Well, our Christmas vacation is fast approaching. Only 10 days until we leave, but technically 11 days until we get there. 10 days may seem like a lot, but there is still so much that needs to be done. All our clothes that we are wearing there need to be washed and dried and organized (Type A personality here people!). It's going to take at least a day of pure packing to get everything to fit in our 4 suitcases and NOT be overweight. I'm not sure if that's even possible.
There are still a few bits and pieces that I need to pick up. Now you may be asking yourself why don't we just buy all the baby stuff there?? Good question, with an even better answer.
1. The exchange rate for dollar to pound is not in our favor, which means everything we would buy would cost double. That's a lot of money considering formula, food, diapers, juices, snacks... theres no way we can buy it all there. We obviously can't fit enough food and snacks to last us the entire time, but whatever money we can save by buying here we will.
2. It's giving snow for our connection flight in Newark. If we get stranded in an airport with a baby for even a day (theres only 1 flight to Belfast each day) then we need some extra provisions to last us. This is something that is weighing heavy on my mind because I am already anxious about the amount of time we are spending traveling, and any extra time in the airport with an 11 month baby is terrifying.
Sometime between mommy duties and cooking I needa pencil in some major cleaning around the house. There is nothing worse than coming home from a long vacation and seeing toothpaste spots all over your sink. Spring cleaning at its best in the winter (which also means lots of donations right before the holidays, which I know are much needed!).
Kevin is almost done teaching for the semester! His students have turned in their term papers (which need to be graded before we leave) and are doing their finals today and Tuesday. So while mommy is doing all the above (because a Type A could never let a Type B do some major packing!) Kevin is going to be grading grading grading! Somewhere between also manage our son =)
Elliott is moving along great. I'm sure he has gained more weight but I haven't checked. He has been able to stand without holding on to anything for quite some time now, but only recently has he actually be starting to stand without any encouragement from anyone! It was so exciting to see him standing there holding his sippy cup with both hands!! Till I started freaking out and he promptly sat back down lol
So the next step is obviously going to be walking once he is very comfortable standing alone. He "cruises" from the sofa to the table and all around objects, but he still feels the need to hold on to everything. He will come into walking when he feels ready, which is exciting to me to watch him change and become more confident in himself.
It truly is amazing watching Elliott every day. You can see his confidence building in everything that he does and he just soaks up every bit of information. He loves putting the balls back in his little ball blower thing and closing the pop up characters. Day to day he is doing some new, more advanced. Naturally, I think he is a genius =) He can turn toys on and off, louder and quieter. He knows if we turn off our cell phone to let him play with it and gets upset. He only wants it if it's on! He is so attached to his rings. We bought him 2 sets because he loves them so much. He just crawls all day with them in his hands. And you can see him carefully pick out which one he wants at that time. Throwing the others behind him!! haha maybe a Type A personality??? His new favorite game is, lets see how many toys I can put in mommys washing machine!! Haha I went to go do a load and I kept pulling out all these toys and I couldn't stop laughing! Babies are a true blessing in life! They make all the hardships of reality bearable and worth it.
That's about all from the McGlone family... mostly the next week will be packing, cleaning, and grading for us. With a diaper change or 2 of course!!
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