Just Plane Lucky

People, the travel gods seriously smiled down on us yesterday. Evie slept the entire way to Providence (that's 1 1/2 hours in the car, folks). The agents at the security gate were super kind and helpful. My husband didn't get a hernia from the umpteen carry on items he was lugging through the terminals. We got to board first and there were SEVEN vacant seats all around us. Then Evie did not have a giant poop on the airplane (a possibility that Graham had been waking up in cold sweats over for weeks).

And then? AND THEN?!?! Evie fell asleep! The first 1.5 hours of the flight were spent in complete silence. I got to brush up on my Tap Defense skills. Very important. Have I mentioned how I like Evie the best when she is asleep?

Well, asleep-Evie is my fllllaaaaavorite.

So she naps. And then? AND THEN!?!? She wakes up and is all "Hello. I feel incredibly rested and would like to giggle at you for the remainder of the flight."

So of course I'm all "Yes please. And thank you. I'll make moronic noises to further exacerbate your laughter."

So, to summarize: Thank you Jesus.

The only bad part: my foot fell asleep during her nap. And instead of doing the it-tingles-in-a-bad-way dance I just sit there. I take one for the team. Because, people, only an idiot would chance waking a sleeping baby at 20,000 feet. In fact, had the plane been an ocean and a shark had swam up and begun slowly gnawing my foot to a bloody stump, I still wouldn't have moved. Not in a million years.

We got really lucky, and that is not lost on me. This trip was infinitely better than the last plane ride we took with her: when I had to pump in the lavatory, proceeded to spill my hard-earned milk all over the nasty, urine-caked floor, and then threw myself out of the exit door. Or maybe I just thought about that last past.

Regardless. It is so good to be home. I hope that you and your's have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

Long Overdue

In August we went to Atlanta and, besides the part where I had to milk myself, it was an awesome trip. Evie got to meet all of the amazing Southern Folks who love her so very much. And suffice it to say that there are a LOT of them. So we did what any good Georgian Family (albeit a transplanted one) would do: ate a lot of food and traveled around handing out free hugs everywhere we went.

I'm just gonna say it: Southerners do it better. And I don't just mean cooking, decorating, and partying. I mean they are better at being humans. (Oh, wait, what's that sound I just heard? The tapping noise of my non-southern readers clicking UN-FOLLOW). But really, once you dip below the Mason Dixon Line it's hard not to compare everywhere else you go to That Place where the people are just soooo naice (that's "nice" in Georgia-speak)... and I'm not gonna lie: there is a piece of me that dies every time I think about the little, twangy accent that Evie could have had.

And the love. Ohhhh the looooove. There were people who we saw on this visit who have loved us our entire lives, so to see them snuggling on Evie just made my heart look like a scene straight out of Disney's Fantasia.

Three cheers for Grandpa. Hip-Hip, Horray!

Snuggling with the Meemers...who drove all the way from Mississippi to hold Ms. Evie.

And the man who has, on more than one occasion, been single-handedly responsible for helping me maintain my sanity.

And the man who has, on more than one occasion, been single-handedly responsible for keeping Graham's mother from murdering him.

As you can see, the trip was a success...and we cannot wait to take Evie back to the ATL in November so that she can meet her new cousin, Sophi.

I will leave you with some sweet, sweet second cousin love.

**PHOTOS TAKEN BY THE UBER-TALENTED GRAHAM SCOBEY, DUH**

(un) Labor Day

It has been an understandably busy summer for us in the Scobey house... so it comes as no surprise that I turned around the other day and summer was gone. Like: 50-degrees-outside-in-the-morning-time-to-turn-the-heat-on-in-the-house GONE. Since we have not had much of a summer, we decided that we'd better go out in style. So when our good friends, Carl and B, invited us out to the lake for Labor Day, we jumped at the chance. Graham had shot three weddings this weekend (yes, onetwothree: one Friday, one Saturday, and one Sunday) so he really deserved a down day.

Monday morning we head over to Thompson... which is about a 45 minute car ride. Neither of us were looking forward to spending this much time with Little Bit in the car because, for some reason, every-time she has gotten in the car this month she has screamed obscenities at us for the duration of the ride. And it sucks. Because you HAVE to get in the car. There is absolutely no escaping it. So: we go to the grocery... she screams, we go to church... she screams, we go ANYWHERE UNDER THE SUN... and the child SCREAMS.

Where was I? Oh. Neither of us were looking forward to spending this much time with Little Bit in the car. So we get her all packed up and several moments into the journey... guess what?

She goes to sleep. It was awesome. This would be a good time to tell you about how she also slept the whole way home...but then I would be skipping the entire "lake" portion of the story.

On to the lake portion of the story:

I know... it's like they took Graham's head and put it on a baby's body and then, VIOLA... you get Evie!

Notice how much happier she looks to be in my lap? This is an anomaly... she is a total daddy's girl. I mean, she loves us both, but I foresee many fights in my future where I am getting ganged up on.

One manly skier

TWO manly skiers - there was a near death experience soon after this photo was taken, but I won't say whose fault it was (*cough*GRAHAM*cough*)

One dry dog

One wet (read: dejected and totally pitiful) dog

The End.

There's More Than One Way to Milk a Cow

As any of you who have ever had the pleasure of pumping breast-milk know, it is a process that requires tools. I mean more tools than a Home Depot. More tools than a Home Depot that just won a high-stakes-poker-game with a Lowe's.

