Dallas- Day 3

Thankfully Drew slept in this morning until 9:30. Good thing since we were up from 5am-6am with one grouchy kid. We had muffins and juice in the hotel room, played with the vacuum (finally got a screwdriver!), and read books.

Drew started getting fussy so I decided he and I would get in the shower. Our hotel is awesome--but not kid friendly. We have one of those cool looking showers that has no door or curtain; it's only partially blocked to the rest of the room, so you can just step in and out freely.

(similar to this)

Drew was all over the "stepping in and out freely" part. I was so worried he was gonna bust his head-again! After we both got clean, I stepped out to dry off. When I turned around. my squeaky clean little boy was squatting....pooping right there in the shower floor. Ahhh! Yuck! I went to get a wad of toilet paper to clean it up. It took like 4 seconds. When I turned around, he was playing in it! I know, I know. TMI for most of you. He basically had to have another shower after that & I had to clean the poop deck.

It was so nice outside today so we eventually went out to the hotel pool. It was very relaxing & a nice change of scenery. My friend Hilary warned me that Texas always has a constant breeze, but I'd say it's more like strong winds! The wind blowing just never ends around here. It's pretty much useless to curl your hair unless you prefer it stuck in your lipstick from the wind!

Tonight we got to meet several of Andrew's coworkers, including 2 of his bosses. One of them was so sweet! He saw Drew in the lobby and got on his hands and knees and played with him! I was so thankful to this man for entertaining my bored child! Andrew & his coworkers went to eat and I made the decision to bring Drew back to the room; it was late, he hadn't eaten, and was getting really tired.

He's finally asleep now, and we're praying for no diaper leaks tonight! We're heading out in the morning around 10, hoping to make it back home before 9pm. I so look forward to my own bed and all of Drew's toys to occupy his time! Oh, and there's no doubt I'll be praying for a quiet ride home tomorrow! So long Dallas, TX!

Dallas--Day 2

Yesterday morning Drew and I had the hotel room all to ourselves for a lengthy 3 1/2 hours. We nearly drove each other nuts! And poor Drew--he was pretending to brush his teeth while I brushed mine and he slipped on the tile and hit his forhead on a piece of hotel furniture. He immediately had this huge gooseegg on his forehead. I noticed he had a little blood coming from his mouth. He wouldn't let me look to see, so I assumed he had just bitten his tongue or scratched himself with his toothbrush. 20 seconds later all the tears were gone and he was in a good mood again. While we love being here with Daddy and wouldn't want it any other way, we were more than ready for him to pick us up for lunch yesterday!

We battled the chilly day and ate Chick Fil A for lunch and then hit up Toys R Us. Since Drew and I would be in hotel confinement for several more hours upon our return, Andrew & I decided to try and find him a toy to play with. Do you know what we came back with? A vacuum with a detachable dust buster. This may only sound crazy to us because we just bought him a vacuum at home 2 weeks ago! But even though he already owns one 8 hours away, he pushed this one around the store and won our hearts over. He is now the proud owner of TWO vacuums.

When we got back to the hotel and Andrew headed back to his conference, I went to take the vacuum out and....needed a screwdriver just to get it out of the packaging! I guess Toys R Us is seriously protective of 18 dollar toys. So...we drove each other crazy some more.

Not long after that, Drew laughed with his mouth open and I noticed something looking really crazy on his left, bottom jaw. I can't even describe it except that it looked like he may have broken an uncut tooth in half and taken half his gums off. That's when I kinda freaked out. We know no doctors or pediatric dentists around here. I didn't know if I should call an urgent care facility or what! When we finally got a hold of Andrew he'd brought his boss, who is also an ER doctor, to see Drew. Thankfully, he said he thought it was just a large flap of his gums that had gotten pushed up. He said it should "flake off" soon. Ick. I was so relieved to hear it was just minor! Drew hasn't complained about it once! We headed back to the room to wait for Daddy for another few minutes.

It was about that time that I realized Drew had no pajamas for last night. Somehow in the rush of packing for TX, I layed out Drew's PJs and forgot to put them in the bag. What he's been sleeping in the past 2 nights got covered in chocolate milk yesterday morning so....off to town we went! We ate at Outback where Drew acted as tired as he felt. However, he was still long enough to eat almost an entire loaf of brown bread! Then....Target! Oh, how I love me some Target. I found two lamps I really wanted, but Andrew insisted on pajamas instead. (Party pooper.) In the end, Drew got Christmas pajamas. I figured, "Hey! I'm all about celebrating Christmas early. Might as well start in October!" So last night he donned his Christmas pajamas for bed. Good thing 2 sets came on the hanger because his diaper leaked last night. That meant he was in the bed with us. Have mercy! I don't think a California King would be big enough for Drew and us!

