Roadtrip

Well . . . last weekend we actually got brave and decided to go on a short weekend getaway since we hadn't gone anywhere with the kids all summer. Due to finances, we stayed in state, and we only planned to stay one night in a hotel. I thought, how hard can that be? It's just one night. We should be able to pack light and get everything in one bag.

Wrong.

The van was loaded down by the time Stuart had put in all the stacks of bags that I had filled. Two bags for snacks. One bag of diapers/wipes/baby food stuff. One suitcase for our clothes. One pool bag for the hotel pool which included sunscreen, floaties, 4 bathing suits, and goggles. A cooler to keep drinks cool in the car. A bumbo chair for Arden. A stroller for Arden. A cradle swing for Arden (very huge, but she is still addicted to it). It looked like we were moving instead of going away for one night!

The trip was about a two hour drive, and no, we don't have a DVD player in our van. So, we must have heard, "Are we almost there yet?" about 45 times on the way. We realized that driving with a baby is harder than we remembered because we had to stop to change her poopy diapers and feed her. We also have a baby who (for some reason beyond us) doesn't like to sleep in a moving vehicle! We made it almost an hour, then we already could smell some toxic fumes coming from the back of the van. Her first poopy diaper. We then realized we had brought no empty plastic bags to dispose of them in! Ugh!

Since it was around 100 degrees that day, we were drinking a lot of our cooled drinks which soon made the boys have to take potty breaks too. When we finally arrived at our destination, it was lunch time and much later than we expected. Arden had not slept at all in the car, and she had been awake for 5 1/2 hours straight at this point already, so she was getting a bit cranky.

We checked into the brand new hotel (big mistake thinking that "brand new" would be great!) which took Stuart almost 25 minutes. He later told us that the front desk attendant didn't know how to check him in and that the hotel had just opened a few days earlier.

We finally released the kids from the van into the steamy hot parking lot and began the trek up to the second floor with about 20 bags, Bumbo chair, laptop computer bag, cradle swing, etc. We got Arden down for a nap, but not before we had to change another poppy diaper with still no way to wrap it up in a plastic bag, so it would not continue to stink up the entire room. We decided to sit down in the cool, nicely decorated suite and let the boys watch some tv. We turned on the nice flat screen tv that was larger than my loveseat at home, and there was just static! We then tried the smaller tv in the bedroom -- just static! We called the front desk to find out that they were having some cable tv problems that were being worked on. Ugh!

The next idea was the pool. The boys were restless at this point and had resorted to doing hip-hop dance moves in front of the full length mirror on the wall which was resulting in lots of thuds and stomping on the floor (remember, we're trying to get Arden to sleep). I remember the nice looking outdoor pool, and I walk downstairs to check it out. Unfortunately, the gate to the pool area was padlocked closed, so I inquired about it at the front desk. Like the cable tv, this "brand new" hotel didn't have the pool up and running quite yet, as the chemicals hadn't been checked. So, no swimming. This hotel was beginning to bug me!

We let the boys watch a Veggie Tales DVD on our laptop computer while we sat quietly in the dark living room to give Arden a chance to get a nap. Finally, we embarked on our adventure to explore the city and then get some dinner.

Several poopy diapers later and after an uncomfortable time feeding Arden her bottle on the boppy pillow in the third row of our van, we got back to our hotel. It was getting late, so we decided to put Arden down for the night. The boys were looking forward to catching part of the Hannah Montana concert on Disney Channel, now that the cable appeared to be working again. We called the front desk to remind them that they hadn't delivered the portable crib we'd reserved before our arrival, so we could get Arden to sleep.

They didn't have one. No cribs. According to the front desk, they had not been assembled yet.

It was now approaching 9 p.m. We were all hot, frustrated, and tired. Stuart proceeded to tell the hotel that we were checking out and would not pay for the night since they had no cable tv, no working pool, and now no crib. Arden couldn't sleep on the floor, as she rolls all over the place now.

