We had a great weekend! Toby came home on Friday and the three of us got to spend lots of quality time together. Tinsley and I went to pick him up at the airport on Friday and we got to wait with a large group of people who were waiting to greet their loved ones in the service that were coming home from Afghanistan. I snapped 2 quick pictures with my phone. It was so special to see all of these people waiting to greet their friends and family. I am so thankful for the sacrifices that those in the military as well as their families make for us on a daily basis to keep us safe.
The little boy in the blue on the far left hand side was absolutely killing me! He was there with his mom and his little sister waiting for his dad. He had an American flag and was waving it excitedly. We were downstairs in the baggage claim area and there is a long escalator where the people exiting the flights come down. The little boy kept running and looking up the escalator shouting excitedly "Is my daddy coming yet?" When his dad did start down the escalator he screamed "Daddy" so excitedly and ran to him. Toby came down the escalator a few seconds later and I was literally in tears. It was such a sweet moment to see this little boy reunited with his dad after such a long deployment. It had been almost 5 weeks since we had seen Toby which felt like forever. I know that the military families must really struggle with the separation.
We left the airport and went to lunch. Toby let me pick where we went to eat, so naturally, we went to Pappadeaux's. We let Tinsley try her first strawberry puff snack. She was not too wild about it. She is such a picky little eater. These are supposed to be a "treat" for little ones. Tinsley was making hillariously awful faces when she did get one into her mouth.
Tinsley has been helping daddy feed the dogs every evening. She LOVES going out there. She was super fussy all day Saturday. She was running a low grade fever and her gums were little bit swollen on the left hand side. We just KNOW she is going to be getting a tooth any day now. She was happiest and the least fussy when we were outside. So, as soon as the temps let up a bit in the evenings, outside we went.
Watching the puppies eat out at the dog pens.
Checking the cows with daddy
Sunday morning we went to church and then out to eat with my parents at Shorty's. Yum!
Tinsley loves to play with her "Follow me Fiona" toy. It barks, plays music and rolls along. It is supposed to encourage crawling.
Sunday evening we met Deirdre, Drew and Paw Paw at the tank to go fishing.
Drew
Tinsley loved watching Drew.
Paw Paw
Drew is growing up so quickly! It seems like just yesterday he was Tinsley's age. I can't believe he will be in the 2nd grade this year!!
The biggest news of the weekend is that Tinsley has officially been sleeping in her crib in her room. This has been a big transition(especially for me) even though Tinsley is only 14 steps away from me(I counted). She has been doing great. She normally goes to sleep between 8:30-9:30 and then wakes up between 3-3:30 a.m. The first night Toby was home Tinsley was up for an hour and a half when she woke up at 3. She was laughing and playing in our bed. We finally put her in her swing in our room and after she poured her water bottle all over her and we changed pajamas, she went to sleep. She has been staying up when she wakes up for around 45 minutes to an hour and then going back to sleep and sleeping until around 8 or 8:30. I tried putting her back in her crib after she woke up and had a bottle the 2nd night, but she woke right back up. The swing still seems to be the best solution to keeping her asleep(at that hour of the night/morning for sure). We have a monitor that has video and sound, so I find myself quite often waking up and watching Tinsley sleep. It is so nice to be able to have such a clear picture of her while she is sleeping. I like to be able to see, not just hear that she is okay. The monitor also has a function that lets you talk to the baby. The first night when she woke up Toby started talking to her through the monitor and we were watching her on the monitor. She got soooo mad! She looked around to see where he was and then started screaming when she realized he was not there.(Don't worry, we were there in 14 steps) J
Eagan has been sleeping with us for the past 10 years in our bed. Tinsley's new sleeping arrangements have changed this. He is not thrilled that Tinsley has gone to her room to sleep. I have been closing her door and he lays on the couch in the living room outside her door at night. Last night I guess I did not close the door good, he kept coming into our room and then getting back up. I finally went to see what he was doing and I found him on the floor sleeping in Tinsley's room. He always seems happy when she wakes up during the night. I let him out to go to the bathroom and then he goes and gets in bed with Toby as soon as he gets back inside and seems just exhausted after all of his night watchmen duties. It melts my heart that he loves her so much. I know they will be such good buddies!
The only thing that we did this weekend that I am super bummed about not getting a picture of is Tinsley playing with the cottontail rabbit babies. They were on the front porch Saturday evening and Toby was able to catch one for Tinsley to play with for a few minutes. They are so cute and so tiny! Tinsley was so excited. We let her pet it and she was fascinated by its tiny ears. I am thrilled that she already seems to be such an animal lover and I love watching her discover new things. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in the moment watching her that I didn't think a thing about getting my camera. L
