Current Mood: Exhausted
Good Morning everyone! Wow what a great visit to Oxnard we just had. Granted it went alittle fast since we did a quick turn around... we still all managed to squeak out TONS of fun.Plus it was Alex's first time in Oxnard... talk about a HUGE first!
Yesterday we went to my Brother and Sister-in-Law's house so Mia could have fun with her cousins, Alex could hang out, we could see all my beautiful nieces and we could visit with my Brother and Lauren one last time before we moved even further away. Though Alex is a bit younger that I would like to have him be before making such a big trip... it was well worth it.
The trip has been planned for awhile but when was always up in the air depending on if we had a free (home searching free) weekend. When it looked like this weekend was one of those weekends we jumped at the chance to drive down.
So Adrian worked from home Friday night so he could go to bed earlier so we could have a bright and early jump start on the day. We planned on setting out at 10:30am but you know with kids that NEVER happens. We ended up heading out an hour behind schedule. I made sure Alex was topped off and of course after spitting up on me we were good to go. Mia was alittle cranky but not to bad she was excited. All she kept talking about were her cousins and for days she has been calling all these girls "Tracy!" haha. Infact when I woke her up in the morning I said "We are going to have fun today" and she replied "We are going to see Cousins!!!".
Well once everything was packed in the car we were good to go. I decided to drive (which was the first time since before Mia was born!). I felt pretty good since Alex gave me a good night the night before. We stopped off at the gas station first, then grabbed a quick bite to eat at Carls Jr. and off on our adventure we went.
Alex didn't like being in his car seat so of course he screamed and cried until we hit the freeway but once we got going he actually slept 98% of the time!!! YAY! Mia also too a VERY long nap so that was cool too. Once we hit Oxnard though, Alex woke up MAD! and cried and cried. Mia also woke up but she was happy and tried to calm down her brother who was sitting next to her.
On the way to my brother's house we stopped by a Mexican Market to pick up some Carne Asada for a BBQ. We have never been there before and the place was PACKED! So jammed that I had to park across the street at the school district's parking lot. Alex was still screaming his head off and very hungry so I decided to feed him in the car while Adrian and Mia went inside the store. I tried as hard as I could to be hidden from view that I even put up the sun visor shield I still had in the car from the days I used to work! haha Alex however had no part of eating and fought me most of the time. I think he missed his soft pillow he lays on! picky kid! haha Eventually I filled him up and he was happy again. It wasn't long before Adrian and Mia came back and she was all happy holding a brand new Sponge Bob Balloon!
We got in the car and off we went to my Brothers house. Eventually we made it and unloaded the kids. Mia wouldn't let go of her balloon so she brought it with her. We were greeted at the door by my oldest Niece Tracy (11), then Sarah (8) and April (3). Baby Sophia (1) was in the back room watching her Gabba show. They were so excited to see Mia who wasted no time and dove right into their toys... and they were gushing over baby Alex who was just hanging out in his car seat.
Once we made it in Alex wanted up so I took him out just as his Uncle Jay came in the room. He was so excited to see him and held him right away. Mia also went up to him and said hi to her Nino (which I was surprised since she is usually shy) and gave him a big hug.
Adrian and I unloaded the car and visited for a bit. Thats when Sophia made her appearance and had NOTHING to do with us. She screamed and cried and was scared for awhile. She really gets shy around people she doesn't know or doesn't see often. Unfortunately that means us. So she hung out in the other room for awhile with her older sister Sarah. My brother then made a quick stop at the store to pick up more odds and ends for the BBQ while we watched the kids. Soon Sophia decided to be brave... thanks to her big sis Sarah and finally warmed up to us! YAY!!!! It was so cute to have ALL the kids in the room playing... it was a mad house! All 6 Grandkids running around everywhere... well not Alex but he was still there. Then it happened... everyone wanted to play with her Sponge Bob balloon and Mia was not happy about this. We kept trying to get her to share but she didn't like it... eventually she let her baby cousin play with it as long as she got some other toys to play with instead. Turns out most of the visit was a battle with that darn balloon! haha
Anyway, then Alex got hungry AGAIN so I took him to the girls room and fed him. He was a bit fussy. Then Auntie Lauren showed up from work. I quickly got Alex ready and took him out. She just melted and couldn't stop holding him. He was totally digging it and hanging out. Mia was no where to be seen, she had ran off to her cousin April's room (her best buddy) and was thrashing it with toys and having so much fun.
