Did you miss us? We took a little road trip this weekend. This drive to the ‘Burgh wasn’t as bad as the last couple. We only had 1 Incident and 4 hours of screaming. The Incident was a rather ugly nose bleed from Sabrina that required a long stop to get it stopped and her cleaned up. The 4 hours of screaming was Tessa. She wanted to drive was tired of being in the car. I didn’t disagree…I just didn’t scream about it. It took us 11 1/2 hours. Taken all together, that was the smoothest trip we had had to that point. We also discovered that Sabrina, when she is so inclined, is able to make Tessa stop crying and and start giggling. Bonus.
Tessa continues to hate anyone who isn’t a designated bottle getter (meaning Steve or I). She spent most of the weekend sitting on my lap and sucking her fingers or sleeping. She was so out of sorts that she napped a lot. She did allow Pap-pap to hold her once for about 5 minutes.

She spent the rest of her time peering suspiciously at anyone who might come near her.

Sabrina, on the other hand, had the most fabulous time.

On Saturday, my in-laws had a big picnic. Sabrina had so much fun charming young and old, blowing bubbles, and jumping in the bouncy house.

She was plotting with Tessa in the car. She told Tessa that she could have Pap-pap first but that Sabrina wanted Grandma first.

After Sabrina spent all day Saturday running around with the other kids, we figured she would sleep like a rock. We didn’t get her to bed until 10pm. At 12:30 am, she woke up screaming. She had a little bit of a bloody nose but she got hysterical about it. And the more upset she got, the more it bled. Steve got her calmed down and cleaned up. At 1:30, she fell out of bed and started screaming which started the nose bleed again. Steve got her calmed down and cleaned up. At 2:30, she woke up screaming “where’s daddy?” We calmed her down and Steve said he would sleep with her. I was all stretched out by myself in the bed. I had just gotten comfy and started to fall back asleep when at 3am, she woke up screaming “Mommy?!?” So I had to climb in bed with them while the other lovely bed stayed empty. She woke up every 15 minutes to check that we were there until about 4:30. Needless to say, we were all wiped out on Sunday. Tessa, thankfully, slept through all the commotion but continued to scream anytime anyone touched her so our families are convinced she is really grumpy.
We headed to Ohio on Sunday evening after a yummy sandwich at Primanti’s (pastrami and cheese with lots of hot sauce thank you very much). After saying an excited hello to Grandma Freida, Sabrina spent the next 36 hours harassing her cat into a nervous breakdown. I don’t think the poor thing was able to come out to eat or use the litter box except from 2am-4am.

My sister is trying to turn her into a girlie girl by painting her fingernails and toenails for the first time. Sabrina declared herself beautiful afterward.

And my nephew spent all day Monday giving us a private concert.

It was way too short but a great trip. As always, we enjoyed seeing everyone and love being home. The trip home was as painless as it could be. 10 hours in the car with 2 small kids can’t be fun but it wasn’t bad. No one threw up. No one bled. No one’s diaper exploded. And Tessa only cried for 1 1/2 hours instead of 4. And we actually got home while it was still day light.
I hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend. We did all though we return home with a heavy heart having received news that some friends lost their child last night. I won’t go into details because they are private people but give your little ones an extra squeeze and spare a good thought for those out there who know a grief that no parent should have to shoulder.