Oh, My Aching Arms!

Fall Family Adventure #3 was today, and tonight I type with VERY sore arms! Today we went to where I worked before the babies for their annual Halloween Open House. Seeing as I was part of the creating of this event, I've done the flyers and mailing for this event every previous year, and last year I was in charge of coordinating this whole event - I have a HUGE place in my heart for this event and so wanted to be there. I also wanted to show off my adorable babies!

Allie & friend Sharon who was here from Atlanta!

As we drove in I realized that even though it has been 10 months since I worked my last day, it felt like I hadn't been gone at all (except once I was inside a lot had changed - new codes, new staff, new residents...). Unfortunately, we were not there long. We were tried to find the best time to sneak in (since the 2 hours of the Open House were directly over their usual naptime...and it's 45 min. away!), and decided to go a little early, stay a little past their naptime, and let them sleep in the van on the way home. Normally, I'm super rigid about naptimes (a well-rested baby is a happy baby, and I like happy babies!), but I made an exception today. We assumed it would be sleepy babies that would dictate the length of our visit, but we were wrong! Their costumes are (somewhat awesomely) designed to keep little kiddos warm without needing to be covered with coats...and the Assisted Living was kept warm enough there is no need for more than a t-shirt. So, they started to overheat pretty quickly, and we ended up making a quick retreat (without any pictures!). It was so wonderful to see so many friends and dear, familiar faces. We had a great time while we were there!

Ryan was eyeing her hair & glasses - his 2 favorite things to grab!

As we were leaving we made a somewhat random call to a friend from seminary who lives locally, and discovered that some other friends from seminary (who live in the Atlanta area) were here visiting! So we made an unexpected detour to visit them. Unfortunately, the drive was not long enough to give the babies the nap they needed (although they got a small snooze), and shortly after our arrival there the babies had a bit of a meltdown which resulted in all three of the girls bouncing and swaying babies/toddlers - our Atlanta friends have an almost 2 year old who wanted in on the cuddling! It was so good to see them for a very brief, but treasured visit!

Doing the Bounce & sway

Not to drag out the suspense, but can you tell their costumes by the bottom halfs in this picture?

So, why do my arms ache? We thought it would be a good idea not to bring a stroller in for the Open House, but to carry the babies the entire time...30 or so minutes worth. Then, I was standing and holding a baby almost the entire time we were visiting our friends (roughly an hour until we finally sat down). Finally, I had VERY cranky babies at bedtime (especially Ry guy, who is extremely sensitive to any change in his sleeping routine - sorry, buddy)...and in the end I swayed and rocked Ryan for roughly another half an hour after he cried inconsolably and refused to go to sleep on his own (the irony - my rocking didn't put him to sleep either, and it wasn't until I gave up and put him down that he was finally able to fall asleep. Silly little guy!). While I am used to having 1 (or 2!) babies in my arms throughout the day, I am not used to such extended periods of time. I guess it's a fair price to pay for another day of Fall Family Adventures!