The lake trip

So this post is long over due!!  The second weekend in September, my family went to the lake!  My birthday was August 28 and when my mom asked me what I wanted, my only response was, "A weekend out of our house!!".  Since this was the only weekend this fall that worked for everyone in my family to get away, my mom jumped on it and rented a condo by the lake and that was that.

The weekend started early Friday morning for Charlie, my mom, my sister and I because we all headed down that day to do some shopping.  Charlie looked pretty fly for his first road trip.

My mom and sister came over to our house to load their stuff in our car and head down.  Jimmy and I packed our car the night before and holy moly.  My sister opened up the trunk and was like "Where are we supposed to put our bags??".  I really wish I would have gotten a picture of it.  It was quite packed with stuff all for the little man.  The list included his bathtub, play mat, pack n play, stroller, my pump, drying stuff for bottles/pump parts...whew.  We rearranged the packing and somehow made it all fit.  

The drive there went like this for Charlie.

Pretty much he was perfect.  Of course he was because other people were around!  He's perfect with other people...just mom and dad, not so much!  But we made a stop halfway in Warrensburg and got some lunch and I changed and fed him and he went right back to sleep the rest of the drive.  Good kid!!  When we got to the condo after like 14 trips for all our stuff, we all three stared at him doing this for a little while.

Then it was off to the outlet malls and Marshalls.  He did great in his stroller for awhile and then when I went back to the car to feed him, we changed to the baby bjorn and he slept some more.  I think he liked shopping.  Which he should because he got lots of sweet new clothes for winter!!

After we were done shopping, we were hungry.  We tried to get Chili's to go (they put my sister on hold for like 10 minutes so we finally hung up), then tried to get Wendy's (but google maps led us astray), so we finally just went back to the condo and ended up getting Applebee's to go.  Since it was late (late in baby world), I gave him a bath and then put him to sleep.  But first, Aunt Lyndsay gave him a bottle!

I was worried because it was the first time I would be alone with Charlie at night.  Not that I didn't think I could handle it because I do all the night time feedings since we breastfeeding, but I liked having Jimmy there for moral support.  Luckily he was pretty good...he woke up once around 3 and then again at 5.  Then after some in and out sleep, we finally got up to eat at 6:30.  And this was the view we got to look at while I fed him and he enjoyed his breakfast.  The screened in patio was perfect and secluded...so nursing him out there was just heaven.  I wouldn't mind sleepless nights as much if I woke up to this and feed here every morning!!

AND I got some smiles too!!

My dad and Jimmy left KC early that morning at 5AM because my dad had a football game on Friday night.  They had a tee time in the Ozarks at 9AM and even though it was raining, they still played.  And us girls had some breakfast and then did a little more shopping that morning as well.  That was when this mom realized she needed to get her butt into gear in terms of working out.  I tried on some pants.  And that was a disaster!!  But I guess he's worth it, right?

Then we met my dad and Jimmy at Backwater Jack's for some lunch.  There was a Harley Davidson crowd/pub crawl thing going on in the Ozarks, so that was fun.  Haha.  After another change and feeding in the car, Charlie slept through lunch, which was good!  There was another baby in the bar about the same size as him...but a lot older!  Oh Charlie, what a big boy you are!!

Here is the big boy modeling his cute outfit that Ali and Henry sent him!

That night we had steaks and baked potatoes and corn on the cob.  Even though it was past Charlie's bed time, he didn't want to sleep because vacation was so fun so he joined us for dinner.  He was pretty happy!  His dad enjoyed a few too many beers by himself and finally went to bed after I got up around 1:30 to pump.  Oh Jimmy...he will never learn.  Because he was pretty miserable the next morning.  Scratch that COMPLETELY miserable.  Here is a shot of our family.  I am so disappointed I didn't get one of all 6 of us!!!  BUMMER!!  These mom duties are cutting into the time I usually spent taking a million pictures!

When we left on Sunday, I was hoping for an easy ride back.  No siry.  Charlie had something else in mind for us.  After mom and dad got in a fight about how to go home, Charlie did this the whole way home.

I sat in the back seat attempting to calm him down.  Nothing worked.  We finally stopped at Wendy's for lunch and I got him out and held him, changed him and fed him (in the car again).  But he was still not happy the rest of the way home.  Guess you win some and lose some!?  Needless to say, my decision to get a frosty at Wendy's was a HORRIBLE one because I'm pretty sure it gave him the worst gas that night.  When we tried to put him to bed, he was screaming.  And usually he's pretty easy to calm down, but nothing was working.  I could literally feel him farting.  So I sent Jimmy to go get gas drops and guess what? They worked and he slept pretty good the rest of the night.  Whew.

Here is a collage I made from some pics I took on my phone.  I just learned how to do this and was excited!!

Needless to say, it was such a wonderful weekend getaway with my family.  THANKS so much to my mom and dad for taking us on a nice little trip out of KC.  We had a great time and loved that you guys got to spend lots of time with Charlie.  Next big trip for us?  We are thinking one is in order next summer when we dad turns 60 on July 27 and Charlie will be 1!!  Holy cow that's crazy to think about!!!