FIVE!!!

 

 Our little Philippa has been busy...she grew her first tooth!  Bottom left central incisor, letter O to be exact.  I was a bit surprised with her recent accessory since she was sick for two-weeks.  I figured her fussiness was attributed to feeling under the weather.  But (!) my little mama light bulb went off and it occurred to me that maybe she was teething.  And sure enough, three days later her tiny tooth erupted!

Philippa has other tricks up her sleeve.  She LOVES to lay on her back and grab her socks off her feet.  She's so proud of herself every time she does it.  It's very cute!

Pippa also mastered the skill of rolling over...back-to-front!  She's going to be an athlete someday with those skills.  She'd been working on her trick for several days and finally mastered it the day before she turned five-months.  She's really quick now that she's got it down.  She's still working on belly-to-back, though not very hard.  I think she prefers laying on her belly so she's not trying really hard to go the other way.  I wish she was though.  Since she will wake in the night upset she can't flip over...and then I have to go and rescue her.  I'm a complainer when it comes to interrupted sleep.  But I'm sure I've made that very clear in several previous posts.  

We took our first international family vacation this month.  Since the kids got their first passports we had to put them to use.  We went on a weekend getaway to Victoria, BC.  It was quite the adventure.  Friday night we drove north 1.5-hours north to Anacortes, Washington.  I thought the kids would sleep in the car since we didn't depart until 7:30pm.  But both were so excited, neither slept.  Even Pippa could sense the excitement.  She was all smiles as we unloaded our car and moved into our hotel room for the night.  Ro was literally bouncing off the walls...and floors.  Everything was so cool to him.  Even the artwork, the solo painting on the wall, "Oh!  It has trees!  I love it!" 

We had to wake early Saturday morning to catch the ferry to Sidney, BC.  6am early.  Neither kid seemed phased by the rude awakening.  Actually, Ro was up before me...ready to go.  The ferry ride was fun.  The subtle rocking of the boat lulled Pippa to sleep (nice!) so she took a short coma on the bench.  While she was sleeping...Ro would accompany either Wyatt or me outside on the deck where he'd run around like a crazy kid in the wind.  He loved the wind! 

 We docked into Sidney around 11am and drove the half-hour south to Victoria.  Luckily we were able to check-in to our Air bnb house early and attempt a mandatory family nap.  It was in vein.  Pippa amused us with a power nap.  Ro was polite enough not to make noise as he excitedly waited for the rest of us to wake up.  The nap was not long enough for me.  I think Wyatt felt the same. 

After our nap we ventured to the local beach park.  The trip was short lived since all of us were still exhausted and hungry.  Even Ro asked if we could return to our "hotel."  After we were fed we hoped in our car to explore the town.  Ro fell asleep immediately and Pippa followed suit shortly after.  We didn't even attempt to unload from our car and walk the streets.  No way were we going to wake the kids!  Plus we had already ate and weren't in the mood for shopping.  Our scenic drive was enough for our tastes.  

When we got home, we got both kids in bed by 8pm.  Wyatt was out too since he laid with Pippa to help her fall asleep.  (She is a dream sleeper at home...but very terrible away from home.)  I stayed up until 10pm to read my book and feed Pippa one last time before I called it a night.  Wyatt woke and was wide awake at that time, so he opted to watch TV until midnight.  

Sunday morning everyone was up bright and early for church.  So much so we had three hours to kill before it started at 9am.  Ro was this excited our entire trip.  It was exhausting!  We were going to go to "vacation church" and attend the one-hour sacrament meeting, as opposed to the three-hour block.  But a family came in late during the rest hymn, after the sacrament (about 20-minutes into the service), and unintentionally wedged us out of our seats.  We were standing for the hymn and it was obvious there wasn't going to be enough room for all of us on the bench once we sat down.  I was thinking of excusing myself since Pippa was on the brink of crying.  And Wyatt felt suuuuuuuuuuper awkward about the whole thing.  So we all left.  Two ladies who had witnessed the entire episode caught us in the hall and apologized.  It was very nice of them.

Next up was DONUTS!!!!  Canadian donuts from Tim Hortons.  They were good.  Not the best.  But definitely not the worst.  We bought one donut for each of us...and ten donut holes.  Ro swiped all the donut holes for himself and proceeded to sneak a few bites from everyone's donuts.  He is the only one I know that loves donuts more than me.  Which I love because it's easy to convince him, or me, to purchase them at the grocery store (not the best donuts but a good fix when you need a fix).  

 After being pumped with sugar, it was obvious the kid wasn't going to settle down for a nap.  So I took one for the team and took Ro to the park while Wyatt and Pippa stayed behind to nap.  I was sooooooooo tired!  But Ro was extatic about the new-to-him park, so I was mostly happy to oblige.  

