A visit to my hometown

I decided to visit my parents in Salt Lake City when my husband David had to go to El Centro, CA for jet training. Thankfully I was able to stay there longer than the weekend or so that I had been doing for the last 10 years since moving away. This time though I had a little extra bundle of joy traveling with me.. Brenden who was 9 weeks old when we left. It was an experience! I was terrified that he would have a meltdown on the plane and I would be stuck with hundreds of eyes burning a hole through the back of my head because of a screaming infant. You know the poor soul - the one you just want to kill because their baby is screaming and making your ears bleed. Fortunately he slept like a baby (now I know where that comes from) because the roar of the jet engine was like a car ride on steroids. I had the sugar water and pacifier on hand in case he went into the 'buzz saw' as David calls it but alas... turns out he doesn't care for the paci even if its dipped in the heaven of sugar. I did have to feed him a few times and change his diaper on my lap but I dodged the bullet of the blowout stinky diaper change with the ricirculating air as my nemisis. Thank God for small wins! The plane ride back was a bit more challenging but all in all I feel that I passed the 'take care of the infant by yourself' test and I feel pretty good about that. In the comfort of one's own home it seems effortless (o.k not really) but somehow taking a newborn on a plane ride with no help seemed to me like sailing off the edge of the world. Now I know its entirely doable and that maybe my paranoia at what I thought was the whole plane load of people staring at me in anxiety might well have been in my imagination.

I was able to spend some great time with both my friends and family and Brenden got to meet them all which was awesome! It was the 24th of July which as some of you may not know is 'Pioneer Day' in Utah. It is huge there. More fireworks than the 4th of July and I had truely forgotten what is what like to be a kid there with all that goes on. It was great too see my nephew Dan and my friend Erica's daugher Sophia run around on the green grass through the water, do sommersaults and light fireworks. AHH to be a kid again!

I decided to take the Baby Bjorn with me just in case Brenden was feeling cranky.. or "Senior Fussy Pants"as David likes to call him. Thank God I did because I used it almost constantly. The downside is that now he likes to be 'on a body' and now cries when I even make the gesture to put him down. Seems like we will now have to wean him off of the Bjorn because at 17 pounds and 3 months.. he is a heavy sack of wheat to carry. I thought that the carrier would work for a while longer but Brenden the Brusier seems to be growing like a weed!

My sister threw a BBQ for me and my friends Kat, Erica and Beth were able to make it and bring their children Sebastian, Sophia and Aidan. It was great to have everyone together! Erica came with her Mom Ellen whom I hadn't seen in a looong time. The picture at the top of the post is of everyone there (except me of course).

My parents got a chance to get to know Brenden and that was probably the nicest aspect of the trip since my Dad hadn't meet him before. Hopefully I will get a chance to do a trip like this several times a year both to Utah and California.