Some Journey

Atlanta

Stephen and Ethan are at LeConte Lodge with my dad and David Marr, so I decided to take the other four kids and drive to Atlanta to see my newest nephew, Isaac. I was a little nervous about such an undertaking, since getting in a closed vehicle for more than 20 min with 4 kids under the age of 7 is just not my idea of a good time, but since last time Stephen and Ethan went backpacking Lynn and I took my other four and her one to Florida, I figured I could handle it. It went quite well, other than Joseph and Sam having the "get your feet off my side" argument for about 45 min. Noah is not a big fan of the car seat these days, but after a couple of requests to "sleep yours house, Mommy", he nodded off. Syd was, oddly enough, the last one to fall asleep coming home and the only one who did not nap on the way down.
Isaac is precious (and much cuter in person than in pics, IMO) and is so far proving to be quite the second baby blessing. He's content, happy just to lie quietly and study the ceiling fan whenever it's not time to eat or sleep. Gideon is a bit sluggish. The time change and new baby hit him all at once, and it was obvious in his demeanor. He is still a remarkably well behaved, adorable kid, but I saw more defiance in him today than I ever have (which is still very little), and he just wasn't his usual chipper self. His little world has been turned upside down and it's just going to take a while to adjust.
Sydney is as enamoured as ever with her dear uncle Andy, and as we drove off Sam said, "Man, Andy is such a cool uncle. I love his inventions." Andy spent the afternoon taking the kids for walks, playing in the yard and teaching them to build some really cool paper airplanes, which Sam was quite successful at flying. i am convinced that if I could talk Andy into giving up this whole PhD thing and just homeschooling Sam for me, ADHD would no longer be an issue. Noah terrorized Bela (the cat), and Joseph adjusted to Bela's presence well.
All in all, it was a pleasant visit, though I am now thoroughly exhausted, which means maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight in spite of the empty place next to me in the bed.