We've been very busy since the last post, and it's nice to have an evening where I can unwind and reflect on the craziness!
Two weekends ago, Natalie had her first big road trip to a wedding in Sauk City, Wisconsin (just north of Madison). All in all, it's about 6 hours from our place and we thought it might be a good test to see how she will do on a trip to Texas (which is 12-13 hours). Friday night we got a few hours into the trip and overnighted at my parents' house and then headed out early Saturday morning. We stopped after a few hours to feed her (and ourselves) and checked into our Wisconsin Dells hotel a few hours before the wedding. Natalie did great in the car--despite being a poor napper she slept nearly the whole way--but she did get a little crazy crawling around the hotel room, pulling everything out of the bags and squealing in delight for her new freedom.
The wedding was perfect. The bride is a good college friend of mine and she and her husband are outdoor-loving and their outdoor wedding beautifully tied in their love for nature and was very fitting for the couple. She was a beautiful bride and the wedding could not have been more perfect. The food was great too! Natalie was perfect. The day was very hot (I think it was around 95 degrees) so I changed her out of her dress after an hour or so, but she was so well behaved despite the heat and being held most of the afternoon. Luckily the basement of the venue was a little cooler so she crawled around there a little to burn off some energy, but she was friendly and pleasant. I really couldn't have asked for better. We left shortly after the meal (bedtimes are the burden for the baby-toting guests) but had a wonderful time with good friends on a perfect wedding day.
The trip back home was equally pleasant and somehow the girl who is lucky to get an hour and a half of napping in at daycare slept nearly the whole ride back. A successful weekend travelling with a baby! The Texas trip isn't for a few more months and quite a bit longer, but I think Rick and I are feeling a little more comfortable and confident about the long car ride with a baby.
Natalie also started Water Babies last week. I had never heard of such a baby "swimming" class before but Rick had mentioned it a few months back and I was excited to give it a try, if nothing else to meet some more babies and moms and give Natalie some exposure to big body of water. The first time at Water Babies she loved it. She splashed and kicked and kept shoving her face in the water and attempted to swallow the whole pool. But she loved it. Yesterday was our second class and she loved it less. It's a bit tricky since the class is at 6 which is typically mealtime and nearing the end of her day and maybe the first day there was so much going on she forgot about food. Who knows. She still did pretty well (even didn't hate going underwater), but there was crying and less laughing. We have two more weeks which will be plenty for me (let's face it--my kid isn't going to know how to swim at the end of 4 hours at 8 months) but even if she hates the last two classes, I think it was worth it for how much she loved it the first time. She does like kicking and splashing!
In other news, my sister and her family moved this past weekend back to our hometown. I'll miss them terribly, but should still see them fairly regularly. I still hope the girls get to play together frequently and that Allyson will still come down for shopping trips!
Things at home are busy as well. Natalie has perfected crawling (she's so fast!) and is working on standing; one thing at a time, kiddo! Let me get used to the crawling baby before you plunge into the accident-prone toddler. Today we actually got in some gates that we're using to separate the baby from the dog and stairs. She hasn't shown much interest in the stairs yet, but she is constantly chasing the dog. Darby is a great dog and is very tolerant, but she is still a dog and has a lot of teeth and I'm not so naive to think that nothing bad could ever happen. I also feel a little bad for the dog--she's just trying to sleep-- and am getting tired of keeping Natalie from her. We're hoping that Natalie won't figure out that Darby can go behind the chair to get behind the gate to her toys and bed. It opened the room up and Natalie seems content to crawl along the fence to watch Darby chew on her bone. But it's only day one.
We think she might be growing (again) since she's been crabbier and more tired lately. It's hard to be a baby. I will say that putting her to sleep has been very easy and she was very good for her babysitter last weekend. Do kids get easier or are we just getting past some new-parent learning curve? She keeps us on our toes, but I feel like she now has a personality and is more predictable than she used to be. Or maybe I'm just getting better at this. Until the next stage...
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