California!

After having been on vancomycin (and 15 oz of Kefir a day!) for almost 2 weeks, I got the all clear from my doctor to go visit my family in California! It was perfect timing because my Oma's birthday is on July 3rd and there was a big celebration planned. So Eric and I packed up our stuff and little man and drove through the night on Saturday the 2nd to get there in time for Oma's birthday and the 4th of July! I was super apprehensive about how the drive with an almost-4-month-old would go but it was actually super smooth! After fussing trying to fall asleep for the first 45 minutes or so, he slept the whole rest of the trip without a peep except for the last hour when he was awake and ready to be up for the day! It took all the rest of my energy and every toy we had brought to keep him entertained for that last hour but it all worked out and we made it to my aunt and uncle's house without a hiccup where we promptly handed Levi off to my parents and went and took a nap! Hooray for grandparents! Haha.

It was so nice to get to be in California and see a lot of relatives that I haven't seen for a long time and introduce Levi to all of them. Thankfully, all of Dad's siblings were able to be there for Oma's birthday which was pretty special.

Aunts Anne, Lynn and Claire and my dad. I love how they all look alike

We celebrated Oma's birthday and 4th of July together on Monday with a big BBQ. I contributed magic cookie bars and this super delicious flag fruit pizza. Thank you Pinterest. Haha. 

But seriously all the food was delicious and it was so fun to get to hang out with cousins and other relatives. The only not so great moment was when Levi and I managed to fall out of the hammock because a certain younger relative who had been sitting in it with us decided to jump out without warning! Levi was totally fine but I saw our lives flash before our eyes and ended up with some lovely scrapes and bruises on my knees, left arm and shoulder as I tried to somehow land and break the fall while keeping baby from hitting the ground and me from falling on top of him! Note to self: beware of sharing a hammock with a baby and a 4 year old! Haha.

So Monday was great to hang out with family and celebrate and then on Tuesday, Eric, Levi and I headed to Davis to see my brother and sister. Traffic was absolutely horrible on the way there- probably all the folks heading home from 4th of July festivities at Tahoe- and little man cried almost the whole way leaving me feeling frazzled, frustrated and exhausted. But once we got to Katie's house and he got to get out of his carseat and eat and get changed he was a happy little man. And once I had had some lunch and got to relax with my siblings, I was pretty happy too. We pretty much just hung out and played the longest game of Munchkin ever and I talked about what a good candidate Katie's house would be for fixer upper. Haha. Now that I've been watching that show and Property Brothers I can't help but see what could be changed or improved about pretty much any house I walk into! I was like, "Oh man, this place would look so much better if we knocked down this wall and redid these floors!" Haha. I don't think I would ever want to actually buy a fixer upper and do it myself but I certainly do love watching the show and I do like imagining how spaces could be improved! 

Anyway, after spending the afternoon with my siblings, we went on to Santa Rosa to stay with my parents for a few days. Thankfully, the drive from Davis to Santa Rosa was not nearly as trafficky as the drive to Davis from Nevada City but little man still cried for the last 40 minutes straight which was not so great. But this time, I was driving and Eric was sitting next to Levi and that was a lot more tolerable for me. 

We got to see my old friend from growing up, Nicole, that night. It was so good to catch up with her and so lucky that we both just happened to be in Santa Rosa at the time since she lives out on the east coast as she is working on her PhD in education- early math learning. Her research sounds super interesting but hearing her talk just made me super glad that I am done with school! 

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we pretty much just chilled at my parent's house. We got to go swimming with my mom and go eat delicious Indian food and Levi got introduced to the piano for the first time. He loved it! It was so adorable to watch him hit the keys and then look up at the music as if he was reading it. Makes me wonder if he's going to be a musician some day like his family members on Eric's side. It was so nice to be able to just relax and have my parents and Eric around to help care for Levi and not have to do any housework or anything. And I just love my hometown and being there is so rejuvinating for me. 

We also got to spend some time with my good friend Lauren and hear all about her life and what's been going on with her. I wish we lived closer to her so we could spend more time together! 

Swimming with Mom and Eric

Levi wasn't sure what to think of it at first but after he warmed up to it he had a lot of fun splashing and walking in the water.

Oh so bright Mom!

My litlle man LOVES to stand and he is getting so good at it!

He also loves playing with his daddy!

Look at those chubby legs! 

Friday night we drove through the night again and came back home. Thankfully Levi did even better on this drive than he did on the way down! He feel asleep immediately and slept the whole way, waking only when we stopped to nurse and change him every few hours. Little man has been really struggling with sleep ever since he started rolling over (what?!) and we had to stop swaddling him. He slept so much better on those long car rides than he has any other night recently! Wish he would sleep that well in his crib! Sigh, we'll get there I hope!

Levi is all about his toes recently! He loves to grab them and try to put them in his mouth :) This is seriously such a fun stage! Now if we could just figure out the whole sleeping thing, life would be pretty darn near perfect :)