Chicago!

This past weekend we went to Chicago for the wedding of our nephew, John, the son of Peter's oldest sister, Beth. We booked our tickets and hotel back in May and were all set to go on this short Morris Family Vacation. Well, in July, right before we went to the beach, we found out that Peter was going to be heading to Virginia for his Store Manager Evaluation. He would be there from the Sunday to Friday - the day after we had originally planned on leaving. Unfortunately this was the only time in the next few months that this opportunity was going to be open for Peter, so he had to take it! We contemplated not going to the wedding, but really wanted to go, and didn't want to give up all that sunk cost. That means... I got to fly there with Nate and Mia (her first time on a plane!) by myself! Doesn't that sound fun?

First airplane ride! I tried to get Nate in the shot, but he didn't want to.

Checking out the amber waves of grain

 Well, it actually wasn't that bad. I think the stress of thinking about it was worse than anything else.  Mia did have a huge blowout from the newly introduced apples in her diet, but fortunately it happened before we left the house! I did everything I could to be prepared and everything went smoothly. Our shuttle dropped us right at our airline, so I was able to do curbside check-in. And I cannot sing the praises of the family security line more! I was able to wear Mia through in her Moby and get through in less than 5 minutes. If anything, I was probably a little too prepared because I got to the gate about an hour before boarding. I tried to plan on feeding her during take off, but she was a little too eager. Luckily I had a large stash of binkies on stand by! Our plane was full of business travelers, and one guy in front of me commented on how good they were, and how he didn't hear Mia cry at all, which surprised him a lot. She did cry out a couple times, but as soon as she got her binky back she was fine. She also really enjoyed flirting with the new military recruits sitting in the row behind us.

On Friday we headed to the beautiful Chicago Botanic Gardens. We went on a tram ride around the gardens while we were waiting for everyone else to show up, then went to the butterfly exhibit. That was amazing! It was a normal sized green house filled with hundreds of different species of butterflies. It is pretty amazing to be able to see them so closely for such long periods. They didn't seem to like me enough to land on me, which surprised me given how much mosquitoes seem to like me! After the butterfly exhibit we headed to see the model trains, which Nate just loved! Then we went back to the hotel for a nap before going to Beth's house for the rehearsal dinner.

This isn't California!

Pooped

Peter got into Chicago (after passing his evaluation! Yay!!!) late Friday night, so when we woke up on Saturday, he was there! He jumped right into the fun with a trip to the Shedd Aquarium. I think the best part of going to the aquarium was getting to drive through downtown Chicago, and then along Lake Michigan on the way home. Chicago is really a beautiful city! The downtown seemed so vibrant - nothing like Charlotte's "Uptown" that all but closes in the evenings and weekends, and the suburbs were beautifully green. I'm sure I'd have a very different opinion of it during the winter, but during the summer it is very charming.

After the aquarium we had a short time to get ready back at the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony even though it had to be moved inside because of rain. Good luck for them! They had a bag full of fun stuff for each of the kids - puzzles, crayons and a car for Nate, rattles and books for Mia.. This was great for the time between the ceremony, dinner and dancing when Nate got a little antsy. But once the dancing started there was no stopping him! He was one of the first out on the dance floor, and didn't want to get off. He danced with all of his cousins, then even got a group of the bride and grooms' female friends wrapped around his little finger with his debonair dancing and charm. Mia did not have as much fun, and was a little overstimulated once the music got started. I kept having to take her outside, and a lot of people offered (wanted) to hold her so I could dance, but she's in her Mama phase, so it wasn't even worth it. Unfortunately we don't have any pics from the wedding, unless we get some from the photographer they had.

Mia and Nate with Aunt Cathy and cousins Aaric and Lainey

After going back to the hotel and crashing, we basically had enough time to pack and eat breakfast before heading back to the airport. It was a whirlwind vacation, but definitely a lot of fun. Nate loves getting to see all of his cousins! Can't wait for the next family vacation!

Yes, this is what a family vacation looks like!

Can I Call You Back in 5 Years?

This isn't my normal type of blog, but felt compelled to write while listening to a podcast on NPR about how hard it is to make friends after the age of 30. This is the age that kind of designates a change in lifestyle that isn’t conducive to making good friends – you don’t have the automatic friend connection like in college, you get busy with work, or you are married and have children and those become the priorities. A lot of the stuff in this article really hit close to home with me.

I have a very hard time making friends! Granted, this hasn’t happened in the eight and a half months since I’ve turned 30; I’ve never been very good at making friends. I meet people I like, and would be interested in being friends with, but don’t have the nerve to initiate taking it past acquaintanceship. Luckily I’ve had a few occasions when those people have taken the initiative – maybe that’s why such a high proportion of my friends are so outgoing!

One point this article made is that at this age, the couple date plays a part in this. I think this is a problem for me and Peter. We have neighbors who we got to know when we first moved into our neighborhood and hung out with a few times. Peter and the husband clicked, but I never did with the wife, so we didn’t hang out with them too much. When this couple separated, Peter and the husband hung out quite frequently; they went bowling or had poker nights every other week, etc. Then the couple got back together and the “bromance” has faded. Peter has gone over to their house a couple of times if they are having other friends over, but no one-on-ones. Of course, we still asked them to water our plants when we went on vacation, and we are planning on having them over for dinner to thank them.

