Goodbye, Baba Gee Gee

We have a very brave boy at our house. Just one week ago today, Spencer decided to say goodbye to his favorite blanket, Baba Gee Gee. (Yes, that's its full name, and has been for a couple of years now. Oh, and Gee Gee is pronounced with a "g" as in girl, not "g" as in George... if you wondered.)

You may remember that I've mentioned Spence has been working on parting with his dear blanket friend. We've had some conversations about how he's getting older, and his blanket is getting older too. And we've talked about how his teeth need to grow the right way, and how he gets sick a lot from sucking his finger. But he's still been pretty adamant that he's not quite ready to quit the habit.

Well, last Wednesday was his Grandpa Bishop's birthday. I told Spencer early in the morning that it was Grandpa's birthday, and sort of out of the blue, he said, "Maybe I should mail my blanket to Grandpa Dale for a birthday present."

Whoah!! Really?!? I almost hauled him to the post office that very second, pajamas and all. But instead I calmly told him that it would be such a special present for Grandpa, if he was really ready to let BaBa go. Hmm... He put his finger in his mouth, wound that blanket a little more tightly in his fist, and said, "maybe next year."

We mentioned the idea again a few different times throughout the day, and each time he'd say he wanted to, then he'd back out again. It was obvious he was a little unsure what he wanted to do. Finally, as we went to pick up Samantha from school, we passed our local Dunkin Donuts, and genius hit me. "Spence," I asked, nonchalantly. "Were you still thinking of mailing your blanket to Grandpa for his birthday?"

"No. Not really."

"Oh." I said. "Well, that's okay. I was just thinking, maybe if we went to the post office, we could stop by Dunkin Donuts afterward for a Boston Cream donut treat."

That was all it took, folks. He was sold, and in minutes Baba Gee Gee was wrapped up and ready to mail. (Yep, I bribed him. But really, he didn't see it that way. So... no judging here, kay? :)) Here are our pictures to prove it. Spencer, standing outside the post office, with his blanket and birthday card for Grandpa...

We wrote Grandpa a little note with his birthday card, telling him that he can keep Baba Gee Gee, but that he shouldn't suck his finger very much or it might make him sick. But if he gets really sad, he might suck his finger for just a little bit, with the "right corner" of the blanket. I'm sure Grandpa was thrilled with such a special package. :)

The perfect mailer for Baba -- green, just like Baba used to be (before it got so old and ratty and greyish)...

The happy boy, after handing the package to the post office clerk all by himself, heading next door to Dunkin, to claim his treat...

The aftermath?

I'm sure you're all as anxious and nervous as I was, wondering what the next nights and days might be like, when he realized his blanket was really GONE!?!? right? Well, I'm amazed and so happy to report, our Spencer has been a CHAMP without his blanket. No tears, not even once. He hasn't really even asked for his blanket, other than to ask how long it will take Grandpa to get it, and some other questions about the mailing process. 

I'm so proud of him. And so relieved it happened so easily. And, also, maybe I'm just a tiny little bit sad, in a sentimental, motherly sort of way. My boy's growing up! yay for Spencer!!

In honor of our departed friend, here's Baba Gee Gee, through the ages...

Spence and Baba, just days after he picked out his special blanket at OtherMothers thrift store, for $2 (Not sure why I couldn't get this one to turn the right way, hmm)...

In the car. We have 50 pics just like this one...

Trying out his cousin Brianna's crib for a night...

Wrestling with Daddy...

Having a good suck after baths...

Camping with cousins...

All the stuffed animals, and Baba...

 Snoozin'...

The new baby "Atalie" does not have a "right corner," he told us...

With Great Grandma Eva and Grandpa Doug. (Brian has the blanket in the background)...

Blowing out candles on his birthday cake, while sucking his finger...

A birthday present from Grandpa and Grandma Bishop...

Crashed out...

Yes, Baba made it safely to NY with us...

