Lyla's 1st Trip and the Outdoor Wedding

This past week Lyla made her first trip to Canada. I was the matron of honor for my long time friend Patti, (we met in Kindergarten), so we had to go home on Wednesday for the wedding. Packing for a little baby is unbelievable. I started to make a list about a week before the journey and we loaded up our car completely to the brim by the time we were ready to leave. It is hard to believe a 9 pound being needs so much. My parents had this sign at the road when we arrived to welcome Lyla to their house as well as to Canada for her first time.

The week started off on the wrong foot when on Monday I felt like I was getting the flu. I had chills, body aches and my temperature rose up to 103.1 F. It was then that I realized that these symptoms where not the flu rather they were all pointing to mastitis. I started on antibiotics and started to feel more like myself when it was time to go home on Wednesday. But it made for a tiring time, and this is why I am just getting this blog done now.

Ryan drove us home on Wednesday night after work and then turned around and went home for work on Thursday. He then came back again on Thursday night after work. Lyla did great being in the car for 2.5 hours. Both times she slept the entire trip which was great as I didn't know how she would do for that long. We just made sure that she had a good feeding before we left each time. It was great that Ryan came back because Friday was my birthday and it was nice to wake up with him on my birthday morning.

Thursday and Friday were days of helping with getting ready for the big day for Patti and Chris. It was very hot and humid and we were waiting for the big rain and hoping it would happen before the wedding, rather than at the wedding. They were getting married on Patti's family farm just outside of London in a tent. The tent was looking beautiful. Patti's colors were a chocolate brown and a Bahama blue. They looked stunning together. The weather was iffy, and we had plan A and plan B, but we were all praying for plan A - which was the wedding to be outside as Patti and Chris wanted. And fortunately our prayers where answered because at 4:00 the clouds broke and the sun shone through for the 4:30 ceremony. The day turned out to be beautiful in more than one way - the physical beauty of the wedding, the spiritual connection of the two as they said their vows, and the emotional beauty of a wedding.

It was great to see some of my friends - probably my dearest friends. It was surreal because even though 10 years had passed since I lived at home I felt as if I had been warped into a time bubble where I was back in high school - driving my parents car around, hanging out with my girlfriends, and having conversations that flow just as if we saw each other yesterday at school. The only difference was that our conversations were no centered around topics such as diapers, weddings, and breastfeeding rather than the cute boy that sat across from you in some class.

Here is a photo of some of the girlfriends, some had already left the wedding by the time I remembered that I wanted to take this photo.

The next day, after not much sleep, my mom was hosting a garden party for my father's 65 birthday. My dad and I share birthdays, so I was involved in the celebrations as well. It was a lot of fun to see our nieces and nephew, they are always entertaining us and making us smile.This is the picture with my Dad and all of his grandchildren. Jillian's foot ended up in the cake. Lyla got dressed up in her party dress. She enjoyed most of the party sleeping it away.My mom had a lunch with about 15 people there. Again it threatened to rain, but the sun came out in time for the party so we were able to enjoy the outdoors. My sister wanted to get 65 flamingos for my dad, however the flamingos where all gone - and, sorry Dad, they didn't have enough for 65, so we ended up with the 7 foot inflatable cake. Not quite as exciting as the salesman made it out to be, but still a good center piece for the party. Matthew lost his allergy to Lyla and was able to hold her this time. Last time he was here, he was "allergic" to Lyla but he has since gotten past that allergy. I didn't get a good picture of him holding her, so here they are checking each other out.Nana, Grandma and Lyla all together. I had a great time at home with my family and friends, and I am hoping to get back again sometime soon. Lyla loved the fresh country air and we even got some help with her feeding when we are home so things have been going pretty good. So we hope to be back before I go back to work in a month. Ugh - don't even remind me about that!