Our Little Baby Blog

Anniversary!

Part 1

Mike and I celebrated our anniversary this weekend. Six years ago we got married... and bought a car (first joint purchase), and graduated law school (Mike) and moved to Chicago -- all in the span of four weeks. Three years ago we had a baby. One year ago (almost) we had another one. Eight months ago we bought a house. I am sometimes amazed at how much can happen in the span of a few years, how lives can change and shift and become so much more full than you ever thought possible.

Six years together married. But actually it's been nearly 13 years total together... Wow. Seriously, wow.

And how did we spend it? What romantic rendezvous did we plan out?

We booked a night at a resort in Lake Geneva with an indoor water park and took Anna and Abe with us for a quick overnight trip. Ah, yeah. That's how we roll.

Actually, it was a blast - and quite an adventure. We packed up early Saturday morning and drove up north to Wisconsin, letting Abe nap during the drive. Lake Geneva is a simply adorable little town with quaint shops and a beautiful lake. There are a couple of resorts there, one of which is an indoor/outdoor water park for families with an area designed for toddlers.

The day was beautiful, a little chilly, but clear and sunny. We strolled down main street, got lunch at a cute little spot and then went for a drive while Abe took his afternoon nap. The entire trip hinged on two things -- successful naps and Anna going to the bathroom. While I am pleased to report that Anna is potty-trained at home, she has REFUSED to go in a public restroom. She's still terrified of the big potty. But, I decided that we were leaving our potty seat at home and she was going to have to just deal with it. Enough already. So with a terrified feeling in my belly, we set off without the potty seat.

And, you know what... she did it. Oh she screamed at the first stop (a starbucks), refused to go to the bathroom, freaked out, and let the entire place know that she was NOT GOING TO GO POTTY. But I guess her bladder didn't feel as stubborn because eventually she did tinkle. And then I actually started playing a little trick where I used those paper toilet covers and told her that it was like a kid seat, and then I just held her there. She totally fell for it. Of course, I didn't have them with me later in the day so I took a piece of toilet paper and strung it across the toilet so that when she sat down she felt the toilet paper, which somehow makes the toilet seem smaller, like when you have the kid seat on it (does this make sense to anyone?) And she fell for it again.

Score. She went on the big potty the entire time we were there!!


Can we go? Can we go? Are we ready yet?

After Abe's quick nap, we headed to the resort and got our swimsuits on. Anna looked so adorable, but I didn't get any pictures. Between wrangling Abe into his swim trunks and getting our crew downstairs, it was all we could do to just make it there.

At first Anna was so timid. She waded in to about her knees and then just stood there tentatively watching all the other kids splash and run around. Finally, she crouched down and got herself a little more wet. And then she went down the kiddie slide with Mike. After awhile she started loosening up. Seeing the other kids having a blast really made her happy. I knew that if she could just see how much fun others were having that she'd be less afraid. Anna is always a sucker for other kids, she loves the camaraderie of being around others.



After she got used to the place, she started splashing a bit more while Abe sat splashing around in the very shallow area (like maybe two inches). We all ventured over to the lazy river where Mike floated on an inner tube with Abe on his lap and I pulled Anna around in another tube. Abe just sat in wonder as he watched all the kids splash around and floated past the fake trees and vines. I love watching him people watch!



Anna held pretty close to me in the big pool and wanted to head back to the kiddie area pretty immediately. We had a little safety vest on her, but she isn't particularly relaxed in the water and being able to stand was pretty critical. So we headed back and then she really started to have fun, splashing around, using the water gun to get me wet, heading down the slide. It was a blast!

We headed back to our room and put Abe down to bed and then...

All hell broke loose.


Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow.