Yet Another Maryland Trip

We recently returned from a five-day trip to Maryland for my cousin's wedding. Even though I've been finished work for almost three weeks we are just now trying to settle into a routine. (And even then it will be thrown out of whack by Will's five-week departure for more training in Alabama. But we are trying!)

Originally, I had planned on making this trip solo over just a couple short days. But after pushing up the end date at my firm and realizing that I could change my Southwest itinerary to lengthen my trip for only $6, we decided it would be the perfect opportunity for little Will's last hoorah as a lap baby (before he turns two and/or I run out of lap space). 

This is how we roll . . . 

Car seat on my back, pushing Will in the stroller with one arm/my belly, pushing the other luggage in the other hand. I got a couple "You Go Girls!" so I was feeling pretty skilled.

A MAJOR incentive to making the trip with the toddler, despite being pretty largely pregnant and missing out on time with a husband about to leave for five weeks, was that my niece, Molly, was going to be in Maryland, too. We have a portrait of Will and Molly hanging in our living room and he repeatedly points to it screaming, "MAH-EE! MAH-EE?!" He LOVES him some Molly.

We got lots of great snaps of the cousin-twins.

I'm not gonna lie. It was pretty exhausting. Nobody slept. We stayed at my mom's, which is not baby proofed at all and the one thing the kids wanted to do the whole time was play on the staircase and/or fight with each other over the few toys on the premises. A couple mornings, Will and I made our escape to Barnes & Noble where I would enjoy some coffee and he would be occupied by the train set or Lego table for 15-20 minutes before maniacally running through the aisles of books (at one point wielding a pink umbrella at unsuspecting patrons, but I digress). 

The wedding was kid-free, so my mom and stepdad watched the kids while my sister and I drove up to Princeton, New Jersey for the day. The church was gorgeous, the ceremony was gorgeous, and the wedding (as all Nolan weddings are) was out of control fun. The entire Nolan side of the family was out of their chairs and on the dance floor for the first song right out of the gate. It could have been the four hours of cocktails preceding the event, but I like to think it was genetic — we just have the groove woven into our souls. 

I got to go back to the 7am mass by myself and got to attend the most prayerful mass I've had in months (and probably for months to come!).

The sibs at cocktail hour.

I got a ton of compliments on the maternity dress I'm wearing. I highly recommend it! The material is stretchy, yet thick. It's high quality for price (only $33) and best of all - machine washable! Also, I wore it two weeks prior at a different wedding and no one noticed it was the same dress from pictures because it's a nondescript little black dress. So if you're in the market. (I also survived the whole day and night in the wedges I'm wearing - 12k+ steps according to my Fitbit - just throwing that out there - STILL GOT IT.)

I won't comment on how many times I was asked when I'm due (5,394,384 estimate) or how many times I was asked what I'm having (2,469,495 estimate) or how many times I was asked if we are "done" since we have the quintessential perfect family of Boy-Then-Girl (1,495,394 estimate). Nope, won't go there!

When we got back Sunday we worked hard to get a good snap of the kids before my sister's departure:

My sister's flight left on Sunday, but Will and I didn't leave until Monday evening, so we got to have some quiet time at Jima's (my mom, grandma aka G-ma, which was translated to "Jima" by a confused friend who thought it was a Japanese term of endearment; we just ran with it!). 

And to contrast the first picture . . . 

We're back in the cornfields. And the poor man next to us only had to endure about 14 elbows from yours truly and about 13 smelly feet kicks from the little man.