St. Patty's Day Weekend

I want to start off by saying that I love St. Patrick's Day and I don't know why.  Maybe because it is an excuse to drink I don't know.  Ha!  I will say that I have some traditions with the day.  First is to go downtown and go for a walk on the canal because they dye it green.  Although this year I didn't make it down there because it was too cold for Caedmon and because we had to go pick up Caedmon from his grandparents house.  More on that in a bit.

The other tradition is to go get a shamrock shake from McDonald's.  I have always loved the shamrocks shakes and remember getting them with my parents when I lived at home back in the day.  Well now the shakes have become an inside joke with Caedmon's uncle Brandon and I.  It was a couple years ago when Brandon was staying at our house for the weekend.  Somehow in conversation Brandon mentioned he never had one before.  So of course we all must go get one.  Well we started out by going to the nearest McDonald's down the street and of course they were out.  Then if memory serves we went to 2 more McDonald's on our way to Plainfield to hang out with friends.  And one was out and another the shake machine was broken.  So we get all the way to a McDonald's in Plainfield to finally enjoy our shamrock shake.  And Brandon takes his first sip and is like, "are you kidding me?  We drove all around to get this?  They have this at Steak N' Shake?"  So now every St. Patty's Day if I am with Brandon we have to get shamrock shakes together in memory of driving around looking for the shake.  All of a sudden this reminds me of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle to get sliders.  How about Kim and Brandon go to McDonald's to get Shamrock shakes?  

So this year I had the pleasure of getting a shamrock shake with Brandon again.  In fact he drove us in his new car that he just got that same week.  Well we lucked out and the first McDonald's we went to had the shakes but they forgot to give us straws.  Ha!  

The shakes!

I guess I have a couple more traditions to add.  Tyson wears a green bandana on the day every year.  And have to have this green shot that Tanner came up with one year.  I am calling it the St. Patrick's Day shot.  It is made out of vodka, blue curacao, and orange juice.

Tyson laying in the camper while we hung out in the garage

Can you tell I am excited about the St. Pat's Day shot?

Okay so now about why we had to pick up Caedmon from his grandparents house.  Tanner and I dropped him off at grandma and grandpa Hatke's on Saturday and Caedmon spent the weekend with them including spending the night.  And we picked him up on Sunday.  So Tanner and I got to have a night together without Caedmon.  We have both have had nights without Caedmon but never together at the same time.  So we were going to go out to this German bar/restaurant with friends but instead just had a bunch of friends over at our house.  We had a really good time.  To make a long story short since this was the first night out together and with friends, lets just say I had one too many of those green shots.  Ha!

 

Caedmon's First Mini Vacation: St. Louis

From the previous post I mentioned that Tanner got a new job and he started it this week.  Well when he put his 2 weeks notice in, the next day they told him that day was his last day.  So I guess he got lucky since he got to have 10 days off with pay.  So we decided to take a mini trip to St. Louis for a couple of days.  It was both Caedmon and I first time there.  Yes believe it or not Caedmon made it there at 4 months old and me at age 32.  Ha!  Caedmon is definitely going to be more of the traveler at his age than his mom was as a child.

The trip ended up being a success.  I could not believe how well Caedmon did in the car and while there.  We left at lunch time on Monday.  He had a cold and we wanted to make sure he didn't have another ear infection again so we took him into the doctor Monday morning.  He was fine and so off we went.  It is about a 4 hour drive plus a stop to feed and change Caedmon.  We got to our hotel and just hung out there that evening and ordered pizza.  Our room was a junior suite and I want that as my master bedroom at home with just a couple minor changes.  Ha!

On Tuesday we went to the Anheuser-Busch brewery.  We were going to do the tour but was told that 30 minutes of the tour was outside and it was really windy so we decided not to do the tour.  Instead we walked around the little museum and gift shop they had inside.  Then went to get a bite to eat at a microbrewery, Schlafly Tap House.  Tanner ordered frog legs.  Gross.  Then back to the hotel for the rest of the day.  We were going to attempt to have Caedmon check out the pool at the hotel but decided against that too since we figured the water would be too cold for him and he probably wouldn't like it.  Instead we put him in the jacuzzi tub in the room.  We put some bath toys in there and he seemed to love it.  In fact I think it relaxed him that he went to sleep no problem that night. 

Frog Legs

Driving around St. Louis

After checking out on Wednesday, we went to the Arch.  We just wanted to walk around it to take pictures and see the little museum inside.  We didn't go up in it since we had Caedmon.  We will do that another time.  Then we planned to go to the children's museum (I guess they do have a section for age 2 and under there) but decided against that as well because Caedmon hadn't taken a nap yet and we didn't want to pay and then get inside and he be cranky the whole time.  So we hit the road to head back home.  Caedmon again slept almost the whole way home.  We will definitely be back again when it is warmer out.  We want to go to the zoo there too.  And Sandy and Rick are Cardinals fans and will eventually take Caedmon to a game.

I also want to mention that this trip was Caedmon's first time being in a stroller where he could actually see everything.  Every time he was either in his carseat attached to the stroller or in the jogging stroller with the top down blocking the wind.  He seemed to love being pushed around and being able to see everything too.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I cannot believe all of the major changes that have occurred in under 5 short months.  First, Caedmon being born and all of that adjustment.  Then making the decision to quit work and be a stay at home mom.  Then Tanner is now changing jobs (or more like same job just different company).  He will be starting his new job on March 18th.  These changes are good but it is just all weird and still trying to get used to it all.  Lastly we recently found out our good friends Becky and Jon sold their house and are moving to West Terre Haute.  I am going to miss having them close by.  But Caedmon and I will probably be at their house a lot over the summer because they have a pool.  I am jealous and sad but so happy for them. 

Love these guys

Becky and Jon's new house

Where I will be spending most of my summer.  ;-)

Speaking of summer, it is filling up fast.  I got 2 weddings to attend in June (one of them I am in).  We are also planning a trip to Wilmington, NC via airplane to see Heather.  And then of course visits to Becky and as well as my mother-in-laws house because she has a pool too.  Also we might attempt a camp trip or 2 as well.  And who knows what else might come up.  So we are going to be pretty busy.

So if anyone is wondering how it is going being a stay at home mom, it is going well and we are keeping busy.  I was worried I might be bored but things have been amazingly busy.  And once Tanner starts his new job I might be getting a YMCA membership as well.  They have childcare while I work out.  That will also give me a little break from the boy.  So all is well with the Hatke's and stay tuned for our summer adventures. 

4 Month Check-Up

Caedmon is now 4 months old and he had his 4 month check up last Monday.  He weighs 15.6 pounds and is 26.5 inches long.  He is healthy and doing well.

Comparison of newborn to 4 months old

The stud muffins