CSM Week

Andrew had a week off of school the first week of February so that his faculty and classmates could attend the American Physical Therapy' Association annual meeting (CSM). Last year, that week off of school coincided with Cambria's birth and Andrew was able to enjoy being a new Dad without worrying about any school commitments. This year, the meeting was held in Indianapolis and we made a family trip of it! Also, Andrew had won one of three scholarships awarded by the Virginia Physical Therapy Association which paid for his meeting fees.

The night before we left on our trip, Cambria took 5 or 6 steps independently. Her newly discovered mobility meant our rest stops on the drive over and back would need to allow her plenty of time to stretch her legs. We stopped at a gas station in Dayton, Ohio that only had a very small convenience store and no public restroom so we ran across the street to a Rite Aid and let Cambria look at the stuffed animals in the Valentine's aisle.

Our first few days were spent in West Lafayette with my parents. Grammy had fun showing Cambria her player piano. Cambria hasn't made up her mind if she likes the piano or not but one thing she is certain of his her love of (and insistence upon) music. Cambria waves her arm in the air as if she is conducting music whenever she hears music playing or if she would like to hear music. I don't know where she learned to make that sign other than strong genetics from my mom.

Andrew and I took the opportunity to get some help from Dad with our family history.

Cambria really took off with her walking this week! It's crazy that she just started crawling at my parents' house the day after Christmas and now she is walking a month later!

Wednesday afternoon, we drove down to Indianapolis to stay with our friends, the Silvas, for the rest of the week while Andrew attended his meetings. We left right as a snowstorm was beginning and it really hindered our travel! Normally it only takes a little over an hour to make that drive but it took us nearly three hours due to traffic and road conditions.

Sadly, Cambria had picked up a virus earlier in the week and on February 4, I noticed that the cusp on her left maxillary first molar had erupted and the right maxillary first molar was breaking through the gums as well. This meant restless naps and waking up throughout the night every 20 or 30 minutes. She was so miserable and congested! I was worn out from pregnancy and taking care of Cambria all day and night that I didn't make for a very good house guest that week. My friend, Shannon, posted this image of "Mediocre Mom Bingo" on Instagram and I could definitely relate! What a week for Cambria and I!

I did manage to pull it together for Cambria's first birthday on February 6. We had a celebration with my family earlier in the week but I wanted to be sure to do something on her actual birthday. Amy has a friend in her ward who got us in to the Children's Museum for free. The Indianapolis Children's Museum is incredible! The outside has life-sized dinosaur sculptures "breaking into the museum" and the main lobby has an 18-foot "Bumblebee" transformer.

 There were so many exhibits and way too much to see in one day especially since Peter and Cambria needed naps that afternoon, so we just made our way to the Playscape area to let the kids run around and explore. Cambria figured out how to crawl up three stairs all by herself. I was so proud of my little determined one-year old!

I love these photos of Peter taking care of this baby doll while the doll's doppleganger looks on.

Cambria loved the water table the most out of all of the play areas. I tried to keep her as dry as I could with a smock but it just wasn't cutting it. Oh well! She was in heaven and splashing away and for a moment, I decided to be that mom that wasn't a constant fun-killer.

 This girl and her faces. I just don't know sometimes.

That afternoon after Cambria's (and my) nap, we went and picked up birthday cupcakes to eat later that night. Amy made a yummy dinner and we opened presents.

The final day of CSM was on Saturday and Andrew had a little more flexibility in his schedule so we were able to meet my Aunt Jenny for lunch. She was so sweet and took us out to The Indianapolis Colts Grille. It was super fun to catch up with her and Cambria was feeling super ornery without a nap which is always entertaining exhausting.

That night we had dinner at The Tamale Place which is fast becoming a tradition for our visits to the Silvas.

 As we were driving back from dinner, I decided we probably needed to finally go public (or "Facebook Official") with our news that we were expecting again. We had told our families the week before on the phone, we had told my grandmas earlier in the week when we had visited with them, we had told the Silvas the day we were driving up to see them, and we had told Andrew's classmates and faculty at a little gathering Thursday night. So the cat was being let out of the bag gradually and it was time to post something. I whipped up this little announcement in the car and it wasn't until later that I realized the wording was really confusing and more than ten or twenty people didn't understand.

 Oh well! It felt funny that everyone knew finally. But baby announcements aside, we had some serious business ahead of us that evening as we played our final round of games until we get together again: Ticket To Ride, Seven Wonders, Dominion, and Settlers of Catan. I will miss these late nights!

"You're going the wrong way!"

And one final, crazy story from our drive home. The return trip is always such a drag regardless of the distance you are traveling. This drive was especially long (probably due to so many sleepless nights) and so when we ran into stopped traffic on the West Virginia Turnpike, neither Andrew nor I were content to sit and wait the hour that our GPS was telling us this delay was going to take. We noticed that a bunch of cars were turning around and driving the wrong way along the shoulder of the interstate to get back to an exit that we had passed a quarter mile before we stopped. I was driving and decided to take the plunge. I drove the wrong way down the interstate and up a divided exit in the face of semis blaring their horns at us. It was crazy, it was stupid, "everyone was doing it" and we hopped a center divider and were on our way again. I wasn't too concerned for our safety because traffic was barely crawling. But I was nervous as heck that I was going to get pulled over for reckless driving and that was what left me shaking when it was all over!