peter nay

I told Amanda I would come visit after her baby was born. Now that Jack is 2, the thought of paying for 3 plane tickets, getting to the airport, having Amanda pick me up, etc etc, was just not as easy or cheap as driving sounded. So I drove!
Right about when I got onto 1-80 about 5 miles from my house to head for Cheyanne I began repeating in my mind "What on earth was I thinking?" The drive was 8.5 hrs + 1.5 hrs at rest stops, so a total of 10 hrs for the trip to Colorado Springs. 9 am to 7 pm. I was a bit traumatized after arriving, and that night when falling asleep would jerk awake b/c I would be dreaming I was still driving. But man! Newborns are totally worth it, especially cute ones like Peter that I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night for. Jackson and Lily just loved him too. Jack was very concerned every time Peter dropped his binky or didn't have a blanket on or wasn't swinging as high as Jack believed he could. They also loved spending time with Henry - what a cutie, although half naked from potty training most of the day... After the first day or two of lots of crying, they got along wonderfully.
Amanda let me cook anything I wanted, and although I almost cried at the thought of no fresh garlic and only 'lite' olive oil, it was so nice having happy customers.Amanda totally didn't need any help - she was pushing to get *me* out the door every morning. And at night Tyler didn't. complain. when we would take the big kids to the park or to get the most amazing Italian gelato I've ever had (the one time I felt guilty that Adam wasn't there) and left Peter. I was super impressed. I think I helped a few times by holding Peter - what a tough job.I also got a good wake up call as to keeping my house cleaner. Wow they were tidy! Tyler actually skipped out on Sunday School to come home and scrub the sinks. Amanda told my kids about every 30 minutes that it was time to clean up, and the habit has kind of stuck with them! It is great. Amanda really knows how to make things fun (even brushing teeth, which occasionally I have to sit on my kids to do, but not any more!) and I miss living closer to her so much. She is second only to Adam in getting me to laugh.It was a wonderful vacation for me besides the fact that the closer my departure came the more high strung I was because I was so terrified of making the 12 hr trip back to St. George. Finally I faced the fact the I couldn't do it, so I checked mapquest and saw that Moab was about 30 miles off the freeway but at the halfway point, so I decided to go for it.