Visit to Tennessee

We headed out on friday around noon and we made excellent time and were pleased with how Aiden was handling being in the car for the first 5 hours and THEN....it was horrible! Absolutely positively miserable! Aiden had reached his limit of being in the car and we were still at least 7 hours away. He did not sleep the entire trip except for 20 minutes! We were very much counting on him taking a good nap in the car and also going back to sleep around his normal bed time (once it got dark in the car) around 8:30-9. Neither happened. Aiden cried and fussed, screamed and yelled, choked and threw up. It was awful and then we gave up on parenting and I got in the back seat and let him out of his seat. He played in the floorboard, he sat in my lap. He stood up on the backseat. Anything and everything to keep him happy. We fed him chips and cookies, broke every rule in the book. Anything to get through it. We finally got here around 11:30 pm and then Aiden ran around Ben's parents house (having never gone to sleep) until he crashed a little after midnight. Craziness!!! That's how our visit started. It ahd gotten significantly better since then. Saturday we had a lazy rainy day around the house but still got the tour of the farm. We all rode out on the kabota (sp?) to look at the cows and see the chickens. Aiden didn't seem incredibly impressed by either. However; he is LOVING their two little dogs. He loves playing with them, chasing them, and pushing them out of their beds! Sunday we went to church and Aiden stayed in service with us (which he never does anymore) and he was actually fairly good for how he could have been. I had to take him out towards the end of the sermon but he was ok. We went to a chinese buffet for lunch with all the family and then sunday afternoon came home to watch the Mavs lose their first game in round 2. Papa Joe and Grandma Kathy came over to spend the afternoon/evening with us and it was great to see them. It was Aiden's first time meeting his GREAT Grandfather Papa Joe. Ben's grandfather on his mother's side. Man is that a mouth full!!! Today we have been to town nd played outside a little (it's still raining) and played my favorite board games with Grandma Karen!!! I love grandma karen and I have LOVED seeing her with aiden! This is also the first time she has gotten to spoend time with Aiden and it has warmed my heart. Aiden doesn't seem to have trouble capturing the hearts of all his relatives, near or far! So all in all the VISIT has been rainy but great! Here are a few pictures.

Aiden on the Kubota with Grandma

Grandpa Showing Aiden a chicken

This has been one of the favorite games while we have been here...having us build the blocks and then Aiden will come and knock them over!

Aiden with grandma Karen

Aiden yelling at the puppy and then he would try to get in his bed!

An attempt at a picture of all of us! Papa Joe, Grandma Kathy, Me, Ben, and Aiden.

High 5's Goodbye!

Going to check out the barn

Checking out the cows

So we are planning to leave sometime early tomorrow. Ben and I have been debating the idea of Aiden and I flying home since the drive here was so horrible. My wonderful, favorite, brilliant, and handsome uncle tommy who is a very talented pilot as well has offered to help me in this area by allowing me to use one of his buddy passes to fly home. I just keep going back and forth about it in my head. Aiden is SO busy and mobile that he HATES sitting still and I am nervous about trying to keep him enertained on my lap for 2 hours on a plane when there is no option of stopping, getting up, letting him down, etc. At least in a car there is the option of stopping AND I have ben's help. Buty even 2 hours of misery might be better than dealing with it all day? I have a call in to Aiden's Dr. right now and she is supposed to be calling me back this afternoon and I am going to ask what I can do to drug him and get him to sleep the whole way. I am going to word it better than that! Benadryl doesn't work on Aiden so I am drawing blanks. I also would have figured that he would have napped without any medicinal helkp ont he way here but I am not above drugging him ont he way home.