Recent Events

As I said in one of my previous posts, we have been crazy busy lately due to my being in two weddings this month! The first was a 6 hour drive south and Bear did really well. We seem to have worked out a pretty good system for car travel which goes a little something like this:

-We keep him up a bit before we leave so that he naps for the first stretch.

-Once he wakes up I wait until he starts to fuss before I get in the back with him and dangle various toys in front of his face. This usually gets another 30 minutes or so out of him.

-He eventually makes it clear that he has had enough and we stop for gas/food/pee break.

On the way down we stopped to visit my sister (who I never get to see) for a night, so that was an added bonus. This was nice because the next day we only had an hour to go before we got to our destination.

The morning of the wedding M's parents met us at the hotel to watch Bear so that M and I could enjoy ourselves. The wedding and reception were tons of fun. The bridal party was made up of all my good college friends so there were lots of laughs (and drinks) throughout the day.

Bear hangin' in his auntie's back yard

Me and a friend before the ceremony. The blue dresses were so flattering on everyone!

Bubble blowin'

That would be our party bus

My friend and I on our way to the reception

M and I both had a really good time. The whole pumping every couple hours thing kind of sucked, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I will say that events like these make me really excited for the day when I am done breastfeeding and no longer have to worry about how much Bear ate, when I should pump, how many drinks I can have, etc.

On to wedding #2..

This one was in Chicago, which was a breeze of a drive compared to the first one. The hotel was amazing and my parents met us there to watch Bear since both M and I were in the wedding party. Again, it was annoying to lug my pump around the whole time and worry about finding a place and time to pump, but everyone was really accommodating and understanding.

Bear getting comfy at the hotel

All the girls getting ready. Notice the window washers...

The bride and I headed to the reception

M and I on the party bus

I LOVED my hair! (I loved my hair for the other wedding as well, I had just never had anything like this done before.)

My drunk-ass had a little difficulty figuring out the photo booth

M and I

Looking somewhat normal.. well, except for the fact that I couldn't figure out where the camera was

I definitely got the hang of the photo booth because I have about 20 strips of those pictures. Apparently that is where I spent a good chunk of the night.

Everything about the wedding and reception was beautiful and perfectly set up. The bride even told the chef ahead of time about Bear's food sensitivities so they made a special dish for me, which was amazing. Those of us at the head table were asked what we would like to drink every 3 seconds and at one point I had 4 cocktails sitting in front of me. It was awesome.

So there you have it- 2 (out of town) weddings in 3 weeks. It was fun but I really hope I never have to do that again with an infant.


In other news, Bear recently had his first trip to the zoo! We met our mom/baby group there for an afternoon and Bear had a great time. He loved watching the polar bear and was a trooper even though he had a craptastic nap day.

Bear and I riding the carousel!

Mr. Polar Bear

Lastly, since today was opening day at our golf club's pool we obviously had to make an appearance;) The weather was crappy on and off and M was on call so he had to go in to work both this morning and then again this evening, but it was nice to get out of the house and spend a couple hours in the (partial) sun.

Bear and I

M and Bear

Takin' a break!

Whew! May was a busy month! Let's hope June is a little more relaxing!

**Edited to add:

I meant to comment on Bear's sleeping habits during our travels. I'm not sure if it's because he is used to all the traveling we do, but the majority of the time he sleeps better when we are away than he does at home. We always take the Pack'n'Play and I will wear the crib sheet in my shirt for a couple hours before we leave and pack it with my things so that it smells like me (I do the same with his Aden&Anais lovie). It probably doesn't make much of a difference anymore, but it was just something I started doing when he was a newborn that seemed to help, so I stuck with it. We take my iPad as well so that we can play his white noise on it during naps and at night (and occasionally in the car if things get crazy). Lastly, I always make sure to request at least a queen-size bed if we are staying at a hotel, just in case he does have a bad night so that I can put him in bed with us without any issues.

When we are out of town and other people are watching him I let them do whatever they need to do to get him to sleep. When my parents were watching Bear last weekend the only way they could get him to nap was by driving him around. They didn't mind at all so it was completely fine with me. I don't let him cry himself to sleep when we are away. Being in a new place with new sounds and new smells can be scary shit for a 7-month-old, especially when their parents aren't around, so that just isn't an option for us.

