Highlights from California

So, remember back in May when I told you about my sister who had a baby? Well, about a week and a half after she had her new little baby boy, we went to California to help with this great transition. Great as in great.

And great as in challenging.

And great as in huge.

And great as in life-changing.

And great as in great - like a most wonderful, blessed and happy event!

We (Audrey, Luke and I) were there for two and a half weeks. Some (sane) people would question how I thought I would be helpful to my sister and her newborn and her five month old when I had my own hands full with my two and a half year old and my 10 month old. And it would be a valid question. And I know that I wasn't nearly as much help as I would've liked to be - but I am so glad that I got to be there with one of my favorite people in the world during such a wonderful time.

Here are some of the highlights from our trip:


To start, it was so cool to see little Benjamin (I can't believe how much he's grown since we were last with him in January - of course I've seen pictures but actually seeing him in person - and hefting his stout little frame are two very different things). He is such a sweet little guy and he and Luke were quite fascinated with each other. They spent a lot of time having baby staring contests and sucking on each other's fingers or poking each other in the eye. They were so cute together.

They also took a lot of walks with me in our double jogging stroller - which oftentimes ended in a nap.

Here's Hugh - the reason we came. He is such a cute little guy. He has this raspy little cry (and sometimes not so little!) that just makes your heart melt. I felt so lucky to be one of the first to get to know him.

One of the coolest things about the trip was watching Audrey and Luke's relationship evolve and develop. Before the trip a lot of their relationship was Luke getting into something Audrey didn't want him to get into and Audrey yelling at him ("No Yucas!"). On day number three of being there, Luke learned the stay-on-his-knees crawl (no more commando creeping). And that very quickly turned into Luke becoming proficient at climbing the long flight of stairs at Megan's house. Which apparently impressed Audrey enough to convince her that Luke might make a pretty fun play mate. The "No Yucas!" cries quickly turned into pleas: "C'mon, Yucas! Crawl, Yucas! Stairs! C'mon, crawl!"


And he was only too happy to oblige. They would follow each other around giggling the whole time.


She still wants to boss him around but at least this way he is included in the fun. It was really cool to witness the two of them laughing and following after each other.

Another thing I loved was watching Audrey with my dad. We quickly fell into our own little routine there. We stayed with my parents - so we would spend the mornings at Megan's doing whatever we could to help, then I'd bring Audrey and Luke back to my parent's for nap time, then we'd go back over to Megan's for the evening, then back to my parent's for bath and bedtime - and start all over again. Very quickly the post bath time became play time with Grandpa. This usually meant long conversations on the driveway hill, marching up and down the hill, clapping and singing songs, and running around.

Then we would go for short walks down the street. Audrey would run ahead of Grandpa, then turn around and run toward him with arms outstretched...

which turned into a little leg-hug.

Luke's favorite thing was by far climbing the stairs at Megan's. I think he felt like such a big boy.

He also started to wave.

Hi mom! Look at me!

One night it rained during the night and as we were leaving the house the next morning on our way to Megan's, I was greeted with this lovely sight:

My parents have a beautiful peach rose bush right next to their porch and on this bush five buds were all clustered together, just covered with tiny rain drops. Here's a closer look:

And then there was a pretty pink one too. This one was the only bloom on the bush. So pretty. So serene.

And as beautiful as the lovely roses were, the most beautiful thing to witness was my children enjoying their grandparents. Luke on one of his "walks" with grandpa:

He's so excited to go up the stairs... again.

Audrey didn't want to miss out on the fun.

One of Audrey's favorite things of the trip was her very first manicure, compliments of Grandpa and his steady hand. She kept saying "Princess nails!" and fluttering her finger tips. She felt very special.

We had a great time in California.

We can't wait until we can go again!