UGA Law 5 Year Reunion

This year marks 5 years since I graduated law school.  This means I've known the friends I've made in law school for 8 years.  Since I was 23 years old.  These "law school friends" are arguably some of the best I've made my entire life.  They've been with me through really hard times (the first year of law school comes to mind...finals...the bar exam...to name a few).  They've also been with me through some of the happiest times of my life (meeting my now husband...celebrating with us at our wedding...throwing me my baby shower...supporting me as a new mom....and this list could go on and on).

These women are my sisters.  I love them more than I could ever express.  And I am impressed and awed by them all.  I am lucky to have them as friends.

We all met in Athens this weekend to celebrate 5 years of lawyering 8 years of friendship.  What I recall of the weekend was fabulous.  We drank too much wine.  We laughed.  We reminisced.  A tear or two may have been shed.  We shopped.  We laughed some more. 

I'm always sad the day after spending a weekend with my ladies because I know it'll be months before we're all back together again. And while I may often regret having gone to law school, I'd do it all over again because I can't imagine not having you girls in my life!

Until next time....

76

76.  75. (I started this yesterday) That's the number of days left in this year.  How crazy is that? 

I have a big well written blog post brewing in my head, but not the time right now to put it into words.  But it's been two weeks since I've said hello and I don't want you folks to start thinking there is some news on the Swan front that I'm hiding from telling you.  There is not.  Sorry to disappoint.

Life has been busy.  Mr. Cob and I went on vacation.  Alone. For a week.  With no cell service. It was amazing.  I missed my little dude, but not nearly as much as I thought I would (just being honest).  My days were spent sleeping in, reading trashy books and some novels, running, yoga-ing, spa-ing, red wine drinking and kissing on my man.  (Again, just being honest).  It was also nice to throw Haiti, Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico in the mix.  And some new friends on the cruise ship.  And did I mention the spa?  It's possible I went more than once.  Or twice.  It was time well spent away from "life".  My batteries recharged.  My mom-atude was rebooted.  My work self was re-energized.  Mr. Cob and I reconnected.  All in all the trip was spectacular.  If you have a little one at home and are nervous to take a trip without him or her, DO IT.  And while Mr. Cob will cringe when I type this, sometimes it's good to remember that you were his wife before you were your baby's mom.

While we were away Lukas spent half the week with Mr. Cob's parents (Nana and PopPop) and the second half with my parents (SipSip and Up).  The grandparents all told us that we gave THEM a true gift by giving them this time with their grandson.  So it was a win-win all around.  And Lukas apparently wasn't bothered that we weren't around.  Daddy was on a cruise ship and mommy was working until the end of the week when Lukas decided that mommy was on the cruise ship with daddy.  Thanks buddy.  I swear he grew an inch while we were away and started talking even more.  I will say that I was ready to see him and hug on him when we got home Sunday morning.  It's nice to get away, but it's even nicer to come home.

Busy

Oh there is so much I have been meaning to write about but haven't made the time.  Life is busy.  Life with an almost 2 year old (OhmyGodhowdidhegetsoold?) is hectic.

Lukas recovered from his bed flipping incident.  I recovered as well.  However, there has been no bed jumping in the past week.

My office is moving to a new building this Friday, so work has been crazy.  I'm currently sitting in an empty office because all my "stuff" is in crates ready to be moved.  I'm really excited for our new space.  I'm viewing it as a big change without actually changing anything.  Does that make sense?  My view will no longer look south of the city.  Instead, my office (on the 27th floor) will overlook Peachtree Street going north into Midtown.  It'll be like I'm looking towards my little man and husband all day. 

Mr. Cob and I are leaving this weekend ALONE for 7 days to go on vacation WITHOUT the little dude.  I'm starting to get nervous about this decision.  I know Lukas will be in good hands with his grandparents, but will I be ok?  Will missing him overshadow the vacationing?  Should we have brought him with us?  Is it totally selfish to spend one whole week away from him?  Let's just say we ordered the wine package on the cruise so that should help ease my worries and my missing him.  I've also downloaded about 10 books to my Kindle (which I finally found after a year missing...in the glovebox of my car!).  I've booked a massage for the 2nd day.  I'm excited to sleep in and spend time with Mr. Cob.  I'm very excited for a week away from work!

