There's no place like home

There's no place like home!! We made it home safely Monday afternoon. We had a great time in Clemmons the past 4 days.....on Saturday, we had Erin's shower at noon and it went off without a hitch! Lots of good food, mimosas (!), and friends. Erin got a ton of great stuff and acted like the perfect bride-to-be! :) (Sidenote: I am BEYOND excited for her wedding in August. She is one of my oldest & dearest friends, and it will be so nice to celebrate with her and to see old friends too.) Nate was a bit fussy during the shower - I think that that many people (18) in one room scared him. Nana took some turns holding him, as well as Natalie Kranz. Thank goodness for both of them! We had Deedee & Gregg over that night for dinner, and while Nate was not very well-behaved, he did manage to show off a little. Deedee loved his "lip pout" and "tee pee" tricks. While during an extra fussy time, Nate went outside on the porch to rock with Pops - see the picture on the right. He passed out! It was beyond adorable.

Sunday was a much calmer day, because it was just Nate, me, and Nana & Pops. We did a little shopping, went to see Deedee & Gregg, and Nana took Nate for a walk before dinner. He had another bad day of eating - hardly wanted the bottle at all - so again, he had a bad night. Woke up at 3 am, hungry. And, poor thing, he was constipated and I had to help him poop. I won't go into detail here, but let's just say, I had to help pull it out. Just what you want to do at 3 am! Poor thing though, he was in so much pain. After that, he went right back down to sleep, thank goodness.

Monday, I let him sleep in while I packed our bags. We headed off to the airport with Pops around 11 am. Our flight was at 2 pm and this time, we got there in plenty of time! We strolled up and down the concourse to kill time, and Nate enjoyed standing on the window ledge and looking out at the airplanes. He kept banging on the windows, nice. I did give him a full dropper of tylenol like the pediatrician recommended, but as usual, it didn't work. He didn't sleep a wink on the plane. (To all those people who told me, "Oh your first flight will be fine - he'll go right to sleep!"......I told you so! My son does not nap - at least very well - unless he's in his crib! And I just knew he wouldn't be comfortable trying to sleep in my arms on the plane.) Anyways, we had two nice older ladies sit with us this time, so, that was a relief. The one next to us carried on a pillow though - funny how she chose to sit next to a baby if she wanted to nap. I just don't understand some people!! So, Nate was pretty wild - standing, looking out the window, tearing up the security pamphlet again, eating puffs, drinking formula, reading his book, drinking juice, banging on his food container....yes, it was work to keep him entertained for the 1 hr 20 minute flight.

The worst part of the flight was that he cried pretty loud a few times - because he was still constipated and trying to get a new load out. He turned real red and cried and grunted. So pitiful! Well, he finally got it out and though it was relief for him, it was the most god-awful smell!! I was so embarrassed for the people around us b/c I know they could smell it! And goodness knows there was no way I could change him. Mind you, this happended in the first 15 minutes of the flight. Oops! So, ask yourself this, as a passenger on a plane, which would you rather - a screaming baby or a stinky baby?? I would choose the latter, but still, I know some people were not happy with us.

When we had landed and were about to get off the plane, the man sitting behind us told me he thought Nate was extremely well-behaved (he must be deaf) and that he should be the next Gerber Baby. How sweet! Then, as a great surprise, Greg met us at before we got to baggage claim. It was so nice to see him earlier than expected! Nate's face lit up immediately, and I don't think he (or Greg) stopped smiling for at least 10 minutes. Those two are so precious together!! We got to the car and Greg wanted to sit in the back with Nate to play with him. Well, not 30 seconds into the car ride, Nate passed out. So much for playtime! He was 2 hours overdue for his afternoon nap, so it wasn't a surprise to me, but Greg was thoroughly disappointed. All in all, it was a great trip. But, there's no place like home......