Dallas--Day 1

Aside from a few whines here and there, we made it to Dallas in 10 hours without any major complaints, mental breakdowns, or pull-my-hair-out sessions! That's a "win" in my book! I'm tellin' you--one of you out there who prayed for us must have it really good with the good Lord 'cause that's the ONLY way we made it here without a crying fit. I was literally stunned at how great Drew tolerated the drive. We broke out all of our "new" Goodwill books, magna doodle, new talking cell phone, bubbles, stickers, and a Walgreens basketball we got the day before; those pretty much did the trick!

I have to mention that Drew got to play in his first fast food playground in Little Rock during our lunch break. Mommy & Daddy both slid down the slide with him!



Our hotel is quite lovely! Egyptian cotton sheets and a flat screen TV (which hasn't been turned on yet) and a beautiful open tile shower. However, we somehow wound up with the hotel room whose bathroom door won't shut completely. So yeah, Drew's been caught playing in the toilet 5 times today. The last time I caught him he was this close to throwing the roll of toilet paper into the toilet bowl. That woulda been fun to clean up! ;) As I type now, he's asleep in his playpen (do you hear the angels singing?).

No, really. He's been a trooper! Today we got up and made our way across town to the children's museum. (And getting "across town" in Dallas is no small feat, might I add. The interstate system here is one in which to marvel!) Drew had sooo much fun at the children's museum...and I think Mom & Dad enjoyed it too. ;) We've decided to get our family a membership to Memphis' Children's Museum for this winter! (Pictures to prove how much fun we had..)


(This pretty much sealed the day as being great for Drew. The child has a love for all things "cleaning" related. Example: when we went out to eat tonight, there was a map mopping the floor. He went NUTS wanting to use the mop! He was fighting the other kids for this dust buster and vacuum.)


Sliding down the fireman's slide.


He really liked this John Deere tractor!


Andrew kept calling Bessie the Cow "Betsy the Cow." Just another reason I love him.



He really liked this pit of foamy blocks. Don't say it. We do NOT need a ball pit.


Okay so then we wandered into the adult museum. I found these huge bubble wands. Andrew was on the phone and saw my humongo bubbles and got so jealous. He was just itching at the bits to try it out.


Niiiice, honey!


Then Drew got in on the action!

Then we headed to TGI Friday's for a quick bite of lunch. Drew created a gift in his diaper for me, so I headed to the truck to change it. (No changing tables anywhere!) The door was open while poor Drew lay stark naked and half hanging out the truck with the wind blowing. Suddenly the "gift-covered" wipes fell out of the truck onto the ground, "face" up. Then the wind blew the door shut on my hip and leg! We were a sight to behold. It crossed my mind that if that wind blew hard enough to blow those wipes a few feet across the parking lot, that's where they'd stay! (No such luck--picked them up!)

Drew & I came back to the hotel for a quick nap. When he got up, he was ready to play. Our lovely hotel is awesome, but I don't think "child friendly" is a good term for it. We had to
get creative so I let Drew run up and down the 5th floor halls, ride the elevators, and play with the vending machines. Then we came back in the room and I let him climb in and out of the open shower, open and close doors, and play with the balcony door lock for a solid hour. I think we're gonna take that lock with us for the drive home.


Cracker Barrell was the top choice for dinner tonight, followed by a quick trip to Walgreens. I found Drew a $7 medical kit that will hopefully keep him occupied tomorrow. My plan was to travel Dallas, but uh...I don't think I can manage to get out of the parking lot here. Seriously. It makes my head spin and my stomach muscles tighten up. Memphis traffic doesn't hold a CANDLE to this place! So...we'll probably be dining at the hotel for lunch for the next two days. ;)

Overall....LOVE Dallas. It's beautiful! Lovely architecture. Green trees everywhere. People are SO friendly. My only suggestion would be to make these roads simpler! I'm off to think of hotel activities for tomorrow!

Dallas Bound

We've always known we were a bit loony, but now we know for sure. Andrew is heading to Dallas on business at the end of this month, and Drew and I have decided to join him. (Well, really, I didn't think I could handle this terrible stage alone so I told Andrew we were going, regardless.) This wouldn't be a big deal for most families--most families with great traveling babies, that is. Drew....not so much a good traveling baby. Actually a very poor traveler. So, please, for the sake of me not pulling all my hair out of my head on an 8 hour drive, please give me ideas of things to do to keep him busy!

I'm on my way to Goodwill's book store to pick up some "new-to-him" books since he loves reading in the car. Someone also mentioned a Mr. Potato Head that I'm going to pick up at Target. Anything else you can think of would be MORE than appreciated.