But I've also been procrastinating the task of deciding what to do with posting a large number of photos.... for now, and because I don't have the time to figure out nor invest in a better solution, I've just created a new album for Callum, like I had once created for Logan. I'll slowly update it with past photos taken during other family visits as I have the time. But for now, let me share a few of my favorites from the last two recent visits.
The minute Callum was born, I thought he looked a lot like my grandfather. He definitely looks like several different people in both of our families - but when you see him up close and next to my grandfather Clock, it's hard to deny those Chinese genes. :)
My grandmother was quite smitten with the little one. She wanted to hold him, more than I had expected her to, any chance she could get. She was a trooper, holding him as long as her arms could support him. :)
Any of these pics will link to the album from my grandparent's visit. You'll also find the (few) pics I took while at my cousin Ellen and Matt's wedding reception event. I don't have too many pictures with all four of us together yet - and this one isn't great - but at least it's a snapshot of our now family of four! :)
I'm not sure my grandparents will get another visit out to California again soon, so I am extremely grateful and appreciative of my parents' hard work to make sure my grandparents' trip really happened.
A couple of days preceding our Texas trip last week, I started talking up the trip to Logan. I wanted him to be excited about the trip but more than that, I wanted to make sure I'd have my little helper with me lending a hand along the way. In the corporate world, we call this gaining buy in from your major stakeholders. ;-) Whether at work, or at home, it seems to be something I do every. fucking. day.
Thankfully, the plan worked. Logan was a real trooper throughout the airport both going out and coming home - rolling around his own suitcase and keeping up with his parents who might have been a little frantic on the way home, when the security check point took 30 minutes too long while their flight, several gates away, was already happily boarding. They were doing a last call for final boarding as we raced up to the gate - I think we were the last ones on the plane. :)
Logan's reading the "plane book" to his dragon Ruby. Callum was awesome on the trip out - sleeping the majority of the flight out and drive to Bryan. Unfortunately, he was a little stinker on the way home - pissed as all hell that he had to stay strapped in his car seat for the 90 minute drive to Austin before his Mama would pick him up. Oh, the horror.
I think Jon was about to drive us all off the road at one point, so we made a couple of stops along the drive, pulling Callum out and giving him a few minutes break from the car seat to chill out. When we finally got to Austin, and I strapped him to my chest (with the Ergo carrier), he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately conked out.
We really didn't do much while we were visiting Jon's family in Texas. We spent a lot of time catching up on life with Papa, Mimi and Granny B, which was actually much more enjoyable and relaxing than going out seeing/doing stuff I think. Other family members (Doy's brother and sister-in-law, and Jon's two sisters) visited throughout the weekend which was also really nice. We watched a few movies here and there. Logan played with all the toys we got the first time he visited - and we bought a few more to add to the collection to keep there.
Jon, Papa and Logan had a "Boy's Day" on Saturday - eating good ol' Texan BBQ for lunch, napping and then buying his cowboy outfit in the afternoon. Doy, Granny B, Callum and I spent the day lounging around the house, dining at the Club, and chatting about everything from the weather to being a mother.
It was our first time traveling with both boys and overall, I think we really lucked out. Logan, for the most part, kept to his sleep schedule at home - which didn't really bother us, since it just meant he was up later at night to hang out with everyone before bedtime. Callum shifted back and forth from Pacific to Central time, so his schedule was a little harder for me to manage since I'm still nursing him, but not too bad either. I generally just slept in when I put him down for a morning nap while Jon and Logan got up and visited with the rest of the family.
Logan slept on a twin bed for the first time (funny that this should happen while traveling - but he actually has a monster double bed of his own at home!) - and without any bed rails no less! I was pretty nervous about the set up because he's a VERY active sleeper and usually sprawls out on his own bed, but he only had one night where he fell off and it didn't seem to bother him too bad (mostly just startled him). I did stuff a number of HUGE pillows all over and around him though. ;-)
Logan also attended Sunday school for the first time - since he and Jon accompanied the rest of the family to church on Sunday while Callum and I slept in that morning. At his age, they don't really do much at Sunday school but paint and play, but still it's another first and something that he can now say he's done (and something that his mother never has)!
I feel we were very fortunate to have the time to steal away for a long weekend to visit Jon's family in Texas, since they wouldn't get to see Callum until he was older, otherwise. Even though I'm on maternity leave, every day still feels like "work" to me (just a different kind of work!) - so I relish these vacations, no matter how hectic they may be. It's rare that I get an entire day where Jon is around to help out with the kids, let alone several in a row! ;-)
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