Meet Me in Montana

As I type this my mother is on her flight back to Fairbanks. Miss you bunches already, Mom!

Now, cue the Dan Seals and Marie Osmond tune. Montana is B-E-A-utiful! But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let me start at the beginning. Saturday morning arrived with blue sky and incredible sunshine - a perfect day for a drive. We sent Kendry and Justin off to spend the day with Justin's family. Here is my little man ready for a day with Daddy, riding up front in the old Chevy pickup.

Mom and I meant to be on the road by 8am. Actual time of departure: 9am. Not too shabby!And barely 30 minutes later we were already stopping for our first photo op. There is a Gimlin Road near Pullman, WA, which said landmark I am told is a reference to this Gimlin bloodline. Justin and I have driven past this sign many times and have commented on how we should take a picture someday. When I told my mom about the sign she insisted that this be the trip, and it was. Two hours later, mom and I vanished into the black hole that is the Spokane Valley Mall, only to claw our way out three hours later. Oh right, we were supposed be be driving to Montana, not shopping. Whoops! Fortunately, Montana allows you to legally drive 75 on a two lane highway, at dusk, with a winding river on one side and a falling rock hazard on the other, so we made up for a little lost time. Okay, I didn't really drive that fast; I had my mother in the passenger seat, after all. But seriously, who is in charge of these outrageous Montana speed limits?

Our Spokane shopping delay, therefore, made us miss a bit of Montana scenery on Saturday because by the time we neared Kalispell it was pretty dark. We found our hotel fairly easily and hurried off to enjoy the hot tub. Aaahhhh.... and goodnight.

9am Mountain Time: Good morning, Kalispell! (This greeting only after a morning dip in the hot tub, of course.)

From our hotel looking toward Glacier National Park:

Now on to the main purpose of our trip: picking up my parents' new standard poodle puppy. We drove 45 minutes toward Glacier National Park, where we were pleasantly surprised to encounter more and more, and more, snow. What would I do without my wonderful SUV?

Shortly thereafter we were introduced to Ramses:

From there, we headed right back the way we had come, only this time we got to thoroughly appreciate the beauty that is Montana, particularly Flathead Lake.

Can anyone doubt there is a God when observing this breathtaking scenery?

And now, the moment you have been waiting for, my emotional breakdown from being away from Kendry. Okay, not really. While I did feel my heart lurch when I heard a baby's hurt cry in the mall on Saturday, I was able to pretty much relax for the majority of our trip. That being said, when we still had three hours left of driving on Sunday I was getting pretty antsy to get home to my little boy. So, we don't have photos to show for the remainder of the drive. However, here are a few highlights to cap off my road trip summary.

Lessons learned:

1. A Toyota Echo can, in fact, be fitted with a hitch and haul a trailer behind it.

2. In true Alaskan fashion, my mother can ride for five and a half hours with her heated seat on the entire time.

Wildlife spotted:

1. Two beautiful swans basking in the sun on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

2. A handful of deer grazing in a meadow in Lolo National Forest.

3. At least six roadkill skunks, which made for a very fresh-smelling drive.

4. The most adorable standard poodle puppy.
Kendry really enjoyed Ramses too.

Finally, like any good mom, I had to bring home a gift for my kiddo. His very own little sunglasses.

I brought home Krispy Kremes for my other "kiddo".

Leavin' my baby

This day had to come eventually. Tomorrow morning my mother and I will embark on our road trip to Montana to pick up her new puppy, and my boys will be left to fend for themselves until we return on Sunday afternoon. Thats right, folks, my very first overnight away from Kendry.

In envisioning this "first" over the last 10 months I have never experienced any anxiety. Its just one night after all, and Kendry sleeps 10-11 hours a night anyway. So technically, Kendry will be sleeping for about 1/3 the time I am gone. No big deal. Even as I type this, my emotions are leaning more toward my excitement for this girls' weekend with my mom than they are my fear about being away from Kendry.