The little dude is hilarious these days.  He sat down for a chat with me a few nights ago.  He's such a silly guy - make sure you have your volume turned on!



And I'll leave you with this picture of Lukas with his girlfriend, "Lisey".  He is so in love!

Keep the Old

"Make new friends, but keep the o-l-d; one is silver and the other gold."

Who knew that song from my childhood would ring so true for me in my adult life?

I'm not the best at keeping in touch.  Some might say I despise talking on the phone.  I'd much rather meet in person and see the person I'm talking to.  The phone can be so, impersonal.  My husband would say that I have this weird phobia of talking on the phone.  But that's mainly just with people I don't know.  Still, I'm not much of a phone person.  I love to write and so I stay in touch with some far away friends via email.  But some friends aren't big on the email front.  So weeks can quickly turn into months and sometimes years before we connect.  And life gets in the way.  Pesky life.

Luckily, true friendships aren't sustained by the amount of times you talk on the phone.  Or even by the frequency with which you see each other or the knowledge you have of one another's current life.  True friendships run deep and truly are golden.

The past weekend, after a three and a half year hiatus, I was reunited with one of my best friends from college, Erin.  In the 9 years since graduation and her moving back to Texas we have seen each other less than a handful of times.  Once for a quick 2 hours of cocktails while she was in town for a photography shoot.  The second almost five years ago for her wedding.  And three and a half years ago for my own nuptials.  In between these visits I've gone to law school and become a lawyer and she has changed career paths completely from photography to education and we both have had babies - a little girl for her who is already one and my little man who is almost 19 months old.  A lot has changed in 9 years. 

I have changed in 9 years.  If I were to meet my 22 year old self today, I'm pretty sure I'd hate her.  At the very least I wouldn't want to be her friend.  She was a very different person than the woman I am today.  And so flying in to Texas last Thursday night I was a little nervous about whether my 31 year old self and Erin's 31 year old self would have anything in common.  Would our friendship sustain?  Or were we both two completely different people without a shared thread?

I quickly realized that we were both changed from the last time we'd seen each other.  For one, we were both mothers and that changes a person to her core, no matter how hard you protest.  It's an organic change but an awesome one as well.  We were both more mature and different in many ways, yet even though a lot of time had passed, after a few awkward minutes, we picked back up as if we'd just shared a glass of wine the night before.

Over the weekend we caught up on each other's lives.  We learned about who each is today.  We got a peek into one another's marriage.  We held each other's child and watched over them as if they were our own.  We laughed.  We drank wine.  We made new memories.

I know that we won't suddenly start talking on the phone on a regular basis.  And we probably won't see one another again for a few years.  But I wouldn't trade her friendship for the world, for it really is gold.

Guns, Horses & Meat

I was a country girl this Easter weekend.  The highlights of which included riding a horse for the very first time, shooting a 20 gauge shotgun and breaking my vegetarian streak by consuming steak, fried chicken and pulled pork all within a 48 hour span.

My little Easter bunny

We spent the weekend at a hunting lodge in South Georgia with a group of friends and their kiddos.  Lukas loved the fresh air and took a 3 and half hour nap one day!  I enjoyed hanging with my girlfriends and my two boys.  Lukas and his friend Elise even did an Easter egg hunt! I thought they were too young and wouldn't catch on to the hunt part, but they did - I'll post some pictures when I get them uploaded.  It was a wonderful weekend getaway. 

In the meantime, here's a video of my little guy from last week.  It's long, but the entire thing cracks me up. This is such a fun age!

Cali Playground

Yesterday my mom downloaded some pictures from our last afternoon in California.  I tried my hardest to get a picture of the two cousins together, but boys are busy, so I didn't get that "perfect" pic.  But these all made me smile anyway!

