Phoenix - Day 1 and 2

Before I get started on the trip details, I have to take a minute to brag on my girl. It only seems fair since I "tattled" on her tantrum throwing. The one part of the trip that I was quite worried about was not really much of an issue - potty time. This was our first trip completely in undies during the day and she did great, even staying dry and clean on our two three hour flights! I put her in covered undies and was just planning on her getting wet - she really really prefers me to help her in the bathroom and there was no way a toddler and a pregnant women would be able to function in an airplane bathroom so I was super proud of her. She only had 4 accidents the whole trip and two of those she told us but we were on the highway/stuck in line on the airplane waiting to get off and it just took too long to get to a bathroom which considered how using all sorts of unfamiliar potties is really good. So she can throw a tantrum to rival the best (or should that be worst) little pageant girl around but I still think she's pretty awesome.

Anyway, back to the trip. We got to Phoenix fairly early on Friday and Lucy napped almost the whole second flight so even though we had been up since 5am (or 3 am Phoenix time) she was actually pretty energetic. We spent a little time at Steph's place letting her relax then headed off to the pool.

They had both a baby pool and a big pool and Lucy couldn't decide which was better so we spent half our time going back and forth between the two. The big pool was fun but a little more work - little Ms. Independent was pretty much convinced she knew how to swim all by herself. She loved jumping off the edge but it took all three of us watching her to make sure she only jumped when someone was there to catch her. Which made it even funnier when we noticed that she was the only little kid that didn't have some sort of floating device. One little girl had a life vest and floaty wings - and she was in the baby pool! Apparently we are negligent parents that attempt to keep our child safe by holding on to her :-) We somehow managed to keep her alive during the pool visit then called it a day and went to bed early.

So we could get up bright and early the next day and head to the botanical garden before it got too hot. We had heard good things about it but I was still a bit skeptical. A botanical garden...in a desert? But it was really neat. I love succulents but didn't realize how big a variety there is out there. When we got there we were informed that some fancy cactus had bloomed the night before. Of course, we had no idea what they were talking about and probably would have missed it except when we walked past a section there were a bunch of people with huge cameras taking pictures of the same flowering cactus.

It was pretty but Lucy really wanted to see a purple flower and luckily we found one pretty quickly. 

This was pretty much the end of the stroller time. She insisted on walking most of it with a few moments of being carried or held so this 

turned into this. But she did let us push baby. 

Luckily she listened when we told her that the cactus were "No Touch!" I was a little worried that she would trip while running and fly head first into a cactus because they were quite close to the trails but no worries. 

Cactus belly shot at 21 weeks. 

And for those of you who actually want to read the sign:

After the hiking, it was time for some butterflies. 

We told Lucy that she wasn't allowed to touch the butterflies but if she was still, maybe one would land on her. She was so good about not reaching for them but would just hold her arm out and say "maybe, maybe." I was wishing and wishing for her sake but alas, none landed on her. She still seemed to enjoy it though. 

We headed home about 10am just as the weather was beginning to really get hot and Lucy was beginning to get really cranky. She fell asleep on the way home which gave us time to do check off one of Craig's trip to dos - try and In-N-Out burger (Verdict = Burger was good but not as good as 5 Guys, fries are bad). The rest of the day was slept relaxing. We watched the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and painted Lucy's toenails for the first time. She had noticed that Steph's were purple and decided that hers needed to be as well. She only sat still for a few toes at at time so by the time all 10 were done, all three of us adults had done at least a toe or two. But we did get them all finished before we carried her off to bed. I think she only made it to around 6pm, there is only so much fun a girl can have before she runs out of energy.

to be continued...