 When Wyatt and Pippa were done napping, we headed to Butchart Gardens.  That was the second point of interest (after the donuts) we chose to visit Canada.  Two-thirds of the gardens - the rose and Japanese - were nice, in the way that I appreciated their beauty.  But the Sunken Garden was by far my fav!  It looked as if it was straight out of a fairy tale.  I'd almost go as far to say it was, take-your-breath-away beautiful.  Had we only seen the other two gardens, I would've been disappointed.  But the Sunken Garden was well worth the visit.  And of course, pictures don't do it justice.

We told Ro, who has a tendency to pick flowers, that he was absolutely not aloud to pick flowers at the gardens.  And suggested that he smell the flowers instead.  He was a very obedient boy and did just that...smelled many of the flowers.  (Except he calls it "pell" the flowers.)  And his imagination created a carwash out of many of the bushes and plants.  He'd back into them and proceed to make "wooshing" and "swishing" sounds.  It was pretty cute.  He loves car washes!

 Ro wanted to go to the "tiny" park again after we returned to our "hotel."  So we did.  The kids went to bed a little late and we were all exhausted, again.  Exponentially exhausted.  So much so we just hung out in our "hotel" the next morning until we had to leave at 10am to catch our ferry home.  

Ro and Pippa did a great job of keeping it together in Canada.  I guess the same could be said for Wyatt and me too.  Ro started to unravel on the ferry ride back to Washington...and passed-out once we got in our car to drive home.  That is until he woke crying just north of Seattle that he needed to pee!!!!  Poor kid, had drank an entire sippy bottle of milk just before he fell asleep.  So I know his bladder was full.  He did a great job waiting until we got to the bathroom to relieve himself.  He was crying the entire time we were in Walgreens trying to find the bathroom...then trying to find someone to open the bathroom for us.  I think we were at the toilet for a full minute by the time we got there.  Ha!  Good job kid!

 

And then Tuesday, our first full day at home, Ro, Pippa, and I slept until 8:30am.  Took a two-hour nap.  And went to bed early.  We really needed the sleep.  And then I got sick (as if my body was holding on until we returned home).  And then Pippa got sick, AGAIN, on Wednesday.  And Ro got sick, AGAIN, on Saturday.  It's been a month of colds.  

I'm not sure if we'll ever go on a family vacation again.  It was a lot of fun but it was exhausting!  And there you have it, our first family vacation of four.  

Other noteworthy events in the Wilson household: Wyatt had a birthday.  I won't say how old he is but I will say that he has two-years until he joins the ward choir.  (A few years ago Wyatt passively mentioned that he might like singing in the choir and maybe he'll commit himself when he's of a certain age.  It's been our joke ever since.)  Ro and I baked him a German Chocolate cake.  And I let Ro choose three gifts from Dollar Tree to give Wyatt.  I suspect Ro chose gifts that he likes...

Speaking of gifts.  Wyatt bought me a vacuum for Mother's Day.  Interesting.  It was even prefaced with "I'm not sure if you're going to like my gift.  But if you don't, I can use it."  Hmmmmm...  Funny since I had written a "wish list" several weeks before to ensure he had an idea of what kinds of gifts I'd like to receive.  A vacuum was not on it.  But, I gotta be grateful.  It was a thoughtful gift as he said he thought I'd like it to vacuum up my dust piles (like the central vacuum system I mentioned I want someday a few weeks earlier).  And he made me waffles for breakfast.  And he gave me a card and flowers...which, truthfully, I'd be happy if those were the only two things he gave me.

 

  

Wyatt bought his fourth motorcycle.  That is not a typo.  His wife is going a little crazy with his collection.  Our garage is getting a little cramped.  But my husband is happy.  And so is my son.  They're both really enjoying their man time in the garage.  So I guess I'm okay with it all in the end.  Wyatt enjoys his projects - since he buys them broken and fixes them to run.  Even so, I'm putting my foot down if there's a proposition for a fifth.  

Pippa and Ro are turning out to be good little buddies.  Ro loves hugging and petting Pippa.  And he loves making her laugh.  Which he is very good at.  It makes my heart explode sometimes.  

I think we're coming to an end of naps for Ro.  I'm in denial about it.  Ro can still stand to take a nap most days since his behavior tells me he's tired at the end of the day.  But the days he does take a nap, he's no where near ready to sleep at bedtime.  Argh.  I've come up with a couple different solutions.  The times he actually does fall asleep at naptime, I don't let him sleep more than an hour.  The little blip of a nap rejuvenates him and still allows him to be sleepy for bedtime.  And somedays I institute quiet time.  He does a great job with this.  A really good job.  He'll quietly read books or play with toys on his bed until I say quiet time is over.  It makes me a proud mama how good he does with this!

Ro got his first non-mom haircut.  The pictures make him look more worried than he was about the whole episode.  Though, I think I was more excited about it he was.  Especially the actual cut.  It put my work to shame.  And at his request, it was spiky for the day.  (Isn't it funny how a hair style turns makes my my sweet little boy look like a punk?)

 

And...a random picture of the evening view from our back deck.  Life is good.