it gave me a chance to practice holding a baby again :)
On Saturday we had family pictures in the evening. In April, Pete and Ginger celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary so as a gift Meredith and Chris arranged for a full family picture with our families all together. We also took the opportunity to have individual family pictures taken as well. Considering the amount of children 7 and under we were dealing with I think it went really well. We took lots of pictures and I'm sure most will have at least one person looking in another direction, but I'm also sure that the photographer managed to get at least one good one as well - at least we all hope :) Here's a picture Meredith took of our family - the boys are all looking good, Rylan and I could use a redo ;)
Sunday would be Mass and Gavin's Baptism. We had some sleep issues - I'll go into it later - so Rylan and I missed it so that she (and I) could get a good nap. Brenden went with Ginger and Pete to Mass and was on his best behavior. Chris and Jake showed up for the end of Mass for the Baptism afterward. Everything went fine with the Baptism, but because of the Catholic Church's rules (don't get me started) Chris was unable to be the Godfather, although he is still claiming it even if the Church doesn't recognize it. We all went to Meredith and Todd's house afterward for a small, informal party with family. Rylan and I made it over for the end after she woke up from nap. We all had a nice time, it was so wonderful to see the cousins all play together. Despite the little time they get to spend together, its clear they all like each other and get along very well. Here are a couple pictures of Dylan and Rylan having fun:
While at Meredith and Todd's house I started to get some good "kicks" from #4 while sitting down. I told Chris to come over and try to catch one. We have been trying to get him to feel the baby for about a week or so with no luck. Shortly after he put his hand on my stomach this time there was some good movement and I could see from the look on his face that he felt it too - at 19 weeks exactly :) So now we've both felt the baby moving around and now only a few more days until the big ultrasound to find out what is moving around - YAY!
On Tuesday I would need to take the boys back to Cincinnati to start school on Wednesday and Chris would be off to Pennsylvania for a business trip, it would also be our 8th Wedding Anniversary. Since we wouldn't get to spend Tuesday together we celebrated Sunday night instead. We left the kids with Pete and Ginger at dinner time and checked our selves into a hotel for a quiet night away. We had a wonderful low key dinner and just relaxed at the hotel afterward. And in the morning we went out for a nice breakfast. Unfortunately, some rude people across the hall kept Chris up until 2am and since I can't sleep in because I wake up starving in the morning, we didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked, but we did have a nice time just the two of us. Thanks again to Pete and Ginger for letting us "get away" for the night!
Monday was just a nice, quiet day and a good end to our trip. The boys and I would leave by 9am on Tuesday morning. Chris would be off to Pennsylvania later on Tuesday and Rylan would get to stay with Grandma for some girl time. When we tried to explain that she was staying and that she and Grandma could go shopping she simply said "shoes" which made Ginger smile ear to ear :) When it was time for me and the boys to go she was very upset until we reminded her that if she stayed she would get to go shopping, this helped a bit :) So our trip is over and the boys and I are having some mom and son bonding time until Chris and Rylan return Friday. It was really nice for all of us to get away and see the family, a great end to our summer! (And as a bonus, I scored some maternity clothes, THANKS MEREDITH!)
Now for the sleep issues:
As I mentioned earlier there were some downsides to the trip - the sleeping arrangements. In the past, we would put Rylan to sleep first and then the boys would go into the room later for bed once she was asleep. Well, Rylan no longer goes to sleep at 7:30p so we would have to tweek things a bit. Also, she is no longer in a crib so we needed to figure out another place for her to sleep. We thought we would try putting her on a small mattress on the floor, but after an hour of her getting up and trying to play or get in bed with Jake (who never says no to her) it was clear we would have to come up with something else. The first night after it was clear no one was settling down we had Rylan fall asleep in our room (after 10p) and then moved her to the floor mattress when we went to bed. This worked until Brenden woke up in the middle of the night and it woke up everyone and I found them all playing at 3am. I then had to take Rylan out to sleep on the couch with me the rest of the night. The next night we scrapped the floor mattress and decided to try Rylan in the top bunk and the boys in the bottom bunk (the bottom is a full size bed). This worked a little better, but since Rylan likes to "chat" herself to sleep the boys had a hard time falling asleep so I had to lay down with everyone to make sure they could stay quiet and/or ignore Rylan's babbling. Once again, it took until almost 10p. The other nights were all about the same. Once they were asleep it was all fine, but getting them to go to sleep was exhausting for all of us and then Jake for some reason wakes up at 6:30am everyday so that meant we ALL were awake at 6:30am.
So now I'm starting to worry about what we're going to do once #4 arrives. We had originally decided to put Rylan in with Brenden for 2 years, but he had such a hard time falling asleep with her "chatting" that I worry he won't get enough sleep and he needs it more now that he's in school. Hopefully if we do put them together it'll just be a small adjustment period for both, otherwise I don't know what we'll do. I really don't want to put Jake and Brenden together again and we'd have to do some major room swapping to put Jake and Rylan together and I think that would be bad too. I wish there was an easy solution, and who knows, maybe it will be easy when the kids are here instead away. I think we'll try the new arrangements in October/November so we have plenty of time for adjustments. Until then I guess we'll just keep talking with the kids about it and hope it all goes well....
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