A trip to DC, watching a concert on the lawn in front of the US Capitol building...

At Monticello, in Virginia...

Cool dude and his blanket...

Conked out with Cousin Cole...

Scripture study...

In the hotel, at Disney World...

Every. Single. Night...

We'll miss you Baba Gee Gee. But we're glad you're gone, and we hope Grandpa Dale takes good care of you!!

Easter, the "Disease," and other randomness...

Happy Easter Everyone!!

I finally get to put up a picture of our kiddos in their cute Easter attire, because they finally got to WEAR their Easter clothes... today. (Two weeks AFTER Easter.) Don't they look so cute? Samantha went to church on Easter Sunday, but Spence and Natalie and I stayed home, since both of our little ones had yucky hand-foot-mouth disease. Then they missed last Sunday, too, because they still looked like lepers even though they weren't still contagious. 

So yeah... it made for a less "festive" Easter celebration. Luckily the Easter Bunny still found us... lots of jelly beans, robin eggs, and chocolate. I didn't even remember to take pictures. Rats. The kids got reading lamps, which were VERY exciting gifts... until I told Spence to be careful not to put any blankets close to his or it could start a fire. Now he's terrified of burning the house down and wants to give the lamp away. Nice job, Mom.

Anyway, so back to hand-foot-mouth disease. (And no, it is NOT the same thing as foot-and-mouth disease or hoof-and-mouth disease... I kept getting asked that, so I thought I better clarify, even though I am not taking time to explain the difference... google it if you're as curious as I was.) It wasn't too fun. Once Spencer started getting spots around his mouth, I looked online and thought it might be impetigo, which is treatable with antibiotics. So I took them to the doctor the day after Easter. Nope. Just hand-foot-mouth disease... a 6-7 day virus, treatable with tylenol and neosporin. 

So, our little cutie boy looked like this for just over a week...

 And his hands looked like this...

Actually, by the time he went to the doctor, his hands looked MUCH worse than that. So did his feet and face and bum. The doctor was so "impressed" with his case, she called in the other pediatrician, and the med student who was observing that day, to show them how bad it was. She said it was probably the worst case of hand-foot-mouth disease she's EVER seen. ugh.They all stood around gawking at him like he was a leper. Poor thing.

Then Natalie got it, two days after Spencer. Her case was just starting when we went to the doctor, so she mainly just had fever, and blisters in her throat. But eventually, she looked like this...

 And her hands looked like this...

And her knees looked like this...

And her feet looked the worst. She got huge blisters all over her feet. I'd say she lost 80% of the skin on her toes, poor baby. It was sad. And it was a long week, holing up in the house so we didn't infect other people with our disease.

We made the most of it by doing fun things that Mom doesn't do often enough. Like making a HUGE blanket fort in the living room...

 And making cookies together and getting frosting all over us...

 And reading lots of stories. (Natalie finally decided she's interested in books, which is sooo fun.... except when she wants to draw on them with a pen. oh dear.)

 Spencer decided it was time to mess with the camera, like most 4-5 year-olds do at some point. In a matter of an hour when he was supposedly watching LeapFrog on Netflix, he took over 100 different pictures. Like this...

 Did you hear that? 100. In many different rooms of the house, from many different angles. The bathroom counter collection...

If you wondered what the view out our bedroom side window looks like, you can now see how unfortunately close we are to our neighbors, thanks to Spencer's handiwork...

 Or if you heard the rumor that we put up bunk beds, and were dying to see the finished product, treat yourself to this beauty, thanks Spence!...

View of his wall art, from atop the bunk bed, which he's not suppose to be on. ahem..

 
My favorite (below). It's kind of a half outie, half innie. Up close and personal...

The artiste... self portrait...

Kay, so I made the mistake of laughing as I deleted 90 percent of his pics. So, he did it again the next day, and killed the camera battery. Note to self: don't laugh, even if that belly-button pic is too funny!