There's the actual pump...then you need what I like to call the trumpets...and the bottles to attach to the trumpets...and tops for the bottles. Our trip to Alabama last week was going to be more than a 3-bottle trip (When you have a baby, hours start to lose their meaning. Time starts being gauged in terms of how many bottles or feedings your baby will require while you are away.) so we had to take the pump. While we were at Mama Hazel's and everyone was taking pictures, I excused myself to go to the restroom and pump some milk. Except that when I got to the bathroom and rifled through my bag I realized...no, it couldn't be...I am not that stupid. Oh yes. I am.

I forgot the trumpets.

No worries, I tell myself, breast-pumps have only been around about 60 years...so how did people do this before then? Well, they breast-fed. The only problem there is that, for the past week, whenever Evie so much as sees my boob she screams bloody murder (it does WONDERS for my self esteem).

So I channel my inner cave woman and I express. By. Hand.

If someone had told me ten years ago that on one humid, lowly day in August of 2009 I'd be hunched over a toilet in a nursing home bathroom, giving myself the purple-nurple of the century, I probably would have choked to death on my own laugh. Four ounces later and I have found success. My child will not starve today! And let me tell you, I haven't had a hand cramp like that since the verbal portion of the SAT.

I wanna be a part of it...

Last weekend we took the train into Manhattan to see my Mom and Papa, who were in town because my little brother was singing at Carnegie Hall. Yeah...that Carnegie Hall. It was a pretty amazing opportunity that he got through his school's honor choir. If I were him I would start every anecdote from this point forward with "that reminds me of the time I sang at Carnegie Hall".

The trip was a whirlwind...but so much fun. It was like an extreme, two-day-long double date complete with a lot of amazing food. Seriously. Amazing. Food.

Here I am with Mom and Papa at Anthropologie...where I will one day soon be able to shop again. Yay!!

The view from our hotel room (Central Park is back there somewhere...look closely)

Some crazy people outside of Radio City Music Hall

Two thumbs up for weekend excursions!! This week has been really busy, too. Graham's parents are in town helping us finish the basement and get Evie's nursery painted. Our house is such a wreck that our dog is convinced that we are moving again. A ginormous "extreme home makeover" post is on it's way in a short while.

Home Again, Home Again

Well...we are back in Connecticut. It is completely bittersweet because it is really great to be back home (and I left my house SPOTLESS, which adds to the great by 10) but the beach was amazing and wonderful and warm. I could have spent another week there, easy.

Our next vacation will probably be in a year, when we take little Evie down to the beach over Mama's spring break (I get Spring Breaks...because I am going to be in school for the rest of my life...). I cannot wait to see if she loves the sand and sun as much as her mom, dad, and brother (Bear) do.

Speaking of Evie...our little chuck-roast has a BED now!! While we were in Atlanta last weekend we went by The Baby's Room in Roswell and ordered her crib and chair. I am so excited (relieved) that this is done. Shipping should take 6-10 weeks...and we have 11 1/2 left until she is here...but no worries, it will get done.

All we need now is for the little monkey to keep growing and get here when she is ready.

Spring Break 2K9

I have decided that dolling out random compliments is about the nicest thing a person can do for a pregnant woman. Last night Graham and I ate at The Red Bar (cue salivation). On the way out a woman stopped me by the arm and said "You look great". It made my life.

Let me lay it out for you. I am 7 1/2 months pregnant, 25 pounds heavier than I was this time last year and at the beach where (as if the aforementioned things did not already make me feel large enough to physically eat Panama City) every tanorexic college student within a 9 state radius has decided to spend the week.

They lounge there on their towels, all tan and size-zero, sunbathing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I hate them all. I am no longer dwelling over being able to eat Panama City...I am going to eat them.

I have also begun to waddle. Matters of size aside, though, it has been an amazing trip. I do not want to go back to Connecticut (where, coincidentally, it has been snowing all week).

Beach Bum(p)

Our Cruise...

At the beginning of June Graham and I took a cruise (along with his sister, brother-in-law, mom, and dad) down the Mexican Rivera. It was 7 days and 7 nights of amazingness punctuated by blue skies, sandy beaches, awesome food, and opportunities to practice Spanish.This picture is right after our (ahem) bumpy ride in Puerto Vallarta to the very off-road area where we went on zip lines through the canopies.

I know that these are long, long overdue...but better late than never, right?

Lauren and I waiting to go on our ocean kayaking adventure.

We had an amazing trip and were so thankful for the opportunity to relax...especially given how very stressful our summer is going to be.

Let the Summer Begin

Hey everyone in blogger-land! An update on my week: I am leaving on a week-long cruise tomorrow (yay!) and I saw Saturn (and it's moons) last night through a high-powered telescope. Talk about things in life that make you feel insignificant. I wonder if there were little (of course, GREEN) alien people looking at Earth through their own high-powered telescope thinking the exact same thing. I like to think so. If there are aliens out there, I do not think they are Independence Day-esque hostile creatures...I think they might look like this:

Oh I hope so. I really, really hope so. Then I will adopt them in mass quantities, Brangelina style!

Posting is going to be sparse this week. I do PROMISE, however, to post at least twice...so hold me to it...if I don't, I will publicly display my phone number and you all have permission to call ask if my refrigerator is running...which it won't be, as I am in the process of moving...but I digress.

I wanted to be able to pack up my apartment, get ready for the cruise, take finals, have family in town, and write enough posts to keep everyone occupied while I was away but, as it turns out, that might have been a tad over-ambitious.
Just so I say it today, because I believe it can never be said enough, I love all of you.