Sip & See

Eeek. Flying with a baby. No me gusta! Having been the victim of a number of in-flight baby auditory assaults, I was very hesitant, despite Eliza's clean public meltdown record thus far. We were going up to visit Nicholas' parents for Eliza's Sip and See in Amarillo - her big West Texas debut!

Who ever can predict how their baby will behave in a new situation? I'll admit, Eliza is pretty easy as babies go. She is happy, engaged, laid-back; very social, loves strangers (for now anyway), sleeps an amazing 12 hours at night. Right. Like I said, easy. We don't know what we did to deserve her but we are quite sure our "what the hell are we doing, ummmm maybe let's try this?" approach to parenting has nothing to do with it. She is that way in spite of us, clearly. Naptime resistance and teething episodes have recently activated a super secret diva mode in our little angel, however, and when it rears its ugly head, it can throw off the whole day in a not good way. So I worked to get her schedule tweaked around our flights and carefully strategized the 2:00-4:00 hour in an attempt to ensure she would be awake and happy during the party on Saturday.

For the record, we had nothing to worry about on either front. Our fellow passengers glared warily as we boarded but the little lady won them over by the end. Sweetcheeks practically got a round of applause as we landed in Austin on Sunday.

Exhibit A:

(Look how chunky she looks here! Not really true to life...)

Exhibit B:

I was so, so proud of our girl. The biggest travel issue we had was dealing with the damn stroller, which is simultaneously very handy and a terrible nuisance in the airport. I'm trying to decide if it's worth even messing with next time.

In case you don't know, this is what a sip and see looks like:

eliza cookies, of course

tea sandwiches, shaped like little duckies

Exhibit C:

lots of holding and loving on the guest of honor; girlfriend ate it up.

Our lovely hostess, Eliza's grandmother Cristy (aka Cita) who pulled it all together so perfectly (along with putting the finishing touches on a total house renovation, cooking two big family dinners while we were there, and getting ready to leave for Scotland this past Monday. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about it.)

With her Auntie Em

This is Nicholas' Aunt Martha, a founding member of the Eliza fan club

I only got shots of the first 10 minutes, sadly, as I needed to join the party. Oh well. The pretty light streaming in through the windows was driving me crazy anyhow. As I'd hoped (though couldn't say for sure) Eliza was so happy being passed from person to person and loved being the center of attention.

Our sweet E. in the traveling ancestral crib, which dates back to the 1850s and originated (we think?) in Ireland. The crib is shipped to the grandparents whenever a new baby comes on the scene. Many generations of Millers have had their picture taken in this gorgeous cradle, and there is a book detailing its history and all the family baby pictures that comes with it.

Pastimes include: dress eating. This is why she always wears a pair of matching monogrammed bloomers. Gotta keep her ladylike. That and, I really love monogrammed bloomers. There, I said it.

Truly, this was the only fussy moment - 2.5 hours into the party, and on the brink of suppertime; she got a miraculous second wind so it was a fleeting appearance of "the lip." Precious girl.

She even made it downstairs after, for a bit of football watching with her Daddy Jack and the boys. She wanted to check the score before bed.

I've seen a lot of the lip since we got home, as we have had a bit of a rough time getting back on schedule thanks to all the coddling I did to ensure she was a happy little thing in-flight and in-party. Oh and the teething has evolved into a nursing strike which is oh so delightful for the both of us. I'll take it though, because she rocked it this weekend and reminded us, once again, of how good we have it. At least for now anyway...I've heard it's a whole new ballgame at 6 months!