Easter Weekend

We flew down to Phoenix to visit Mimi and Papa Jim for Easter weekend.  

We almost didn't make the trip when we all came down the stomach flu, though.

Braxton woke up puking Tuesday night, and after throwing up several times and having a tummy ache all night, I stayed home with him all day Wednesday.  Luckily I did most of the packing on Wednesday night because I woke up puking on Thursday morning.  I sent Braxton to daycare thinking I'd be functional by the time our flight left that afternoon.  When it was time to leave, I could barely walk and we debated calling it off but decided to go for it.  

We were running so late we paid to valet the car IN the parking garage ($30/day...YIKES!) and had a skycap take me in a wheelchair to check in while Brian wrangled the bags and the baby.  We barely made it to our gate to board, then I spent the entire flight keeled over while Brian tried to stay somewhat awake holding the baby (he takes Dramamine for his motion sickness and it knocks him out).  Luckily we sat next to a nice lady who played with Braxton most of the flight and thankfully he was good.  I'm sure we looked like parents of the year.  

Although we didn't get to do a lot of the fun things/dates we had planned, it was nice to have my parents watch the baby while we slept and laid around recovering all weekend (Brian caught the bug Thursday night).  We did get to squeeze in going to see the Hunger Games movie and lay out by the pool.... definitely making springtime trips to Phoenix (and the incredible weather) a tradition.

 Sometimes I can't believe he's really all mine... man, I love this boy!!

 

Braxton's first time swimming!!!  He wasn't sure what to think.  He didn't love it, but he didn't NOT like it. 

 Swimming: day 2

Nicknames

Nugget

nug

boo boo

bubba

nug nug

punkin pie

nugget man

nug bug

Tulsa Trip

{March 16-18}

We are so thankful our brother-in-law, Mark, has made it home safe from his Afghanistan deployment. 

He was supossed to make it home by the middle of March and we set our trip so we'd get to see him!  Due to some military complications, he hasn't been able to come home yet (although, he is stateside).  We really missed getting to see him but had a great time with everyone else.

This was Braxton's first plane trip and he did soo good! 
I was really nervous about pressure in his ears and not being able to equalize them due to his cleft palete.  Since there is no 'seal' (if you will) between his throat and nasal cavity, its harder for him to equalize and he is more likely to be in pain or irritable.  We had his hearing tested that week and they found fluid behind his ear drums that could have also make it a lot worse, but he didn't seem to have any problems.
We gave him a bottle when we took off both times, he fussed/screamed for a few minutes (mostly b/c his nap schedule was so messed up) and then slept about half of the flight both ways.
I would say the only major hiccup was the blowout he had on the way home.  It was his last bottle before bedtime and I just knew it would happen on the plane.  That nugget never fails to disappoint!  We managed to get changed in the tiny plane bathroom and only 1 person noticed the new set of jammies :)

visiting Mimi and Papa

Playing with Aunt Cat

Aunt Cat & Uncle Brent

Meeting Baby Morgan... Braxton LOVES other babies and kids!

Only missing Mark :(

Nana and Mary with their babies
Clearly Ethan was done with pictures again (after the 2nd bribe...)

I love this little stinker!!

Saying goodbye to Nana and Poppy at the airport... can't wait until we see you again!