That's all for tonight, folks! 

Spring Break -- Magic.

What can I tell you about our amazing and wonderful spring break last week? Well, if you haven't guessed by our first recognizable picture, then I better just tell you:

We went to Disney World. In Florida. And it was AWESOME!! So. Much. Fun!

We drove down, a full 19 hours, two days there and two days back. That's right. 

I won't submit you to the "real time" adventure of our road trip, but instead will show you our kiddos, each indulging in their preferred technological devices...

They were pretty happy to do their own thing most of the time, and scream or bicker the rest of the time. Pretty usual road trip behavior, I gather.

I have to include these wonderful shots of our first hotel in Orlando... Embassy Suites. Look at our lovely view. Brian and I each took turns walking the lovely path around that little pond, complete with piped in music in the lampposts.

The kids loved the pool... here they are heading out.

 And here's our atrium courtyard outside our suite room door...

And now, Let the Memories Begin...
(That's what the sign way back behind us says. Brian wanted a first shot, at the gate. This is what he got.)

 Then, there were the lines. Lots of lines. Lots of sun. Lots of sunscreen. Lots of waiting. Lots of water...

 It should be noted that Natalie did not like the lines.

 And she heartily resisted our restraining orders. There are two pictures of her in this perplexed and frustrated state. But we could have taken 50. My arms are still sore (a week later) from our "restraining"/holding...

 Finally, the rides. Oh, so worth the wait. Every time. But not worth 20 billion pics of us experiencing each and every ride (though you might think that's what we've got here... I've pared it down considerably, believe me.)

 Aside: Did you know, that most mornings as we pulled into the parking lot, the attendants greeted us with, "Have a Magical day!" Hard not to be happy, when it's just such a magical place.

DAY TWO: Animal Kingdom
Before we left, Brian was showing Spencer videos of the different things we could do at Disney. When Spence saw the vids of the animal kingdom, he nervously asked, "But the animals don't eat people, do they??"
Being a sensitive father, Brian answered him with, "Not usually. They just throw one or two people out to be eaten every now and then."
Long, thoughtful pause, then Spencer said, "I don't want to go see the animals."

It took us days to convince poor Spencer that Daddy was just joking and the animals do NOT eat people, and the Animal Kingdom would be a safe, fun place to visit. ha! He was finally talked into it when we told him he could meet up with his buddies, Zach and Parker, while we were there... We spent our Animal Kingdom day walking around with our good friends from here, Adam and Lindsay, and their three kids. Not many pics, but a good time.

Here's Spencer and Parker, on the safari ride...

 And Samantha and Leah, who were bff's the entire day and skipped around holding hands, singing and dancing together all day long. Happy little clams...

 We saw giraffes.

 And fish... Love this pic. :)

 And gorillas. 600 lbs! Huge and fascinating.

And we saw Goofy. A group shot..

DAY THREE: Epcot
We loved Epcot. Here's the big dome, with the super dark Space ride inside. Natalie didn't like it, but we thought it was fun. Rode it twice...

 It was their spring flower festival, and everything was in bloom, and so gorgeously, immaculately groomed...

 Brian made us take this pic in front of a shrub butterfly, with the butterfly house behind us. I balked, because 20-thousand people were trying to walk by on the sidewalk between him and us, and I hate that. But now I like the pic, so, thanks Babe, and sorry I balked. Cool butterfly...

More rides... We loved Nemo, and the whole aquarium after the ride. It was air conditioned, and such a nice break from the 90-degree humidity. (Not to complain, but it was hot!)

A cute shot of Natalie on the move, one of the few times we let her loose from the stroller. She was rampaging around a little playground, which may have been the trip highlight for her??

 Here's US with the big dome in the background. Proves we were actually there, ha! ...

Day FOUR: Magic Kingdom, again.
Back for more rides. We got there as the gates opened, to ride some of the good rides early. The cars...

