On the Wednesday between Christmas and New Years, we left VA to head north to a cold & snowy Western PA. We had decided ahead of time that we were going to stay at Keith's mom's apartment and I admit that I was a little worried about how it would go. This would be the first time that all three of us would be staying there. Keith and I have stayed with her numerous times before, but because she lives in a small one-bedroom apartment, it can get quite cramped pretty quickly.
Thankfully it went a lot better than I had imagined. We were certainly in close quarters and the sleeping arrangements weren't ideal for anyone - I slept in my MIL's bed and Jacob slept in his pack and play with me in the bedroom, Marge (my MIL) slept on the couch and Keith slept on an air mattress in the living room. It wasn't great that Keith and I had to be separated and sleep in different rooms, but it was only for a few nights, so we just dealt with it.
Jacob did remarkably well even though we were up watching TV most nights while he was sleeping. We tried hard to talk quietly and have the TV on low, but there is only so much you can do when you are in a small apartment. He mostly slept well for his naps during the day when, again, we were moving around the apartment while he slept.
He got to eat his meals in the portable high chair while sitting in Grandma Marge's living room
and he, once again, opened many more presents from Keith's family (and again, just wanted to eat the wrapping paper).
Even though we had opened our presents from Marge on Christmas Eve, she had to wait until New Years Eve day to open her presents from us.
We got her a variety of presents including a "I Love Grandma" picture frame with a picture of Jacob in it. She loves pictures so we knew she would love this present.
Keith, Jacob, Marge and I went out to dinner for New Year's Eve and then we had our own little "party" in Marge's apartment. We got snacks and watched football and then watched the ball drop at midnight. It was different than we had done in years past, but it was nice to spend it with Keith's mom.
On New Years Day, we went to Keith's aunt & uncle's house to celebrate with his extended family. Jacob got to visit with his second cousins again
He enjoyed more time with Grandma Marge
and he loved looking at the lights and decorations on Aunt Kay's Christmas tree.
We had a very enjoyable time, although the trip up and back were a bit rough for Jacob. He does really well in his carseat for the most part, until he gets overtired and wants to sleep. He slept for short 30-minute spurts, but both going up and coming home, he had a few meltdowns where he cried (pretty hard!) for close to an hour each time. We felt really bad for him and knew that all he wanted to do was get out of the carseat and lay on his stomach to sleep, but there wasn't much we could do. Keith and I tried singing his favorite songs to distract him - which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't.
All in all, even though it was very cold (and snowed almost every day!), we really enjoyed our time in PA with Keith's family. It's always nice to see everyone and for Keith to be able to visit his hometown.
No comments:
Post a Comment