Spring Break Recap

I know, I know.... I haven't been around this week! I did give you fair warning though.... when my family is around, I just don't post because I'm too busy having a blast with them. My parents arrived Tuesday afternoon and left yesterday at 5:15 PM. We all had such a good time. They spared Lily a lot of time in the car since Mo was out of school. I left her at home with my parents and came back to feed her every two hours. Lily loved all of the attention and rolled over for my parents constantly. She can now get her arm out from underneath her, but we're still working on rolling back!

Slicing the cinnamon buns

Learning how to mold dough into rolls

Mo and I were doing activities on this side of town with a few of her friends who stayed in town over spring break, so we spent some time at my house too. Dad taught Mo how to make Wilkie bread and cinnamon rolls, which was a lot of fun (and yummy to boot). I can't wait until Lily is old enough to learn how to do that from him too. I took cinnamon buns to school every day on my birthday, and my birthday was a pretty popular one with my classmates and teachers as a result. I absolutely love my dad's cinnamon buns, and he always makes them if I ask nicely. Mo loved every second of it, and really likes hanging out with my dad (who doesn't?!) It was also the first time she had met mom, and she told me later that she really liked her too. (Again, no surprise...my parents pretty much rock with all kids regardless of age). When my dad visits again in June, he will just come with me to work since I can't drive back and forth between work and home due to swim team for Mo. Unfortunately, Mom won't be able to come on that trip since school will still be in session.

Dad brought his guitar along at my request, because I wanted to capture the first time Lily heard him play and sing. I remember growing up listening to my dad playing and singing, and have such special memories of all of his hilarious improv songs for my sister and I at bedtime. Ethan got to hear one of those improv songs for Lily done in blues style...haha. The more he is around all of us, the more he understands what a fun childhood we had....and the fun is still going strong.

She was fascinated with Grandpa's chord changes

I'm so thankful that Lily will grow up knowing my parents as her grandparents (and my grandparents as her great grandparents) because I know not every child is fortunate enough to have living grandparents. I consider myself really blessed to have made it to age 30 with both sets of grandparents until my Grandma Hajek passed away last year. I even knew three of my great grandparents as a child and remember them well. Lily has lots of adventures in store for her! We were all a little sad to say goodbye yesterday, but we'll see them again in less than a week when we're in town for the wedding.

Lily slept from 8-5:30 last night which was nice. We almost always put her down by 7:15 but sometimes she plays for a little bit in her crib before actually fallings asleep. She went back to sleep until 8:30 this morning, and then Aneli, her sister Lily, and her mom Sondra came over. We headed out to Locust Grove Tanger Outlets for a fun few hours of shopping. I found a bathing suit and hat for Lily at the Osh Kosh B'Gosh outlet, and picked up an adorable navy blue dress with white polka dots. So not a fan of dressing my child in totally pink ensembles just because she's a girl. Ugh. I've never really understood that at all...so many awesome colors exist! I also picked up a couple of things for myself at Banana Republic and the Nike Factory Store. We got home around 4 PM, and hung out as a family since Ethan was home. I was being silly with her and giving her "machine gun kisses" and we heard her first REAL laugh. She's chuckled a few times and laughed really quietly, but nothing like today. Ethan ran to get the Camileo, and we did get her laughing on video. I'll post that in the next couple of days... she has an adorable laugh and I hope we hear lots more of it! 

In other news: Ethan was assigned to the exact zone and watch that we were hoping for! He'll be on evening watch which is AWESOME. It means we get mornings and early afternoons together as a family before we both head off to work. If he's stuck late at work, it doesn't affect us since we'll be in bed already. He can sleep in the next day if he needs to. It will be a little different in the summer when I work full days, but he can just come to my work to spend some time with us since it's on the way to his work anyway! I don't need Ethan's assistance when Lily and I get home since it's just the bedtime routine and she's in bed by 7:15. I can now make whatever appointments I need to for myself and know that Ethan will be home to stay with Lily.  I can also do the grocery shopping and errands on my own (I'm way faster than Ethan) during off-peak hours. Ethan will also get a LOT more time with Lily than the average 9-5 working dad. No complaints here.


See you tomorrow with Lily's 19 week picture!