Toddler Tips Tuesday - Flying

Last week I shared my tips about traveling through the airport with kids.  Since then I learned of a product from Go-Go-Babyz called the gogo Kids Travelmate that is also aimed at helping parents navigate the airport with ease.  I haven't tried the Travelmate myself, but it sounds like a great idea, so check out their site!

This week's tip is about managing a flight with your toddler.  Most airlines allow your toddler to fly for free before they are two  years old.  My little man is 16 months old, so we're planning on milking this free flying for another 8 months.  But there's a catch: they sit on your lap. (Disclaimer: the safer option is probably to buy an extra seat and bring your convertible car seat on the flight for your toddler to sit in.  We've never done this and I'm not in any way qualified to tell you how best to safely fly with your kid.  The best tip I can give is to follow whatever flying advice your pediatrician offers you.  Also, some airlines claim to have reasonable "infant fares", but when I recently called Southwest Airlines to inquire about purchasing such a seat for Lukas on an upcoming flight this summer, I was told that the "infant fare" was MORE expensive than the online fare.  So, yea, that doesn't exactly help from a monetary standpoint. So if you choose to not purchase an extra seat for your bambino, hopefully my tips will help, but they should in no way stand in the way of your talking to your pediatrician about safe flying tips. And yes, if you didn't know, I am a lawyer.  Why do you ask?)

If you have met a 16 month old boy, you will recall that they are very, very busy.  So the thought of keeping Lukas contained for FIVE hours on a flight was putting me into near panic attacks for the few days leading up to our flight.  I had convinced myself that we were in for five hours of torture.  Or rather that our neighbors on the flight were in for five hours of hell.  But our flight was full and there were no upgrades available.  My first traveling tip is to upgrade to business class if at all possible - the extra room is worth the extra money in my opinion. But since an upgrade wasn't an option, all I could do was arm myself with as much toddler distractions as possible and pray that Lukas would fall asleep at some point, sooner rather than later, preferably.

Toddler plane distractions fall into two categories: food and books.  They're both crucial for a cross-county flight.

Food: I don't know about you, but my kid loves to eat.  Given the right food, we can waste a good hour eating. But when thinking about food for the flight, I was concerned about Lukas dropping his food on the ground and then the ensuing breakdown because I wouldn't give him the food from the gross airplane floor.  So I opted for GoGo Squeez Apple Sauce - it's kind of like go-gurt (which, honestly, grosses me out, but for some reason the apple sauce doesn't...) - Lukas could hold on to the packet and suck up the apple sauce.  He loves it!  And I love the fact that it's 100% fruit and has no sugar added.  So he was at least eating something healthy. The other food we brought was a not-so-healthy snack, but a favorite of toddlers worldwide: Goldfish.  Lukas loves goldfish.  And in an effort to not have them all over the airplane, I bought a Munchkin Snack Catcher, which was worth the $4.50 I spent at Target.  Lukas could hold the cup and grab fish as he wanted them.  It was a huge hit. On the flight home, we filled it with Ritz crackers, which were a good idea in theory, but are really messy and more of the crackers ended up on the floor than in his mouth.

I also brought water in a sippy cup and milk in my boobs.  If you're nursing, you already know that it helps soothe a crying baby, and that's especially true on a plane.  But I have to admit, that I still get self conscious and nervous about breastfeeding him in "public" (and by public, I mean under a nursing cover or blanket with absolutely zero boob exposure whatsoever).  You'd think I'd be over that by now, but in all honesty, I'm not.  But I did it anyway and I don't think anyone noticed.  If anything, they would've noticed the fact that I had a sleeping baby within five minutes of his hiding under his blanket. And while we're on  the topic of sleeping babies on a plane, another necessity is a small pillow (thanks Greer!).  We stuffed a small pillow in a regular pillow case and sewed a ribbon on the case so that we could tie the pillow case to my diaper bag.  The pillow helped Lukas sleep comfortably stretched out over our laps.

