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. 

Week in Review

Ah, where did we leave off? Oh, yes. I rendered myself unconscious there for a second. Update: Despite a slow start, my fingernail is sporting a very dark bruise and looking way more legit. 

After almost breaking my finger off (never one to exaggerate here), I painfully finished a work project (physical pain via finger, not really emotional or psychological pain, mind you), and headed off to Maryland for a quick two-day trip home. My sister was in town for a couple weeks with my niece, also Will's cousin-twin, and my mom decided last-minute to book me a flight home so we could all be together. 

The children were utterly overjoyed to see one another.

Like I said.

Hysteria!

A highlight of the trip was that my little brother signed his letter of intent to play Division I lacrosse. He still lives in the very large shadow of his super humble, talented sisters, but he is slowly inching his way out into the limelight.

I made him sign another contract, one of adhesion of course because I was bigger than him at the time, many years ago agreeing that I would be his agent for life, receiving 10% of any sports-related income. 

So work hard, Uncle Belly! I mean, Uncle Billy.

My stepmom scheduled professional Christmas-themed portraits for the babies. You know. The ones at the mall! These bad boys will never go out of style. I don't care what anyone says. Being who I am, however, I couldn't help but capture some quick photos of the babies outside first. I have an iPhone and I'm not afraid to use it.

But we did capture this gem of an elderly couple's church directory photo. You may have missed it, as it broke the Internet last week.

I got me an 8x10 of this bad boy. If we had a fireplace, it would be at the center of the mantle.

Well, I guess that was only 2 days in review . . . . To round out the week, we've been chugging along just fine over here. Baby Will contracted some crud, I'm guessing from the airplane, and he's been the clingiest clinger that ever clung, but that's life. Oh, and we had his 9 month checkup. He gained no weight, but grew nearly two inches. And we finally found a prescription to help his mystery rash (but still have to go to the dermatologist for a diagnosis). Those are all the mom updates I can think of at this time. Now pass the coffee.

Motherhood Lately

I thought it's been too long since I've blogged about poop, so let's check in and have another motherhood discussion.

As you know, we were recently in North Carolina visiting with friends and family. Traveling with a baby is a fast road to burnout. Most of you already know this, but indulge me for a second if I may elaborate.

First, little Will came down with a cold and down with it went any expectations for sleep. When it cleared up, we had just one day of reprieve, when then, he started cutting his four top teeth and has had explosive diarrhea for over a week. (If you were lucky enough to be on the receiving end of a photo of a blowout. . .  you are very welcome! Also, it's finally subsiding, so worry not.) And I think Will wins the prize for slowest teether ever, but that could just be my momness coming through, thinking my kid is extra special and all.

The point is: Blowouts. Sleep problems. Crankiness. So. Much. Friggin. Poop.

It was a constant battle for self-control over extreme anger ("ANOTHER diaper change?!!"), extreme pity ("My poor baby!"), extreme paranoia ("Is he DYING?!"), and extreme sleep-deprivation (likely contributing to the paranoia, but here we also have to blame the old, interminable Internet).

For our return trip, Will braved the skies with sick little Will on a nonstop Raleigh to St. Louis flight, and I was tasked with safely navigating the Subaru home. (Yeah, we bought a Subaru. Give her two additional points on the crunchy scale. Boo ya.)

I was perhaps a little too excited for this drive. Twelve uninterrupted hours of sitting still, yet in a very concrete way being extremely productive? A mom's dream come true. But let's also just say I had a lot of time to both come to know current events via satellite talk radio and also process my thoughts on them. 

Boy, there's a lot of noise out there these days. 

War. Panic. Outrage. Competition.

And I have the type of personality where I'm easily swept up in it. Supreme Court, Church Synod, Political Campaigns . . . Picture my little brain as a hamster on a wheel relentlessly chasing a dangling carrot just out of reach. With sweaty armpits and everything. That represents my brain sometimes. And, actually, my armpits.

It comes back to staying grounded. Oh my gosh, how I can lose sight of the important things when I'm not careful. Getting back into a prayer routine is a given. But I've also been reading St. Therese ever since I got back home. (Maurice and Therese: The Story of  Love, to be precise. Thanks, Lauren!) 

Being so burnt out and caught up in all the craziness of the world we live in, finally picking up this book could not have come at a better time. St. Therese has brilliant insight about just forgetting yourself, embracing your smallness---not letting yourself be discouraged by it, a special weakness of mine---and acting in love above all else. Which is a little ironic because she was a brilliant prodigy, and obviously not a small figure in religious literature by any means, but I digress.

I needed this lesson so badly, to stop (literally and figuratively) sweating everything. 

I've never been so happy to just be settled into our little old routine again, enjoying the mundaneness, finding joy and humor in the poop trials, and despite myself, trying and do the small things with great love. Because changing poopy diaper after poopy diaper can be a spiritual exercise, you guys. Lest we forget.

The Day That Crazy Built

Blog friends. 

What would I do without them?

Sink into the Illinois cornfields of despair, most likely.

