It's a . . .

It's a . . . Burchett Baby!!! That's right Auntie "M" and Hunky Kevin are expecting their first kiddo right around Kieran's Birthday. I'm so excited that Reed and Kieran and Baby B are going to be so close in age, Reed will be just over four when the baby arrives and that is the age difference between me and Melissa. I love how close we were growing up and really hope the same for our kids. It's funny because when Melissa decided to move back to the Valley she said one of the reasons was she couldn't imagine not being around when I had kids and now that the role is reversed I am beyond thrilled that I get to live so close to where this Little One is going to grow up!!!

On Wednesday Melissa and Kevin invited a few local friends and family over to enjoy their brand new pool and find out the gender of the baby. They had an ultrasound done earlier in the day, had the technician put the gender in a sealed envelope, took the envelope to a party store and had them put the right color balloons in a closed box, and then opened the box in front of all of us. It was so neat to be there for such a special moment!!!

It's a Boy, and if you can't tell Kevin was pretty excited!!! There are quite a few boys on Kevin's side already and since the only kids that live locally on Melissa's side are Reed and Kieran he will definitely fit right in. Of course once no one cared about the balloons the boys jumped on the chance to play with them. It was such a fun night and we felt very lucky to be part of it!

Flying the Friendly Skies

Sorry if you're bored with all of these Washington posts, I had so many pictures that I wanted to share, I just kept writing. This is the last one, I promise! I'm very lucky that I work for family and for a company that has a plane. I was able to use it for the flights because there was absolutely no way I was attempting a flight with two young kids by myself. Even though I didn't have to wait in an airport or check luggage I sill had the boys on a plane by myself with no assistance for 3.5 hours on the way there (on the way back Grandma and Grandpa joined us). They were a bit nervous but thought flying was fun for the most part.

Before our flight North Nonna, Pepe, and Dad met us in a park close to the airport. We played, had lunch, and used the restrooms. We took off during their naptime and Kieran was instantly asleep. Reed and I played with stickers and read books. He tried to rest but was just too excited to sleep. Kieran woke up 1.5 hours in and with two hours of flying ahead of us I went straight to the iPad and let them watch Frozen for the first time and eat snacks. Reed had to go to the bathroom towards the end of the flight and even peed out the "pee tube" that is on the plane. Both boys' ears bothered them on the way down, but especially Reed's. There was a lot of crying and eating pretzels, and crying again. I was pretty happy to land to say the least!

The views from the plane were awesome. We saw Yosemite Valley, Lake Tahoe, the Pacific Ocean, and multiple volcanoes. I wasn't able to get pictures of most of it, but it really was a beautiful flight. On the way home I'm so glad Grandma and Grandpa were there for backup. Kieran fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport but wouldn't go back to sleep on the plane. Snacks and the iPad were on a constant rotation for him. Reed sat with Grandma for a long time and finally fell asleep in her lap so Grandpa and I kept sticking things under her legs to keep her supported. Towards the end of the flight the boys both started screaming because of their ears. We couldn't get either one of them to eat but luckily Grandma had some gum we let Reed chew on. While we missed Jon the entire trip I was really glad he wasn't on the flight because small planes and screaming children probably would have, at a minimum, given him a panic attack!!!

Bellingham, WA Day 5

We just had the morning to spend together on Sunday before heading back to California. The kids got to eat and play together including Reed and Annaliese breaking out her dress up box. The two of them ended up fighting over the princess wand and Kieran was the only one that got into "costume." Of course there was a lot of packing, some attempts at group shots, and lots of goodbye hugs (and a few tears). The boys are still talking about our trip and love looking through all of the pictures and telling me about everything they did. Kieran woke up the first few mornings we were back saying "hug anna-yies" over and over again. I get sad when I think of the distance between these cousins but I also saw just how much they love each other and I think their times together will always be very special for them.

 

Bellingham, WA Day 4

Reed had a horrible allergic reaction overnight that involved me giving him a midnight bath, multiple applications of ointment, lotion, and allergy meds, lots of hugging and tears, and watching the entire Frozen movie. Kieran and Reed were sleeping in the same room and the intense screaming woke K and he really struggled the rest of the night as well. I literally got 40 minutes of sleep the entire night, Reed got maybe two hours, and Kieran, Grandma, and Grandpa possibly a few hours more than that. Reed was pretty much inconsolable and the only thing that made him feel better was being distracted (hence the movie) so Grandpa and I hung out with him for a while and Grandma took over Kieran duty. Needless to say we were all exhausted the next day. We attempted to explore Lake Padden but the boys both fell asleep in the car on the way there so Grandpa sat in the car with them for an hour singing songs while Grandma, Aunt Kari, and I got to run around the beautiful lake on a lush tree and fern lined trail.

Luckily the boys took afternoon naps as well and had pretty good energy for the day's big event - meeting Aunt Kari's parents and her Sister's family at Birch Bay Beach for kite flying, sand castle building, a picnic dinner, and s'more roasting. It was so wonderful getting to spend time with them all and to meet Annaliese and Haleigh's other boy cousins Elias and Malachi. The kids got filthy dirty playing in the sand but had a great time playing together.