We're back!

We flew out west for the funeral of Celia the Great. It was one of the best "vacations" our family has had in a long time. I got to meet a gajillion of Bobby's cousins, we laughed and cried about everything, we visited all the family on both sides that could squeeze us into their schedules, and we finally returned home safely. During this trip, I came a little closer to understanding the joy of extended family---cousins, aunts, uncles. I had had limited experience with such relations before marrying Bobby. Nieces and nephews, I understood. I have long loved having family members younger than me (though not by much) who I could play with and rile up and kid around with. A cousin is different. A cousin can be your age. They're in YOUR generation. They are your peers and friends. You are connected to them like family but disconnected at the same time. It's a new feeling for me. A good feeling. I'm lucky Bobby's cousins, aunts, and uncles are so fun. They made it easy on me.

This story begins with a 3-hour car ride to the airport and a restless night at a motel/hotel in a foreign city. Alice sleeps with me in one double bed and Bobby takes the other bed (I didn't realize that hotels have cribs you can borrow). Alice sighs, twists, grunts and rolls all night. At 2 am, she wakes up, flips into her crawling stance and heads right for the edge of the bed. WHY?! That makes no sense! I don't sleep after that. I keep my eye (and a hand or two) on that babe the rest of the night. The next morning, we catch the 5 am shuttle to the airport. As we unload our bags from the shuttle, Alice barfs all over herself and me. A few minutes later, after we had checked in, she pees through her diaper. Then, as we go through security, she barfs again (a little one this time). Finally, 15 minutes before boarding the plane, she poops. Three separate times. The last one, the biggest, happens just 2 minutes before boarding. Alice's prolific gut had caused us to run out of diapers. I had packed a WHOLE DAY's worth of diapers and she flew through them in a matter of hours. We were fortunate enough, thankfully, to be traveling with Bill and Kristin who could loan us a diaper. Yay!

Alice's cousins inspired her to walk and climb like never before. She is now walking at least a few steps on her own whenever she can manage to stand up. She also discovered a passion for climbing stairs on this trip. I put a "practice stair" in our living room this afternoon. It's just one of those long plastic storage boxes that slides under the bed. She's already a pro at getting on top, but getting down will require a bit more practice. She decided (finally) that sliding off face first was not very pleasant.

Alice has also cut her third tooth. This tooth was preceded by loose stools and mild fussiness, not the snotty goopiness we had come to expect from her first two teeth. It's nice to know that you just don't know what's going on half the time.