Luckily, there were very accomodating and got us a nice suite at the Hampton Inn across the road. They even refunded our money for the night, and they paid for the Hampton Inn, so we had no hotel bill at all. However, we had to repack all our items, reload the van, and then unload again at a new hotel at 9 p.m!

The second hotel was great. I took the boys swimming at the indoor pool at 9:30 p.m. while Stuart got Arden to sleep in the crib. There were no more poopy diapers.

We finally fell asleep, exhausted, around midnight.

By the next morning, Hudson had wet the bed, we had run out of clean clothes, and Arden had been up about every hour during the night getting her leg stuck between the slats of the hotel port-a-crib (it had no bumper pad).

It was an exhausting roadtrip, but overall, it was still fun. We took on a challenge and survived. I don't know if we'll do it again anytime soon, but we feel that we accomplished creating some funny memories, and the kids loved every minute of it!

Things I Love This Summer

Love might be a bit too strong of a word, but I deeply like these things this summer! They are in no particular order or ranking . . . just trivia about me!

1. Splash Zone in Jacksonville
2. my TiVo
3. not grading mass amounts of Comp I essays every week!
4. Arden's room, especially with the new drapes
5. the way the heat smells and reminds me of summers in Oklahoma when I was a kid
6. Cherry Limeade from Sonic (crushed ice! mmm)
7. going out to eat at Chili's and getting their salsa and guacomole
8. children's events at our local library (free!)
9. The Anne of Green Gables movies (I rewatched them all recently)
10. the Olympics are coming! Gymnastics are my favorite!
11. seeing my nieces and nephews who now live in Ohio
12. planning the boys' birthday party and trying to make it fun
13. roadtrips
14. KFC
15. Banana Boat Kids Tear Free Sunblock with SPF 50 (my ghost white children and myself haven't burned while using it . . . first summer ever to find a successful sunblock for the extremely fair!)
16. the smell of freshly cut grass
17. watching Camp Rock with the kids on Disney Channel
18. eating chicken salad and my mom's best potato salad
19. summer rain showers which water my grass for free (you would really understand this if you have 1 acre of grass with no inground sprinker system!)
20. Mother's Day Out resumes in a few weeks!

Before and After

Arden's room is now complete with custom made toile draperies with blackout lining to keep the room dark, so she will sleep. Of course, this did not occur without some compromises.

Remember how Stuart thought that the black blankets hanging over her large 84 inch window looked just fine? Well . . . I just couldn't enjoy the room with that look, and it made it dark all the time, not just when she was sleeping, so it felt like a cave. It was too cumbersome to take the blankets down and put them back up again 3 times per day when she would sleep in there for naps and nightime. I did get some good suggestions from friends about how to darken the windows with various materials, but all of those would show from the outside, and her room is on the front of the house, facing the street. I didn't think the neighbors would appreciate it if I put foil over the glass for all to see!

The compromise involved Ebay, Craigslist, and the local newspaper. I sold my stuff . . . lots of it! It was time consuming to list all the items, mail out Ebay packages, and meet people at my house to view an item. Stuart got tired of the phone calls asking if the maternity clothes were still for sale! However, it was all worth it, as I raised almost 2/3 of the cost of the drapes by selling items I didn't use (though I liked them!).

My List of Casualties:
about 9 items of clothing
30 maternity clothing items
Coach purse
6 metal standards and track of Elfa shelving
Pottery Barn Kids rug
Pottery Barn Kids bedding
infant activity gym
3 pairs of outgrown Robeez infant shoes
wall clock

The end result is great! The drapes look amazing and function well. I am thankful for the "drapery expert" who sewed the curtains and helped me figure out how to get the right curtain rod which would work for that awkward window. We now have light in there when we want it, and darkness too.

Stuart still wants a Wii, so maybe we'll sell some of his stuff next!

Anticipation

Have you ever felt God really work?

Have you ever felt that excitement and anticipation of what He is trying to do . . . waiting with expectation for what will be revealed and how it will all work out?

