Growing Gormans: Weeks 37 and 38

Week 37

On Saturday, the 29th, we dropped Lily off at my parents house for her first sleepover so Dan and I could have a night to ourselves to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary. Dan and I had a nice dinner at Sakura, a hibachi japanese place on Main Street in Farmingdale. Then we went home and relaxed. We were very tired from Friday night. Lily kept us up ALL night. She just wouldn't stay asleep. So, good for Dan and I that we got to sleep peacefully Saturday night even though I missed Lily terribly. Bad for my parents and sisters who were up all night with Lily.
On Monday, the 1st, Lily said "Mom." I swear she did. I would point to myself and say "Mommy" and Lily would respond with "Mom." Dan heard it so I'm not making it up! It feels good to hear, but it will feel even better when I know for sure that she actually knows I am Mom.
Also on Monday, the 1st, Lily started giving things to us. She reached out her arm to me as she was holding a toy. I took it and she laughed. She did the same thing Monday night with Dan. She reached out her arm to him as she was holding a water teether. She put it to Dan's mouth and laughed when he took it.
Sometime this week (I forgot to write down the exact day) Lily started making raspberry sounds with her mouth.

Week 38

On Saturday, the 6th, Dan, Lily, and I went upstate to Hamburg for a wedding. An 8 hour car ride that took 11. It started out bad as we were stuck in traffic near the G W bridge for about 1-1/2 hours. While stuck in traffic (non moving BTW) Dan got sick and threw up. Luckily we had a plastic bag in the car. Lily was terrific for the ride. We stopped about every 3 hours to feed and change her. She never complained, except when we were about 20 minutes from our hotel. By that point it was almost at the 11 hour mark strapped down in her car seat with little activity all day. Dan and I are so proud of her!
Because Lily had little to no activity for the 11 hour car ride Saturday, she did not want to go to sleep. She was a little delirious by that point and was laughing for no apparent reason. She would stand up in the pack n play to see Dan, then she would move to the other side to see me. She did this about 20 times in a row. Lily did have a first that night: She walked a bit holding onto the edge of the pack n play! She's gonna be walking in no time - Oh No!!
On Sunday, the 7th, since the wedding wasn't until 5pm, we decided to go to Niagara Falls. A 45 minute car ride seemed like a breeze after the 11 hour one we had the day before. It wasn't the best weather upstate. It was cloudy and cold with a light drizzle from time to time. For some God awful reason, we decided to go on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. For those who don't know what that is, it's a boat that takes you into the horseshoe of the waterfall. They should rename the boat to the Maid of the Downpour. Seriously, what a bad parenting mistake by us. Even with those rain bags over us, we still got drenched. Poor Lily. She cried the whole time. All I could do was give dirty looks to Dan while trying my hardest to hold onto Lily and not get swept away by the wind and water. I know it was not Dan's fault and I wasn't mad at him, but I was pissed that I agreed to take the boat ride with Lily. After it was over, I removed Lily's drenched socks and I wrapped her in my arms with a dry fleece wrap I had. Almost immediately, she passed out. All of her crying and being on that boat going through the Falls really exhausted her. She was wiped out!
Sunday night was the wedding in Orchard Park, NY. Dan's cousin Kathleen's son, Keith, got married. This was Lily's first wedding. Her second will be her uncle K.C.'s in 5 months.
Monday, the 8th, we headed home. This time it took us a little more than 9 hours. What a difference from the ride up.
On a side note, why is it that once we got off the Island, there was absolutely no changing stations for babies in any of the places we stopped at. We stopped at a couple of Mc Donald's, an Arby's, and a Wendy's. There wasn't even a changing station in the rest room of Niagara Falls information center. WTF is up with that? You go anywhere here on Long Island and even the men's rooms have changing stations (or so I am told). When I asked a worker at each of these locations we stopped at if they had one (after not seeing it in the rest rooms) They all said no like it wasn't something that they would even think to have. The only place that said they were trying to get one installed but their corporate office keeps saying no was Arby's. I hated changing Lily's diaper right in the middle of the restaurants with people around, but what else was I to do? Now I was "one of those parents."
On Tuesday, the 9th, Dan took Lily to her Tots-On-Track class. Dan had taken off from work was part of his mini-vaca for this wedding trip. Since he was off, I suggested that he take her to class so he could see Lily interact with the other babies her age. I enjoyed the time to myself. I did the laundry - and folded it! And I even scrubbed the tub. All this without any interruptions. It was nice (how sad is that?).