Road Tripping, Days One & Two

After an exhausting move day, and not hitting our beds at Little America in Flagstaff until 1am, we thought for sure little man would let us sleep in the next morning. Not so. Parker was standing up in his pack-n-play in the hotel room by 8am, saying he was ready to start the day. He must have been very excited for our road trip to Alabama ;) Originally we figured we would fly, but Max suggested that we take our time. Also, this way we would be able to bring our important things that we didn't want the movers to be handling. It ended up being a great decision because road trips equal lots of family bonding time.  

The temperature in Flagstaff when we got up was probably thirty degrees cooler than the weather we had left in Scottsdale, and the view out the window was so pretty! 

We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant and decided to take it easy on the road. We stopped at Meteor Crater in Arizona (the crater was way bigger than we expected, very neat to see!). 

And Parker had fun running around. 

He actually got a nap in after this!

Border crossing to New Mexico.

We decided we would drive to Albuquerque and stay for the night, but we had no idea where we were going to stay. I sent a help message on Facebook asking for suggestions and within minutes had people responding! So sweet! I ended up booking us (from my phone on the road) at the Hyatt resort at Tamaya, just north of Albuquerque. I was a little apprehensive about leaving Pepper in the city lots at we were toting all of our too-important-for-the-movers items. The Tamaya resort was really spacious and removed, so it was the perfect choice for us. It was very, very "Southwest" but we really liked it.

We did dinner at the resort and headed out bright and early the next morning. It was a shame we didn't get to enjoy the beautiful grounds more! The leaves were changing colors and the scenery was gorgeous.

We drove through McDonalds for breakfast and coffee. Neither Max nor I could remember the last time we went to a McDonalds for breakfast, but on this road trip it did the trick! Plus, since it was drive-through and we ate on the way it took almost zero time! This would be our heavy-driving day so every minute mattered! Our goal was to make it to Dallas, about a ten hour drive away.

For the most part, little man was AH-mazing. He was so happy just talking, reading, singing and being together with Mama and Dada. He also loved looking out the window. He pointed out big trucks, radio towers, windmills, water towers, cars, yield signs, stop signs... he actually had too much fun this day to sleep.

When he did get crankstery, it was Taylor Swift to the rescue. Y'all, I'm not even kidding. Since he was a wee one, he has loved T-Swift. I put it on and it instantly calms him. #swiftyfanlikemamma

Texas crossing!

I'm not gonna lie. This day got long. Especially with a little man who did not want to sleep. But we were together as a family and that made my heart so happy!

We kept thinking for sure little man would pass out, then he'd just go back to being entertained by the scenery! (Which, btdubs, was not at all entertaining. This day was miles and miles of desert and tiny towns). 

We ended up pulling into Dallas around 9pm after a full day on the road. Here we would get to stay and recuperate at Gigi's house until the second leg of the trip which will bring us to Alabama! Stay tuned!

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On the Move

After months and months of living apart, Max flew back to Scottsdale one last time to help oversee our big move. Fortunately, Max's new job covered our moving expenses so everything was taken care of for us. We had two days of packers, which meant two days of living with boxes (boxes thankfully I didn't have to pack!). 

 Then, the big day came.

Mid-morning progress:


Parker directing the movers, ha!

Starbucks traveler for the win! These babies are awesome - they tote about 12 cups of whatever brew you choose, plus cups and cream are included. By afternoon I was on to iced coffee.

By dinnertime, we still looked something like this.

Mamma knew it was going to be a long night. Little man got in a great day nap but by nightfall his crib had been packed up. Instead of getting really sleepy, he was super energized by all the commotion and was running around wanting to see everything.

Finally, after 10pm, the last of it was packed and the truck drove off.

We commemorated with a family selfie in front of our blank wall and some ice cream on the kitchen floor. I remember looking at this picture and thinking that we all looked ridiculously hosed.

From there we loaded up in Pepper. By this time is was 11pm and Parker was still wide eyed awake. Max and I were saying a sentimental good-bye to our house of four years (and our home city of five) when Parker interjected and said "Bye-bye! Bye-bye!", as in let's get this show on the road. Our plan was to drive north and stay the night in Flagstaff to start off our road trip to Alabama. As we were driving by all the city lights, Parker again said "bye-bye" - we had been telling him that we were saying bye to the house, but I really think it stuck and that he understood.

