We’re Back! I cannot believe it has been over 6 weeks since my last blog. So much has happened I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s start with a short recap of the past month and then I can provide details and photos for each event. In the last month we have moved to a new place, successfully conquered our first family cross country trip, introduced Everly to all of her Southern peeps, baptized Everly in a beautiful ceremony at the church I grew up in, celebrated our first Christmas, spent a few nights away from Everly while my mom babysat, started back to work, and left Everly with her sitter for the first time. Phew! That is just the highlight reel and I am already exhausted.
The Big Move!!!
Let’s start with the move. Even though we loved our quaint little apartment it didn’t take us long to outgrow it. As I have said before, babies come with a lot of “stuff” and after only a few short months in our place with Everly we knew it was time for us to find a bigger place. However, we were deterred from moving because we absolutely LOVE our neighborhood. More specifically, we love our street. There is just something about it that is magical. You can ask Danny, the minute we pulled up on this street two years ago looking for a place to live, I just knew that we were destined to live here. The sidewalks, the unique architecture, the street lamps, and the giant trees create an ambience that almost makes you forget that you are living in a large metropolitan city. Plus, it is safe in our neighborhood. I can get out and walk everywhere with Everly and Bama and I always feel comfortable, even at night. So after much moaning and whining about having to leave our perfect little street, as luck would have it, one of the townhouses directly across the street from us came available for rent just as our lease was expiring. I didn’t even need to look at it because I knew in my heart that we were going to take it. I am happy to report though that our new place is a million times better than our old place because it is HUGE! We also have a washer and dryer, which is pretty much essential when you have a new baby (who knew babies were so messy??? Not ME!) and our kitchen actually has counter space and normal appliances. In case you didn’t know our last place had a fridge that was a step up from a mini-fridge and a 1930’s stove that you had to light with a match. I can’t even tell you how many times Danny almost lost his eyebrows when lighting the stove but that is a story for another day. Most importantly Everly has her very own room in our new place (we turned the dining room into the nursery in the last place) and both bedrooms are upstairs so we can actually put Everly to sleep at night and have some time together without worrying that we will wake her up if we turn on the TV. The only negative thing about the move was that poor Danny had to do everything without my assistance because it was nearly impossible to help when Everly was awake. As a result, the move took us about 6 days because he literally packed up each room in stages using a few Rubbermaid tubs. He would bring the tubs over to the new place, I would unpack the stuff, and he would then go back across the street and pack up more stuff. I promised him that the next time we moved we would hire movers to do EVERYTHING. And in true Danny fashion, he didn’t complain at all. He moved everything and managed to keep a positive attitude the entire time. The best part about the move was that we finished moving 90% of our things before our trip to Alabama for the holidays. It was nice to be able to leave and know that we didn’t have to come back and move a ton of stuff.
Travel Day!!!
A week after the move we packed up and headed across the country to visit our family in Alabama. I can’t even begin to describe the anxiety that I had about traveling on a four hour flight with an infant AND a dog. I seriously started worrying about this trip before Everly was even born. Most people who know me well will tell you I am not the best traveler in the world anyway. I am not scared of flying, I am just not a fan of doing anything where I don’t feel like I am in control. And let’s face it folks, flying these days is a major pain in the “you know what”. When you consider all the baggage restrictions and fees (I am a horrible packer by the way…I always bring WAY too much and my bags are always borderline overweight), the grouchy TSA agents, the amount of time you have to spend at the airport before you even board the plane, and all the rude and oblivious people that always seem to end up on my flights that’s enough to make anyone run for the hills. Toss in a high strung Jack Russell Terrier, a 3 month old baby, and two sleep deprived parents and what you have is a recipe for disaster my friends. Weeks before the flight I started mentally preparing myself for this day. I told myself over and over that no matter what happened Danny and I had to remain calm because both Everly and Bama would pick up on our bad joo-joo and then they would go bezerk too. I also started a checklist for the trip about a week before we left because I was determined that I would not wait until the last minute to start packing. Unfortunately, we were in the thick of moving the week before we left so it was extremely challenging to get organized, but I somehow managed to pack two VERY large pink suitcases, one carry on suitcase, and a diaper bag a day before we were scheduled to leave. I think all of the stuff we had to bring was the biggest shocker of all. Danny has always been a light packer so he didn’t take up much room in the suitcases, but I really had to cut back on the number of shoes and clothes in my suitcase so I could make room for all of Everly’s clothes, bottles, formula, diapers, shoes, and toys. In addition to the 3 suitcases, the diaper bag, and Bama’s travel bag we also had to bring the stroller, the car seat, the car seat adapter, and the Baby Bjorn.
