Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya and Tobi

This post is a continuation of an account of our recent trip to SC/GA. Part one is found here, part two here and part three here.

Late Monday afternoon, Andrej and I left the kids in the capable hands of my parents and headed to Atlanta. We weren’t even a few miles down the road when Andrej shared that he had a knot in his stomach. Relieved that I wasn’t the only one sad to leave Kaiya and Tobi behind, I too admitted the knot in my own stomach. We have never left the kids overnight. Even when I was in the hospital for Tobi’s birth, Andrej came home each night to be with Kaiya, so we haven’t had much practice with leaving them for more than a few hours. However, we knew it would be good for us, good for them and good for my parents.  (Read more …)

This post is a continuation of an account of our recent trip to SC/GA. Part one is found here and part two is found here.

After two busy days, Monday was declared a lazy day and the only thing on the agenda was relaxing and playing with the kids. My grandparents joined us for breakfast and Kaiya and Tobi had fun interacting with their great grandparents.

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Never ever under any circumstances would I recommend you to mix the following items:  (Read more …)

This post is a continuation of an account of our recent trip to SC/GA. Part One is found here.

Sunday, was not just any ol' Sunday, it was Father's Day. Unfortunately, I forgot that and as I heard my dad bumping around the kitchen that morning (Andrej and I were sleeping on an air mattress in the family room next to the kitchen), I called out, "Dad? Do you have any coffee ready over there?" It wasn't until a little later when my mom was busy getting us to sign the Father's Day cards that I realized it should have been me serving my father coffee on this particular morning rather than the other way around. (Read more …)

Yesterday, when I went in to get Kaiya up from her afternoon rest time, I found her sitting at the bottom of her bed facing all of her precious stuffed animals that she had carefully lined up sitting side-by side at the top of her bed. Giggling at the scenario, I asked her if she was playing school because it looked like she was the teacher and her animals were her students. She looked at me for a moment and said, "No, Mama. They were just watching me dance."

An hour before we were to leave for the airport for our trip to South Carolina, I got a call saying that our flight had been canceled. As I was on hold waiting for the United Airline representative to rebook us, I dreaded telling Kaiya that we wouldn’t be going to Papa and Babka's that day. Kaiya had pulled me from a deep sleep at 6:30 am that morning, yelling, “Is it time to go to Babka and Papa’s? I need to pack my backpack for the airplane.” Kaiya usually sleeps until 8:00 – 8:30 each morning, so her early wake up time was reflecting her excitement about our trip later, and I stress later, that day.  (Read more …)

Back in May, my mom hosted a bridal luncheon for my cousin who was getting married a few weeks later. Mom called me minutes before the luncheon and said that she had put together a little book for the bride-to-be where everyone attending the luncheon could write down advice, thoughts or well wishes. Mom had a page for me, even though I would not be in attendance, and asked what advice I wanted to share.  (Read more …)