I Love My Sisters--Monday, June 6

I had a fabulous day visiting my sisters and nieces/nephews.  Jackson and I slept in 'til 8:30.  I showered, dressed, dried my hair, ate breakfast, packed the diaper bag, washed the diapers, and changed and fed him twice before 10:30 a.m.  We drove to Gastonia with plans to surprise my nieces, Avery and Livie, with lunch.  I drove to Subway to get a healthy lunch, then fed Jackson in the parking lot.  I had just enough time to go to the Pizza Hut/Taco Bell drive through to get two personal pan cheese pizzas for the girls. Unfortunately, they only had supreme pizzas ready so I had to drive through and wait ten minutes for them to bring it out to me.  I was ten minutes late, but still able to spend 15 minutes with Avery for lunch, then the entire 25 minute lunch with Livie.  Both girls were happily surprised to see Jackson and I and even more excited to have pizza and Sprite!

Our next destination was to visit my sister, Katie.  I had over 50 snack size bags of chips to give to her, and she had a quilt to give me.  A family friend quilted a beautiful, colorful Dr. Seuss quilt for Jackson.  Katie and I had fun swapping babies, as our boys are only one month apart.  They look and feel so very different.  Though Jude is a month older, he is outweighed by his heifer of a cousin.  I adore Jude's soft skin and long eyelashes.  I'm so excited to see the boys play together as they grow older.

Our next stop included visiting my oldest sister, Christina.  She is a huge baby fan and absolutely loves cuddling with Jackson, which works out great since I love playing with her children.  The kids showed me their goldfish and artwork, while Christina rocked Jackson to sleep.  This was a blessing since Jackson is notorious for fighting sleep.  Our visit was cut short as the kids needed to get to swim practice.

Though I still had half a tank of gas, I couldn't resist filling up since gas was only $3.56 (compared to $3.79 in our area).  As soon as I stopped Jackson awoke wailing.  I pulled into a parking space and fed Jackson.  The gas station attendants were so nice.  I asked if there was a changing table inside and they frowned and said, "No, but we can pull a table in there and I'll spray it down first."  I told her that we would be okay since I had the changing pad.  Once Jackson was fed and changed, he slept peacefully the entire 45 minute car ride.

I think Jesse was missing Jackson since he came out to the car as soon as I pulled in the driveway and got Jackson out.  Jesse happily let Jackson nap on his chest, then had tummy time on Jackson's new Dr. Seuss blanket.

Dinner was a simple and tasty BLT.  Jackson has been very hit or miss with the bottle recently.  We've decided we need to make it a priority to give him a bottle every single day.  We've used Avent, BreastFlow, and Playtex Ventaire.  Today we tried the standard Medela bottle that comes with the pump.  Jackson downed 4 oz happily in ten minutes.  I think it has a faster flow and is more like what Jackson is used to.

I didn't have the motivation to drive to the gym.  It takes 15 minutes to drive there, which means I expend an entire hour of my day for a 30 minute workout.  I would rather go to an hour long class, but most of those are in the mornings.  I still can't manage an uninterrupted workout at home, so I have to wait 'til Jesse gets home.  I did some Bootcamp Calorie Burn video, which totally kicked my ass.  Now it's time to get everyone ready for bed!