 Spencer was SUPER excited for his turn on the cars!

 He got to steer, and was ALL OVER THE PLACE! Brian took a little video. If I can get it to load, I'll add it, because it was pretty funny.

 The People Mover was another of Natalie's favorites, though I think she liked Small World best. She likes looking at her surroundings.

Hey look, it's the Castle!... snapped that one as we whizzed by on the People Mover, as it wound around the outside of Space Mountain.

Spencer also loved the Winnie the Pooh ride. Actually, more than the ride, he loved the little playground next to the line waiting for the ride. After we rode, we let them play for nearly an hour. Here's Spence, in Pooh's tree house...

 Samantha, reading all the adventures for herself. I love watching her read. She can't pass a sign without stopping to read every last word!

 Parade! I got lots of backs-of-heads, so there aren't many good pics of the parade. But here's Ariel, waving right at Samantha...

 And we got to meet Mickey and Minnie. Spencer was terrified. (See how he's looking so very tenative and is standing aloof? poor kiddo.) And Natalie was asleep, outside in the stroller. Lucky for her, the Easter Bunny got her a little Minnie soft toy, which is her new love!

 Our last night there, just as we were headed to the fireworks and parade, some workers outside a restaurant stopped us and gave us a HUGE ice cream sundae, with brownies, cakes and cookies inside. Just to be nice! (I think they were closing up shop, and needed to get rid of their last goodies.) It was delicious, and a perfect treat to end our day!

 Waiting for the parade and fireworks, playing Samantha's new favorite, rock-paper-scissors...

 And finally, the show.

 It did NOT disappoint. Except Spencer, who fell asleep about 3 minutes before the fireworks started, and woke up after it was all over. He was very sad to learn he missed it, but even sadder that we woke him up, I think!

This is a boat load of pictures, I know.
But we still have one more half day to go. Ready??

DAY FIVE: Epcot, again.
We loved Epcot. At least, Brian and I did. (And, actually, Samantha's favorite ride was at Epcot -- the mission to mars ride; too intense for pics!)

So, even though we had that 19-hour drive ahead of us for Friday and Saturday, we thought we'd spend just a few more hours visiting the different "Countries" of Epcot again. So fun!

Samantha FINALLY got to meet a princess. (I have a bone to pick with those princesses right now, though I won't get into it here, for how long this post is already.)

And Natalie got one more go on a good playground...

And Spencer got to meet Winnie the Pooh and wasn't even scared! (Progress. Baby steps... maybe next time he'll let Mickey hug him too?)

And Brian and I got to browse around "Morocco" and eat shwarma, couscous, hummus and tabouleh at their scrumptious, expensive cafe. yum!

Guess Samantha did some "browsing" around Morocco, too?

I started taking pictures of the shrub princesses, because it seemed that was the best we were going to get, as far as princesses go. And actually, they were very impressive! Belle and the Beast...

Aurora and Prince Phillip...

Cinderella and Charming...

Spence was more impressed with Lighting...

And Mater...

And Woodie and Buzz... So cool!

 (I'll spare you the many other sculptures... Peter Pan and Hook, the Fairy garden, with Tink and some 10+ other fairies, etc.)

The countries were super fun, to me. And to Brian. We loved the UK. I even bought a REAL English Cadbury Fruit and Nut bar. Ate it before it even had a chance to melt. mmm...

And the last pic I took was of China, which was our last stop.

We finally pulled ourselves away at 4 p.m. and started our 9-hour drive to our hotel. Goodbye Disney. Goodbye, magical, fun, memorable, expensive family vacation! Loved it. (Except the ending, where Spence rode the long drive home with fever of 103 and he and Nat both got hand-foot-mouth disease for the next week. But let's not think about that, amid all this happiness. We'll save that bit for another post, right??)

And now, with all those pics you probably feel like you've been there, eh? Or, maybe now you WANT to go?? Well, let us know and we'll come along!!