Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Wedding Adventure

Jeremy's college roommate got married last weekend. In San Diego.  The problem with living in Redding is: it is impossible to conveniently travel to a distant location. Our options were: fly from Redding for nearly $2000, fly from Sac (but pay for parking, gas, rental car, and still travel for 9+ hours) or drive. None of the options were appealing, but we knew the wedding was one not to be missed. So we drew straws and ended up with daunting task of driving 14 hours with an infant to San Diego.  We left on Thursday after Jeremy got off work and everything went like clockwork. Charlotte played in the backseat until Sacramento. We stopped, had dinner, jammied her and hit the open highway. She conked out in no time and we were making great progress. We decided to stop around 2 AM to sleep for a few hours and finish the drive in the morning. The overly friendly and talkative front desk man at Motel 6 put the kibosh on that plan. Since it took 30 minutes to get checked in, Charlotte decided it was morning. We got to our room and she was thrilled to be out of the car and raring to go! Being an irrational germ-a-phob, I couldn't stomach the thought of putting her on the floor in a less-than-sanitary hotel room. So there we stood, 2:30 in the morning, with an irritatingly happy and energetic baby, watching the minutes of sleep pass us by. By 4:00 she had had enough and finally let us get some sleep. The final leg of the trip was smooth and we made it to San Diego in time to eat lunch and get ready for the rehearsal.

The day of the wedding was a little hectic for Jeremy as he was helping set things up and doing other groomsmany type things. Charlotte and I walked around Old Town, she took a nap, then we headed to the ceremony.

The wedding site was Torrey Pines State Reserve. The view was breathtaking. The ceremony was beautiful and Charlotte didn't do anything to sabotage her reputation as world's most perfect baby. After the ceremony we headed to the reception, which was the  also the B&B were we were staying for the weekend. The food was to die for, and cupcakes divine, and the company second to none. It was so wonderful to spend quality time with college friends that we don't get to see nearly enough.  And don't call CPS, but we were able to put Charlotte to bed in our room (that we could see from the reception) and enjoy the late night knowing she was sleeping happily in her bed.  Perfection.

Sunday morning we took our time packing up and hit the road around 9. We made it up to Westwood in time for lunch and of course Diddy Reece. We showed Charlotte all around her future college and bought her the most adorable UCLA hat, that doesn't stay on her head longer than .5 seconds.  After lunch and our campus tour, we hit the open road and drove until our eyeballs burst. We made it home around 1 AM. My champion husband was hallucinating at the end, but he got us home in one piece.

It was an exhausting but incredible weekend. Charlotte did so much better than I thought she might. Though, I don't think we will be making another 14 hour drive for quite some time.

A Bruin in the Making

Proud of her Daddy!

Exhausted from a fun weekend!

Lunch in Westwood

Daddy's Old Home

Can't leave without a Diddy!



We didn't have enough seats in the car

Enjoying Tacos with Mama in Old Town

My Favorite People

My Family


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Like Father Like Daughter

It's no secret that Charlotte genetically favors Jeremy in the physical appearance department. What does continue to shock me is how much she favors him in the personality department.  The big things were fairly obvious from the start. According to those who knew him as a baby, Jeremy was easy going, content little thing. Charlotte could not possibly be a more laid back baby. According to those who knew me, my parents were saintly just for keeping my alive the first six months.  We lucked out on that one!

As Charlotte gets older and I learn her quirks and idiosyncrasies I find so many small, odd things she has in common with Jer. For example, Jer loves to chew his ice.  He will nurse a cup of ice for hours.  The other day Charlotte lost a fight with a hardwood step and split her lip open. I gave her an ice cube to suck on and it changed her life. She sucked the life out of that ice and then desperately pleaded with me for another one.  I wonder what gene the "ice loving" trait is on? Another odd one is how much they both love their beds.  Jeremy admits as a kid he never really liked sleep-overs because he didn't like sleeping in a foreign bed. It is painfully obvious that Charlotte shares in that sentiment. In fact, my 7 PMer stayed up until 11 PM on Saturday night so she wouldn't have to sleep in the Pac 'n Play. When we got home, she jumped out of my arms into the loving embrace of her blankets, dollies, and pacis.  How are these things genetic? In his baby book, Jeremy's mom openly comments on the amount of hiccups Jeremy had in the womb; I wrote the exact same thing in Charlotte's book (unknowingly).

I think I said this at 3 months, but 10 months may be my favorite age so far. Charlotte is so much fun. She talks and laughs and sings all day long. She is mobile and happy to explore her environment. She loves being around other babies and new toys. She loves her crib and will play in there for 10 minutes before nap and bedtime. She will play for an hour or more on her own wandering around the house causing mischief. I love to watch her explore and learn and process.  Everyone tells me it only gets better, and I might be starting to believe them.
Getting into trouble

Playing with Evelyn

Sleeping sitting up

Helping Daddy with his Fantasy Draft

So helpful!

Bathroom in progress

More mischief

Our genius daughter

Noticing a trend? Into everything!

Happy birthday Charlie! We love you!

Best friend or Prom date?

Hi Mom!

No Hands!