I'm pretty certain both my mother and my hubby expect me to get a little bit emotional over this experience. Perhaps by this time tomorrow night I will be doing just that. Or, I will be relaxing in the hotel hot tub with my mom, relishing the idea of sleeping in later than 6:30am the following morning. Who knows?

This is a pretty precious face to tear yourself away from, even just for one night.

But he will be in great hands.

TOW

1. We went to the levy with Kendry on Sunday afternoon, which was positively beautiful. He enjoyed his first swing and slide.

If Kendry could have taken off into a run he certainly would have. Look at that long stride. Talk about making a mommy proud.

2. My mom arrived late Monday night and we are already having a blast. Love you, Mom! The two of us will be taking a road trip to Kalispell, Montana this coming weekend. Bring on adventure! And by adventure I mean shopping.

3. Kendry got a much needed haircut this week. We buzzed him down to a 2 (layman's terms: pretty short), but I love it. He was starting to look like one of those crazy-haired kids (see before pic below). And there is not a stitch of curl or wave to Kendry's hair, it just sticks straight out. I guess I should just be thankful he doesn't have his father's twin cowlicks. Hmmm...can you see the different lengths of hair sticking every which way?

The last time we attempted a haircut it was not well received. This time we were prepared.

Clippers: CHECK

Bumbo seat to prevent escape: CHECK

Drop cloth for easy clean up of nearly invisible blond hair: CHECK

Super-sticky sucker to keep the kiddo happy: CHECK

Naked crazy-haired kiddo: CHECK

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... and TA-DA! An adorable, super-sticky, hair covered result.

So maybe the sucker and the hair made it feel like we tarred and feathered our little boy, but it worked. And thats why you have the bathtub filled with water for an immediate clean-up.

4. What is the deal with crib bumpers? I took it out this last weekend, figuring I was preventing Kendry from using it to climb up and tumble out of his crib. It never occurred to me that the bumper kept my all-over-the-place little sleeper from squeezing his limbs between the slats while he sleeps. Last night I was up at 2am because Kendry managed to get both legs through consecutive slats. I wouldn't be able to sleep in that position either. The bumper goes back in the crib today.

5. Hooray for getting a 9:15am start time for the Big Climb on March 21st! That makes it much easier to do the 6 hour drive home afterwards. I still need donations, so keep 'em coming!

6. Only four more months until the family reunion in Alaska. Guess we'd better get our tickets purchased soon.

7. For all you "Twilight" fans out there, I'm not sure I'll be joining your ranks after all. I got started on the first book and was enjoying it, but it has been gathering dust on my nightstand for the last month. Truth is, right now I would rather scrapbook in my spare time than read.

8. My parents are buying a standard poodle, thus the weekend trip to Kalispell. Not having seen too many standard poodles in my lifetime, I am excited to meet their puppy. I should probably warn Justin that the puppy bug is likely to hit once I see this pup. How does a puppy sound for Kendry's first birthday present?

9. I can't wait to relax in the hot tub at our hotel this weekend. Ahhhh....

10. Kendry is staying home with my mom this week and getting caught up on some Grandma time. Yesterday was their first day by themselves and already the score is Kendry = 1 and Grandma = 0. I gave my mom detailed instructions about naptime and she appeared to follow them to a T, but called me at work a little while later to announce that Kendry had only slept for a half hour and was already awake again. I told her to simply go in and turn on his humidifier for some white noise and assured her he would go back to sleep. Problem solved. Until I returned home and my mom informed me that when she went in to turn on the humidifier Kendry looked up at her and smiled like it was time to get up, so she got him up. This is a woman who raised 9 children, has 20 grandchildren, and has run an in-home daycare for over 20 years. She knows babies. But one little smile from a grandbaby and she is wrapped around his finger. What a pushover.

Then again, how can you resist this precious smile?

A day in the life of Kendry...

...or maybe not.

After such a busy week we were looking forward to spending today at home, just resting up and getting a few things done around the house. I took this opportunity to do a day in the life photo shoot of Kendry to give our long distance readers a taste of our weekend life.

Awake at 7am, Kendry had his bottle and then happily watched the goings on in our little country neighborhood.

Followed by a practice run of crawling on all fours, which we're convinced he learned from his cousin Ava this last week. He is starting to prefer the all fours approach, but when he is running low on patience he darts into his army crawl instead, which, now that I think about it, is starting to look more like a salamander scurrying across the room. Given that I'm not a fan of reptiles, its almost a little creepy.

Then it was a delicious breakfast of Brown Cow yogurt. In my opinion, this yogurt should almost be called a parfait, its that tasty. For those who aren't familiar, this stuff has about an inch of cream just sitting on top when you open it. It is dee-lish! Oh, and its all natural and loaded with a great combo of fats, proteins and carbs, so its a good breakfast for my kiddo. He loves it, so mommy doesn't get to finish up leftovers very often with this meal.

8am = morning play time. Kendry does pretty well entertaining himself, especially with his wooden blocks.

Yes, my child is still in his pajamas at this point. Don't judge. It is, after all, Saturday morning, and he'll be headed for his morning nap by 9:30am anyway. Just know I don't allow him to stay in his pajamas all day long.Inevitably, as little boys do, Kendry finds some sort of mischief. This one was a toughie. Should I encourage him to pull himself up, a motor skill he is still tentatively mastering, or do I remind him that he isn't supposed to touch the electronics? Ahhh, the dilemmas of parenthood.

So the first two hours of the day went wonderfully. It was looking to be a great start to our weekend.

And then 9am rolled around and the teething monster took over my child, which is why I have no photos to show for pretty much the rest of the day. Kendry is finally cutting one of his top teeth and he took it out on me this morning. After a short morning nap (if you can even call it that), my patience was wearing thin and I had to get him distracted with something new. I opted for a trip into town to run some errands and returned home just in time for his afternoon nap, which fortunately was more successful this time. When he awoke, he happily joined me for a beautiful jog (it was nearly 60 degrees here today), and then we joined Justin in the yard as he measured and marked out his rose garden.

But, my day in the life theme wasn't a total loss. I snapped a few shots of Kendry outside in the yard, the last one being my fave.

Its amazing how in the span of a few hours this kiddo can go from being a total bear to a little angel. And I love him to pieces as both.

TOT

1. Last Friday Justin's Grandpa Wayne passed away at the age of 93. We miss you, Grandpa.

2. My mom arrives in just 4 more days. Hooray!
3. Let the climbing (and inevitable tumbling back down) begin! Last night Kendry pulled himself up to a standing position in the bathroom, and then figured out how to stand up in his crib. I have never been one to worry about Kendry sleeping with a bumper in his crib (i.e. suffocation hazard), but now I'm worried he might try using the bumper for leverage to climb up and out. I think Mommy will be removing that bumper in short order and, while she is at it, moving the mattress to a lower setting as well.

Naturally I had to capture this "first" on camera, which led Kendry to believe it was time to get out of bed already. Poor kid!

4. I just bought a complete Easter outfit (Ralph Lauren slacks, The Children's Place sweater vest and button down) for Kendry for just $12.50. EBAY ROCKS!

5. The house sure is quiet tonight with it being just the three of us again.

6. Justin has inherited many of Grandpa Wayne's beautiful roses. Grandpa adored his roses so it will be a privilege to carry them on. Stay tuned for pics of our new beautiful rose garden.

7. Oh black jelly beans, how I love thee!

8. After some furniture re-arranging this week we are finally saying goodbye to our old beat up coffee table. If you have been to our house, you know why I am excited; and if you haven't been to our house, well...just know that Justin bought the table for $10 at Goodwill about six years ago. All together now: "Good riddance!"

9. I am praying for beautiful weather on Saturday so we can take a family walk down on the levy and let Kendry feed the ducks.

10. I have the most wonderful hubby! Justin took today off from work to recuperate after this last week's events, and he kept Kendry home with him for some daddy and son time. But here is the clincher: he did 3 loads of laundry while I was at work! As it turns out, he DOES know how the washing machine works.