California Girl

Bea took her first trip last week to Lake Tahoe for a family reunion and then she drove all around California with us for a few days. She really hates the carseat and driving in the car, so it was a little difficult, but we had a ton of fun on the stops inbetween the driving. The family reunion was so fun because everyone was holding her and since it was a little chilly outside, I put her in all her snuggly outfits which made her fall asleep in everyone's arms, something she's not known to do often. She was glad her grandparents didn't get eaten by the gigantic mamma bear and three cubs they ran into while on a 18 mile run, and she didn't like her toes touching the cold sea water at all. Henry loved the ocean though and keeps asking to return. She was very good on the airplane and hardly cried on either of the flights. She was crying, however, in the airport and while we were waiting in line to get to our seats because I didn't want to feed her until we were seated and a few old men turned around and shook their heads at me, probably thinking I was going to ruin their plane ride. I almost told them they were a poopy screaming infant once themselves. On my Birthday we ate at the old Fisherman's Wharf and Bea wasn't in a good mood, or particularlly sleepy at that time, since it is usually her awake time and I had to eat my dinner standing up and/or bouncing her the entire time. All the people around us were dressed up and eating crab legs and lobster while I was all sweaty from driving 10 hours in a tee shirt, with a crazy toddler and a screaming baby strapped to my cheast. The seafood pasta was excellent though. All in all it was a fun trip and a lot less painful than I thought. The kids all slept well and we had some really special moments we will always remember.

Life with two can be rough sometimes

So basically I'm amazed at all those mothers that have more than one child. Having a newborn and a two year old at the same time can be rough at times, especially when your newborn is constantly sucking on you because she's apparantly not getting enough milk. Ugh. My production is low for some reason and she just doesn't get satisfied for very long AND she's a light sleeper. I feel like I spend most of my day nursing and yelling at Henry to be quiet. The only good thing is that when we're at home, I can get Bea to sleep endless hours in her swing(with lights out and a noisemaker next to her head) It's like nurse, sleep, nurse, sleep every hour for as long as I want, unless Henry comes in and starts climbing all over me and kissing the baby over and over and I can't get him to leave. Then, she wakes up.

These photos show the many faces of Bea. She's definitely related to Henry. He made some pretty funny faces at this age too.

Fireworks with the family and the very poopy night

Saturday night was the celebration of Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary so we took the family to the three rivers area of the city where we witnessed a incredible display of fireworks that were lit at 17 different locations around the area including the tops of a few of the tallest buildings in the city. So Cool. Bea actually liked the fireworks and she stared up at the sky watching the gigantic display of lights. She likes lights a lot, sometimes more than people. They say that babies like people's faces more than anything, but sometimes I try to put my face really close to hers and talk to her, or smile, but she intentionally avoids looking at my face and looks out the window or at the nearest light source. So, after the celebration we spent at least an hour driving home during which I was trying to get Bea to stop crying. The only thing that worked somewhat was holding both of her hands and her binky in with one hand while I rocked the carseat with the other...that is until she had the most massive explosion of poo I have ever seen. I NEVER saw this much at once with Henry. She cried the rest of the way home because she was sitting in a bucket of poo and when I got home, I had to hold her by her chest and arms to avoid the yellow sludge. I undressed her and her entire body was covered in a coating of mustard like substance that Justin thought smelled like buttered movie popcorn. Sick. We washed her from head to toe in the sink at 12:30 am while we laughed hysterically at the disgusting scene we had just witnessed. I'm just grateful it didn't happen while we were in a gigantic crowd of people and while she was strapped to me. Oh, and the spot where we decided to sit had a huge dog poop right next to it and of course I got my shoes in it. I can't wait for the day when I'm not touching poo every day of my life.