Party Night

Andrew and Mandi

Luke helped Andrew open his presents

I apologize for the detailed blog entries. Since we have been making our blogs in to annual hard back books and the fact that I do not scrapbook like I used to I want to make these entries as detailed as possible so when we are looking at them 20 years from now we will be able to recall all these memories....

Saturday night was Andrew's 30th birthday party! It was very clear by the number of people there that Andrew and Mandi are loved by many. That was really neat for me to see. Luke had fun playing with some of the other kids. There were just so many people in the house that Luke and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. We really had a neat time. We just leisurely strolled around. He stopped to pick up rocks and wanted me to jump across the cracks in the sidewalk with him. We stopped and talked to neighbors with pets and other people walking by. We were gone until almost dark. The time got away from us! It is hard to mix and mingle and enjoy yourself at a party when you are constantly wondering where your 2-year old is. I guess it would have been different if it were all people I knew and that Luke was used to being around.

About 8:30 Luke asked to go night,night. I had never intended on putting him down while the party was still going strong, but I was not going to tell him that he could not go to bed. He was so tired. We said our good nights, got his jammies on and snuggled up in the bed to watch one of his favorite movies. (A habit that we got in to on our trip). He was drifting off to sleep pretty easily when the other kids started running up and down the hall outside our room with their toys and banging in to the bedroom door. I must say, I got pretty frustrated. This went on for some time. Finally about 9:30 I heard the kids leaving. Luke insisted on getting up and going back to the party. We did not get in bed until almost 11 o'clock. I do not thing he has been awake at that time since he was a newborn!

I used to scoff at people when I heard them talk about how important it was for their kids to stay on their sleep and nap schedule. I always thought that it should not be a big deal. Well, I have learned numerous times that it is a very big deal. Kids are much better behaved and in better spirits when they get enough sleep. The same goes for adults, too! Especially pregnant, hormonal ones!

Overall we had a good trip but liked I mentioned previously I learned several lessons that will hopefully make traveling easier in the future. We left Destin Sunday morning about 9 and got back home around 6. We ran into an interstate detour, rain and a lot more traffic than we anticipated. We were so happy to see Paul. He got home before us and was cooking supper when we arrived!