Visiting Grandma & Grandpa's

It was with great excitement that we embarked on our 5-hour trip to Grandma & Grandpa's house last Sunday morning!  ;)  After two weeks of sickness that had us all tired, cranky, and suffering from cabin fever, it was awesome to be able to get away for a few days!  Serena was almost well when we went, but Bret & Cody were still a little under the weather.  You can see in the pictures that Bret was not quite tops while we were at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  With this sickness has come many requests from him, "Hold-a me.  Mommy.  Hold-a me."  I was so happy to have so many willing and loving holders for Bret and Cody while we were in Iowa!!!  I was getting so discouraged and drained after 2 long weeks of sick babies!!!!  The first night we were there, Kari offered to take the baby monitor for the big kids for me.  I agreed after she assured me she wouldn't mind getting up with them (they still...especially Bret...give wake-up calls a couple times a night, generally; with the sickness, though, it's been more frequent).  I had Cody in with me, and let me just say it was WONDERFUL to stay in bed the entire night.  My wake-ups with Serena & Bret are almost always of the quick-comfort-then-lay-me-back-down-and-cover-me-up variety (for which I'm thankful!), but they still mean I have to wake up and drag myself from my comfortable and warm bed!  But for those nights I got to stay put!  The next morning, Cody started acting like he was ready to wake up around 5:30 or so.  As we neared 6:45, I thought the night was probably over and that I should probably just get up.  I closed my eyes one more time, though, and the next time I opened them and looked at my phone, it was 8:51!!!!  I did a double-take.  I swiped the screen to make sure the phone was working properly.  It was so weird!  I honestly can't remember the last time I slept that late!  When I came downstairs, Serena & Bret were happily eating breakfast.  It was seriously awesome.  The other mornings, Cody didn't cooperate with the sleeping-in fantasy, but I was glad we got to do it once, anyway!  :)

One of their favorite things is being read to...particularly "singing books" like "Over in the Meadow"

These awesome 'ride-on' toys were hand-crafted by Jordan's Pa (Which, by the way, Serena - who adores Pa - thinks Cody's middle name is "Pa."  ;)  It's actually "Paul" - Jordan's middle name.  Jordan had the same misunderstanding regarding his middle name when he was her age.  I just think that's cute!)

Kari broke out her sling to help with holding our poor, sick little Bretster.  Serena got a ride, too.  They both felt SUPER special to be in Grandma's sling!

Bret has a particular love of phones.  Here, he's letting Cody say hi on his phone.  ;)

Our 'little' Cody-bear turned 5 months while we were at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  Of course, we marked the occasion by weighing him.  He weighed 20.2 pounds, which lands him in the 95th percentile!!!  We 'had' to weigh Serena and Bret then, too.  Serena was 33 pounds (50th percentile); and Bret was 25 pounds (15th percentile).  So, now we have Bret on a steady diet of milkshakes and cookies.
(I'm just kidding.)

There's been a new addition to Grandma & Grandpa's household...in the form of a turtle.  He's just a little guy, but provided LOTS of entertainment for Serena & Bret.  Particularly Serena.  She LOVED him.  Even named him after herself.  First, middle, and last name!  If she'd had her way, she'd have spent every waking minute feeding him.  Thankfully, she understood to ask first...so instead of the turtle receiving a steady diet of food, Grandma received a steady diet of, "Can I feed the turtle some more food?"  ;)  We discussed each and every intricate detail of the turtle...from the physical aspects of him to his perceived emotional state.  And where exactly is his mommy?  And does she still take care of him?  And, OH! The look of sheer amazement when she found out he came from an egg.  An EGG!  Can you believe it?!  Serena got really bold picking him up and touching him.  Why does he put his head in his shell when she tries to pet his head, but lets her touch his feet????  ;)  And even now that we are home, the turtle obsession continues!  There was a turtle puppet at the library that provided quite a bit of entertainment, and she now has a turtle coloring book (thank you, Goodwill) as well!  If I'd had a bit more time (and maybe fewer distractions???) at the library, I might have tried to track down some turtle books, but you know, maybe next week.  ;)