A Wonderful Visit

A few weekends ago Phoebe and I flew home to Ohio to see my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, and various relatives. I was unduly worried about how well Phoebe would fly. After all, she’s not a baby who cries a lot, and she sleeps well, especially early in the night. But I couldn’t stand the thought of being one of those moms desperately trying to “shush” the baby for three hours, while everyone else quietly seethes. Happily, Phoebe messed around squirmily for an hour and then, at her 8:00 p.m. bedtime, put her little head down, popped her thumb in her mouth, and went to sleep. She didn’t wake up until the lights went on for the descent into the Akron/Canton airport. We sat next to a 2.5-year-old named Colby, who had boots on and loves both Thomas the Tank Engine and Family Guy. His older sister Mackenzie, in the row ahead, loved watching Phoebe and informed us that she lives near Montana. We deplaned around midnight, picked up Phoebe’s gate-checked stroller, and headed out toward Grandpa and Grandma, who were totally thrilled to see her. (And glad to see me too!)

I hadn’t had any dinner, but I’d brought along a turkey sandwich to eat on the plane, so I ate it in the car on the way home. It always feels so unusual and exciting to be eating in the middle of the night! Phoebe and I were sleeping in N’s old room (no longer tiger-striped) during our visit, so I changed her diaper and crawled into bed. She slept pretty well that night, only getting up once to eat. I had promised my dad that we’d drive in to school with him in the morning, so we had to get up pretty early. It was fun to meet a bunch of Dad’s teaching colleagues and show off Phoebe! It was pointed out several times, by several people, that Phoebe and her grandpa have the same hair…but that Phoebe has more of it. I remember when I was the star of a visit to Dad’s school, but it was kind of fun to be star-bearer instead. I handed Phoebe off and got some free breakfast (mmm…donuts and hard-boiled eggs).

We got home before lunchtime and had plenty of time to play. It was totally luxurious to be able to read for fun in the middle of the day…or even watch TV! Around 5:30, Elaina came over for dinner. We hadn’t seen in each in more than a year: she had completed an internship in Mexico City and I had been pregnant and had Phoebe! We had pork fried rice with Mom, Dad, and N and Laura, who came Friday night so that N could watch the Nordonia football game with Dad. After dinner, Elaina and I left Phoebe with Mom and Laura and headed out for a night on the town. We sat and talked in the gazebo at the Sagamore Hills city hall, just like we used to do. Then we tried to find a fun bar. The first one we tried was too brightly lit and family-oriented, so we had a couple of bad beers and some snacks. Then we tried a bar that was closing at 10:00 p.m. (on a Friday night!) and one that was just closed, period. We ended the night at one where about six people were smoking (illegally) and an old lady (possibly the owner’s wife) was complaining about all the smoking. Better beer, though.

When I got home at 11:00 p.m., Mom was rocking Phoebe, who had woken up twenty minutes or so ago. I fed her and put her back to bed, but she got up several more times that night. She really does well with a schedule…and vice versa. She really does badly when her schedule gets messed up. Matt and Erin came in that morning, so we spent the day hanging out with some of Phoebe’s aunts and uncles.

We’d decided to go to the Akron Zoo, which was closing early and then opening again for Boo at the Zoo. Luckily, Phoebe had a new Halloween costume in the drawer with her new jackets from Martha, so when we were ready to go, Aunt Laura transformed her into dragon baby!

The zoo was really fun, especially because of all the kids in costumes.

The zoo was decorated for Halloween (with non-scary decorations, according to the website).

Here’s dragon baby with Grandma and a big dragon!

Saturday night was just atrocious. Phoebe was awake many, many, many times. She spent a full hour (from 3:00 to 4:00 a.m.) wide awake and rocking on her hands and knees in the pack ‘n play. N and Laura were in the next room, so I couldn’t let her “cry it out” for even a few minutes. I was almost relieved when it was time to get up for church. Phoebe and I went to the second service even though everyone else went to the early service. I thought we’d see more old friends that way. We arrived early to attend Mom’s adult Sunday school class, where we were a complete distraction. Phoebe chewed up one of the handouts and gave herself a paper cut on the gum. Church was great; Elaina was preaching, so we got to sit with Mom. The sermon was terrific and Mom had the pleasure of leaping up to walk with Phoebe whenever she made a noisy peep.

After church, some of the relatives came over to eat cookies, meatballs, spinach dip, and Matt and Erin’s homemade beef jerky. (They brought a smoker with them to smoke the meat from one of the cows they raised!) Oh, and to see Phoebe. And me.

On Saturday night, Dad taught Phoebe to eat Cheerios. She loves them! And they’re a godsend for the airplane and in church. It takes her forever to pick them up, get them into her mouth, and roll them around until they can be swallowed. The yucky part is having sticky Cheerio bits everywhere…but it’s worth it.

After such a horrible night on Saturday, Sunday looked to be worse. I was exhausted, so when Mom volunteered to walk Phoebe to sleep, I let her. It took an hour and a half! The next morning, Mom and Dad played with Phoebe while I finished sleeping.

And then, alas, our trip was over. We had some dinner and Mom and Dad dropped us off at the airport. Phoebe slept for an hour of the plane ride and spent the other two trying to grab the skymall magazine out of our neighbor’s hands. Dave picked us up at the airport and was thrilled to see his little pumpkin again. It took a week to get Phoebe back on a normal sleep schedule…but it was worth it.