Here are some pics from the road trip across the country. I drove the boys, while Justin drove the moving truck, pulling the Honda on a trailer. We all stopped at a hotel halfway to South Dakota, then we made the second leg of the trip in one day.
Donovan found some cookies. Who can say no to a face like that?
It was his 18 month birthday, so why not celebrate with a cookie the size of his head. First he picked at all the chocolate candies in it, then he nibbled on that cookie for a good three hours, and then fell asleep with it, half-eaten, in his car seat.
This is the best McDonald's playground I've ever found. We've visited a lot, too. It's fun to find ones with unique themes. This had a piano slide that played the keys as you slid. The drums really drummed. And that's a red guitar on the ground, you can also play music on that.
And of course, they had to play chopstix. We're working on Heart and Soul.
I packed up all our mini life in Alabama, and Justin came home two days before we moved and piled it all in the Penske truck we rented. I will miss being so close to family. And I will miss my friends in the south. I am excited to live in the same house as Justin again, so if that means leaving my friends and family behind to do so, then so be it. Here comes the next adventure!
On our way west, we stayed with Justin's family in South Dakota for about ten days. It was nice to be with his family. It was really, really cold. I've been to South Dakota at this time of year before, the first time I met Justin's family. It was cold then, too. Stacy was with me, and we almost died in a whiteout storm on I-80. I thought I'd promised myself to never drive through that part of the country in the winter again. Oh well. We did it. The windchill this time was negative twenty-seven degrees. I looked outside and it looked like glitter falling from the sky. Justin warned me that if the snow looks like that, you stay indoors. (And that was coming from an Eskimo!) I knew it had to be cold.
The last couple days warmed up for us, though. It was nice to see everyone again.
Daddy came home for good!
Our mini-life, all packed away and shoved in a corner.
In South Dakota, enjoying Daddy.
TV time
The Pantry Pencil Sharpener
Due to arctic temperatures, we sought indoor entertainment. Mason wanted to set up the pins HIS way.
It's warm enough to go outside!!!!!
Once we got out, Justin made sure to do one of his favorite pastimes-- yelling "I love you!" up the Yankton water tower.
Donovan only wanted to play on the oldschool playground equipment.
I felt really sick once we got to SD. So I took a test. I am pregnant! And I really was sick, too. Unfortunately, the rest of the house got sick as well. I'm just grateful it was a bug and not morning sickness!
Here are two videos of dancing entertainment. The first is shorter than the second. The second is for those who really really need a lot of Mason in their lives. Maybe if Mason learns from his Aunt Lisa he'll have a chance at shakin it to the rythm. He's not going to get it from his parents.
And this one goes on for a while.
I wish you could hear the music a little better. I just can't get enough of his little wiggle.
Justin said goodbye to us a few days after Christmas for a month-long
journey to DC and Colorado. I spent New Years with some friends at a
party (missing my husband the whole time). The New Year brought us lots
of hospital visits. Grandpa Cheesman was in the hospital with blood clot
issues and kidney failure, but thankfully he's okay.
Grandpa can still read stories in the hospital.
And then Donovan
got RSV and he and I spent the night in the hospital. Since RSV can be
fatal for infants (Donovan was old enough for it not to be too
worrisome), we were kind of treated like a biohazard. The doctors and
nurses didn't want to spread it to the other kids in the hospital. Poor
Donovan thought it was the end of the world. First they made him wear a
bracelet. Not happy. Then they made him do a breathing treatment. Twice.
He fought the entire fifteen minutes of the first one. He kept looking
at me, wondering why I was letting them torture him so. The second
treatment was an hour and a half long. He gave up and fell asleep during
that one. Poor guy. Then they vacuumed out his sinuses. That one killed
me. His oxygen levels were still down after all that, so he was
admitted. I wonder, however, if that really needed to happen. They put
an oxygen monitor on his toe, which he immediately began yanking at with
all his strength. I checked it and it had been pulled apart and the
wires were exposed. His readings kept jumping all over the place. They
didn't take me seriously when I requested a new one. The next morning I
insisted he get a new one, they put it on, and from that time forth his
oxygen levels were just fine. We went home. He doesn't trust doctors
much now. I'm grateful that I had my parents to help with Mason while Justin was out of town.
He fought the bracelet for about half an hour. I wanted to capture the moment.
Second breathing treatment, too tired to fight it anymore.
The breathing treatment made him hyper, and he was a ball of energy when my mom came to visit.
Literally jumping up and down in his crib. This is about an hour after that second breathing treatment.
