Nash - Chat - Fla and Back Again

We took our first cross country trip with Critter in early April. Please hold your laughter and horror as I describe our original plan:

Tuesday, drive to San Francisco and fly to Nashville. Wednesday, drive to Chatanooga. Wednesday night, start driving to Florida. Thursday, complete drive to Florida. Friday, hang out in Florida. Saturday, drive back to Chatanooga. Sunday, hang out in Chatanooga before driving to Nashville. Monday, chill in Nashville. Tuesday, fly back to San Fransisco and drive back to Paso. Just in case you forgot as we apparently did, Critter was six months old.

Most of the trip went according to "plan" except that instead of Critter and I driving back with the rest of the gang from Florida we caught a 1 hour flight from Orlando to Chatanooga. It may be the best decision of the year. It ended up taking the drivers twenty hours to get back to Chatanooga due to the Spring Break traffic coming out of Florida - Oh my.

Our first hint of trouble came as we sat at the Gate in SFO and I took Critter's temperature. It was 101F. I freaked out. Critter had never been truly sick before and we were about to get on a three hour flight. We ended up on the phone with the pediatrician sitting in our seats asking if we should get off the plane. They said it was okay to go, but if the temp got over 102 we needed to head to a hospital. Thank you, that is very comforting.

Critter ended up doing great because he slept for most of the flight. We were able to see my sister, Kelly, during our layover in Dallas. Critter was his happiest of the day with Kelly (no surprise there:)).

We finally arrived in Nashville and when I saw Tim's family, I cried. It had been a long day and my baby was sick. To Tim's surprise, close family friends, the Grahms from Papua New Guinea had randomly met up with his siblings in Nashville and suprised him at the airport. They were lucky enough to meet me with tears streaming down my face - lucky them:) Tim loved getting to see them and I enjoyed meeting another part of his very exotic other life.

The rest of the week was spent with Tim's siblings - Brian, Susan (wife of Brian), Julie, and Linda as well as lots of their friends and family. It is always fun to be with Tim's siblings. I am so blessed to be a part of his family. They make me laugh and they also challenge me to be a more real, honest person. I love my in-laws! So much in fact that sometimes I am offended by the word in-law because of its negative connotation, but that is another subject.

We drove to Florida to see Tim's Dad now known as Grandpa Steve. We didn't get to spend as much time with him as we would have liked, but the time together was good. We ate seafood on Anna Maria Island (see beautiful beach pictures) and then headed over to Grandpa Steve and Donna's house for a BBQ/Family Reunion. It was a great BBQ and we were grateful for all the family that came to hang out: Aunt Linda, Joselyn and her five (beautiful and way too fun) kids, Papa Emmerson (Tim's Grandpa) and Grandma Kay, and Donna's son and his three boys as well.

The week was a blur of travel though a few high points in no particular order were The Waffle House at midnight, seeing the Hawkins (Susan's Parents or my Outlaws), spring in Tennessee, eating so much junk food I wanted to barf, the crystal, clear blue water off Florida, the wisteria growing like weeds up tall trees, and...coming home.

On that note, this blog is a perfect example of why blogging needs to happen immediately after a trip and not two months later when the special details are all hidden away in my brain where I cannot seem to find them!

Warning: This slideshow is long so you might want to grab a snack for endurance. Also, we have a lot to learn about photographing the actual trip versus Jude during the trip. You will see very little of Tennessee or Florida, but a lot of Critter with people who love him.

Appearances

Sorry for the messy look. I'm working on changing up the blog and I can't find a preview button so I'm working with what I know, which isn't much.

Critter Movin'

I was in the kitchen listening to Critter play and decided to video him. He has been learning a lot this week and is putting a lot of it on display. He's doing his army crawl still, but gets up on his knees and feet quite often. He has begun moving from tummy to sitting and back again. My new favorite is the motor sound. I think the only thing he isn't doing in this video is showing his taco tongue. He has been playing around with folding his tongue and sticking it out - pretty cute if you ask me.

I had a hard time turning off the video camera so this one is pretty long. You also might enjoy knowing that many of his big grins are directed at his favorite toy of all - Kona.

Introducing Critter

First things first: I was recently informed that it might be a good idea not to use my son's first name in a public blog. With that said, I will now try to refer to Little Man as Critter. Sometimes I just look at him and think that with all his squirming and giggling that Critter just fits. Okay, now that is out of the way...

Critter and I had a very full Saturday. He attended his very first swim party. He and DaDa swam it up in the pool and he impressed everyone with his excellent froggy kick skills - well, maybe not everyone, but Mama was impressed. From the swim party, we went to a baby shower that I was helping organize for a good friend. I wasn't sure how the day was going to go because of so many activities and so little time for quiet peaceful sleep. Well, it went great.

Critter loves, loves, loves people. I know I have said this before, but it is becoming clearer and clearer as he continues to grows and express himself. He smiles at everyone, scoots around and grabs onto strangers' feet asking to be picked up and played with. He is an absolute ham; flirting with nearly every girl in the room (but none more than Mama, of course).

I think the reason I am struck by this is because if you have ever spent an extended period of time one-on-one with Critter you will soon realize that he gets bored quickly. I have (more times than I would like to admit to) gone shopping so that he has people to look at and smile at. If he could talk, I think there are a few times he would ask, "Mama, is it gonna just be you and me? I mean are there gonna be any friends coming over? Really? Just you and me? Huh."

Today it struck me that how it might make me laugh to realize how social Critter is and how being with people energizes and excites him, but that God has made him this way for a purpose. I was thinking today about Psalm 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb". God created Critter and knew from before time who he would be and what he would be like.

I am still getting to know my son and hope to always be learning more about him, but God knows Critter inside and out. He has a purpose to use the joy Critter gets from being around people for His ultimate glory.

I love Critter more than I thought possible. He brings me great joy...and also brings me to my knees. Today, Critter's naps were short and disjointed, but he smiled, laughed, played and made many new friends. Today was a great day. Thanks, Lord, for Critter.

Kona Plays With Jude

Jude is now scooting to wherever he wants to go. Last week he decided that he wanted to pet Kona. She is used to Jude trying to pet her but this time she started to play with him. You'll see her uncertainty in the beginning, but then she gets into it. My favorite part is listening to Jude laugh. Kona brings him so much joy!