Weekend Recap

Can we just go ahead and call this February the start of Spring? The last several weekends have been amazing with wonderful weather in the mid to high 70s. I am so hopeful that the days will remain this nice.

added two baby swings to the set in our backyard. perfect additions.

It was Will's birthday this past week so we decided to go down to Wilmington for the weekend to celebrate and spend some time with my mom. Jared and I left work early Friday to beat the traffic. This was our first trip with Fletcher's new car seat. We weren't able to plan the drive around his nap schedule so he was going to be awake for the ride once we picked him up from daycare. So it was either going to be horribly awful or he would do great. Please note, I still have PTSD from the Ocracoke nightmare that was my 4 month old child screaming bloody murder for nearly 4 hours. But, hey, he surprised us and did amazing on the trip down! He played with toys, looked out the window and entertained himself. He only got antsy right as we were pulling into my mom's neighborhood. I will call that a success.

We were pleasantly surprised to see my mom had left work early to greet us when arrived to her house. She's not fooling anyone though, we know it was all for Fletcher. We had dinner at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Osteria Cicchetti. Sadly, they had taken my favorite pizza off the menu, The Brussels, but they were able to make it for me, delicious as always. We got our first glimpse of toddler-hood with a very impatient Fletcher who wanted nothing to do with the highchair, insisted on grabbing everything from the table to launch, and did not want to be held unless we were walking around. He definitely gets his drama from his mama.

After Fletcher went to bed, we met up with Will, Julia, and Wade at Fermental, a little wine and bottle shop just up the road from my mom. We sat outside and caught up over a few beers. We always thought Fletcher was an easy baby, but Wade is by far the "chilliest" baby I have ever met. He just fell asleep sitting in his carrier, no coaxing needed, surrounded by people talking. It was pretty cool. He definitely gets that from his very laid back parents. Julia is one of the strongest mamas I know. I won't go into detail, but she constantly amazes me with her strength. I consider myself lucky to call her one of my best friends.

Saturday we spent the morning hanging out around my mom's with my mom, James and Matthew. My mom got really creative with making Fletcher some toys. He enjoyed sitting in a cardboard tomato crate that she tied a string to and pulled him around her house. There was also rice in a Tupperware container that he used as a rattle/maraca. Then a coffee box filled with a pack of vitamin C, measuring spoon, and a ball that he enjoyed opening and pulling everything out of. Finally, his favorite had to be the metal bowl and wooden spatula that he made a lot of noise with. Grandparents are so creative. It goes to show you don't need to spend money on toys.

I took advantage of the gorgeous weather Saturday morning. Despite being sick, I ran 5 miles. I hit a personal overall pace record, but I attribute that to the flat course I ran.

I haven't run the loop since high school. I ran it twice [pats self on back]

For lunch we attempted [and failed] eating on the water with friends. Everyone else in Wilmington seemed to have the same idea. Fletcher had a melt down in the Dockside parking lot. Can't blame him though I think most people have mini panic attacks in that godforsaken lot. Come on, y'all invest in better parking! After some struggle we ultimately decided to leave the beach to have an overpriced, poor serviced, lunch at The Pub. Even though the food took forever, the company was just what we needed. We got to spend a few hours catching up with expecting parents, Thomas and Virginia (having a baby boy in July!) and of course Will, Julia, and Wade.

Again after Fletcher went to bed we went to Will and Julia's to have few more hours to catch up with them, Thomas and Virginia. Always a good time with those four.

[no pictures because I didn't even think about taking one at lunch or that evening. shocker.]

Sunday we of course had PTs for lunch before hitting the road back to Raleigh.

eating his first ever PTs seasoned fry

The ride back to Raleigh was not as calm as the trip down, but still was not awful.

yeah, this lasted all of twenty minutes

We got home in time to do a little yard work, hammock time, swing fun, and back porch hanging. Our favorite.

Such a wonderful weekend spending time with family and great friends. Fletcher was in a great mood all weekend. The last few weeks he has been a little fussier than normal, I blame it on the teeth which have officially broke through. Praise the Lord. Two huge top front teeth coming soon [inert all the heart eyes]. He was also non-stop all weekend. He napped so hard at my mom's which was a total shocker. It gave us a little look into the future with toddler-Fletcher. He is wide open, full of personality, and oh so fun. He just keeps getting better.

this kid and my brother's snapchat filters.