Books:  Buy this book if you're flying with a toddler any time soon:  First 100 Words by Bright Baby.

available on Amazon.com

Lukas spent two hours looking at the pictures in this book.  Actually, he looked at the pictures and said "what's that?" about 100 times in 2 hours.  I'm sure everyone around us was sick of hearing me say "elephant", "dump truck", "airplane", "orange" etc.  But I imagine they'd rather here us talking than him crying.  I cannot stress enough how awesome this book was for flying.  We would not have had an enjoyable flight without it.  I am sure of that.  And I have Mr. Cob to thank for the book - he picked it up at Costco the day before our flight.

Also, before you take off, make sure a diaper and wipes are easily accessible, as well as the food and books.  Take a deep breathe and don't worry.  What's the worst that could happen?  You're stuck with a screaming baby on a plane for a few hours.  Sometimes babies cry.  Sometimes babies cry on a plane.  If that happens, with any luck you'll never see the people on your flight again.  And if you get desperate, you can always buy you're neighbors a stiff drink!  But hopefully, with enough food and books, your neighbors will compliment you on your well behaved baby upon arriving at your destination.

Anyone else have any other tips for managing a flight with a toddler?  I'd love to hear what other mom and dads do to keep their little ones occupied while flying the friendly skies!

Cali Made Me Do It

Every time I visit California I come home on a health kick.  It might actually be my brother's fault.  Healthy eating and living is in his blood.  You'd think it'd be in my blood too, but you would be wrong.  And yes, we are biological siblings.  And no, I don't know why I didn't get that gene.  (And while we're talking about it, I'm also annoyed that he got my mom's "great legs gene" and I didn't.  I got my dad's "athletic but still somewhat stocky legs gene".  Thanks dad!  I'm not bitter.)

But back to wanting to be healthy and actually change the things I do have control over (as opposed to my leg shape).  The first morning we were in California, Brent made a smoothie in his Vitamix, which is now on the top of my birthday present wish-list.  What did he put in the smoothie?  Oh you know, the typical: banana, blueberry, acai, lettuce, carrots, celery, avocado, dates, onion, spinach and he may have even thrown in some nuts.  And it was AMAZING.  (Admittedly in that I know this is healthy for me and it's surprisingly good amazing kind of way.)  Mr. Cob could only taste the onion, which I had no idea was even in there until he told me.  I thought the celery stood out, but not in a bad way.  And the real proof that it was tasty: my 3 year old nephew drank it up AND Lukas took a sip and then asked for more!  I now need a Vitamix, pronto.  Talk about getting your fruits & veggies in first thing in the morning!

We also went to an outdoor farmer's market that sold all sorts of organic fruits and veggies, smoothies, flavored almonds, breads and other delicious goodness.  It was a fun morning adventure and Lukas loved tasting the blood oranges, avocado and olives (he's on an olive kick).  Mr. Cob was excited because he finally found a satsuma, which was the one thing he wanted to eat in Cali.  (Although, I didn't think it was anything to write home about.)  My favorite thing was The Morningstar Ranch's Green Drink - made from rainbow chard, collard greens, kale, wild spinach, grapefruit juice, apples, yerba mate, raw agave nectar and flax seeds - and it really was delicious! 

And to top off our healthy eating in Encinitas, our last morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Acai Cafe with acai bowls.  I tried the PB and Acai Bowl made of a pack or two of Sambazon Original Açaí, banana, peanut butter, a splash of milk (I think almond milk) and topped with sliced bananas (or was it strawberries - it might've been both) and granola. Now this I can, and will make at home!  You can buy the acai packets from the Dekalb Farmer's Market here in Atlanta.

Aside from healthy eating, the weather in California was also beautiful and is conducive to outdoor fun.  We all went for a 3 mile jog along the coast one morning.  I had no idea we'd ran that far because I enjoyed the run and the view of the ocean the entire time.  I had hoped to fit stand-up paddle boarding into our trip, but it wasn't meant to be this time.  I think it would be easier to convince myself to get outside and exercise if the weather was always 65 degrees and I had the ocean as my backdrop, but I need to stop making excuses and just get outside and do it.  At least now we have the extra hour of daylight to get outside after work.