Like I said though, as long as we bring a few comforting things from home he does pretty well, which is fantastic considering all the traveling we do.

Busy Busy Busy!

We have been insanely busy lately (in case you didn't get that from the title). M was in Texas on business all last week and I had a bridal shower and bachelorette party to attend that were both out of town. So last weekend I drove two hours alone with Bear to Chicago for the shower. It was the trip from HELL. He slept for the first 45 minutes, woke up, and was NOT happy. I stopped at a gas station to feed and change him, where he had a major meltdown in the bathroom (because those stupid hand dryers have to be louder than a jet engine) and I proceeded to accidentally drop his blanket on the floor (gross). I got him changed and fed and put him back in his car seat, which to him is basically a torture device. He eventually fell asleep for about 20 minutes and then woke up crying again. We were almost to the location, so I figured he could wait a few minutes. FALSE. He of course got ridiculously worked up and my iPhone took me to someone's house instead of the restaurant I was supposed to be at. I pulled into the nearest parking lot and took him out of his car seat and he stopped crying immediately. I finally figured out how to get to where I needed to be, but it was freezing cold out so it was a little too far to walk. I put Bear back in his seat and he started crying again, but luckily I was able to find a parking space fairly easily so we were there pretty quickly. At this point I was around 30 minutes late (oh, did I mention I was supposed to help host the shower?). Thankfully my friend is incredibly sweet and she completely understood.

Late and flustered, but we made it!

My parents met me at the shower (Chicago is halfway between our homes) and watched Bear so that I could enjoy myself (read: drink) at the shower a bit.

After the shower my mom rode back with Bear and I. I'm so glad she did because Bear cried about half of the way and I'm sure it would have been much worse had he not had my mom's or my hand to hold the whole way.

After we made it to my parents' house I decided the first thing I was going to do was order a convertible car seat (he had still been in the infant carrier) for the trip back. I was trying to decide between the Britax Marathon, Britax Boulevard, and Peg Perego Primavera Vesuvio. I finally decided on the Britax Boulevard because of the great reviews and the fun prints/colors!

Nothing says "badass" like a man in zebra print.

So far he definitely seems to like this seat better than the infant carrier, which I think was getting a little too cramped for him. (Side note: this seat was fairly easy to install, which is nice since I had to do it myself because M was out of town. I, however, am super paranoid and called all over trying to double check that I had installed it correctly. The Toyota dealership that we bought my car from was useless- the dude didn't even know what a convertible car seat was. He also had no clue what the LATCH system was. WTF?! The fire station didn't answer the phone- again, WTF?! I finally called Britax and they were really helpful. They were able to direct me to a bunch of online instruction videos for everything from installing using the LATCH system to anchoring the tether strap.)

The rest of the week was pretty relaxing (aside from the major cold I am still battling). Bear had a great time at my parents' house and got to see all of his cousins.

My brother, Papa (my dad), and my brother-in-law with all four of the grandsons (still no girls!)

The following weekend I had the bachelorette party in Chicago to attend. M also had a meeting there, so he flew straight from Texas to Chicago. His mom came up as well and she watched Bear for me while I got ready for the party.

I met up with my girlfriends at their hotel and we drank champagne and played penis games. After everyone was good and tipsy we headed to this place where you get drunk and paint. It was awesome.

Wine and art- doesn't get much better than that!

The finished product

I realized in drunk painting how much I miss being in touch with my creative side. Maybe once I have more free time I'll get back into drawing/painting/photography, but for now I just don't think I have the time.

I also realized how much I miss living in Chicago. I love where we are now, but I miss everything about the city- the food, the atmosphere, the noise. Maybe one day we will make it back in that direction if I can convince M.

On an unrelated note, I woke up this morning to this:

That would be Bear sleeping in his crib and our cat sleeping next to him. I'm usually good about making sure she isn't in the room before I shut his door, but she is so sneaky and my brain isn't always operating at full capacity around 4 am.

This coming weekend we will be making another road trip (6 hours- shoot me) for one of the two weddings I am in this month, so stay tuned- should be some good stories.