Grammy and Big Papa

There could be multiple  names for this post.  "Why I love Grammy and Big Papa," "Grammy and Big Papa Camp," "Suggestions for dealing with Grammy & Big Papa Withdrawal?"...

Big Papa

Grammy

We have been having a great visit in South Carolina.  Jacob (though starting to get a little lonely now) has had some rest/quiet/freedom /time to do projects. 
I've had MAJOR help and the gift of time. Time to exercise, read, get things done, play on the computer, and see friends.  

And time to snuggle this one...

Cora has probably had the roughest week since she caught Jack's cold and hasn't been able to nap as well because of all the excitement and adventures Florence, SC has to offer.  She has had extra snuggles and got lots of new outfits (thanks Grammy and friend Kate/daughter Ava).  I probably care more about that than she does though.

Jack has been living large.  He now has a new best friend in his Big Papa (name courtesy of Jack).

He continues to adore his Grammy and Aunt Kristen.  He has been able to play involved games of fireman/fire station (complete with fire dogs, a "life net," helmet, boots, a hose, and pretend fire truck).  His Big Papa arranged a tour of the fire station down the street where Jack got to climb in the engine and see where the firemen sleep. 

He's played golf, read books, gone to the beach, eaten contraband foods, and stayed up late. 

He's met his furry cousin Donaghy and seen Aunt Kristen sing onstage at play practice.

Tomorrow we fly home - all 5 of us.  The only downside to this week is that we miss Jacob.  He has been working on some surprises around the house, so I'm excited to see the changes.  Up next: Cora's baptism on Sunday and a cook out afterward.  Jack starts school on Monday, so hopefully he'll transition well from constant adult playmates to playing well with new friends!

An adventurous week!

Lots going on this past week!

Sweaty nap in car better than in hot house

!

Our AC went out last Friday.  By Sunday it was up to 90 degrees (inside that is) and we spent a creative Sunday out and about around town to escape the heat.  On Monday, Jacob went out of town and the temperature went up to 92 degrees.  I didn't think I had the sanity stores to make it through the night alone in the heat, so we Pricelined a hotel and spent a quiet night at the Courtyard by Marriott.  I thought I was game to come home the next day but after a day spent in every free air-conditioned place I could think of, the 94 degree inside heat had us back at the hotel.  As you can imagine, we are NOT happy with our installer but have our hands tied while we wait for the system (a complicated geothermal system) to be fixed.  The installer finally put a window unit in our bedroom on Wednesday, so with Jacob back in town, we all camped out there Wednesday night.  As of today, we are still waiting for it to be fixed!

On Thursday, I flew with Jack and Cora to South Carolina.  They did great on the flight (a direct flight to Charlotte) and we were happy to be reunited with Grammy.  In the past few days we have visited both great grandparents, gone to the beach with Aunt Kristen and Uncle William, gone to church, and had a "meet Cora/happy birthday Big Papa" lunch with extended family.

A pumper engine made out of sand

Pretty girl all dressed up for church

2 Month Update

Miss Cora is 2 months!  What's Cora like these days?  Well...

• Her nickname is Cora-bell.
• She weighed 14 lbs, 2 oz and was 23 1/4 inches at her 2 month apptmt.  That's a big girl!
• She has an AWESOME smile - it is a sweet, full-on, quiet smile and she pulls it out when she sees either her Mommy or her Daddy. 
• She has started making some "talking" noises - they are so quiet and sweet - little tiny coos and goos.
• She is gradually going longer between feedings - she went 8 days only waking once between 3/4 a.m.  The last two nights, not so much, but hopefully that was just a fluke.
• She is the easiest nurser!  She eats on one side only, takes about 5 minutes, and then is set for another 2-3 hours.  
• She spends most of the morning trying to sleep, but seems to always get woken up (hello Jack).  She then eventually conks out for a 2-4 hour nap late morning or early afternoon when I can get her in a quiet spot.
• She is very loved by the rest of us and we are all really enjoying having a baby in the house.

Jack

• I love potty-trained children!
• His hair grows crazy fast!  We are cutting it every 6 weeks, but he starts looking like he needs a cut after three.
• He is unpredictable these days!  95% of his interactions with Cora are sweet (rocking her chair when she cries, putting her paci back in, and hundreds of kisses), but I never know when the 5% is going to come out!  Little stressful!
• He is enamored, in love, passionate and all other similar words about fire trucks!  A visit to the fire station makes him positively giddy.  He spends hours building fire stations and making fire trucks out of LEGOS.  He plays fireman a lot and can do a mean fire engine siren.

Me

• I started cooking again last week and cooked 5 interesting meals in 8 days + a birthday cake + cookies.  Part of this was because we were on vacation, but I'm pretty proud of myself.  My favorites: NY Times chocolate chip cookie recipe, pork chop meal, and quinoa salad.

Jacob

• After many hours of studying, Jacob successfully passed both his finance and accounting courses.  Next up, "Finance 2" and Managing Change.
• We now have sweet olive trees, fig and lemon trees, blueberry and blackberry bushes, and some grape vines planted.

 Oh and are these not adorable???

Jack at 10 weeks

Cora at 8 weeks

Vacation, Vacation!

I'm a big fan of vacations :)  We so needed one too!  The last 8 weeks have been a whirlwind and it was time to get away, just us, and relax.  Fortunately, we were able to do this for a few days this past week.  We knew we wanted a beach, so we decided to try Gulf Shores.  We got a condo through Vrbo.com and packed (everything we owned into) our car and headed out late Wednesday.

We spent 3 nights at the Crystal Towers and it was perfect for us.  We had a nice ocean view, easy access to the beach, a great pool set-up, and a kitchen. 

So what is a vacation like for the Landrys these days?  Up at 6:15 each morning (Jack and Cora were aligned on this one), breakfast, out to the beach by 7:30, 3 full hours of sand castles, water play, and pool time before bringing the fair-skinned ones back inside.  Then LEGO play (we chose not to leave home without them), lunch, naptime (hallelujah!), and then more beach.  Naps meant Jacob and I also got to nap and finish books on this trip!  On Saturday, we were out of the condo by 10:30 but by that point had already spent several hours at the beach/pool.  You can be surprisingly efficient with your mornings with small children!

Vacation seemed like a good time to get back to cooking, but in a fun way.  We picked out some interesting recipes (lentil galettes and lemon/eggplant risotto) and brought all the ingredients with us. 

Lemon-Eggplant risotto - delicious, we will repeat this!

Watching a small child experience new things is such a precious and happy thing.   Jack had a blast on this trip and it was so much fun to watch.  It makes me tear up to see how much he loves to spend time with us (the feeling is mutual by the way) and it was so nice to have nothing else to distract us from just enjoying him.  Cora graciously took a backseat on this trip and let us focus on Jack.  This baby is a great sleeper and she either slept or was content to be held.  (I definitely appreciated the two parents: two children ratio - very convenient.)

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Cora asleep in the stroller

Jack's beach fashions

The LEGO fire trucks make a beach appearance

 

Classic Cora expression

Pretty girl gives great smiles these days!

Is this not the sweetest chunk of love?

A good vacation tires you out