What a great day we had today! Baby girl was kind enough to sleep in until 6am, an especially thoughtful gesture since I tossed and turned for at least an hour last night. We hurried off to our quick two-stop grocery shopping. I scored a half-price gallon of our milk, which means I can finally try out Kimmy's homemade ricotta recipe (it's cooking right now). After unloading the groceries, I changed and headed off to participate in a 10-mile bike race. It was nice. Back at home, I rocked the baby to sleep and then finished making a layered chocolate-peanut butter-whipped cream cake thing. It turned out a gooey mess, and I knocked it over at one point, and I was pretty sure it was a failure. (But it turned out fine.)
Then it was off to the best thing of my entire week: We got to see our friends Kimmy, Nathan, and their handsome son, "Little"!!!!! We got to spend four whole hours in their glorious presence, eating and chatting and watching babies climb up stairs. Nate and I wanted to go see the Tour of Homes taking place in their town, so after Baby Girl nommed some lunch and Little took a nap, we went out and saw three homes. (It was really interesting to compare/contrast the Tour homes in their town with the ones we saw last month.) Our generous friends made us a delicious dinner, we all tried my not-complete-failure of a cake (whew) and then, sadly, we had to go home. But oh, it was good to see them! We're all trying to convince each other to move. Wouldn't that be spectacular?
One of the reasons the trip was a smashing success is that I was given a marvelous, blessed bit of inspiration before we left the house. You see, as I might have mentioned, my daughter does not especially like being in her car seat. Thus if we go on a trip that requires driving for an hour (south to visit our good friends, north to visit my family) my daughter becomes very upset and is usually yelling if not screaming for some portion of the trip. Today as we were gathering things for the journey, I thought that perhaps if I took some books and toys, and I sat with her in the back seat and kept her company and helped her play, that we would have a more enjoyable trip...
The whole trip south, not a single noise of complaint! She would play with a toy or explore a given book for about 5-10 minutes, then toss is aside, and I would offer her a little food then give her another item. Not only did this make her happier, it means I was able to turn the car ride into quality time with my daughter! As a working mom, maximizing quality time is one of my highest priorities. I am deeply grateful for the nudge of inspiration that made all the difference in our day!
On the way home, Nate was tired and asked me to drive. He sat in the back seat instead. There was a minute or two of complaining, but dad gathered up some scattered toys, starting chatting with the baby, and was able to keep her content the rest of the way home.
Yay for a good trip, and HOORAY for our good friends. Such a wonderful way to wrap up the week.
Since it's "computer off" time in our house, I'm afraid that will have to be all for tonight. I have some updates about Baby Girl's new skills, plus thoughts on a couple of books I read -- hopefully I will find time for those posts in a day or two.
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