Mama's night out

One of the reasons we went to NY when we did was so I could attend my good friend, Liz's, wedding. Originally, Troy was supposed to come, too, and we were debating about what to do with Ewan. We were leaning toward bringing him and flying out the day after the wedding so we didn't have to drive all the way back up to my parents' house. When we figured out that Troy wasn't going to make it, though, things were really up in the air. My parents and I ultimately decided that it made the most sense for me to leave Ewan with them. I would drive down to Westhampton on Saturday morning, go to the wedding that afternoon, stay overnight, then drive back on Sunday. My parents would then drive us to the airport Sunday evening.

I had never left Ewan overnight, so I was really nervous. He still sleeps with Troy and I and nurses almost hourly at night, so I didn't know how he would do without me there. It turned out that I had no need to worry. He was in a great mood while awake, and my mom got him to take two naps on Saturday just by rocking him to sleep. I had left two bottles for them, so she gave him one at bedtime. He fell asleep with no problems, and my mom slept in the bed with him. My mom and I both thought they might be able to stretch that second bottle out over the course of a couple awakenings, but it turned out that he sucked it down in one feeding after he'd only been asleep for a short time. It sounded like he was very happy to see that bottle, too, as he took it into his own hands, pat-patted it, gulped it down, and promptly passed back out. With subsequent awakenings, she used a combination of rocking and bouncing him, his pacifier (which he stopped taking for us weeks prior), and bottles of water. They made it through the night without any actual crying (just a little fussing)!

As for me, I was a little tense driving down for the wedding, partly because I left later than I'd hoped to. The ceremony was supposed to start at 3:00 and I made it to my hotel down the street at 2:45! I had showered and (sort of) done my hair before I left, so I threw on my dress, shoes, and jewelry, slapped a little makeup on, and ran out the door. I got to the church at about 3:05 and literally pulled up right behind the wedding party's limo. I heard Liz call out, "Hey, Becca!" as I ran into the church. But I made it! And I'm so glad I did. It was a beautiful ceremony. And the reception at Liz's parents' beach house after was gorgeous. They couldn't have picked a more perfect day. And I was so much more relaxed than I thought I would be. I thoroughly enjoyed my freedom. I walked down to the beach by myself several times, carrying only my glass of wine and NO BABY! I cannot tell you what a good feeling that was... at least for a night. I also really enjoyed seeing some old friends from Palo Alto. I left a little before the wedding actually ended and didn't stay for the bonfire afterward because I was really tired and knew I had to get an early start the next morning. I also wanted to make sure that I got to take advantage of my first chance in a year to sleep for several consecutive hours! Part of me wishes I had stayed a little longer, though, but Liz and Zach will just have to plan a trip out this way before too long.
I woke up the next morning well rested, had some breakfast, and got on the road. I arrived at my parents' house a few hours later to a sleeping Ewan and his not-terribly-exhausted looking grandparents. I wish I could say that he was thrilled to see me when he woke up, but he actually barely gave me the time of day. I guess in a way that's a good thing. He couldn't have missed me too much if he barely noticed my return!

I had a few hours to get organized and packed, then we got on the road again to head to the airport. Thankfully both my parents came with us, because something quite unexpected happened on the way there: a BARF EXPLOSION (a mere couple days after I read about and commented on Violet's BARF EXPLOSION)! We don't know what triggered it, but Ewan puked up the entire contents of his stomach within 10 minutes of getting in the car. This was in our car seat, which we had to check. And I had to fly across the country with him, alone. I was so terrified of what lay ahead that I could barely deal with the crying baby and giant mess in front of me, so thankfully it was grandparents to the rescue again! We did our best to clean up, but had to drive the remaining hour-plus with a rather unpleasant odor lingering. Thankfully, Ewan seemed better within a very short time, but I was still nervous. It turned out he was totally fine until we got on the plane, at which point he had the biggest meltdown he's had in months. This happened as people were still boarding, and you can imagine what they and I were thinking. I was that mom with that baby. I decided to try nursing him, which worked. He calmed down and fell asleep really quickly and slept for almost the rest of the flight. I think the hunger and tiredness all hit him at once and he just couldn't cope. The rest of the flight was easy and we arrived on time to SFO where we were greeted by one excited daddy and a very stinky car seat!

I could post a lot more about our time in NY, like about our fabulous day at Mohonk and our time with other friends and relatives, but I'm going to stop here and remind you that there are more photos here (the same ones I linked to on the 11 month post) and a few more from Liz and Zach's wedding here. I have another very important post to start working on before too long! I can hardly believe that this time has come already...