Our Big Trip

This weekend we took Fiona on her first trip away from home. It began Friday when we left the house at 8:37am, the earliest we have ever left (when not going to the airport at the crack of dawn). We drove for several hours because Fiona took a two hour first nap. We stopped for gas once, went to Starbucks and I nursed Fiona and also drank a tea latte. I saw another mother nursing there and thanked her for doing it in public. Yes, I have become a lactivist. But I digress.

After we filled up the tank, we went to a lovely rest stop with very new and very clean toilets and air dryers that can blow your hand off. We sat on the grass in the shade and let Fiona crawl around and stretch her legs. We also ate lunch. When we got back in the car Fiona was a little fussy, not bad, but a little bit uncomfortable. We stopped at the next rest stop which was not as nice as the first. After more nursing and walking around in the fresh air, we got back in the car and Fiona promptly fell asleep. This time she slept for about an hour. We arrived at Keith and Judy’s, my friend Jen’s parents’, at around 4pm, 7 1/2 hours after leaving home. They fed us a delicious dinner and we had a very pleasant evening.

Here are some photos from our rest area breaks:

 

We tried to stick to Fiona’s usual schedule of taking a bath around 6:45. She had a hard time falling asleep because she was not in her crib, but in a Pack-n-Play play yard. She did not sleep well and eventually I just cuddled her and then we all slept a lot better. It was really cold and she is like a little heater and kept me warm all night. You would think it would be the other way around.

The next day began with a huge and yummy breakfast, followed by running errands, and then a nice hike that saw us crashing through large bushes of mustard, thistle, and grass that was taller than John. Fiona spent about half of the hike sleeping in the Ergo. We did a tick check at the car, but when we arrived home we discovered some had escaped our search. We found two or three altogether. One was on my sleeve – scary! We washed all of our clothes and changed Fiona out of hers. No one was bitten, thank goodness. We had a nice meal followed by Mud Pie in honor of Keith’s birthday. I will not say how old he is, but I will say he easily looks ten years younger. Jen’s family has great genes. Fiona slept a lot better the second night and spent the entire night in her own bed. It unexpectedly rained a lot for some reason.

Here are some photos from our hike. Apparently, mugging for the camera was theme of the day:

 

Sunday morning was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, and we busily got to work setting up for Jen’s baby shower (the reason we were visiting in the first place). I hosted it together with Judy and Britt (a friend and former housemate/landlady of Jen’s). John picked up food that I ordered, Britt decorated, and Judy set up drinks, cups, utensils, plates, and other things. Keith cleaned up the backyard and set up tables and chairs everywhere. You see, we were expecting over 20 guests. I arranged the activities – tie dying burp clothes and onesies, decorating onesies with fabric markers, writing “inspirational” disaster stories for Jen, and a collage table that no one visited at all. All in all I think it went really well. No one made collages, but that’s ok. Jen is the proud owner of many colorful and interesting onesies for her son. He will not go naked for lack of something to wear. I ordered waaay to much food, but now I know for next time.

Planning and organizing the shower from far away was not that difficult and I am glad that it went over without a hitch. While I was at the shower John took Fiona to a petting zoo/farm and she saw all sorts of animals including brown cows and a goat that she petted. He reported that she ate her first raspberry as well, but he did not take any photos. He had the camera so I have no photos of the shower either, which is sad because Jen knows some very artistic people who made onesies look like works of art.

We went out for dinner on Sunday night and Fiona ate Thai food, and lots of it. She ate Pad See Yew noodles and chicken, sweet and sour pork, barbecued pork, a little bit of tofu, some other kind of chicken, and lots of rice. And she liked all of it. We kept her out later than usual, but she was great, no melt downs or crying. However, she did spend the latter half of her night sleeping in bed with me again.

We rose early today and ate a simple breakfast. We packed up the car and headed out. It took less than six hours to get home because we only had to stop once because Fiona fell asleep for two hours after our first and only gas stop.

It’s good to be home.

Here is Fiona sitting in the doorway, chewing on John’s sunglasses case:

Now, what about Fiona? She really enjoyed Keith and Judy’s house. The carpet provided soft cushioning for any falls she had and most of their furniture is the perfect height for pulling to a stand. I think she spent more time standing up than sitting down. She crawled all over the place and was “talking” up a storm. Her vocalizations are becoming much more purposeful and she is making lots of different types of sounds now.

Here is a video of her standing up:

Last, here is a video from a few weeks ago. In it Fiona is babbling a little and it sounds like she says “thank you” and “dada” with purpose, even though she probably isn’t saying anything at all: