Trip recap, and trying to build a village

So the rest of our time in Texas came and went in a flash. As you may have noticed, I hardly blogged at all, partially for lack of a good computer.  Which, in a way, is kind of a laughable excuse since Mom & Philip's house probably holds at least 5 working computers and who knows how many other computer components... but most of those are personal laptops, and the communal computer I did use had a wonky mouse and a keyboard that caused me to type the wrong letter every other word.

Or maybe those are just excuses so I don't have to admit that I was just too busy taking naps and eating ice-cream to blog...  ; )

Either way, the week was pretty great, as usual.  Mom took most of it off from work so she was around most of the time.  With the plethora of grandparents around at all times, I think I maybe helped put D to bed once or twice, as everyone else was itching to help out-- even his 7 year old cousin, Ryan, who read him his bedtime stories a few times!  There were many trips to the neighborhood pool, lots of driving in the battery-powered Barbie jeep in the backyard (he figured out how to power the pedal and the gears this time, was a total pro after, like, a day), and we even went to a mom-and-me yoga class where I spent most of the time stifling giggles at how adorable D looked trying to do the various poses.  My dad continued spoiling D with gifts of toys with wheels on them.  D also got to help my step-dad fix a part on a car, run around on a slip-and-slide, and play piano, drums, and even an old trumpet.  Why yes, my son did pretty much have the time of his life.  (click here for pictures)

Before we knew it Sunday night was upon us, and then we flew out Monday morning.  The flight back went ok, all things considered.  D really is a great traveller-- he doesn't throw tantrums on-flight, and for the most part follows my directions and entertains himself happily with a few toys.  But it was still a rough slog, partially thanks to no longer having the option of a direct flight so had to deal with a lay-over, and also this whole pregnancy thing that leaves me tired and makes it more difficult to do things like trying to lug 2 carry-on bags and a toddler at the same time.  And then there was the massive, messy poop he decided to take in the middle of the 3hr flight... But we got home, safe and sound, and with only a few frazzled nerves.

It's nice to be back home. D is always super cute upon returning to our house, to his room, to his toys and books, almost as if he's being reunited with an old friend.  It's nice to be back someplace with cooler temperatures, almost no humidity, and oh yeah NO MOSQUITOES.

But I am also acutely aware of how great it was to have family around, especially family that's as loving, supportive, and helpful as ours, and how much we're missing out on by not being able to live closer to them.  This feeling is made worse by knowing that it might well be a long time before our next family trip to Texas-- we won't be going again during the next few months of my pregnancy, and after that I'll have two kids to deal with and I don't know when I'll be prepared to handle that load by myself.  So there's a very realistic possibility that our next trip to Texas might not be till next summer, if not Christmas 2011 (I'm thinking those might be the times when Zach can take off enough vacation to go with me and stay for a week or so, to make the cost/pain of travel worth it).  This kind of makes me want to cry.

Zach's working on a plan to just get everyone to move to California instead. Jenny and Andrew are already in San Francisco, now he's working on trying to get his parents to move out here.  And, thankfully, we're also building up a local support network-- baby-sitters, a drop-in daycare center I've found that D loves, a mom group that meets often and has so far been incredibly nice and welcoming.  I'm hoping all these things will help make the transition from a family of three to a family of four a bit easier.