TN >> SC Road trip style with 2 littles

About a month ago I went to my brother Josh's house for about a week. His wife Tiersha, at this point, was in the hospital waiting to have her baby. She needed to be monitored for her heart problems and was scheduled to have a C-section at 32 weeks to get the baby out before her valve in her heart started leaking too much. My mom was there with their daughter Charlotte helping take care of her while Josh was still working. I got there on Wednesday night, a week before the C-section would happen, so Josh was there part of the time but then also left to be at the hospital permanently before baby came. Unfortunately, he left prematurely because there was a scare the baby had to come sooner because her heart rate dropped, but luckily it bounced back and all stayed well. Anywho, I know my Mom and Charlotte were thrilled to have the extra company, as we were excited to see them too, so it all worked out great. The kids were mostly angels in the car on the way there (8.5 hours total including stops), with the exception of Maeve losing it because we didn't have a certain library book she wanted (come to find out later we did have it all along.... of course) and also losing it another time when her shoe started coming off and I couldn't fix it for her. Rowan was an angel baby up until we were 40 minutes away when he was just done at that point and ready to be out of his seat. Without any prompting from me, cute Maeve started saying to him "it's okay Rowan, we're almost there bud!"- always looking out for her bro. Definitely the most eventful part of the trip was when I panicked and started crying on one of our stops because I had seriously thought I lost my wallet on our previous stop. I don't think I've ever had such a scare when it comes to losing something so important, so I was beside myself knowing it would not be easy to get it back if that were the case. Maeve saw me upset and said "it's okay baby!"- hahaha - such a sweet girl. Luckily I had it all along! I also nearly had a fender bender towards the end, which was also quite alarming, but luckily came to screeching halt just in time. Phew. I was more than ready to arrive when the drive was over, all things considered, and Maeve and Charlotte were on cloud nine to be together again. Those girls really do love each other, despite not being super close in age (2.5 years apart), and I love that. Maeve talks about her a lot, even at home. Maeve was also THRILLED to see Gram and had also been talking about her a lot leading up to the trip and would do a happy excited dance at the thought of seeing her. Needless to say, we had a fun week and enjoyed the change of pace away from home and I know Adam enjoyed some peace and quiet. Now for some pictures!

On our way!

Maeve was happily copying my faces haha

Our first day there we went to the Children's Discovery Museum, which is seriously awesome. It's not super huge but yet has tons of really fun stuff so perfect for ages 2-6. If we had one near us I would totally get a membership. I think we stayed for 3 hours and the girls could have stayed longer! Maeve was in heaven, so much so that she refused to stop having fun to be in this picture. Ha!

As you can see, they loved knocking on this door and letting each other in on repeat!

It entertained them for a while!

Cousins!

Had to include this one cause Maeve's face! Haha!

They took at least 3 baths all together and had the time in their lives - look at this sweet boy! Looking extra cute and cozy after one of his baths

My Mom pulled out the cupcake game and taught Maeve how to play it and man was she obsessed with it. And so good at it too! We now own it at our house and she still loves it just as much. 

Look where Gram put Rowan - I about died when she pointed him out to me in there! Ha! Perfect cushioning for that sweet little bum. He was actually happy in there for more than just a few minutes hahaha.

OMG. Maeve was so jealous of Charlotte's baking attire that Gram had to get creative and still find a hat for her to wear. I am DYING over this picture. Doesn't get cuter than that. 

They were so excited to bake these cupcakes!

Another day playing the cupcake game showing off their cupcakes! This pic is great, especially because of the whale between Charlotte's legs - not sure what is going on there haha 

Oh yeah! Cool baby!

Josh and I were going to take the girls to see Peter Rabbit, but the scare with the baby happened right before that so he booked it to the hospital a couple hours before the movie. I still took them and they loved it! I mean, who cares how good the movie is with those seats! 

Love these girlies! Maeve was so cute at the end saying "It was so funny, I have to go home and tell Gram that it was so funny!" Sure enough, that was the first thing she said when she walked in the door. 

I talk about how much Charlotte loves Maeve, but she didn't love Rowan any less! She was so excited to see him every morning and would often come into my room first thing and hang out with us all in bed for just a bit while I would feed him and snuggle a little longer. She LOVED holding him and would carry him around like it was nothing - problem is he is pretty heavy, but she managed and he didn't mind one bit haha! This pic kills me.

One afternoon we spent some time outside cause it was so nice (don't ask about the winter coat on Maeve ha) These girls were SO cute and killing us because Charlotte would ride her bike slowly and hold Maeve's hand and Maeve would walk next to her. Had to document. It was so fun to see Maeve just jump right in with the neighborhood kids. Can't wait till we're in a little neighborhood ourselves!

We went to Chick-fil-A twice for lunch and here they are sitting in the play area. I about died when I got these pictures. SO CUTE!

Seriously?? ALL THE HEART EYES.

We went back the Discovery Museum one more time before I left and Maeve had a ball dressing up. She was killing it in this Tinkerbell outfit. 

It's funny how peer pressure works with kids. Charlotte isn't a huge fan of veggies or yogurt normally, but she watched Maeve eat both happily and soon enough not only ate them, but was happy to eat them!

Before Josh left, him and I did go see The Greatest Showman and it was so great! So many people hyped it up and I was excited to see it and I can now understand all the hype. The music was amazing and the dancing and acrobatics just made me want to be apart of something awesome like that. Maybe I should learn how to dance in my 30s?! I think I'm onto something with that one. The day before I left, Wednesday March 7th, as planned, Tiersha did deliver Naomi!! Lots of prayers were uttered before that day and we were so relieved that everything went so smoothly. Naomi was a tiny 4 pounder, but SO cute and has been doing so well!! It's been a long time since I've had a new niece (or nephew) since I've been having the babies lately, and I'm so happy to have another!! Our drive home the next day was a breeze and felt shorter than the way there thankfully - I was shocked too because Maeve managed to entertain herself without ANY screens up until the last hour of the drive. Say what?? Miracles still happen. Now I know to push off on giving her the kindle until she asks for it. Small victories people!