I can also use this couple as an example of how children can make it harder to form new friendships. They do not have any children – yet. They are currently pregnant with their first child, due in August. Before they separated they would invite us over when they had parties, or even just a couple times for dinner and game night. We only had Nate at the time, so I did drag him over there once or twice just to eat dinner before heading back home, but when their (adults only) parties start at 8 o’clock (bedtime) I can’t warrant taking him over there. Usually Peter goes alone. Maybe once they have their baby they will start organizing stuff that works with a child’s schedule, but I guess that would only matter if I liked the wife!

Of course, people also say that having kids can make finding friends easier. I have not found this to be the case. I have a list of excuses! I don’t have the interaction with other parents on the way in and out of daycare. There also aren’t a lot of children’s activities going on during the weekend in my area, most of them happen during the week, so I can’t meet other moms at “Mommy and Me” time. The one time I have gone to the park and actually had a conversation with a parent with a child (actually children) close in age to mine that I thought I would get along with… Well, that relationship lasted as long as that visit to the park. I’m thinking of talking to my church about trying to set up a group for parents of young children, but that hasn’t happened yet.

So, what does that leave me with? Work! That would be great, I’m with these people all day, we can talk about our kids, gripe about our husbands, talk about other random stuff… Of course, when the majority of the people you work with are your mother’s age this doesn’t lead to a lot of great friendships. There are a couple of ladies that have young kids, but it’s not just about the kids – it’s really about the moms. I have hung out with one of them outside of work once. In March! We also have plans for a Girls’ Night this Friday. Wow, once every 4 months! Three times a year! Amazing!

So, yeah, it’s hard making friends when you’re working and married with children at 30. Life gets in the way and those friends, or people who could be friends, get pushed to the side whenever something else comes up. It may not be such a big deal if you don’t talk to the friend you’ve had since your Freshman year in high school for a few weeks, but when that happens with someone you are just trying to become friends with, it becomes a non-starter friendship. In the past few years, ironically more since having children, I have realized how much I really need friends. It’s not that I want to get away from my family all of the time, I love them! I love singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” with Nate, watching him and Mia make each other laugh over nothing, and watching Peter give Nate his special “upside-down hug”. Sometimes I just need a little me time, some girl time, some non-working-hour adult time. But, when your closest friend is 10 hours away, with a family of her own, it can make this time more than a little hard to come by. So, I am going to work hard at making friendships a priority, and not get so worked up about the possibility of being rejected by that mom in the park. Who knows, maybe she’s in the same boat as I am.

Six months!

I can't believe it's already been 6 months! Ok, well six and a half months... Since we are a little late getting this out there, there will be a couple of big things that have only happened in the last couple of days, but I have to include them or I'll forget by the time 8 or 9 months rolls around!

Cuddling!

Six month stats
Height: 26.25" (60th percentile)
Weight: 15lbs,6oz (25th percentile)
Hair: Still red, but the mohawk has changed to this one cute litle curl on the top of her head. I need to get some barettes just for that curl.
Eyes: No change, still a wide, light blue with a rim of dark blue.

Clothes: She is currently still in 3-6 month clothes, but I pulled her 6-9 month stuff out of the closet tonight to wash. Some of the 6 month stuff is getting a little short. Every time I pull out a new batch of clothes I get so excited; girl's clothes are so nuch more exciting than boy's!
Eating: Well, she is still breastfeeding, I'm nursing and pumping, but she has also had to have formula a few times. I'm trying to not beat myself up about it too much. I gave her cereal for the first time about a month ago, but she didn't get any more until yesterday. She does NOT seem to like it and will block or clamp her mouth down when she sees the spoon coming. We started with cereal made with formula, but since that's still a new taste I thought it might work better with breastmilk. We tried that today with no luck. I know it can take a few tries to get used to it, so we are going to give her until the required allergy period is up and try carrots or bananas. Although I'm thinking of going more the route of baby-led weaning (self-feeding). We shall see.

Maybe I'll have Nate feed her, he seems to have the best luck.

Sleep: Right around the 4 month mark we had about two weeks when every other day she slept through the night, but she hasn't done it since! In fact, she has had some really bad nights. But most of the time she's fine as long as I'm holding her. Needless to say I've been spending most of my nights in the chair. I'm pretty ready for this to be over, but still not ready to cry it out!
Moving: She is still not really crawling, more creeping (and climbing), but she is everywhere! She gets where she needs to go and quickly! She started sitting up "assisted" by her hand about a month ago, but this week she started doing it completelly unassisted. The last three weeks or so she has been enjoying "walking" with help, and TODAY, she pulled up to standing all on her own.

Time for a second baby gate!

Play: Now that she's more mobile, she is getting into a lot of things that aren't really traditional toys like door stoppers and the thing that covers the screws on the toilet (I try to lead her away from this)! She also really likes Nate's cars. Luckily in the past few days she's gotten a few toys that are all hers and she loves them! She also just really loves to use any person who will get down on the floor with her (or someone sitting in a nearby chair) as her favorite jungle gym.
Babbling: One of her favorite games is to start "talking" and have us mimic the noises she is making. Definitely gets her to laugh!
Signing: Since we have started food, and that was mostly what we used it for with Nate, I have started to introduce the basic signs of "hungry" and "all done". Of course, she's not picking up on them yet, but I'm sure she will get it.
Nate: Still doing pretty well with her, other than the day he kicked her head... But really, he is doing great! Yesterday he was doing something to make her laugh, then she would and he would laugh, and it was just a few minutes of each of them laughing. Of course, this made me laugh and my heart about burst! He is very good about playing with her, and has shown a lot of interest in her new toys!

What is wrong here...?