With the combination of being around Brent, the perfect Southern California weather for outdoor activities and healthy food at your fingertips, California makes me want to be a healthier person. I'd move there if I could bring all my friends, family and job, but that's not going to happen.  So I need to take what I can from Cali's healthiness and start living a healthier life here in Georgia.  And so for whatever reason, this time around that's evolved into "Vegetarian Week" in the Swan household.  The thought is that by eliminating meat (which in all honesty, I love), I'll be forced to cook with more vegetables and fruits.  I know that not all vegetarians are "healthy", but we're going to give it a whirl for a week.  Mr. Cob is even on board - at least for dinners, since I'm cooking them and he has no other option.  And thanks to pinterest, I have found tons of vegetarian recipes.
 
Last night we kicked off Vegetarian Week with Crispy Quinoa Burgers with Flax Seed from Oscar's Sandwich blog.  They were DELICIOUS, and I mean delicious, not just healthy delicious.  (I know you may not believe me given my positive reviews of green smoothies.  But seriously, these were good.  My meat eating husband even loved them!)  The rest of the week's menu includes sundried-tomato pesto pasta, black bean and sweet potato enchiladas, tortilla soup in the crockpot and twice baked spagehetti squash.  Stay tuned to see how it goes!

Toddler Tips Tuesday: Traveling

After chatting with my brother and husband about blogging, I decided I am going to try to have a bit more direction with the blog.  Any of you regular readers know that since November 2010 the focus of the blog has been about my adventures in parenting, and has become more and more kid-parent-centric as the days pass.  So, the first change in the blog is the start of "Toddler Tips Tuesday" where I'll share some random "tip" that I've learned to help other moms of toddlers.  And I use the word tip very loosely.  Some weeks I am sure the tip will be more of the "what not to do tip" kind.  So check back with me every Tuesday for a new "tip"!

We recently took a five and half hour plane ride with our almost 16 month old son, so I thought I'd share a few traveling tips.  If your kiddo is in a convertible car seat that you're bringing with you on a flight, you need to buy this simple, yet genius invention: The Traveling Toddler Car Seat Travel Accessory (descriptive name, I know). It lets you attached the car seat to your carry-on wheeled suitcase, so you can wheel it through the airport.  Better yet, you can wheel the car seat WITH YOUR KID SITTING IN IT through the airport!  Genius!  You can buy the accessory on amazon.com here.  It made navigating the airport with the car seat easy and allowed both of us to have our hands free to carry all our other stuff.  I highly recommend by this accessory - you won't regret it!

courtesy of Amazon.com

I would also recommend buying a car seat "gate check bag" - it's just a big bag that you put the car seat in before the airport baggage guys throw it under the plane in the luggage bay so your car seat stays clean.  I've seen the bags on amazon or diapers.com.  However, I would suggest not putting your dinner of Moe's burritos in the gate check bag with the car seat.  And yes, we know this from experience.  (I add that tip for free!)

Next week I'll offer our tips for actually handling the five hour flight with your toddler with ease.  Here's a hint: Your fellow passengers might hear your toddler talking but at least they won't be crying!

Reaching Here

Ok, so the feedback from the new buttons has had me all jazzed about posting more often and getting some more Love or Funnies (No Hate yet!?!).  Problem is, I'm out of things to say. Well, I mean, I always have things to say, but I'm plum out of things to say that I think anyone wants to hear about.  But then again, that's never stopped me before.

Here are the posts I have started writing in the past few days and then stopped for whatever reason:

1.  I know that I shouldn't compare myself to other people, but I can't help it.  Lately I feel like I'm comparing myself to others ALL. THE. TIME.  And it's not good for my sanity.  But yet, I still do.  I stop at this point because the rest of this post just makes me sound like I'm whining and feeling inferior than everyone else, and nobody wants to hear that.  So I'll end that woe-is-me post at that.  At least this shows I'm not always Polly Positive.

