A Busy Week

Brady and Katelyn hanging out in the living room.

Fun on the floor!!

Mmmm...enjoying a homemade teething biscuit my mom made for Brady. He loves them!! Made from whole wheat flour, applesauce, and some maple syrup. Yum!

Oh my, what a week! We had a great time, but we are worn out! On Tuesday, after K finished school at 2pm, we drove directly to Tampa to stay with my parents. Luckily, K and B slept in the car and took good naps! I was able to listen to my talk radio show, "The Shannon Birk" show, uninterrupted and it made the 2.5 hour car ride fly by. Since my grandpa's passing on Dec. 29, we haven't been able to spend a "normal" visit with my parents. Katelyn was in the waiting room at the hospital when Grandpa was in ICU, but that was last time they were together. My parents were really missing the kids, and Katelyn was also missing them, so it was good to get together. As a bonus, my sister Michelle came over for dinner so we were able to see her and hear about her marathon training. She will be running in the Gaspirilla marathon on March 1 in Tampa.

Wed. morning, Katelyn woke up my dad (with his permission and encouragement) at 7am sharp and they headed to Dunkin Donuts together. While they were getting breakfast, mom and I stayed behind and fed Brady, got him dressed, etc. Once they returned, Mom watched Brady and Dad, Katelyn, and I played a round of miniature golf. Katelyn is becoming quite the golfer!!

Right after golf, we changed and headed to the pool at mom and dad's condo complex. This time Dad stayed behind with Brady (who was napping), and mom and I watched K swim around the shallow end with a cute hippo float. After a lunch at McDonalds, we drove over to see my grandma at the nursing home. As you know, she has been suffering from Alzheimers for about 9 years now...she is no longer able to talk, walk, feed herself...and worst of all she does not recognize any of us any more. The positive is she is not aware of my grandpa's passing and will not mourn his loss. She is spared that pain. Dad brought her out to the porch and we fed her a hot fudge sundae (her favorite). Katelyn has been visiting grandma since birth and knows her and is comfortable around her. She always goes up to her and says hi, strokes her arm, and talks to her. I was a little concerned with K told her Grandpa was in heaven, but grandma remained blank. Katelyn then took my mom's brush and brushed her hair so gently. It was so sweet and I was so, so proud of Katelyn.

We left for home after our action-packed day in Tampa and I was relieved when once again, they both passed out in the car. But the quiet didn't last this time and Brady started fussing about an hour into the trip. I thought he was just tired and annoyed at being in the carseat, so I kept on. His crying continued and got louder and more desparate, so I exited. Brady doesn't cry for no reason, so I knew something was wrong. Turns out he had somehow gotten his arm caught in the strap of his carseat and it was cutting into him. Just before I got to him, he had vomitted all over himself...he had gotten himself so upset. As I took him out of his carseat to clean him out, I noticed his diaper had also leaked and he was soaking wet, all they way up his back. I'd be screaming too!! Poor baby!

Bryan got us tickets to a UCF (Univ. of Central Florida) basketball game that night. I was worried K and B would be so wiped out, they'd be a mess, but they were great and really enjoyed the school band, dancers, cheerleaders, etc. K is so spoiled by going to the Magic games and wasn't very impressed by the college game, but had a good time.

And guess what else Bryan got tickets to???? He totally surprised me with a ticket to the New Kids on the Block concert in Orlando on March 13th. He was able to get me a pass to the suite his work has at Amway Arena. I was so surprised and I'm so excited!!

Finally, today (Friday) we had a MOPS playdate at Kangaroom, an indoor bounce house place near us. What fun!! Katelyn was non-stop and wore herself out! Yay! Brady was so sweet and napped on my shoulder. We all had so much fun and met so many great moms and kids!

Here's K on one of the bounce houses (where she later fell and scraped her nose):

On a sad note, our week ended with the news that my brother-in-law Rob's grandma passed away today. We had adopted her as our Florida grandma...she's present at all our thanksgivings. She was 94 years young and such a tough lady! We'll miss her. God bless.

This is the last picture I took of Grandma at Thanksgiving dinner this year...She's sitting in the front, center of the picture. She made the BEST deviled eggs!