Pins and Needles

Today was Thursday aka, Errand Day! After our usual morning routine

Playing while I got ready.  He loves the scale and swinging trash can lid :).

 we went to our weekly story time,

Our big stander!

stopped to get gas,

First picture of the top teeth.  We can feel his right tooth and can see the left but can't feel it just yet.

 and then headed to an alteration shop.

I was 2 months postpartum when I was originally fitted for my bridesmaid's dress and since then, with the help of breastfeeding and living a mostly Paleo lifestyle, I've dropped a good two dress sizes. Needless to say, my dress needs to be taken in a bit. The wedding is October 6th but I had a dream where I not only forgot to bring my dress to the wedding, but never had it altered in the first place. Think my subconscious was giving me a nudge? I wanted to leave plenty of time for additional alterations if necessary so that meant getting the ball rolling before our vacation.

Ayden fell asleep on the way there and I thought, "This will be a breeze if he stays asleep!" After a 20 minute drive I pull into the parking lot only to realize that I never grabbed the bra I was planning on wearing with the dress, which is a no no for a fitting. Then I get out to find that David didn't put the snap and go back in the car after our Nashville trip. I usually leave it in the car for this very reason and since I wasn't the one to take it out, I didn't think to put it back in. With three strikes stacked up against my day I reminded myself about how I am in control of my mood and overall happiness at all times. I took a deep breath, filled my arms with carseat and dress and headed in.

Just my luck, Ayden woke up as soon as I stripped down to change into the dress and started crying. I got him out of his carseat and tried to set him on the floor but that just made him cry harder. There I stood, half naked with a crying baby, positive I was just going to have to forget the whole thing. I took another deep breath, pulled out one of Ayden's favorite toys and, thank goodness, distracted him with it long enough for me to slip into my dress.  That is when Ayden proceeded to spit up all over the dressing room carpet.  Awesome.  I cleaned it up just in time for the lady to come in and fit me.  I solved the bra problem by having her put cups directly into the dress, which will probably make breastfeeding after the weeding easier anyway.  Ayden may have spit up a total of 3 or 4 times total while we were there and just happened to have awesome timing.  He never spit up while she was in there and never needed me to hold him while wearing the dress which I refuse to do until after the wedding anyway. I told him that it would be our little secret and was thankful that I remembered to restock the diaper bag with burp cloths and that they were easily accessible when I needed them. The highlight of this errand for Ayden?  A perfectly child-safe box of straight pins. 

What every baby needs!  So persistent, as usual...

 With a successful fitting under my belt, we headed home for a late lunch and for vacation meal planning.  Now that we've successfully crossed over into lifestyle status with our diet, we feel it is worth it to put forth the extra effort to keep it up even on vacation.  We planned a couple of meals big enough to cover two dinners and two lunches (4 meals total) and then chose quick/easy meals for the rest.  I went to the grocery today:

and plan on prepping as much of the food as possible for the meals so that they are super easy while we are there.  I am hoping to go as far as to pre-chop/measure everything so that all we have to do is cook it but we'll see how much time I end up having tomorrow, as well as what kind of mood Ayden is in.

As for the rest of our day, we had dinner, took a walk, made gifts for Grandparents' Day (which is on Sunday), and got Little Man to bed. 

Salt dough hand print. Will show picture of finished product tomorrow.

Now David and I are having some quiet, baby free time.  We love our little sweetie but still cherish these "just the two of us" moments as well.  Tomorrow is going to be crazy! 

Here is my to do list:
1) Grandparents' Day gifts in the mail so that they get them while we are on vacation
2) Pets to perspective care facilities (Mav to the kennel and Polly to my parent's house)
3) My sister's house to pick up a check
4) The bank to cash said check for vacation spending money as well as deposit another check
5) Home to prep food, pack and leave house presentable for possible showings while we are away

We haven't decided our plan of action for getting to our vacation spot.  Our options are a) Leave as soon as possible after David gets home from work, stop at a half way point for the night and finish the trip Saturday morning or b) David comes home and goes to bed, then we transfer a sleeping Ayden to the car and drive straight through while he [hopefully] stays asleep.  My parents always chose option b whenever we'd go to visit my grandparents in Wisconsin when we were little and it always worked well for them.  Ayden is a tummy sleeper, though, so I worry that he won't sleep well and it will turn out being terrible for all.  The only way to find out is to try I suppose.

Did you take a long road trip with your baby (our drive is about 9 hours total)?  Any recommendations or suggestions for making things run smoothly?

~Sarah