3/22/08 Road Trip!

I took a road trip this weekend! Originally Tony and I were going to head over to Nashville to see the Hawks play the Predators, but first all the tickets were sold out, and then Tony got called in to work, so I just ended up heading to Nashville by myself to visit my long time buddy N and her most adorable (and my personal favorite) baby Eli.

I knew he wasn't going to remember me since I hadn't seen him in forever, and I'm pretty sure that his long-term memory isn't that developed yet, so the best I could hope for was anything other than terrified "stranger danger!" screaming. I was in luck. I got a momentary "Who the heck are you?" look, and then he laughed and grinned and we all settled down to play.

Who did you say that you were again?

Eli is a whopping 10 months old now, and is into everything! He can walk if he's holding onto his Mr. Hippo push cart, and he has 6 whole teeth, and he says "ma ma ma ma ma", and he has no less than three million toys, all of which sing to him, and flash blinking lights, and count to him in Spanish. (All the toys are bilingual toys now- Eli knows more Spanish than I do). I'm not sure where Nicole gets the energy to keep up with him day after day either. You have to be constantly vigilant about where he is and what he's doing, because if you blink for even a second (say, for example, the exact second that his mama went to the bathroom and left Aunt Quirky in charge) he's off and running crawling at roughly 95mph. I had to jog to catch him before he made it out of the living room and into the kitchen. N was really good about it though. I got to play with him and carry him around and give him his bedtime bottle and strap him into his car seat and everything, and not once did she act like she was concerned that I was going to break him.

Aunt Quirky (with no makeup and weird hair), playing with Eli and his pink cell phone while Kermit looks on in the background. Is it just me or does Kermit look really concerned about my baby handling abilities?

Not that it was all about Eli though. Nonononono. I swear I talked N's ear off for a full 24 hours. While I can keep up with some of the stuff she's into from her blog, it's just not the same as being able to sit down and really talk to someone. (Well, talk and go to Target and buy some shoes, and watch a movie, and play the Wii, and shop for skirts, and eat cookies for dinner). N is one of those friends that it doesn't matter how long it's been, we can just pick up again right where we left off, and it just rolls from there. Plus I'm now completely in awe of her, because somewhere along the way, she also turned into SuperMom.

N and Eli play on the floor. Notice how she looks fresh and nicely groomed, and I'm the one who looks like I haven't slept in a year! How'd she do that?!?

Anyway, it was a quick 24 hour visit, but it was totally worth it. I really enjoyed seeing N and getting to spend time with Eli. I had a blast with my old friend as well as with my new one.

And the drool wasn't even that bad.