There have been a handful of times in my life when I can say that I knew God was orchestrating specific events to come together for a greater purpose in my life. These were times when I saw, supernaturally, how God just throws open doors of opportunities to let us know His plan for our lives. In these times, it's as if God has neon signs flashing, "Go this way!" since the plan comes together so divinely. We are in that stage now. We feel God's hand on several events that are transpiring, and we are waiting to find out the end result. We are ready for whatever God wants us to do.

It has taken me a long time to get to this point . . . the place where the unknown is no longer a place of fear but of excitement. When suddenly, you are longing for change and can see the adventure in just taking a risk for God.

It might seem crazy to some who wonder why we would jump willingly into the unknown without a plan. However, we do have a plan. His name is Jesus, and He is guiding and directing us each day. Literally, every day, I have felt God's presence by the way circumstances have been changing and falling into place.

There is no greater excitement or thrill than to jump with abandon to follow God's plan . . . and then to feel the sharp drop for maybe a few seconds, but then to allow God the privilege of catching you as you are free falling. Without the leap, you can't experience true faith. And there is no greater ride!

Fabulous Fourth

We had a very eventful fourth of July. The rainy weather dampened our cookout plans at lunchtime, but we were still able to go to the Historic Arkansas Museum in downtown Little Rock for their Frontier Fourth of July Festival. I took Owen to it last year, and he loved it. So, we decided to take the entire Cearley clan this time. That led to much more "fun" (or stress, depending on how you look at it!). Arden was a bit cranky and got tired of being in the stroller pretty quickly, as we were out during the middle of her nap, then she started screaming during the gun shooting exhibits because of the loud noise! The boys still had fun participating in a watermelon seed spitting contest, whitewashing a fence like Tom Sawyer, walking on stilts, marching in the militia, and doing a sack race. They also got balloons that were made into swords. I enjoyed the ice-cold watermelon!

The highlight of our adventure was when Hudson decided that he wanted to run away from us. In a split second, we didn't know where he had gone, as it was very crowded. After several minutes of looking, we got the museum workers involved, and then a police officer was called by radio to begin a search. A few minutes later a museum employee brought him up to the front desk and said that she found him on the elevator where he was heading to the children's exhibit on the second floor by himself! Like I've said before, he's our risk taker. Thankfully, he was safe, but he was very mad that his getaway was ruined.

Funny Questions Kids Ask

Lately, the boys have been asking us a lot of questions . . . most of them provide us with a daily dose of humor (though they are serious when they ask!). Here are a few recent ones:

1. Does the Incredible Hulk wear underwear?
2. Why don't we have a butler?
3. Mom, why don't you look like a super model?
4. How did I fit through your belly button to get out?
5. Dad, do you get scared being that tall and being so high up?
6. Mom, why is your skin cracking? (ie: wrinkles)
7. Why is the T-Rex a meat eater?
8. When you get old, does your hair move from your head to your belly?
9. Do you go to jail if you smoke cigarettes?
10. Why don't we have a burning bush like Moses?

Arden Sets New Family Records!

Today was Arden's six month checkup! I can hardly believe that she is half way through the baby stage and quickly approaching the "toddler years." Once she started sleeping all night, the days have flown by with many "firsts" already accomplished. She is now rolling over in both directions, holding her head 90 degrees when on her belly, starting to push up on her elbows, and she now has TWO bottom teeth! She laughs a lot (especially when her brothers entertain her!).

At her checkup today, she weighed in at 18 lbs, 2 oz, and she was 28 1/2 inches long. Translation: 85th percentile in weight, and over 95th percentile in height! Stuart hopes that translates to college scholarship money for basketball or volleyball! That is a new Cearley record for all our babies at this exact age. She is longer and heavier than the boys were at six months! However, I'm not sure if that is a good thing, considering she's a girl! ha ha

We got six immunizations today which caused a lot of tears, but so far, she's been acting happy at home. Her hair is still coming in thicker . . . and red!