Oh my goodness, I couldn't love these babies more if I tried. NOT. HAPPENING.
For Father's Day, Dad asked for a canvas of each grandchild to put in his office. Leah and I talked about it to decide what size and whether to do portrait or landscape, and finally the OCD won out, and we decided to wait until she came up with the boys for Fourth of July to have a matching background. In classic Leah-Ally fashion, we waited until right before they packed up to leave to snap some shots, but these little kiddos are picture pros, so five minutes later we had some belated Father's Day photos ready to go. I love these sweet cousins.
"Oh my goodness sakes" (one of Willa's patented sayings), if only you could feel the excitement emanating from this tiny little (seriously closet-sized) pink bedroom that belongs to my baby who's not a baby anymore, you'd be doing jazz hands right alongside her.
She is super pumped about her little "big girl bed."
My dearest little Willa Kate is my sweet little second born, "yes, you may" angel. She will be three in March and has never even tried to climb out of her crib. We actually joked that we may have to pull her out of it for her first morning of kindergarten. (For comparison, Harper had already been in a full size bed for a year at Willa's age. After successfully climbing out of her crib a few times, we moved her to a toddler bed, which really wasn't big enough for her since she likes to lie sideways in the bed, so a month shy of her second birthday, she was already in a legit big girl bed.)
We didn't take the pack 'n play to Bubba's house last week, so the girls just slept together in a full size bed. And Willa managed to not fall out. Since they are on their winter break from school, we also let them have some sister sleepovers together in Harper's room, and again, Willa did just fine.
Knowing we had a perfectly good toddler bed in the attic just waiting for WK (seriously, nine out of every ten of her belongings must be a hand-me-down), we decided it was time to bring it down. In true Fertitta fashion, that was at 9 p.m., so we literally started taking apart her crib and finished assembling her toddler bed around 10 p.m. To show you just how much we are on a Christmas break schedule, here's a peek at how much energy she had coming in to see her newly made bed in her room. At 10 p.m.
It was a little bit of crazy timing, but we had just finished up a family board game and started talking about bed when Sam asked Willa if she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed in her room (Sam and I had talked about it before Christmas, and both agreed she really needed to go ahead and move to a toddler bed, so that she could get up and go potty in the middle of the night if she really needed to.) Wills was so excited about the idea, that we said, let's do it.
Truth be told, I think my mama heart just needed to strike while the iron was hot, while everyone was excited about it and it felt lighthearted and fun. I had to pull off the bandaid before I let myself sit and think about how this will be the first time in nearly six years that my home doesn't have a crib in it. And that there's a chance that it may never again. I had to hurry and help along before I let the idea sink in that last night was the last time I'll ever tuck my baby into her crib. At nearly three, we've cruised through the majortiy of developmental firsts, which means we're beginning to approach some lasts with our girls. The tricky part is that we never really know when that last time will be. Harper has had the habit over the last six months of coming to crawl in our bed when she wakes up around 4:30, and goes back to sleep snuggling us. Most mornings, Sam complains about her always coming in, and I remind him that she won't do it forever. She hasn't come in a single night of winter break, so maybe we passed another "last time" without even noticing it. It takes my breath just to think of how quickly these two babies of mine have become and are becoming precious big girls.
After being reminded one time that she's not to get out of her bed once we've tucked her in unless it's to potty, she went to sleep in her sweet toddler bed. Sweet girl was still asleep when I left for work, and Kasey text me later in the morning to tell me she had to wake her up at 9:15. I am so proud of that girl for staying all night in her big girl bed. If you know our family well, you're probably hearing in your head Sam and I singing our household's "All Night in Her Big Girl Bed" song that we started with Harper three and a half years ago. Precious little Tink Tink was so excited when we got to sing our celebratory anthem to her this evening. Even if my eyes fill with tears selfishly grieving these little lasts, my heart's filled with equal parts pride at all the great things this little blonde of mine is doing and it reminds me of all that great things that are yet to come.
After my 100% by myself 24 hours, I was refreshed and ready to receive my tight neck hugs and slobbery Mother's Day kisses. Our Sunday began a little differently than usual because instead of attending our church FCC, we went to the Fertittas' church Green Ridge Baptist to see baby Alstonbe dedicated by Corrie and Jeremy. It was great seeing how many young families were there standing together, committed to instill faith and love in the children they've been blessed with. I'm so proud of Corrie and Jeremy for making that covenant. It seems so hard to believe that we stood in that very spot on this very day four years ago to offer up our sweet "instrument of Praise" Harper Mae.