When travel day actually arrived everything started off smoothly. Our car arrived on time to pick us up for the airport, we got our luggage checked without any major hiccups (or overage fees), and everyone was in good spirits as we approached the security checkpoint. Even though they had a lane designated for people with small children and those needing special assistance we were still a hot mess trying to get all of our contraptions through the x-ray machine. I am exhausted just thinking about it. After we unpacked our i-pads, took our shoes and jackets off, put all of our bags on the belt, got Everly out of the stroller, and disassembled her stroller and car seat, then it was time to get Bama out of her bag and carry her through security. My favorite reaction from all the people we encountered on both legs of our trip had to have been from the lady who was in the security line behind us at LAX. After several huffs and puffs while we unloaded all of our goods, I thought her head was going to spin around and explode when she saw me get Bama out of the travel bag. She exclaimed with disgust, “Oh my God…you have a dog too!!!” From her nasty attitude I quickly concluded that she probably didn’t have children, dogs, or very many friends so I turned around slowly, flashed my pearly whites at her, and in my calmest and sweetest voice I said, “Yes, can you believe it? Thanks so much for your patience…we are doing the best we can here. Happy Holidays!” Danny swears that some time between this encounter and the time I walked through the security line I developed what we like to call “Center of the Universe” syndrome because I turned into one of those oblivious travelers who was holding up the line as we were trying to gather all of our belongings. In my defense though I was a little stressed out after my encounter with “bitter party of one” who was behind us in line, Bama had also managed to wrap her leash around my legs and had started to whine in a high pitch tone, I discovered that Everly had a blow out at some point between check in and security and was covered in poop, and the sheer amount of stuff we had to gather basically confused and overwhelmed me. In other words we were a s@i# show, pure and simple. We had turned into my worst nightmare…we were now “those people” who used to annoy me to death before we had kids. Suddenly I had a new found respect for all of those people I had rolled my eyes at as they went through security or silently prayed would not be sitting anywhere around me on the plane. Today was our day to join the club…today we would be the subject of dirty looks and prayers…today we would be someone else’s “Karma”. ☺
Luckily, I didn’t have to pass out ear plugs or buy a round of drinks for anyone around us. Everly was a dream on the flight to Atlanta. She didn’t cry, squirm, or fuss. She napped, drank her bottle, and handed out smiles to everyone she saw. Bama even slept the whole way and did not make a peep.
The flight home was not as uneventful but we survived. I thought we had a ton of stuff when we left LA, but I didn’t think ahead and plan for how we would transport all the gifts back home that Everly would get on her first Christmas. When all else fails giant Rubber Maid tubs with red duct tape make a great make shift suitcase when you run out of room! And note to self (and anyone else out there with a newborn): Do NOT take a red eye with a child. I thought it made sense when I booked the flight because I thought she would sleep the entire time. WRONG! She had a horrible time getting settled because they kept turning the lights on and off and it was hard to hold her because we were crammed in the middle and aisle seats like sardines in Coach (Has anyone else noticed that the seats keep getting smaller and smaller? I swear before too long they are going to make us stand the entire flight) . She also had a hard time with her ears when we were landing in LA so she screamed bloody murder for about 5 minutes until they popped. I am sure everyone in the vicinity of Row 14 made a deposit in their Karma banks when they landed so that they wouldn’t ever have to experience a show like that again at 35,000 feet.
And trust me when I say that when we finally rolled into our house at 2:30 a.m. with 3 suitcases, 2 giant Rubbermaid tubs, a diaper bag, stroller, car seat, Everly, and Bama we were glad that it was over too.
Sweet Home Alabama
The trip to Alabama was awesome in so many ways. First, Everly got to spend some much needed quality time with my family. It melted my heart to watch my dad give her a bottle every morning and I couldn’t help but smile every time I saw my mom cuddling with her. I don’t know if I have ever seen two happier or prouder people in all of my life. I really think that both of them had given up on having a grandchild so now that they finally have Everly I don’t think they know what to do with themselves. Since I am incredibly close to my aunts, uncles, and cousins, it was also important for us that Everly got to spend time with her extended family as well. It was so nice to see the joy and happiness on everyone’s faces when Everly was around. She truly is our “angel baby”.
In addition to spending quality time with our family, Danny and I also managed to find some time to reconnect with one another as a couple. We went out with friends a few times, spent New Year’s Eve together cuddling on the couch and watching movies (and went to bed before midnight so we could get a full 8 hours of sleep – can I get an “Amen”???) and even snuck in a two day trip to New Orleans for the National Championship game (can I get a Roll Tide???). I am not going to say that it was easy to leave Miss Everly, but it was so important for our relationship to remember what it was like to be a couple again. Plus, it gave my mom, Aunt Mary, & Claire time to spoil and bond with Everly without Danny or I there to distract her. ☺
We also celebrated Everly’s first Christmas while we were in Alabama. Of course she had no idea what was going on but it sure was fun for us. We tried not to go overboard on the gifts but as you can see from the photo below, she did pretty well.
I wish I had taken a picture of all of the other gifts she got from my family. There was so much stuff that we had to ship two giant Rubbermaid tubs back on the plane with us when we left. I seriously forgot how much fun it was to have a small child in the family during Christmas. We started our first family tradition this year by attending mass together on Christmas Eve. Everly wore a stunning red dress and a fabulous hat and I even convinced Danny to wear his monkey suit.
I have such wonderful memories of Christmas from my childhood and I want to do everything I can to make sure Evelry feels that same magic during this wonderful holiday season. I have visions of baking cookies together, reading Christmas stories, attending Christmas programs, taking her for a yearly Santa picture, partaking in “Elf on the Shelf” shenanigans, opening daily surprises as we countdown on the Advent calendar, and going to mass together as a family on Christmas Eve.
Everly’s Baptism
Everly’s baptism was also one of the highlights of our trip to Alabama. She was baptized on December 18th in the baptismal font built by my Uncle Jimmy at the church I grew up attending as a child. It was such a special day that I will always treasure and I am so happy that we were able to be surrounded by our friends and family on this joyous day. In true Everly fashion she was a little angel. She made it through the entire service without crying or fussing one time. I joked with my cousins (Everly’s godparents), Trent & Tracy, that she was being reverend during mass because she sat back and folded her little hands like she was praying the entire time. I was fully prepared for her to lose it when the priest poured the water over her head, but instead her strong spirit radiated peace, strength, and joy. I swear I could feel the warmth of my Uncle Jimmy’s presence as he watched over us from Heaven and smiled down on all of us on this spectacular day. Everly looked like a little angel sent straight from heaven in the baptismal gown that was handmade for her by my Aunt Mary. I am so proud to have this dress that will be passed down as a family heirloom for generations to come. I remember thinking as we were standing on the altar after her baptism, surrounded by our family, that all was right with the universe at that very moment. I seriously could not be any prouder of my little family and how far we have come. ☺