2.  I'm a much more sane person when I take time for myself.  The past few weeks I've done that a lot.  I went to Charleston with the girls two weekends ago and my soul was better for it.  We laughed, we exercised, we even danced in the VIP section of some bar we were much too old to be in.  It was an amazing trip (although, Lukas would disagree...).  This weekend I continued taking some time out for me - my ATL girlfriends and I went and got our hair did at The Dry Bar Saturday morning, went to brunch and shopping afterwards and then had a group Valentines Day date night that evening.  Mr. Cob and I sometimes talk about moving away from Atlanta, and then we think about how great our friends are here and realize they're irreplaceable.  We really are lucky to have such great friends.

3.  Apparently I get insomnia two hours after falling asleep if I drink more than two glasses of wine.  A grandmother who does overnight babysitting with the little man is a necessity if momma wants a night out.  Reason #452 we should never leave Atlanta.

4. Tomorrow Mr. Cob and I will celebrate our 7th Valentines Day together.  I don't remember what I got him for our first V-day together, but he bought me pink bowling shoes and we went bowling.  He gets me.  The way to my heart is through shoes. 

5.  The little man said "apple" and "elephant" (well, sort of, kind of, you could get there, really) this weekend.  Dude is going to start talking for real any day now. 

Baby Tuxedos

I just got back some of the pictures from this past weekend.  I think they speak for themselves, but since I'm here I'll speak for them too. 

The bride is stunning!

Lukas.  In. a. tuxedo.  Adorable.



Mr. Cob looks pretty good too!

 

Bro

There are many words I could use to describe myself at any given time.  And the word changes often depending on my day or situation.  But there is one word that has constantly applied to me since the day I was born: little sister.  (Ok, that was two words.)  I have just one sibling. My big brother B.

He is three years, three months and four days older than me.  And since I can remember, I have looked up to my brother.  Sure we had your normal sibling rivalry growing up, but I've always loved him. 

B and I have been through a lot together over the years.  When I was eight years old we moved across the country from California to Virginia.  He was the only person I knew aside from my two cousins who lived in the town.  He was my playmate, my friend, my protector.  A few years later our family experienced a random, traumatic event (especially traumatic for a ten year old little girl).  A construction worker building the house next door to ours burglarized our house, but my father returned home in the middle of the robbery.  My dad, being the smart, quick-thinking man that he is, wrote down the license plate number of the car parked in the driveway.  Luckily my dad was not hurt and the men just left the house and thanks to dad's quick thinking, the police were able to track the license plate number and find the men.  The night before the trial for the burglary one of the men came back to our house and shot multiple gun shots at our house.  One of the bullets penetrated the front wall of the house and stopped at the wall that lead into my bedroom, on the wall where I was sleeping in my bed.  Again, luckily no one was injured, but I was traumatized.  I couldn't sleep alone for months.  So my big brother let me sleep in the extra twin bed in his room.  He did all he could to make me feel safe again.

We then moved to Massachusetts before I began the sixth grade.  Again, I knew no one and B was my only friend.  As a freshman in high school, most big brothers wouldn't want anything to do with their little bratty sister, but not B.  He was always there for me.  He came to my swim meets to support me and drove me around when he got his license.  But then in 1996 he graduated high school and moved to Richmond to attend college and I moved to Georgia, where I again knew no one.  But this move was different because my big brother wasn't there with me.  It was by far the hardest move we made.  But we stayed in touch and have only grown closer over the years.

I was lucky enough to live in the same town with B for a few years after law school.  And as I've already mentioned on here, he moved to California in June.  This time he was the one to make a big move and it has been difficult in many ways.  I wish I could have moved with him to be a friend and a support, like he has always been to me over the years.  But my life is here, in Atlanta.  So we'll have to settle for visits, which luckily we've been able to have multiple times since June.

I just returned from ten days in California visiting B with my mom and Lukas.  For me, it was a wonderful trip.  I was able to see where B lives (which is in a house with an amazing view of the ocean in a great town north of San Diego), see where Stu goes to school and even get a massage at the Chopra Center where B now works.  He shared his new city with us - taking us for walks on the beach, to his favorite restaurants and stand-up paddle boarding, his new exercise.  But mostly, we stayed at his house and talked and just spent time together.  It was precious time and I truly now believe the your time is the best gift you can give anyone.