I knew Kallah (who recently took her blog private---ask for access!!) from college, but we weren't close friends. We were both poli sci majors at Belmont Abbey, so we had several classes together and would have intense philosophical conversations during our many study group sessions, but we never really hung out outside of the academic setting. After I learned that she was married on the exact same day as me and Will, we started Facebook messaging occasionally, and then our friendship took off when I started blogging. 

Kallah knew Sarah from some mutual friends, but was also a blog reader. I quickly followed suit and started reading Sarah's blog, but Kallah "introduced" us via a group text that has never stopped since. We could really text each other all day, every day, until the end of time. Thank goodness for the limitless of iMessage.

We'd seen each other through so many trials on that simple iMessage thread. Kallah's adjustment from one to two children with a husband away a lot working full time and earning his MBA at night, Sarah's pregnancy through her husband's deployment, and obviously my own difficulties as a new mom, including but not limited to, Will's leaving for 9-weeks when baby Will was just 2 weeks old. 

During one such iMessage-fest, I mentioned to Kallah that I wanted to go to Charlotte for Belmont Abbey's Homecoming the first week of October. She immediately and generously offered for us to stay at her house. It got a little awkward and sad when we realized it was a week away from Sarah's due date, so she wouldn't be able to meet up with us in Charlotte.

Cue side-iMessage thread between me and Kallah planning a day-trip to Charleston to surprise her. We, perhaps naively, figured she'd either be holed up with a newborn or holed up super pregnant, so obviously our unexpected arrival with three little men in tow would be welcomed with open arms!

In pursuance of our plan, I decided to fly out with baby Will the Tuesday before Homecoming to accommodate our surprise day trip.  . . . Which happened to be the same day Sarah gave birth. We boarded our first flight with news that Sarah's water was broken and she was in labor, and we landed with news that baby Nolan was here.

Will's excitement was palpable.

We had planned all along to visit her on Wednesday, the next day, the day after she'd given birth. After getting approval from Sarah's husband, we loaded up Kallah's car with our snotty kids (no literally, they all had faucet noses) and embarked on the 3.5 hour drive from Charlotte to Charleston.

Best idea ever, I mean . . . 

I mean really. How cozy.

We figured that even if we only saw her for a few minutes in the hospital it would be worth it to make her feel loved. And we really wanted to make the gesture after all we'd been through together! We seriously went into the whole day without a thought of how much work it would be entertaining the kids in the car, keeping them fed and well-napped, and honestly it wouldn't have made a difference. We were overly optimistic and determined. Some would say we were crazy, but I prefer optimistic and determined. So I'm going with that. 

Have I ever mentioned how little Will HATES THE CAR? Well, so yes, he screamed a lot. And Kallah's two boys had the honor of staring at his face for the entire scream-fest. Poor kids. 

We broke up the trip with a perfectly timed Chickfila trip. The itsy bitsy spider mp3 was purchased. The trip was made bearable and we still had eager attitudes to make the day a success!

We arrived in Charleston and stopped first at Sarah's apartment and dropped off food and gifts while we waited to hear whether we should go to the hospital, or bide our time until after they got home. (N.B. Sarah had a rockstar labor and recovery and left the hospital a day early.) We were told to go to the hospital. 

That meant back in the car. Little Will faces his nemesis again.

We made it to the hospital, where unfortunately for us there is a policy that non-sibling children can't go into the postpartum wing, so we had to go in one at a time. One visits the happy new mom, one stays in the waiting area with the three boys. 

Kallah entered the room first and there was a distinct "um, what are you doing here?" look on Sarah's face. She said hi, and then I came in. SURPRISE! I'm pretty sure she connected the dots as soon as she saw Kallah, but I digress. 

It was the stuff of blog-dreams come true. 

Sarah invited us to her apartment after they were checked out of the hospital, so we could all hang out together. It felt a little on the crazy side to show up at her house the day after she had a baby, but she seemed to sincerely want to visit with all of us, and, like I said, optimistic and determined, we forged ahead.

We killed some time at a nearby park to let the boys run off some energy before heading to Sarah's.

Not before stopping at Publix . . . 

To load our boys up with sugar before our visit to ensure perfect behavior, of course.

And also so I could snap too many photos of the Will-Henry bromance.

Just as it got dark, flirting with the boys' bedtimes, we finally got to Sarah's and all got to visit with each other. The three of us, and our boys, were finally all together in the same room! 

And again:

Note the glimpses of Baby Will's regrown rattail. The dawn of a new millennium.

I bring you to the finale of this photo series, whereby I ask you to please refrain from looking at the hot mess to the left and focus on the Pankus perfection that is on the right. 

"Literally. I can't even."

It was such an awesome day. And totally worth all the screaming (in my opinion - but I think little Will agrees) to finally meet the happy Pankus family with their new, perfect little addition. 

The end! . . . 

Oh what? We still have to drive back? 

Fine, I'll tell you about it.

The return trip actually went a lot better . . . with one hiccup, of course. Little Will slept almost the whole way back because it was dark outside, but we were about to run out of gas about 30 miles from Kallah's house. We knew it was gonna get ugly once we were under the bright gas station lights. 

