It's been a rough three months, but I think we're finally starting to see the light at the end of our tunnel.
Carrying on a tradition, I took a similar picture of Robby with his Build-a-Bear around the same age.
tantrum mode. It was pretty. Not really. And the first night was a bit of a mess, mainly because Robby was scared of the bunk bed he had to sleep in. When placed up top, he was scared of falling. When placed on the bottom, he was freaked out by the bunk above him. So, we used the tactic we always use with him when he's scared of something - we told him it was a robot. If Robby is afraid of anything, he'll automatically accept it if you tell him it's a robot. No matter how scared he is. No matter what it is. No joke. So, after that, he slept fine in his "robot bed". Other than that, Robby played and played and got lots of love and attention from everyone until he would literally pass out at naptime or bedtime. It was a little stressful having to tend to both boys at once - mainly because it required going up and down a very steep set of stairs to get to our room - but with the help of our church peeps, we survived and had fun along the way. Saturday was the weirdest, in my opinion. I had to leave early to go back to Twin (an hour drive from Albion) for a photo shoot, (you can read about how that went by going here) leaving Matt to take care of the boys and to the photography duties. Thankfully, 
he had plenty of help while I was gone, as I thought he might, and I was only gone for a few hours. We have the best church family in the world. Saturday night was the best, though. There was a big BBQ dinner for everyone, with the best pulled pork I have ever had in my entire life, provided by the church and smoked by a member of our church. We all stuffed ourselves silly with way too much food and then stayed up way too late and laughed way too hard while playing a couple of rounds of Mafia. We all came home absolutely exhausted Sunday afternoon. Always the case, but still definitely worth the time and money. You can view some of the photos I took on my photowalk I managed to get in here.
Robby is doing really well, too. When he's not driving us nuts, he is one fun little guy. Incredibly affectionate towards us and his brother, eager to learn and explore, and has the most infectious smile. And I can't get over how incredibly smart he is. Yeah, I know - all moms think their kid is bright, but really, I'm not being biased here. He is one smart cookie. He already knows a lot of the alphabet and regularly points out letters (or atleast gives it a good effort) on books, labels, and on TV. His attempts at counting are really amusing ("...two...two...three...one..."), but he tries. He came up to me one day, out of the blue, showed me one little index finger, and said proudly, "One!" Where he learned that, I have no idea. Thank you PBS, I suppose. He also will show off his myriad of sounds he knows (i.e. animals, vehicles, his brother crying, etc.) and his mad somersault skills. He received his very first Mr. Potatohead as an early birthday gift from Matt's parents when they were here. Yes, we had to tell him that was a robot too, but now they're best buds. It's really cute to watch him try and place the arms and eyes in the right spot, though they very rarely do and he ends up looking like a Picasso. I can't believe he's turning two next month. How did that happen? I have a two year old? Really? Two years I have definitely cherished, though. He's still such a blessing.
As I said before, Matt's folks were finally able to visit, only couple weeks after my dad and step mom were here. Have a baby and they will come. Both were very blessed, yet different experiences. Unfortunately, the time spent with my folks wasn't the best - not because of them, but because Drew was still really miserable. It was just before he was diagnosed with GERD, so we spent much of the weekend listening to him scream in agony. I wish things would have been different, but atleast we got to see them. They were an immense help with Drew and if that's all we got out of it, it was still worth it. I'm always so sad to see my step mom go - she's such a huge help! We spent most of the time at home, only going out a few times, but the most important thing is that my dad finally got to meet Drew and got to bond with Robby a bit more. Both were quite solemn when they had to part, from what I hear. The visit with Matt's folks was really 
nice; albeit short. We take what we can get. We still managed to have too much fun and eat too much food as usual. We ate out at our favorite restaurants, let the kids (and my mother-in-law, evidently) play at Hop 2 It, and just enjoyed one another. We were also sad to see them go, since we don't know when we'll be able to see them again. Traveling is difficult for both of us at the moment. We'll cherish the times we do get with both sides of our families, no matter for how long or the circumstances.
