March Texas Grandparent visit

 This time, my travels to Texas included my parents. We had a few bumps in our travel plans that made for a long day of travel. I had wanted to fly the Austin route to get to Texas. A non-stop straight flight from Des Moines to Austin in 2 hours sounded great. On top of that we had to get a rental car and stay the night in a hotel. All of which were still less expensive than what I could get a Dallas /Abilene flight. Prices seemed to rise daily as I was checking into booking. So off we went on Sunday evening with a flight at 7PM. Mark and I went out for supper before he dropped me off at the airport and I met my parents. Once we were settled at the Des Moines airport, our flight got delayed 2.5 hours. That put is into the airport at midnight. We landed in a small south terminal just a few hundred yards from the big airport. We had to wait and gather our luggage, then catch a shuttle. We were very tired, especially my dad who goes to bed at 8PM. The shuttle seemed to take forever as we waited and waited outside. The shuttle took a long loop out onto the interstate and back around to the airport, another 25 minutes. With luggage in tow we had to find our rental car, walk awhile to the rental station, up the escalators and to our vehicle. It was late and we were all very tired. We were upgraded to the Armada, a sweet car and I drove to our hotel and checked into our rooms after 2:AM. It was a long and late evening. I know my parents were exhausted! I overslept my alarm and grabbed some breakfast before they put the food away at 9. It seemed to take everyone awhile to get out and on the road and didn't  leave until after 10. It was slow going, I missed one exit and back tracked 5 miles. Then we stopped for a quick lunch. We wanted to surprise Jayden with an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for her anniversary. Poor Jayden was expecting us all day. We didn't get in until close to 2. She had been waiting, was anxious and excited. We also know that our time out there with her is precious. I am not sure flying through Austin was really the way to go. Jayden greeted us at the door and I took baby Colt in my arms and held him up and he was all smiles. It was so good to see him and his happy little face. I didn't know if his reaction would be uncertain or scared, but he was all smiles and happy! He was so happy and so was I!

He has grown so much since my last month visit. He is smiley and his hair has grown longer in the back. He is so strong and can stand in your lap, hold his head up so well and look around. He didn't squeal and squawk as much as he did last time, but still made plenty of sounds. He has some big ol thighs and takes 4 and 6 oz bottles. He doesn't like to nap and rarely sleeps longer than 45 minutes if he does nap. We got the full tour of the house, and it looks amazing. They are pretty well settled into their bedroom, bathroom, and Colt's nursery. The kitchen is done and stocked so Jayden has been cooking. The living room they have yet to pick out and purchase furniture for. The bedrooms are ready, with just a few things to hang on walls. My room was all done up and so cute! Jayden even had a little basket ready with toothpaste, snacks, and my special Colt and Grandma book. The temporary stair railing was being built and added while we were there by Noah. He brought in some railings and power tools and made a temporary railing to get by. I do hope he gets the permanent one done soon! The top balcony area would be without a railing and so unsafe. I was so worried about my parents falling off it.

Jayden was so excited for our visit and cooked us a nice dinner with a shrimp and chicken pasta. It was also her and Noah's first anniversary. I cannot believe 1 year ago they were married and now they have a baby boy that is 3 months! 

While we were in Texas, I did lots of baby holding, feeding, changing, helping and playing. I spent most of my time with Colt. 2 of the three evenings, he would cry, scream, and refuse to sleep. Jayden handles it so well. I know it is hard on her, but she is used to it and manages. On the first night, their anniversary, they wanted to go for a quick ice cream shake from Sonic just the two of them. They frequented Sonic when they were dating. The plan was for Colt to go to sleep at his 7:30 bedtime and he would stay at the house with me. He had his bottle and a bath, but he cried and cried and Jayden couldn't get him to sleep. He really fights sleep. They ended up taking Colt with them and he cried most of the time and was awake when they got back. They didn't have the outing they hoped. The last night, Jayden gave him a bath and I gave him his bottle and rocked him to sleep. She said he slept for 7 hours that night!! While we were there, we ate one meal out, went to the Hog ranch to do some Rocking J shopping, went to TJ Maxx, and one morning I took Jayden to her doctors appointment. My mom never stopped doing laundry, organizing, cleaning, and arranging. My dad just tagged along like a good sport and did whatever he was told, including hanging some shelves. My parents enjoyed spending time with Colt and making him smile. We went into town some and saw Jayden's horses. We saw Ester and and Bale for a brief minute as they swooped in and out of the house before going to help dart deer. Noah was up real late one night helping and again the next afternoon. Our last evening, we got our safari ride in the Can am with Jayden. Colt sat in the seat next to me just looking around. He is going to be an outdoor boy for sure. He loves the outdoors and gets outside a few times each day.  Jayden is excited for him to grow up with all the animals in their yard. Literally zebra, deer, and wild game run freely right out their door. She showed us an area down by a creek that she called Colt's very own magical forest.  My dad and I gave him stroller rides. My mom and I gave bottles and read to Colt. He is already so big it is hard for my mom to hold him.

Jayden is such a good mama, patient and caring. You can tell she loves being a mama. God is so good!  Leaving is never easy. I don't cry because I am happy that Jayden is happy and I know when I will see her next, that always helps. We had to leave by 11am. Jayden made us a big breakfast before we got on the road. Our travels back went much smoother. The 2.5 hour drive to Austin seemed very long and the 4 lane highways in Austin are stressful. We go to the airport, returned the car, jumped on the shuttle and checked in without a hitch. It was nice that my parents and I could make the trek out together. Traveling home went smooth and we were back in Iowa at 6 and Mark met me in Ames to drive me home.