Brooklyn Goes to Birmingham

This weekend we made our first road trip with baby B! We went to Trussville/Birmingham to stay with my parents, go to a friend’s wedding, and introduce Brooklyn to some of my family who hadn’t met her yet. It was a great weekend overall. It is definitely more interesting when you travel with a baby. It goes something like this:

• Wait for Brooklyn to decide she’s hungry.
• Brooklyn eats.
• Mommy and Daddy run around like mad men trying to pack and load the car.
• Hop in the car and pray that we get there in less than 3 hours before Brooklyn wakes up and decides she’s ready to eat again.

Whew. We were pretty tired by the end of it! Luckily, Brooklyn did great on the way there AND back. We hardly heard a peep out of her the whole time. Go Brooklyn! It was a good trial run for all of the traveling we’ll be doing for the rest of May and June. We’re going to be on the road A LOT until July. Hope she does well on all of those trips too! :)

We got to Trussville Friday afternoon in time to relax for a couple of hours before we had supper with Mom, Dad, Jenn, and Chandler. Mom made ravioli (yum!) and banana pudding for dessert. It was great to see Jenn and Chandler again too!

Saturday was a super busy day! First, we went to Greenbriar where my three grandparents live. My mom’s mom (Gran) is in independent living on the 6th floor, and my mom’s dad (Dadaw) and dad’s mom (Granny) are in the nursing home on the 3rd floor. It’s nice to be able to see all of them in the same visit! None of them had met Brooklyn yet, so it was fun to introduce them to her. We went to see Gran in her apartment first…

It was about time for lunch, so we walked with Gran down to the cafeteria where she and the other residents eat. Gran wanted some of her friends to see Brooklyn. It was so fun to see all of the ladies ooh and ahh over her. Brooklyn was the star of the lunch hour, that’s for sure! :)

Next, we went to see Dadaw and Granny on the 3rd floor. It was time for lunch, so they were in the dining hall eating when we saw them…

After visiting with them for a few minutes, we headed to lunch with Uncle Gary, Aunt Ann, and Rob. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to eat, so we didn’t get any pictures with them. I’m sure we’ll make up for that at Fripp in a few weeks!

Then, we went by Jenn’s apartment for a couple of minutes because Travis and I hadn’t seen it yet. She has it decorated really cute! I love it! We couldn’t stay long though because we had to hurry and get changed and go to our friend Josh’s wedding. Brooklyn stayed with Mom and Dad while we were at the wedding. The wedding was really nice, and it was great to see Josh again! We hadn’t seen him in a couple of years since he lives in Chattanooga. Congratulations Josh!!

Yesterday, we went to church and ate lunch with Mom and Dad before heading home.

What a great weekend! By the way, we’ve hit a huge milestone in the past week. Brooklyn is now sleeping through the night!! Last Thursday night, she slept from 10 PM to 5:30 AM straight, and she’s done great every night since. As a result, I feel the best that I’ve felt in almost 3 months. It’s amazing how you can sleep for 8 hours at night, but if it’s in 2 or 3 hour increments, you still feel horrible the next day. Sleeping for 6 or 7 hours straight is so much better!! Everyone told me when I was pregnant to appreciate the sleep I was getting, but I didn’t really know how good I had it until I went through almost 3 months of “boot camp”. Thankfully, I survived! Now I just hope Brooklyn will keep this up :)

Here’s a video from early last week after I got 6 1/2 hours of sleep in a row. We were both in a good mood that morning!!

 

 

Oh, and one more note about the kitties. Occasionally, people will ask me how they are adjusting to life with a baby around. Gabby and Felix are doing pretty good! They don’t really want to have anything to do with Brooklyn, which is fine with me. I think Gabby is a little bit resentful that she’s no longer the center of attention. I still try to pet her and hold her as much as I can, but I guess it’s not enough. I’ve noticed that she will do things she knows not to do (like jump on the furniture) in an effort to get attention. She’s so crazy! Felix has actually gotten MORE cuddly in the past few months. Lately, he has started lying on my belly in the mornings before I get up…if you can believe it. He loves for me to pet him too. He’s still scared of pretty much everyone else, but at least he’s making progress.

I love all three of my babies! :)