Two Weeks with Family in Washington

One thing that will be so nice about being a teacher is having time off in the summer for long visits home. TyTy and I took off for Washington for two weeks this month to be there for the birth of his little cousin Clark, visit family, and for me to stuff my face at my favourite restaurants.

TyTy did so good on the plane! He took a bottle during take off, and slept for almost the entire trip. I had a time trying to change a stinky diaper in those little airplane bathrooms! I had to sit on the toilet seat and change him on handed on my lap! Talk about mom life!

Swimming

It was actually HOT for most of our visit which was surprising for Western Washington. It gets warm in the summer, but for almost two weeks of 30C weather is a heat wave. My siblings were complaining it was too hot because they weren’t used to it.

Clark Arrives

The plan was to spend the week at my Mom’s in the Tri-cities which are three hours away from Seattle. We planned to leave Monday morning and come back that Friday or whenever my sister in law Lauren had her baby. Monday morning at 5am we got the call that she her water broke and could we watch Liam while she and Bruce went to the hospital.

Mom, Leilani and I spent the day together waiting for the call when that little guy had arrived. We went shopping and out to eat with Liam and watched our phones like hawks.

Finally at 8, I HAD to get TyTy to bed because he was cranky and went to bed at 11pm the night before. I left Bruce’s and laid him down and said if that baby came anytime after 10 pm I would wait until the morning to go and see him. At 9:30 pm we got the text, it was time!

It was so special to be able to be there for his birth. I laughed while we waited because my mom was dead to the world. She’s like me, a morning person who goes to bed early.

We went in and saw him a mere 10 minutes after he was born which I thought was amazing. And pretty cool of Lauren! I myself wasn’t keen on visitors that first day. Ha ha!

Clark was a big baby at 9.5 pounds and 21.5 inches long! We did a side by side shot with TyTy and you would never believe that Clark is 6 days old there and TyTy is 13 weeks!

By the way, how awesome is the name Clark? Makes you think of Clark Kent or Clark Gable. I am obsessed with it! I told Bruce that if he didn’t use that name I would steal it for my next son because that’s how great a name it is.

Meeting Great Grandma

The next day we headed for Tri-Cities so that my mom could get some quality time in with us and for TyTy to meet his great grandma Cim! Grandma Cim is my last living grandparent who I have a relationship with. She was so thrilled to meet TyTy and especially to hold him. He is her third great grandchild but the first one she was able to hold as a baby. The other two she met when they were older. We went and spent hours with her every day which was so nice because usually my visits are a weekend and I get in one visit with her.

Quality Grandma Time

My mom was in heaven with all time she got to spend with TyTy. She loves her little Turtle.

 

Workouts

My mom is amazing. I talk about her all the time on this blog as she is a major inspiration for healthy living and fitness.  On our first day back she took two hour long HIIT classes in a row to make up for taking the weekend off.

She also took me each day to her classes while my stepdad Charles watched TyTy. And let me tell you, I was a sight to behold! Ha ha! I did much better than I thought, but I am so out of shape that I was dying. I think anyone without my sense of humour would have been embarrassed but I just laughed and muddled my way through.

What surprised me most is that I couldn’t do a tuck jump.This former cheerleader was not happy about that. I assumed it was because I was so tire but my mom told me it was most likely from having no core strength to pull my knees up.

Besides walking around, these were my only workouts during those two weeks. *face palm*

Ben’s Fight

Saturday night was my brother Ben’s mixed martial arts fight. I was unable to attend because we didn’t have a sitter and I couldn’t take Ty to such a loud place so late. He won in 1.5 minutes in the first round. I hate that my first baby is fighting but I’m proud of hell at his hard work and determination.

Day in Seattle

I returned to Seattle on a Saturday so I could spend time with my siblings when they didn’t have work. We spent Sunday in Seattle doing all the super touristy things because we were on a mission!

Laura and Leilani bought TyTy a picture book called ‘S is for Seattle’ and for every letter of the alphabet there is a popular spot or aspect of Seattle. Laura had a great idea to take pictures of Ty in these places and glue them into the book on every trip we take.

We hit the Space Needle, the Monorail, Pike Place Market, and the Gum Wall.

 

Laura’s bday celebrations

I also was lucky to be around for Laura’s 28th birthday. The original plan was a group dinner on Tuesday and she and Nick made plans for a romantic dinner on the Monday. Since I was staying with them, Laura didn’t want to leave me out so I tagged along on their romantic dinner.

We went to the Melting Pot, an amazing fondue place. I’m lactose intolerant so I packed lactade pills and had a total of four throughout the meal just to be safe. And no tummy aches! I got to revel in the cheesy deliciousness, to soak my lobster in herb butter sauce, mmmmmmm.

The next day we met everyone at Cheesecake Factory for her actual birthday. I woke up SO FULL from stuffing my face at melting pot that I stuck with a simple and wine.

I miss going to restaurants with friends so much! Living 30 minutes away from Lethbridge makes it difficult to do, especially if you want to have a few glasses of wine with your dinner.

It felt so great to walk out of the restaurant with a full belly and a slight wine buzz into the warm summer night in the city. I’ve always liked going to bed early but I need to make more of an effort to plan dinners out with Ryan and my friends.

Beach day with Liam

I spent most of the week hanging out during the day while everyone was at work. On one of the days I stole my nephew Liam away from Lauren and took him to his favourite place in the world- the beach!

I miss the beach a lot and I was excited to take TyTy down there for the first time. He was an overtired cranky bum though so we didn’t enjoy it much.

We also didn’t spend much time there because there was a chilly wind and I was worried about the baby getting sick. If I was worried I should have left right away! Ugh!

Meeting Monica at River

After dropping Liam off, we drove down to Fall City to meet up with my friend Monica. I haven’t seen this girl in five years but she was one of my dearest friends when I lived in Seattle. We both shared a love for the outdoors and used to go out and sit by the river or just get outdoors whenever we could.

It’s amazing how five years of being apart doesn’t make your friendship strained. We sat and chatted like crazy for three hours! I didn’t want to say goodbye but it was getting close to TyTy’s bedtime and because he had been cranky all day from a late bedtime I had to get him to bed.

Sick Baby

The next day my fears about the windy beach came to fruition. TyTy woke up from his morning nap lethargic and really warm. I went to the pharmacy for a thermometer and sure enough, he had a mild fever. His first fever ever!

As a first time mom, I freaked out. I called my mom for advice and cried. Ugh! What is it about being a mom that makes you so weak? Between my mom and my Brother in law Nick Googling everything, I knew he would be okay with lots of rest and infant formula.

I was extra bummed because I had to cancel my plans with my friend Treena who I haven’t seen in six years! Why oh why did I keep him on that beach? Lesson learned!

Because he was so sick, we spent the last two days of our vacation on the couch and had to cancel our plans to hit the Mariner’s game too which was a huge bummer. But mommy’s fun is backseat to baby’s health.

Luckily, he was still good on the trip back, despite being really congested and coughing a lot.

And just like that, our vacation was over. I was sad to leave my family but happy to see Ryan again. Ryan was missing the baby like crazy and has only left TyTy’s his side to go to work which is so sweet.

Can’t wait until next year! We have so many more places to visit for TyTy’s picture book!

Weight Gain

I had to tag this on to this post. I hopped on the scale and I’ve gained 5 pounds while on vacation! That’s in addition to the 15 pounds of baby weight  I’m still carrying. I’m starting a meal plan (I’ll talk about soon) and am throwing myself into workouts and triathlon training. But what can I say? I ate a lot! Mexican, Thai, Sushi, Melting Pot, Chinese, and more! ha ha!