My brother soon returned and the BBQ got underway. Alex became a bit fussy again because he was so tired but we couldn't get him to sleep. Thats when Auntie Lauren put him in the magical baby swing they have. I say magical because it works wonders on babies. I didn't think he would like it since he HATES our swing at home but to my surprise he loved it!!! He liked it so much he went right to sleep! YAY! Since Sophia just recently outgrew it they decided to give it to Alex! DOUBLE YAY!!!! It has been in the family since April so its now a family hierloom haha
Mia had so much fun with ALL her cousins. She was showed with attention and was drown in toys. She couldn't be happier. She was all over the place getting into everything and screaming and laughing. I would check on her every now and then and she was always doing something fun in her cousin's room. Either jumping on her bed, playing with her doll house or emptying all the toys in her toy box on the floor! But her cousins were right there having fun with her. This is exactly why we made the trip... for her to have fun and get some bonding time in with her cousins.
Soon the food was ready but Alex wanted to eat himself. So off I went to feed him again. I came back and hung out a while until everyone was done eating and my Brother took Alex from me to hang out with him for while. I finally got to eat and OMG the food was amazing!!! SOOO GOOD! I stuffed myself to where I could barely breathe! haha Mia on the other hand was being her picky self and we had to end up giving her oatmeal for dinner which she barely ate. All she wanted to go was get down and run around with her cousins and fight to get her balloon back.
Alex just hung out on his Uncle's lap watching TV until he got hungry... again. So I fed him and put him back in the swing for another nap. He did so good. Once he was good to go again, Auntie Lauren said she had a surprise for him and Mia! So we brought them to the livingroom and thats where Alex opened up his gift... his very first baseball hat and a cute little outfit!!!! Awww!! The hat fit perfectly and he looked so cute in it. Then it was Mia's turn and she opened up the coolest little train ever! It was a Hello Kitty train that made train sounds and ran on its own all while blowing bubbles! Mia went nuts!!! Then the cutest thing happened, Tracy and Sarah both made homemade cards and pictures for Mia, Alex and Us!!! So we opened them.. they were so cute!!
After thanking everyone (boy we are all so spoiled!) Mia took off to play with her new train. Once Nina got it all running and filled with bubbles ALL the little ones crowded around to watch it. The little train made noise and blew bubbles everywhere and Mia went NUTS! "Bubbles!" she kept saying and she was running around, chasing it, popping bubbles and dancing! It was adorable! Sophia and April also were screaming with excitement and running around too.
After visiting a bit longer it was getting late and almost time to go. Alex was extremely fussy and I couldn't calm him down. Finally I decided to change his diaper and thats when he gave me the biggest smile and attempted to pee on me!!!! He missed but he wet his jammies bad! OH NO! Luckily I was prepared for just this thing and put a nice new pair of dry jammies on him. He was all happy about this and hung out awhile longer so his Auntie Lauren and older cousins could bond with him more... he was loving it.
Mia was back in April's room with April playing like crazy. At one point I snuck in the room and found them both sharing April's bed. I asked her "Mia you going Night Night with your cousin?!" she said "No!" and quickly sat up, then April said "we are just pretending!" haha I guess "night night" is a bad word with them haha. So I let them be. I later found Mia again cuddling on the couch with her cousin Sarah. They were both just laying there relaxing as Sarah was rubbing her head and singing to her. Mia was eating it up! she loved all the attention.
Soon Sophia was getting tired. She was also getting really jealous about all the attention Alex was getting from her Mama and Daddy and was NOT happy about that. She kept trying every way she could to regain their attention. She acted silly, pulled on their clothes and ran around. When nothing worked she finally resorted to fake crying! Yes I said fake! it was the cutest thing. Eventually Alex started to really cry and we had both babies crying at the same time in stereo! haha So Lauren fixed her a bottle and I got to finally hold her as I carried her off to bed. It was so nice to finally be able to hold my youngest niece. She didn't mind only because she was busy drinking her bottle and I just loved it. After she went down I was back to tending to Alex who was being a bit fussy.
Soon it was time to go. So we said all our sad goodbyes. After taking some group pictures (which someone was always making a face in and poor Sophia was in bed) Alex started to get cranky again. So we loaded up the car and off we went back home. Unfortunately, the drive home didn't go as smoothly with Alex as we would have hoped. He cried ALOT in the car but despite all the screaming he never woke up his sister who was knocked out next to him holding her Sponge Bob balloon in her hand haha.
Once we got home Adrian took Mia to bed while I took Alex to his room, fed him and laid him down. We were both EXHAUSTED and went to bed ourselves.
Wow what a great visit! I wish we lived closer to each other so we could visit more, but we had fun anyway. I am so glad we were able to pull it off and the kids got to have fun... especially Mia who didn't want to go home. We will have to get together again real soon and have a nice LONG visit.... maybe when we are finally back in Sunny San Diego!