I wish he still lived close by.  But I wish that for selfish reasons.  He's pursuing his passion and career and I'm so proud of him for taking the steps to reach his dreams. 

I love my big brother and am sad to have left him.  But now I can look forward to our next trip together, whenever that may be.  And while the two words "little sister" describe me, when I think of my big brother, I now also think of the word friend.  Not everyone is lucky enough to have a close bond with their sibling.  But I am blessed to have him as my brother, and as my friend.

Tune-Out

Miraculously my mom and I escaped from Atlanta right before the big snowstorm of 2011 hit.  We were scheduled to fly out to California on Tuesday afternoon, but the weathermen were predicting that the storm would hit Sunday evening.  So mom, being the determined woman that she is, promptly called Delta and switched our flight to Sunday afternoon.  We were confirmed on the flight but were not assigned seats.  Being not-too-frequent flyers, we didn't exactly know what this mean.  We now know it means the airline overbooked the flight and you don't actually have a seat.  Well we got to the airport extremely early (since we brought 9 week old baby Lukas along with us), checked our bags and proceeded to the gate.  The flight didn't "open" for check in until 45 minutes before the scheduled departure, but mom got in line 20 minutes earlier than this and just stood there.  So she was first in line to be assigned a seat.  Or so we thought.  We learned that there were 7-8 people confirmed on the flight but seatless.  We were two of these people.  The gate agent told us that we'd just have to wait and see.

So we waited.  They began boarding the flight and still we waited.  About 10 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave, the our names appeared on the "cleared" list, which meant we had seats!!!  I went over the gate agent  and she told me that she bumped us up to the top of the list to get seats since we had a baby and my mom had been so kind even given the situation.  So thanks to the random stranger at Delta, we got our seats on the plane and left for California.  Lukas slept almost the entire flight 5 hour flight.  He is becoming quite the world traveler.

We arrived in California around 3pm PST, just as the snow storm hit Atlanta.  Since Sunday, the city has more or less shut down.  Schools have been closed, grocery stores have been without food and car wrecks are on every corner - or so I hear from Mr. Cob and the internet.  I haven't actually seen any of the footage on TV because my brother (who we are here visiting) doesn't have a TV.  And it is amazing.  I have not missed the TV once since we have been here.  In fact, I love not having a TV.  You are forced to spend quality time with the people around you and talk.  I don't miss the shows I usually watch or the seeing the news.  It has been great to tune-out this week.  While I know that I can't convince Mr. Cob to get rid of the TV (he has to watch his Cubbies, even if they're losing...), I at least want to have a big family without a TV in our next house.  I want a space for family and friends to congregate where there is no distracting TV.  For now, I'll enjoy the rest of our trip tuned out.

We made it

Well we did it. We took our 6 week old baby on his first flight! It was an experience, but not for the reasons you'd think.

Before we even left the house, my huge suitcase broke. One of the wheels fell off. I was worried that this was a sign of things to come. But the next hour was smooth sailing. No traffic in Atlanta at 4pm. Park n Ride had plenty of space. We checked our luggage curbside with no issues. We got through security quickly - no problem bringing all the baby stuff (stroller, car-seat, meds, liquids, etc.) and no body pat-down or invasive scans.

We rode the train to the A terminal when I noticed i had two missed calls from a 1-800 number and then Mr. Cob had the same missed call. At this point the babe was getting cranky so we sat down for me to feed him and Mr. Cob called the number back. It was Delta. Our flight was CANCELED!! So this was definitely not good. Anger and panic flooded Mr. Cob's face. He continued talking to the rep and this is what I hear.
Cob: "Yes, it's me and my wife."
"and my baby...my SIX week old baby..."
"yes, we have an infant with us."
(silence)

Somehow the woman must have felt for us anode she put us on another flight leaving at the same time as our original flight. Rather than flying into Midway we were now flying into O'Hare. So we got back on the train and rode to he B terminal and checked in to our new flight. I was looking at our new boarding passes and saw that we were priority seating. I then realized, we were now flying first class! A negative turned positive.

