As you can see from the above picture, it’s an odd day indeed when my entire extended Miller family (my mom’s side) gets together. Between all of the children and grandchildren (and great-grand children!) we are definitely a large group. (We’re missing a little more than ten more people in the picture above, but we came awfully close to getting everyone there, didn’t we?)

Tyler went on a four-day backpacking trip near Tahoe with his dad and brother. Not exactly my cup of tea, so Jack and I trekked to Utah for my cousin’s wedding / three-hour family reunion in the park instead. (Sorry for the buttload of pictures!)

Jack was great on the plane rides. He doesn’t like taking off (neither do I) but we survived. Collectively we spent over 8 hours in airports, so I was grateful we borrowed the ipad mini to watch movies on. I also bought him a 5-pack of mini yellow construction vehicles at Target which were a big hit. Having FIVE of them to play with instead of just one or two really made his day, and they were the perfect size to throw in the backpack without taking up too much room.

Jack took great naps while we were there, and went to bed on time without any problems. But by day four he just got overwhelmed by our huge family and cried a lot.

Now that his speech is coming along better, something I’ve been really trying to focus on the past week is nurturing the sensitive side of Jack’s personality. In the past I have ignored and tried to change the fact that he is just like me in so many ways because I don’t want him to be perceived as wimpy and emotional! I feel like Tyler and I have tried to push him out of his comfort zone, and every time it just ends in tears for both of us. But I’m learning to embrace his naturally cautious and sensitive side and things have been a lot better. It’s OKAY that he’d rather have one-on-one time with Grandpa instead of playing frisbee with the kids. It’s FINE that sometimes he still climbs in my lap instead of being independent – it just means he’s anxious and concerned about something and I need to help him through it.

I’ve learned to be extra aware of situations that might be scary for him, and I’m not afraid anymore to just hold him extra close. I’m (slowly) learning to not care as much what other people think – if they think I am babying and coddling my child, I need to just brush that off because they are wrong. I am nurturing my child and his individual personality. And after all, he and I are virtually mirror images so I’m super-qualified to know what he needs. :)

It so turned out that we arrived over two hours early to the Oakland airport for our flight to Utah, but at least we had THE BEST plane-watching window. A toddler’s dream come true.

(There were lots of babies this past week and Jack LOVED it! It was his favorite thing to help cuddle and feed with bottles. He could sit there all day watching them!)

Of course I hit up Cafe Rio. And shoot me for saying this but my vegetarian-self believes it’s just as delicious without any meat. ;)

I saw one of my very dearest friends, Liz! She drove a long way to see us and it was so special. I may or may not have cried tears of joy and sadness when she drove away.

This is my sister Courtney and I at the new City Creek mall in Salt Lake City, sans twins (they were in the stroller.) So many kids! They were all so nice to Jack last week.

One morning Jack woke up really early (6:15am Utah time, which is 5:15am our California time) so to get a few extra minutes of shut eye I had him watch a movie. Worked like a charm! (His headphones are Sony – they’re the same price as the toddler ones, and bonus! they’re adult so they fit my head too!)

I swear we did lots of other things than watch The Lorax, but he just looked so darling when he wore those headphones I couldn’t help by snap a picture every time. ;)

My brother-in-law Brian was really a big help on Friday and Saturday. Being a single mom is HARD and he really helped us out and gave me a some breaks!

(And as a last word of advice, 3-hour layovers are not recommended.)