Phoenix trip... Part 1: Maggie and Mommy Adventure

For 10 years when I’ve gone home to Phoenix to visit my family I always have tried to be sure to sneak in a visit with Amber, my best friend since high school, but it’s been really bothering me that I haven’t made a trip with the sole purpose to visit her. So, I did it! I booked my tickets for the only space in our calendar that seemed to allow for Maggie and I to get away and Will and I talked to come up with plans to make sure that Emily would have coverage.  Let me tell you, so many logistics goes into planning a 48 hour trip, but man- so worth it!!! And with the help of lots of family and friends, everything came together beautifully!
Wednesday night Will and I talked to Emily about how Mommy and Maggie were going to be going on a trip for a few days and Emily and Dada were going to have a special weekend but before that, she’d get to have a sleepover at Papa and Gigi’s house. She was SOOOO excited by that news that she started packing right away and she wanted to bake cookies to bring over with her. But of course… if you give a mouse a cookie…. she’ll probably ask for a glass of milk….

mmm-mmm

so excited to be heading out!

Amber has an adorable 8 month old that I hadn’t been able to meet since our baby is 11 months old, so I knew that Maggie had to come with me. Plus, Amber had to meet her!  My mother-in-law and Emily dropped Maggie and I off at the airport and then Emily got to go back to work with Gigi at church for a few hours. I hear that she discovered a typewriter and was amazed by it. I even got to see the “letter” that she typed.  Lots of my friends also happened to be at Bethel that night and when they saw Emily I guess she recognized them because I was getting texts that Emily got to hug lots of them! I was so happy to hear from others that Em was doing well and also just so touched that so many people love our girls. Those were great texts to receive.

So. Me, alone. going through the airport with Maggie and I also had the diaper bag and my (heavy) camera bag. I was undressing and didn’t know what to do with Maggie since she can’t quite stand/walk yet. The ground seemed like a horrible option, so I stuck her in a bin. lol. BUT… SIDENOTE… on my way home from Phx there was no one in the security line and I learned that parents wearing their babies do NOT have to take their babys out. We can wear them through!!!!!! Glory Glory Hallelujah!!! Traveling with littles just got 50million times less complicated. I was thrilled.

This is how one mom and an infant make it through security as mom undresses... (no she didn't actually go through like this)

 I wasn’t sure how Maggie would do on this trip. Emily and I went for a weekend trip when she was almost 11 months and it was a nightmare. I don’t know what was wrong, but she cried for at least 82% of the weekend. It was not fun. It was what it was, but it wasn’t fun. Regardless, I was so excited to get some good 1 on 1 time in with the Mags. I love her so much, and I want to be sure both girls get all my attention at times.

Through security and so excited for our adventure together! Love the baby bjorn!!!

Killing time by using my forward facing phone camera... <3

She’s at this stage where she’s sooooooooo close to walking on her own, but she’s not quite there yet so she gets easily frustrated. While waiting for the plane she started to get a bit frustrated, so I let her walk while holding chairs and I let her feed herself. She was so proud. It was Adorable!

Mmm... apple sauce from a pouch and such a big girl, doing it all by herself!

she was seriously so happy to be A. standing up and B. feeding herself!

Carseats on a plane. This is possibly a hot button topic, but for me, it doesn’t make sense. Maybe if I truly thought it would allow my girls to sleep I’d do it, but I already feel like I am always lugging enough around when flying and, if there was a situation where we really needed carseat protection, I’m pretty sure we’d all be in a big heap of trouble. And certainly when they talk about life vests and hopping out plane doors, it seems much more difficult to me to be unplugging a baby from a carseat… so, for us, we just go the no carseats on the plane route.

All boarded and ready for take-off!

Camera time during our flight... one of the many things to distract her and make the time pass as quickly as possible.

So grateful for these Southwest Pretzles... the crinkle of the bag was quite a welcomed distraction.

Reading all the trashy magazines... hey! Whatever gets us through the flight!

When I landed I got a text from Barrie with this picture of his dinner date  I love getting pictures of the girls when I'm not with them!!!

When we landed I completely forgot to take airport greeting photos because I was so excited to be there and the babies were getting to the point where they were so excited to be going to bed soon. haha! But Amber, Jeremiah and Bryson picked us up from the airport and we all got to ride to their house. (Thanks Jeremiah for giving me shotgun and riding in back with both babies!!!) They hosted Maggie and I and truly were the perfect hosts. Their home is so beautiful and they had the guest room set up for us. Once we got the kids down Jeremiah sent us out to have some girl time and to catch up. I love my Amber. That’s all there is to it. I really, really wish that she and I could be living life in person a lot more often, but I’ll happily take what I can get. We went to this amazing gelato, coffee, wine, food bar that was so cute and the gelato and coffee were incredible!

Play time after waking up

Breakfast time... surprise! Maggie's having peas :)

Moms hopping in the picture

This day we had so much fun! We got to go over to Amber’s grandpas house and take the kids swimming. It was both of their first times swimming and they loved it. It definitely helped that the pool was heated!  It was really fun! And then we got to go have a wonderful home cooked meal at Tom and Cheryl’s house. It was AWESOME to see them and their new lovely home. It was really fun!

Since one of my goals on this trip was to have a Maggie adventure, I decided to take a picture of me feeding maggie her bottle. I think that I could possibly teach her to feed herself her baba, but I love that time! I already know I'll soon be missing it. She always tries to steal my glasses though, so I have to move them off my face 

Before we parted ways the next day I had the honor of doing a photo session for them in the hot AZ sun! We had such a great time and truly, it was a joy to get to spend time with them in this capacity!

Best friends for 12 years!!! :) LOVE YOU AMBER!

Group Photo

Haha! Maggie’s face- clearly she was hot and ready for a baba and nap! Hahah!!! After our photo session, Mags and I went with my mom and Max to my grandmas house for a little bit of pool time with the fam before we headed off to the airport. More on that soon…