A trip to MN

Wow, talk about a whirl-wind weekend. My head is still kind of spinning.
This last Friday we loaded into a jeep with our friends, Aaron and Laura, and headed some 4 hours north to Minneapolis. The plan for this overniter was a trip to the Mall of America and Ikea. {very big smile} I had never been the mall and, well, Ikea is just something I really, really like. Fun stuff for cheap :)

So around 1 oclock we headed that way. I was surprised by how well Ava traveled, until the end of the way there when she just about had a melt down right there in her car seat. But, its like I said, "we all feel that way, we just can't act like that". And, it was the truth. Long 4 hours. I was able to get a quick pic of the pre-meltdown whining for posterity...

How is she still SO cute even while whining?! :)

We arrived @ our Hotel, unloaded our stuff (after running into a family from our church), then hopped back in the car to make our way to the mall - about 2 blocks away. So nice and close!!! First on the agenda was to get some FOOD! Since, none of us remembered to bring snacks we are all starving and had no interest in seeing anything other then food. Even amongst the millions of stores... Anyway, dinner was @ the Twin Cities Grill. I don't think we recommend it. I'll just leave it at that. With bellies full it was time to take a spin around this massive mall. And, I have to tell you - I just wasn't even sure how to begin! Every kind of store you could imagine was there. I know I sound like a true tourist...but I SO was this weekend. We even took pics in front of things... I know, I know... silly tourists! We decided to call it an early night so we could rest up for our day of shopping to come. The hubbys went to the hotel pool and the wives/baby went to bed. End of day #1...or so I thought.

If you've ever stayed in a hotel with a baby you may relate with what happened next.

I layed Ava down in her hotel crib (smaller then a pack n' play) after a quick tub time and bottle, where she fell right to sleep - even with the 50-some-inch TV turned on. She hadn't napped all day and it was almost 10pm so I guess I shouldn't be shocked...but still. So, I breathed a sigh of relief - we WILL get good sleep tonight :) You see, my daughter LOVES her bed @ home and usually its difficult to get her to have good nights of sleep when we are away from her crib. But since she dozed right off, I was thrilled and ready for a relaxing night to gear up for our busy day to come. Then 11:30 came... Ava cries out. She's got her head smashed up against the white metal bars of the crib (no bumpers here!) and has lost her pacifier. So I correct the situation and put her back down - she's out again. Sigh...back to bed. Midnight... same thing. 1:30 same thing... 2am - I'm about to lose my mind at waking up every half an hour - completely exhausted and remembering my days of nursing all through the night. So I wise up - I wrap the extra cushy hotel blanket around the base of the crib to act as a bumper - flip Ava back over onto her back so she won't bunch up in the corner and whine and lose her paci, then I go back to bed. I doze off only to have a dream about bed bugs and wake up itching all over... then, I hear Ava everytime she rolls over, breathes or talks in her sleep. Add that onto Brad's sleeping sounds which will remain unmentioned... I think finally around 2:45 I fell into somewhat of a good sleep. At least, I wasn't itchy, too hot, or hearing anyone else move around me. Then... the sun started to come up which told Ava she should get up too - that was around 6:30am. Only after she had woken up again at 5am just to whine in her sleep - causing me to get out of bed, AGAIN, to walk and check on her. For all I knew she was suffocating in the hotel blanket... which, she wasn't. So, I gave in, and walked over to get the monkey from her "cage". Then a great thought came to mind - "hey, she's still sleepy, maybe she'll sleep in this HUGE bed with us for another hour or so". So I lay down with her in the middle, she folds her arms like she's going to go for it - then, sees daddy... (who, for the record slept well all night as he doesn't hear anything when he's asleep). At that point she lets out a very excited shriek, and rolls over to him to grab his face. Good morning daddy! So, needless to say, the Pausleys were up at 6:30...for good. And, momma was exhausted...and...what are these little red dots on my arm?! Was it a dream?!

Day #2 was still awesome. We got to the mall before the stores opened and stayed well into the early evening. I found some adorable baby clothes for Miss Ava @ the Carter's store and a b-day gift for Brad somewhere else. We had some good mall food, saw lots of cool shops we'd never been to before and got in LOTS of exercise!

It was a lot of fun to walk the mall as a family... and Ava took a 45 minute nap in the stroller - which was heaven sent! She wasn't fussy or anything the entire day, and we just had a great time! Brad and I decided we won't be bringing more then 2 children here (that walk) at a time in the future. :)

After our time at the mall we headed over to Ikea across the street. Our goal was to find a bed... a platform bed, to be more specific. And, good news - we FOUND one :) And even better news - it was marked down $100 dollars off! So overall, I would say... it was a great overniter..and I did catch up on sleep.