After our “relaxing” day of handing Avery over to strangers while shopping for beer, searching for a giant dog named Polly, and injuring my foot, we were hoping to actually take it easy the next day before heading back home.

Erin’s baby shower wasn’t until early afternoon, so all of us decided to try and find a better coffee shop than the prior day’s disappointment. Kelley, Avery, and I left for the main campus hangout fully expecting to find Starbucks as our only caffeinated option.

Thankfully, we decided to walk/limp (stupid stress fracture) a small loop before heading inside the largest coffee chain. That’s when we stumbled upon a unique coffeehouse named Second Wind.

Intrigued and eager to find something other than Starbucks, we walked inside and were immediately greeted by a kind barista and the best looking menu ever!

Have you ever seen a place like this? Order anything on the menu and donate if can/want to, but it’s not required. Of course, you’d have to be a big ass to not pay anything to the hard workers, and I actually gave more than I normally would elsewhere.

After the barista filled us in on the business’ history, we ordered our drinks and found a comfy sofa to relax on. I was still in awe of such a fabulous business model and went back up front to pick the barista’s brain. She was really into the place and you could tell she put a lot of effort into every drink she created.

Kelley had a tasty dry, non-fat cappuccino and my first drink was an iced Americano with no cream or sugar. I downed that pretty quick and went back for a double shot espresso with a cup of their drip coffee. Wow, the straight espresso was out of this world fantastic, and after finished this and the cup of coffee, I had a major coffee buzz. Naturally, I had one more Americano and finally called it quits.

Once Sean and Erin arrived with Brooklyn, we all sat and talked a while as we tried to keep our girls contained.

Emphasis on “tried”….

Avery was being a bit unruly most of the day and she wasn’t showing signs of letting up anytime soon. Sean tried to calm her with little luck.

I decided I’d take a shot at keeping Avery from getting too fussy, so it was time to use her flexibility to our advantage. Not sure why, but she gets a “kick” out of having her feet in her face.

Not that she needs our help, she puts her legs up like this every day all by herself. It makes diaper changes a blast. Sense my sarcasm…

With our caffeine in full effect, we left the comfortable setting of Second Wind to walk around our old stomping grounds; the OU campus.

Still beautiful as always. I would’ve enjoyed it more if every limping step I took wasn’t so painful. Despite the pain, we made sure to stop and take happy family photos.

Well, at least Avery was looking; that’s a win in my book! Sean, Erin, and Brooklyn posed for a snapshot as well.

The Texas heat had followed us up to Oklahoma, and we were ready to head back to Sean and Erin’s house to relax before the girls went to the baby shower. Sean has been fighting an inured back for months, and with Erin being 35 weeks pregnant and my stress-fractured foot, we joked that Kelley was the only able-bodied person with us. Naturally, she quickly walked ahead and took a shot of her ailing companions…

Back at their pad, we lounged around as Avery and Brooklyn played around the giant dogs. It’s a blurry picture, but I can’t get over how large Hudson is next to Avery. He’s the sweetest dog, but everywhere I turned, he seemed to be RIGHT THERE, staring.

Avery’s dress was adorable on her, and I couldn’t help but take several photos. I like this one; what do you think?

It fits just right and she’ll grow out of it within weeks if not sooner, so I’m glad we captured the moment now. Kelley had her looking snazzy in the dress and she said Avery received many compliments at Erin’s baby shower.

Sean and I hung out in the living room with Brooklyn while the baby shower was in full swing, and once prompted, we jumped in the car to catch the end and reunite with our wives. From there, we were heading back home to Texas, but first we asked for a group a photo. After several attempts and a very moody baby, we settled on this as the best picture….

Hmmm, everyone smiling but Avery. That’s our daughter!!

In her defense, she had a very short nap and was probably tired from all of the day’s activity. Her drowsiness was apparent the instant we began the 2.5 hour drive back home as she fell asleep right after getting strapped in. That is, until, less than an hour later!

Yep, she woke up earlier than we thought and decided to scream, cry, yell, and just be loud. We normally don’t have the radio on when driving together, and even if we did, it would be pointless trying to listen over the screams.

2.5 hours seemed like an eternity with Avery’s crabbiness and immediately after turning into our driveway, Kelley brought Avery inside to feed her in hopes of calming her down. My wife, being the wonderful mother she is, gets very worked up when Avery is crying with an apparent need, so I know it was driving her crazy for the entire ride.

We planned on catching an episode of Orange is the New Black that night, but it was almost midnight by the time we were settled, and Kelley knew she wouldn’t stay awake. So we pushed it off for the next night and called it a day…..a very long day.

I’m not sure what caused Avery’s extreme fussiness that day, but we can see a new tooth that has pushed through. So, obviously, like any parent would do, we’re going to say teething is to blame!

Have you ever been to a “donations only” type of restaurant?

As a parent, to you find generic reasons to blame on your kid’s moodiness?