And oh, it got ugly.

All three boys, screaming at the top of their lungs, overtired from a long day-trip. Itsy bitsy spider to the rescue. For the remainder of our trip. (I was afraid to stop playing it because the boys loved it so much!) 

I remember just turning and making eye contact with Kallah . . . and we just started laughing uncontrollably. Finding joy in the suffering! Or something. 

In all seriousness, thank God for friends who encourage and embrace each other through the crazy. What would we do without them?

Wisconsin, America's Dairyland: A Photo Dump

This week little Will and I got to accompany husband Will on a recruiting trip to Wisconsin. Basically, the USAF paid for gas and the hotels, so why not take the opportunity for a little family time? We loaded up the car Monday afternoon and headed north. Neither of us really knew anything about Wisconsin going into it, so color us surprised that we ended up having a really great time. Wisconsin is a pretty cool place that we definitely wouldn't have made the effort to visit otherwise. The following is a photo dump documenting our trip, so scroll and skim as you wish.

Madison

We arrived in Madison Monday night, and after checking into our hotel, we headed downtown to a local spot called Graze. 

And experienced cheese curds for the first time. Heaven.

While little Will HATES (I mean . . . HATES) the carseat, he otherwise does really well with all other aspects of travel. Here he is fresh and fancy-free after a great night's sleep in the hotel. 

Will had to speak at the UW ROTC detachment Tuesday morning and then conduct informational interviews at the law school all afternoon, so little Will and I headed to the zoo. 

I dressed little Will up in his monkey outfit and took pictures of him with the gorilla.

I should really be stopped. 

But I won't. Never.

Mr. Gorilla gave us the cold shoulder, which is fine because . . .

We were walking away from the lion's den, just the two of us, when we heard loud roaring. I thought it was fake. Maybe it was a recording indicating they were about to feed the lion or something, I don't know, but I decided to turn around and walk back. Lo and behold . . .

It was the real life lion all like, Hey get back here. 

Staring at us so intently, she was literally fogging up the glass.

This was definitely one of those amazing memories I'll have where I experienced something cool just because I was with my kid. I mean, there's no way I would have been at a friggin' zoo if I wasn't with little Will. And he won't even remember it. But I got to hang out with a lion, just because I was hanging out with my baby. Priceless memories, people. I also met up with some Internet friends from this forum, so I should probably also be thanking Mary Clare and Heather, because they're the ones to suggest a zoo visit.

After the zoo and lunch, we were kind of just killing time. I walked and walked and walked all around campus. (The zoo is right next to the campus, so we walked everywhere. Including up this GIANT hill that overlooks the water. Yeah, a lake. I didn't know there was a lake in Madison, WI either.) Will and I hung out in the law school lobby for a bit while we waited so he could crawl around, you know, without eating dirt or grass or cigarette butts. I just kept thinking to myself how very different my life is since was the last time I set foot in a law school. Over here lugging around 20 pounds of books rather than 20 pounds of baby. 

The campus Mall is right outside the law school. Thus, a UW selfie:

"Go badgas."

Little Will even picked me this lush bouquet. Ever the thoughtful son.

He later tried to eat it. 

When Will was finally finished with interviews, we headed out to dinner at the Ale Asylum Brewery (obsessed with their Belgian Style Ale called "Kink") and then set our sights toward Milwaukee.

Man in uniform carrying a chunky baby. A very attractive combo, if I may say so myself.

Milwaukee

Just your typical classy drive-by stadium pic:

Will again had informational interviews at the Marquette campus. And, once again, little Will and I had lots of time to kill. Luckily, there are plenty of places to get your Catholic nerd on at Marquette. We started at the Church of the Gesu. We couldn't get into the upper church, but judging by the lower church, I'm sure it's amazing. We hit up confession, my first one with little Will strapped to me, who started waking up just as soon as I kneeled. Quite possibly the quickest confession I've ever had. I then tried my hardest to get into the upper church, but found that every door was locked, and I just went to confession, so I wasn't trying to do some breaking and entering. Maybe next time . . . before confession.

We went to Starbucks for a PSL because white girls in the Fall cannot be stopped.

There were obviously a couple Marquette selfie fails:

And then we ran into Blessed Mother Teresa while we waited for the St. Joan of Arc Chapel to open. I was like Mother Teresa, I am also mother Theresa. Pleased to meet you.

She didn't think my joke was funny.

Then we made it inside the St. Joan of Arc Chapel. It's a medieval chapel that was transported from France by way of Long Island and reconstructed on campus.

Then there were more cute baby on campus in the Fall pics to be taken. What can I say?

We ended our Milwaukee visit in Bayview (I think what the area is called---I just follow wherever Yelp! takes me) at a little restaurant called Cafe Lulu, where, naturally, we tried more local beer!

This one's for Tess. 

After dinner, I got a milkshake at a little ice cream shop across the street and had the best whipped cream I've ever tasted. I'll never be able to enjoy any other kind of whipped cream ever again.

Then we drove the 6 hours back home.

The end.