Journey to and Through Motherhood: Lily: 1 Year and 22 Weeks (7/26/10

I was up late on Monday and Tuesday of this week packing for my trip to Indianapolis. There was a study course held at Wishard Hospital to help prepare for the Certified Pulmonary Function Technologist exam. My co-workers, Cate and Meghan, signed up for the course with me as we would all like to get certified in our position. They stayed at a hotel but I decided to make a family trip out of it since Margaret and Dale as well as Jenny and Mike and their families live in the Indianapolis area. I recruited my parents to come along with me to take care of Lily while I was in class so Paul wouldn’t be a solo parent for 4 days. Margaret and Dale generously took all of us in.

Paul and I had an especially late night on Tuesday. I was busy packing and had just put Lily to bed when Paul got a phone call from his sister, Eileen. She was supposed to fly in to Traverse City from Seattle via Detroit Metro to spend two weeks with Paul’s parents but after an extremely extended layover in Detroit, her flight to Traverse City was cancelled. She was stranded with no other flight options until late the next day. She first called around 9pm to see if it was possible for Paul to come pick her up. She called again around 10pm to say that she was definitely stuck. Paul hopped in the car and returned with her around midnight just as I was finishing up packing. We were glad that her layover was in Detroit instead of somewhere else where she would have truly been stranded. We had a short chat and a small dinner together then crashed for the night. Eileen got up early with us on Wednesday morning so that she could see Lily. Surprisingly, Lily took an instant liking to Eileen and wanted to sit right down in her lap and play. That is very rare for Lily. Perhaps Eileen reminds her of Rachel. Lily actually cried when we had to leave for daycare. She wanted to stay with her favorite aunt.

I had a short workday on Wednesday. My parents came down to our house around noon. I had packed all of my bags in the truck that morning, left it in the driveway, and Paul and I took the car to work. My parents combined their stuff with mine, left their truck in our driveway, and came to work to pick me up at 1:30pm in our truck. While they were doing the vehicle shuffle, Paul’s parents were also at the house picking up Eileen. Busy place! After my parents picked me up from work, we got Lily from daycare, stopped for a quick lunch at McDonald's, and then hit the road for Indianapolis. Lily was a very good traveler. We timed the trip to coincide with her afternoon nap. She slept for about an hour then was well-behaved when she was awake. She played and watched Yo Gabba Gabba on my iPod. We drove through some pretty big rain storms on our way and, at times, couldn’t see the road at all. We got to Margaret and Dale’s around 7:15pm, unpacked, and had dinner.

I got up pretty early on Thursday morning as I had no idea where I was going for my class or how bad the traffic would be. Thank God for my GPS. Unfortunately, I had to turn around when I was 15 minutes from their house because I realized that I left my wallet in Lily’s diaper bag. Thankfully my mom was having a bout of insomnia and heard her phone ringing in the kitchen because I was locked out of the house without a key. I got to the hospital complex right on time but accidentally parked next to the Children’s Hospital instead of Wishard so I had to quickly hike down the road a ways. The class was very informative and helpful. I was glad that I went. After a full day of learning, Meghan, Cate, and I went out for a few drinks before I headed back to Margaret and Dale’s for dinner. My cousin’s daughter, Emily, arrived from Pennsylvania earlier that day so I was excited to see her. She is 16 years old now and I haven’t seen her since she was about 7. It was so nice that her trip happened to overlap with ours.

The CPFT class was only a half day long on Friday so I got out early. I made a wrong turn out of the parking lot and by the time my GPS picked me up, I was headed for downtown so I drove around a bit before heading back to Margaret and Dale’s house. When I got back, we took Lily to the neighborhood pool which she absolutely loved. My cousin, Jennifer, stopped over later that day to pick up her dog. Margaret and Dale had been dog-sitting Duke while she and her family went to Cedar Point for a few days. It was nice to see Jennifer. Lily was sad to see Duke go as she was having a lot of fun with him. She is usually scared of big dogs but she liked him a lot. She quickly learned how to deflect his face-licking and liked to copy the way he panted. It was adorable.

Saturday was cool and rainy so we couldn’t take Lily back to the pool. She was very disappointed. My mom let me sleep in which I greatly appreciated. Later that afternoon, we all got dressed up to go out to dinner. We stopped at Jennifer’s house to pick up Emily then went to Sullivan’s. My cousin, Michael, is the head chef there. We killed three birds with one stone and visited with Michael who is always busy at the restaurant, had a great dinner, and celebrated my parents’ 39th anniversary all at once. Even though the meal lasted about two hours, Lily was amazingly good. My mom took her outside twice to let her run off some energy. Once when she was out there, she spotted our truck across the crowded parking lot and said, “dada” since she associates the truck with Paul. We stopped at Michael’s house afterward to visit with his wife, Michelle, and their kids. Lily fell asleep instantly on the short ride between the restaurant and Michael’s house. She stayed asleep in my arms when I got her out of the truck but then woke up while we were visiting and got fussy so we headed back to Margaret and Dale’s. I was glad that we got to see not only Michael and Jennifer but also visit their homes. They both have such beautiful houses and families.

We headed home on Sunday. Lily did well on the four hour ride again. We had a really fun time in Indianapolis. I was glad that I went to the class and was very grateful to Margaret and Dale for taking us in. Lily was very well-behaved the entire time. I was expecting her to be a horrible sleeper like she was when we were on vacation at Higgins Lake but she surprised me and slept great. Perhaps being in her familiar pack-n-play helped her to sleep in an unfamiliar place. I was jealous because she slept in until 9am on Thursday and Friday for my mom. She never does that for me! Lily is always a good girl for her beloved grandma and papi. Lily really liked Dale, too, because he would chime the cuckoo clock for her and ring the doorbell which she thought sounded like a clock. The girl is still obsessed with clocks.

Meanwhile, Paul had a productive weekend to himself accomplishing tasks around the yard. Lily did really miss her daddy while we were gone. She would occasionally look around the house and yard for him saying “dada” over and over, especially when she saw his truck. She got confused and in “dada” mode when she was playing outside and I pulled in the driveway after class on Thursday and Friday. It took me a little while to figure it out but then I realized that she probably thought that she was at an alternative daycare and I had come to pick her up. Usually Paul and I pick her up together so she wanted to see “dada” and kept point at the truck like- okay, let’s go home. Then she quickly got distracted by all the fun she was having and wanted to stay.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Lily absolutely loves this Cookie Monster that Kaitlyn's brother, Josef, gave her a few weeks ago. She wouldn't even let go of it to eat on Monday:

Cuddling with Aunt Eileen on Wednesday morning:

Lily playing with Duke and my Aunt Margaret on Wednesday evening:

There were cicadas everywhere outside, the sound from them was deafening. Emily discovered a ton of their molted skins and lined them up on the kitchen counter as a special frightening treat for Margaret on Thursday: