Vacation Highlights

I feel as though I have not posted in forever... and I suppose it has been almost two weeks. My mother flew in from Montana the same day we found out we are having a little boy and it has been a whirlwind since. Mom stayed with me and Mark in Dallas from that Wednesday until the following Tuesday when she and I flew to San Antonio to spend some time with my sister and the boys. I flew back to Dallas this last Saturday. The following are some highlights from the trip:

• Mom is pretty easy to please. When she got into town all she wanted to do was go to her favorite Mexican food place - El Fenix. We went and I got to be envious of the margaritas Mark drank in front of me.
• I normally don't get sick on airplanes; however, I think pregnancy has changed that a little. I was fine until the landing in San Antonio where I think they may have been training a new pilot on landing / appropriate braking speed. One minute I was fine, the next minute I felt like I was going to hurl and that lovely feeling stayed with me for a good while.
• Both Griffin and Brooks were sick though you couldn't tell anything was wrong with Griffin except for his cough. Brooks, however, was extremely lethargic all week. Despite this, he was very sweet and cuddly. He just wanted to be held and snuggled most of the time. This is a huge departure from his normal attitude because he is generally a little busy-bee. I am glad that Mom and I were there to help Sarah with everything. It made it a lot easier that we were able to trade him off.
• Griffin has really gotten the hang of calling me Aunt Jess. There were lots of "Come 'ere Aunt Jess" and "I hold you Aunt Jess" (which means he wants to be held). Two of my favorite things are putting him down for bedtime and getting him up from his naps. He is always extra snuggly when getting up from his naps and he is generally pretty happy during his bath and while getting his PJs on at night. After PJs it is time to read before bedtime. He and I read together most nights I was there. Of course, he took complete advantage of the situation. He chose 4 books instead of his standard 2. He tried to get me to leave the light on for the night which was a new thing for him. One night he even decided he was going to read the books and he just wanted me to sit there. His version of reading includes him staring intently at the book pages and occasionaly turning to a new page. Once I told him that he had to finish the last book so he could go to bed, this "reading" process got even slower. When he finally finished I picked him up, patted him and then went to put him in bed. At the last second, he pulled back and said "prayers" and put his hands together. Well, how could I say no to that? So we went and sat back down to say prayers... I am pretty sure we thanked God for Mommy and Daddy a few times before he was satisfied. Of course, as the aunt, I think all of this is just precious and proves what a smart little boy he is even at two!
• Finally, I have to relay the cutest thing of the visit. Sarah mentions it on her blog and even has a picture if you would like to check it out... Sarah has told Griffin a few times that Aunt Jess has a baby in her belly with little to no reaction. This last time we were in Babies R Us and Griffin decided he wanted proof. He ran up and started to raise my shirt. Once I confirmed there was no one on the aisle with us, I let him raise my shirt enough to see the "baby". Well, I have bruises all over my belly from these blood thinner injections I have to do twice a day and Griffin saw the bruises. He started pointing to the bruises saying "Here's a baby, here's a baby, etc." For the rest of the week he would randomly come up and want to "see the baby." (Of course, I did have to say no when we were at Olive Garden one night!) The last day he was looking at the "babies" and decided that the biggest bruise was the baby and all the other smaller bruises were "puppies." How cute is that?

It was a wonderful visit despite some of our challenges. We made the best of our two little sickies and had a great time nonetheless!