We arrived in Flagstaff exhausted around 1am. Though he usually never sleeps in the car, Parker got in about an hour of sleep thank goodness. Max and I had a sweet, peaceful trip, so happy to be together and so excited to start our new adventure. Stay tuned for the rest of our road trip to Alabama!

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PCK 18/19 Months

Height/Weight: 33” (72%), 22 lbs. (29%) – It feels like our big guy is growing by the second! Sometimes I put him down for a nap and swear that he’s bigger when he wakes up

Hair: Sporting dark blonde   

Diapers: Huggies Little Movers Size Fours and Pull-Ups 2T

Potty Training: Starting at 17 months, Parker began announcing when he made a “poo”. I hadn’t planned on starting potty training for some time, however since he was doing this anyway, we started talking about the toilet and having him sit on it. Wouldn’t you know, by 18 months he had done a “poo” on the toilet! We figured since he was telling us anyway, we might as well have him go on the toilet (and really, not having to change poopy diapers has been awesome!). Parker uses a soft kid seat on top of the regular toilet, and likes reading his potty time board books while on the toilet, and smelling the (unlit) candles I have in the powder bath. He will make a really loud sniffing sound just to show you he's smelling them, and likes to hold them and alternate. It's so odd that it's cute. He gets one M&M for going poo (I know this is totally an old school reward, but he gets really, really excited to pick it from the bowl). 

Clothes: Mostly 2T

Health: Poor little man had a fall at the splash pad last month and fractured and displaced his front tooth. His Ayah was in town and went to the dentist with us where Parker had his first x-ray, and where the dentist informed us he had also fractured his root. Another visit a week and a half later and we discovered his root is healing, but his tooth is still loose so on we continue with his soft foods diet.

Sleep: Alternating one or two naps a day and a nice 10-11 hour overnight sleep

 

Diet: Favorites recently have been waffles, berries, cheese, milk, black bean burgers, crackers, and ICE CREAM. My goodness, little man will go into the freezer, take out the half-gallon of Blue Bell, take of the lid and hand it to you, signing “more”. He’ll do this anytime and frequently requests ice cream for breakfast (he’s so his mommy’s child). He does a happy dance when he gets to eat it.  

Likes: Riding forward in his car seat and identifying stop lights and stop signs, yelling “air-puh!” when he hears or sees a plane in the sky, music, dancing, placing shaped blocks into corresponding holes, identifying air ducts, identifying exits (he will find every single one in a building and say “eyeh”), rough housing, blowing bubbles on mommy’s tummy, sitting on dadda’s lap at restaurants, hide-and-seek, being read to, coloring with crayons (“gooyuhs”), splashing in the bathtub, and being back together as a family (Parker all day long will say “Mamma Dadda”).  

Parker’s favorite thing to date is escalators. He will run and shriek with glee when he sees them and will want to ride them over and over and over. He also loves riding elevators and may or may not have pressed an alarm button while riding one. Oops. Dada has also introduced Parker to fire - he claps and shrieks with glee when Max brings out a lighter or lights a candle. 

Social: Parker loves waving and giving high-fives. He has started giving hugs and patting, which kills us with cuteness! He continues to love “hiding”, chasing, and playing peek-a-boo.

Milestones: Walking backwards, two-word combinations (dadda byebye, mamma up, dadda airport), recognition and verbal identification of the color blue. I stopped counting words at 18 months (Parker was at 30 words), he now has many more but we kid that he uses only about 10 sounds for all of his words. So, many of his “words” sounds exactly the same (for example “blue”, “pool” and “ball”, or “keys” and “tree”).

Little Man,
You are our everything! We've had a long summer with Dadda working in Alabama and us living in Arizona, but we have officially sold our Scottsdale house and we are on the way to being back in the same state! You love when we are all together and say "Mamma, Dada!" over and over and over! You are full of light, and happiness and energy - you are a little mover and keep us on our toes. You love to observe and watch, and are constantly asking us to name new things for your (fire places, water towers, chimneys, radio towers). It's nothing short of a miracle to watch you learn and grow, and we couldn't feel more blessed to be your parents.
Love, Mamma and Dada

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Bye-Bye Scottsdale

We are set to close on our house in the next few days. It's unreal to sell a house. We've never done this before. It's so weird to be leaving mail keys, and thinking about someone else living here. Not that we have much time to ponder such things, as we are prepping for our cross-country move. Wish us luck and you'll hear from us on the other end, in our new sweet home, Alabama!

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