So this whole time the baby was wide awake at the airport being a cutie pie and attracting lots of attention. And he fell asleep the minute we sat down on the plane. So momma enjoyed the complimentary red wine and watched Charlie St. Cloud on the flight while Lukas slept. He was perfect! And we landed in Chicago with no problems. My in laws were at O'Hare waiting for us.

So our first flight with Lukas was smooth sailing (err, flying). But then we hit some turbulence. Our bags didn't make the flight. They were en route to Midway arriving three hours later. And wouldn't be delivered to us until the next day. Well it's the next day and still no bags. Supposedly they are on their way. So we're still in our clothes from yesterday, but at least we're here and with family. And the baby is happy, which is what is important. I'm just thankful we didn't check the stroller or car seat. Or we'd still be sitting at the airport!

Hopefully our bags will get here soon. You have to love traveling! It's always an adventure.

Fly Fly

Mr. Cob and I flip flop Thanksgiving and Christmas each year between our two families.  This year, we're spending Christmas with his fam.  They live four states away.  740 miles away.  So we were faced with a dilemma.  Drive in a car for 12 plus hours with a six week old baby or hop on an airplane for two hours with said six week old baby.  We've decided to fly...

I think I'm in complete denial about this trip.  It takes me twenty extra minutes just to get out the door to go to the grocery store with Lukas and I inevitably always forget something, be it a bag for dirty diapers, an extra set of clothes, a pacifier or his hat.  So by that calculation I should've started packing weeks ago for this trip, but I have not done a thing aside from wash some clothes (note, I said "some"...this means there are plenty more clothes to be washed).  So yea, I'm spending the next couple of days getting ready for our trip.  But we're really excited to see Mr. Cob's family and friends and show off our little man some more. 

There are so many things I have questions about that I didn't give a second thought to pre-baby:   I'm nervous about managing security at the airport - can we take the stroller through?  How much extra time should we allow?  What if our flight gets delayed and I run out of diapers?  Do they sell diapers on the concourse?  Does my diaper bag count as one of my carry on items?  I've heard to give the baby a bottle on takeoff - so I guess I need to pump milk to have some bottles ready to go.  Or can I just breastfeed him - will that have the same effect?  Or is there something special about the bottle/plastic nipple?

This is sure to be an adventure...

Anyone have any tips for traveling with an infant????

Week 34 Pics...from last week

Mr. Cob had an early meeting with the government this morning so we didn't have time to take the week 34 picture.  But mom just sent me some pictures from our beach trip last week, so I thought I'd share those.  Use your imagination by removing the beach background, adding 3 more pounds to me, and putting me in a black work maternity dress and you can picture what I look like today.  These pics are much more exciting...

Before dinner one night.  Looking quite preggo.

My sweet parents

Dad and I at the beach.  I do have a bathing suit on...I just threatened my mom with her life if she were to actually take a picture showing me in said bathing suit. 

The sun rise one morning.

Me on the beach - again, mom took my threats seriously and strategically shot the picture of just my face.

Somehow she caught me with my guard down and I allowed her to take this pic.  I think she'd just told me that I looked very Jackie O with the big black shades and chignon.  Way to go mom - you got your pic!

The first pic from my other side.

Savannah Wedding Part 2

And now for the second part of our Savannah weekend...the wedding!  Our friend Anthony, a classmate from law school, married his fiance Allison and they had a beautiful wedding.  The ceremony was held at the Trinity United Methodist Church in downtown Savannah.  Located in Telfair Square and built in 1848, Trinity United Methodist is the oldest Methodist Church in Savannah.

Here are a few pictures from the ceremony...

(We were sitting pretty far in the back).

The reception was held at the Hyatt Regency overlooking the Savannah River.  It was a beautiful location.  The food was wonderful and included a mashed potato bar (YUM - a huge hit!), a pasta bar, raw oysters (which sadly I had to pass on given my current "state"), and the best boursin stuffed mushrooms.  We had a great time celebrating Anthony and Allison and spending the evening with great friends. 

We had a wonderful weekend!