Great-Grandparents and Notre Dame!

We had a busy weekend trip to Michigan and Notre Dame. Austin has been very excited for the trip! For the few days before we left, every time we got in the car, he asked if we were going to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's house now. On Thursday night, Nanny and Grandpa drove down, jumped in our car with us, and we headed out for the long drive to Michigan.

We had a mostly uneventful trip that night. We figured that Austin would just sleep most of the drive since most of the trip was late at night, and then we when we arrived, we could just transfer him from his carseat to the bed, like we do when we drive home from Nanny and Grandpa's house at bedtime. Well...it didn't exactly turn out as planned. First of all, the portable DVD player we had ordered a week earlier to entertain Austin on the trip didn't arrive in time for our departure. Luckily, our neighbors were so sweet to let us borrow theirs. Austin was very well behaved for the drive. He fell asleep in his carseat a little later than his normal bedtime and was sleeping well until we hit the bright lights of the Chicago skyway. He was then wide awake for the last hour of the drive. We couldn't get him to go back to sleep, but he was still being very patient and well behaved. And then...

About 1 mile from arriving at Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's house...Austin all of a sudden gagged and vomited all over himself, his carseat, his blanket, the floor, and the bags on the floor of the car at his feet! We pulled over to the side of the road, stripped him down, wiped him off, wrapped him in Grandpa's big sweatshirt, and calmed him down while Nanny and Daddy went at the car seat with antibacterial wipes. I held him on my lap for the last 1 mile of the drive and we got him clean jammies and blankie when we arrived. Of course, getting him to go to sleep (at around 2 am our time, 3 am their time) after all of this occurred was a real treat! We spent the next hour unloading the car, getting settled in, and wiping the vomit off of Austin's toys and books that were in the open bag below him when he threw up. Fun 3 am activities!

Friday went much more smoothly. We woke up, had some breakfast, then enjoyed the day with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa.

Austin got to experience Great-Grandpa's famous "wuzzer wuzzer" tickling...

And got Great-Grandma going too...

After Austin's nap, we headed out to the pool...

Kicking and splashing with Nanny.

Mare and Tom peeked over the fence and joined us for a bit, too.

Jumping to Grandpa.And flying high.Fun with Grandpa and Great-Grandpa.

Considering jumping off the diving board into the deep end...
...then reconsidering and deciding it wasn't such a good plan. Mommy agreed with that decision.

Very excited that he could walk in the shallow end and keep his head above water and that he could climb the ladder by himself.

He kept climbing out of the pool to report to Great-Grandma.
"Great-Grandma, I went under the water!"
"Great-Grandma, I jumped in the pool!"
"Great-Grandma, I climbed the ladder!"
Learning to kick with Great-Grandpa.

Saturday was Notre Dame football! Austin was all dressed in his Notre Dame jersey and ready to go when Great-Uncle Jim arrived to drive with us to campus for the game.
Playing football with Uncle Jim before we left.We headed to campus and enjoyed a big tailgate put on by one of Grandpa's college friends.There, we met up with my cousin Melanie, who is now a freshman at ND.

Then it was over to the Concert on the Steps to introduce Austin to the Notre Dame Marching Band! He sat on Daddy and Mommy's shoulders, but wasn't so sure about the band at first. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the people and starting to get tired.

Watching the band from Daddy's shoulders.Austin still a little unsure, but mezmerized watching and listening to the concert.

Then getting into it and clapping along with the crowd.After the concert...High fives for Uncle Brian.

We were lucky to also enjoy the company of some of our Notre Dame friends we haven't seen in a while (some for about 3 years or so). We saw Pete Godlewski and his fiance, Kanka and his wife, Mackenzie McGee, Katie Stolz (and family), and Vnaks (all 5 of them). It was so great to see everybody! I wish we had more time to spend catching up.

After Austin enjoyed watching drummer's circle with Nanny and Uncle Brian, it was off to "the wall" to watch the band march by. This is the little cement wall by DeBartolo that the band marches right by on the way to the stadium. My family has, for years now, been standing on that wall as the band goes by. So the tradition continues...

Nanny and Uncle Brian cheering on the band.Austin and Mommy checking it out.

Then Steve, Michelle, Brian, Jim, and Great-Grandpa headed to the stadium to watch the game while Nanny, Grandpa and I took Austin home to Great-Grandma's house to nap and watch the game. He was so tired by then that he almost fell asleep in the stroller on the way to the car (and he hasn't fallen asleep in the stroller for a very long time).

Quote of the day:

As I got Austin out of his stroller to put him in his carseat, he said, "Mommy, Go Irish is REALLY LOUD!" He was referring to the band. GO IRISH!

Austin was pretty tuckered out and fell asleep about 1 minute after we pulled out of the parking lot to drive back to Michigan. We listened to the game in the car and didn't even miss the whole first quarter by the time we got to Great-Grandma's to watch. Austin, of course, napped the whole way in the car, but refused to nap any more once we arrived back at the house. He was quite well behaved while we watched the game, though.

He enjoyed sitting on a stool (like Mr. Peter's bench) and reading his books while watching "Go Irish."He shortly began singing Baby Beluga to all of us as loud as he could (with hand gestures, holding the book so we could see it, and handing out pretend balloons at the end).
Grandpa took him swimming again at halftime, while we all discussed our frustration over the referees taking away an obvious touchdown (for the second week in a row!). It was a close game, but we ended up victorious over the Spartans of MSU.

The family who went to the game......returned to Michigan tired, but happy with an Irish win!

Sunday morning, we had a bacon and eggs breakfast, packed up, and headed home. Austin once again did great on the drive, until the very end. We stopped a couple times for bathroom breaks, and about 4 or so hours from home, I checked Austin's diaper (an extra absorbent overnight diaper, at that) and it was fine. He said he wanted me to change his diaper, but he wasn't wet, so I left it. About 20-30 minutes from home, he informed Nanny that he went pee pee in his pants...and he had. He had all of a sudden soaked through his overnight diaper, soaked his shorts (front, back, everywhere), and soaked his carseat too. Since we were so close and changing him would still result in him sitting on a wet carseat, we just pushed on and stripped him down and put him in the tub as soon as we got home.

We are now happy to be home and are busy laundering his carseat cover, settling back in to home, and getting ready for the week ahead.

We have another checkup for me and baby girl on Wednesday. This is my last week on my research rotation (working from home) and I head back to work for half days next week (for 2 weeks), then probably back to full clinic days after that. Baby is doing well and kicking me plenty to let me know she's growing fast and doing well!

On a related note...congrats to the Anderson family on the birth of their baby girl Keira on 9/18!