Pastor Greg, who is now the lead pastor at GRBC and who married us nearly nine years ago, gave an unconventional but oh-so-appreciated Mother's Day message titled, "Handle with Care." He spoke to the mothers who have lost, who are mourning, who are grieving on this day. What a blessing to hear him acknowledge the ache of those who are struggling with infertility, who are mourning miscarriage, who ache because all their children aren't here on earth to squeeze in the pew beside them. There's nothing more precious he could say than to offer hope to those who may not feel like celebrating on Mother's Day. The words were a beautiful reflection of His compassion.
Like many of our family holidays, we ended up at the Salem House Restaurant for lunch after the service. Not many places can handle a group of fourteen!
Hooray for our first trip with the girlies (or ever) to Great Wolf Lodge! The opportunity arose for me to work the VOMA medical conference being held at GWL Williamsburg, so what better chance to bring the family along for a few days of fun.
We checked in on a Thursday evening, and within 20 minutes we were in the water park. We didn't stand a chance considering the girls spotted it right away from the lobby.
Within a few minutes of being in the park, we found what our biggest challenge with Great Wolf Lodge would be-- two very different kids with two very different skill levels. Wills is still working on building up her water confidence and Harper was willing to try everything in there, so we really had to play man defense, pairing a parent with each child. Sam went with Harper, and I got to stand in 6 inches of pee water hang out with Willa in the baby pool area. They were going a mile a minute, so it was easier to get videos than many still shots.
After Willa tired of the baby pool, we walked around the main tower to watch for Harper and Sam. She had so much fun running through the water spouts and cheering on sissy. We got to catch them coming off a slide, just when Harper was grinning from ear to ear and saying, "Thank you, Dad. You've put the joy in my heart!" Ha.
After a few hours in the pool, we dried off and went to dinner at the resort's Loose Moose Bar & Grill. The food was actually pretty good, and the girls loved that we could hear the music from the dance party in the lobby. We finished in time to see the clock tower show and the story time. After such a full day (and surprisingly a late nap in the car for both girls), it was a bit tough for them to sit through the story time. So, we bailed out a bit early and called it a night.
I may have accidentally been a little misleading when I told Sam that I just needed to work the breaks (about 30 minutes each) throughout the day, and would be able to spend the few hours in between with him and the girls, but it didn't exactly work out that way. Oops. :) By 3:00 pm, he was a little tired of juggling two kids at the water park, and the girls were just plain tired, so he took them back to the room for late afternoon naps. That gave everyone (except mama who was working at 6:30 that morning) lots of energy for some new evening activities. We tried out bowling at Ten Paw Alley, and it was so cute how they had everything kid sized. And I loved that no bathing suit was required. Finally! We had lots and lots of friends recommend Pierce's BBQ just down the road, so we escaped the GWL bubble for dinner.
I don't have any pictures from my most favorite part of our trip. Maybe that should be telling. We got back to the hotel at about 8:15, and Harper was desperate to go back to the water park for "just a few minutes." I knew Sam had more than paid his good-dad-at-the-water-park dues, so I told him I'd just take her for the 45 minutes it would be open. Oh, I'm so glad I did. I love having two kids (really, parents of only one child, I do. It rocked my world for the first 3 months, but the majority of the time, I think it's easier. And they're so darn cute together.), but it does make the one-on-one time I get with each girl even more special because it only happens in bits at a time. Here I had near an hour to explore with my brave girl. We hurried from slide to slide, doing our special wolf high-five-handshake after each completed adventure. We even went down the fully enclosed slide that goes outdoor for part of the slide, so it was pitch dark in there. It was thrilling for my thirty-one-year-old self, so I was prepared to have a spastic kid at the bottom. Nope, just a little girl flying out of her tube as soon as it hit the landing pool so that she could give me our special shake for finishing the "scared-est ride ever." I don't have pictures, but oh I soaked up those shivering smiles. That sweet girl had that "my love bank is full" gleam in her eyes.
Our night wrapped up with ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries. Ok, that was really my favorite part of the trip. ;) The resort offers a kids' spa, but we skipped it and instead I packed our nail polishes from home and gave two tired, snuggly little girls pedicures in our room.
Sam and the girls did one last stint at the water park while I worked the Pfizer booth for Saturday morning, and then we packed up to return home after a very full 48 hours at Great Wolf Lodge. As we were gathering our things, I asked Harper what she liked most about her mini vacation.
She said, "Being with my whole family. My dad, my mom, both my DeeDees...(insert sideways glance) and Willa Kate."
That makes it so worth it.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Great Wolf Lodge for a nearby family getaway. We were there for three days/two nights because of my work requirements, but when we go back, we will just stay for one night. You can go in the water park as early as you'd like on your first day there and can stay in the park as long as you'd like on your check out day, so you really get two full days of water fun. And for preschoolers especially, that's plenty. (And let's be real, for parents that is plennnnnnnnty.) Our sweet girls had such a great time... it will definitely be on our future experiences-instead-of-gifts list!
