Memorial Weekend

We finally took Ava on her first visit to East Texas on Memorial Weekend. We took Kameen at 5 weeks, but hubby (not me, because I didn't want to take him at 5 weeks) was a bit smarter this time around in knowing to wait a few more weeks. Ava is not a big fan of the car or car seat. She is not easily lulled to sleep in the car, but typically cries and cries whether the car is moving or not. So, I took some preventive measures to help ease the trip, which thankfully, is only about 5 hours (4 when we didn't have children). Ava has been sleeping well when swaddled. At first, I was swaddling her in my thin, cotton bathrobe. But, for the trip I knew I needed a travel swaddle blanket that would fit around the car seat straps. The blanket worked well. She did not (like Kameen, surprisingly) sleep the whole way, but the blanket helped keep her calm, and so did I, who ended up in the backseat squished between both kids. For the most part, she did great!

Ava was a much better visitor than her brother was at this age. She let her Grandmama, Grandpa, Great Granny, and Aunties hold her, for the most part. She was sociable and talked to them quite a bit, once she got her good nap in for the day. She even let Grandmama bounce her to sleep on her shoulder! We scrambled to take some pics of her while she was happy. I stayed away so that the sound of my voice didn't upset her.

Kameen had a great time of course! He was determined to stay with his Grandmama, and told me and Chris to go home and he was staying there. We are highly considering sending him to stay very, very soon! He played hard from the time he arrived, and really wore himself out, which was great because he slept in a queen size bed for the first time. He's had practice at his Meemaw's house here in Austin, but it's a half bed and it has a tent on it, which makes it feel like a crib. He did fine. I laid with him the first two nights until he was asleep. He also got to make some cookies with his Grandmama, which he thought was pretty great, and I did too.

Finally, he got to ride with Grandpa on a tractor! He was quite impressed. If I ever learn how to upload video, I'll show some footage of the event. Until then, here's a picture.