Home!

What a lot of memories to try to record.  We just got back from a 10 day trip to Paris, TX on Thursday.  I think this morning [Saturday] I woke up and my heart rate was normal again after the trip home.  I'm pretty good at rolling with the punches during travel (I credit excellent training from my parents), but I had underestimated the effects of sleep deprivation + waking the whole family extra early + crowded airport + weather delays + few opportunities to go to the bathroom + extra things to carry all day + the accumulated effect of two tired and one sick kids' crying and whining grating on my brain (most significant of all).  I was ready to commit crimes against myself or my family members by the time the car service pulled into the drive.  We woke at 4:30a CST in Paris, and we rolled up to the house around 7:15p EST.  By my calculations, that's nearly 14 hours on the road.

Let me urge myself and anyone reading to remember not to judge parents' abilities or their children's behavior based on any one encounter with them.  After the first flight we took, about 10 different people came up to me and sang the praises of our boys: 'Adorable!, So well-behaved!, Natural travelers!, The cutest baby I've ever seen!, They were so obedient and quiet!'  Fast forward a few hours, a two-hour delay later and nearing bedtime, after some nap-deprivation.  We were *that* family.  Asher screamed until he crashed in my arms, Owen whined the *entire* flight.  He kicked the seat in front of him, we chastised, he gloried in the negative attention and did it some more, he hit us, he pinched us, he cried, he said, 'OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT' about seven thousand times prior to deplaning.  Did I mention Owen was still recovering from a nasty virus of multi-day fever, croupy cough and possible ear infection?  We were hanging on by a thread ourselves after an early morning and barely had the energy to manage him.  Then, we got to drive home another 45 minutes, strapped in carseats!  Asher cried HARD the entire drive and wouldn't accept any soothing.  The poor driver said it would probably the best trip of his evening since he'd be ferrying drunk New Year's Eve partiers the rest of the night.

Well, we're pretty much recovered now, and it wasn't all that bad in hindsight.  A few more weeks to forget, and I'll be ready to try it again :)

We had a great time in Texas!  First we stayed a short while with the Galen Swints in Plano.  Owen was quite confused at the thought of Hannah having a new house, since we'd just visited them in Atlanta a few days prior to their move.  Having another visit so soon was great...he was very excited to see Hannah again and the new-person inhibitions were gone this time.  They played pretty well together and we had fun getting an evening's visit in with Galen and Melissa after the kids were abed.

Next morning we drove with Aunt Virginia to Paris.  What a fun visit!  It's always a whirlwind there...no way to recap it all!  But highlights for Owen included playing/visiting with the Kruse and Matthews cousins, watching Daddy hose down his 'kill' (a feral pig, yes indeed!), feeding cattle, seeing the new kitten Clover, playing with and giving cookies to Laddie the golden retriever, going for wagon rides, sleeping in a real bed (rather than a crib), picking up pecans, seeing the large local Christmas light display, more playing with toys, helping Mommo cook, visiting the meat-rendering shop, singing carols and playing piano with Mommo, opening lots of Christmas presents, and last but not least getting a fairly nasty virus.  Fever for a few days, horrible croupy cough, and eventually red enough ears to warrant antibiotics.  Not fun!  It also sadly prevented us from getting in a visit with the Edwards, who were much missed and recovering from illness themselves.  In the end, Reuel caught it a couple days before we left, and now that we're home Asher is a drippy, croupy baby.  I'm still well!  I'd trade with any of them if I could.

Thanks to everyone for the fun memories!!

Now that we're home, something truly shocking has happened.  It might have been the night we got home that I had a conversation with Reuel wondering together how we could kick things up a notch regarding potty training.  Owen was doing OK with a once a day potty visit simultaneously with Reuel before bath, but was majorly disagreeable to more than that.  Well, lo and behold yesterday he decides he wants to wear his Bob the Builder underwear, and boring-story-short, he is keeping them dry and going on the potty about 90% consistently by the end of the day.  Wow.

Today we did the same thing all morning, no accidents.  Now this afternoon I'm seeing the challenge...he doesn't want to get back in the underwear after the nap (diaper still absolutely necessary and nap and nighttime).  Same thing this morning, but somehow I talked him into it.  This will be a challenge if it's a struggle every day twice a day.  That, and he seems to have VERY small bladder capacity, so I'm terrified to even think about leaving the house with him :}  Well, we'll see how it goes the next few days.  I hate to backslide at all from this momentous, unexpected development since it has to happen sometime!

Speaking of, better go entice him into his Elmo's!
Pictures from Paris to follow soon.