Just Peachy...A Great Trip to Georgia

This past weekend Dave and I flew with Eddie down to Georgia for my cousin Jennie's wedding. My mom flew to NY earlier in the week so she could drive down with Edward and Emmy. It was a little crowded in his Mazda with four adults, one baby, one doggie, and all our stuff. But it really wasn't bad, once Emmy decided to sit on the floor instead of on my lap.

We weren't sure we could (should?) afford to go down for the celebration but wanted so badly to see everyone. After all, this was the first time in a LONG time that we got to go down south for something other than a funeral. Plus it was a great opportunity for Eddie to meet everyone on my dad's side.

All our cousins down south are "double cousins;" my grandma and her sister married my grandpa and his brother. So all their children and doubly related. Cool, huh? My cousin Jennie is really my dad's cousin's daughter...which makes her my second cousin...I think. Anyway, over the last few years Edward and I have (finally) become close with this side of our family.

I didn't get to know my dad's side of the family (other than my grandparents and one first cousin) until I was a teenager, which was a bummer because by then most of the cousins who are my age were pretty standoffish towards me. That's just the way teenagers are I guess.

Well, I don't want that to happen to my sweet Eddie. It is important to me that he know his whole family from a very early age, unlike the situation that Edward and I experienced. Over the years my mom convinced herself that if my dad didn't want to travel to see his or her family then she simply shouldn't go either, to the detriment of Edward and I. My dad is one of those men who would prefer to never step foot out of his town and really dislikes flying. My mom loves traveling but wouldn't go anywhere without my dad. (Lordy, the games married couples play...) So we grew up feeling like we didn't know anyone in our family very well--not even our aunt and uncle who live right here in northern California!

Like all new mothers, I am determined to give my child everything that I didn't have. So I don't want Eddie growing up with the impression that he isn't worth my effort to get him involved with his family. (Despite the controversy with my sister-in-law, that's why I let Dave take Eddie to see her even though she won't interact with me right now. Her issues are with me, not with Eddie, and I'm not about to use my child as a toy in her silly game. They are family, pure and simple, and should have a relationship. If she were an evil, mean, or bad person I wouldn't allow it. But she's not. She's just Bernie.)

Anyway...so this was Eddie's first time on a plane and he did so well. He slept the whole flight on the way there--the only time he woke up was to suckle for a few minutes when my ears were hurting (I assume his were, too) and then for a feeding. On the flight back he was a little fussy but didn't cry for more than a few seconds when I didn't get my boob in his face as fast as he wanted.

Have you ever seen such a cute carry-on?
The wedding was beautiful--Jennie and her new husband Mike make a great couple. The ceremony was outdoors and I chose to stand at the back of the courtyard in case Eddie got fussy and noisy. Just at the beginning he started fussing so I put on my hooter hider and sat on the steps to nurse him...but I didn't want to miss the wedding so I ended up standing and nursing at the same time for the whole ceremony (and it was a long ceremony!). Eddie is a very noisy breather when he nurses (I think it is called laryngomalacia) and I was worried that everyone would hear him squawking but no one did, thank goodness.

We stayed at the reception until it was over. Eddie did pretty well during the reception, but did want to nurse a lot. My guess is that the cool night air and the loud dancing music irritated him. During the last dance (a slow song), Dave and I danced with Eddie between us. =)The next morning the WHOLE gang of 20 Levies had breakfast at Cracker Barrel before everyone headed off to their destinations. Since we weren't flying back until Monday we spent a night in Atlanta at an airport hotel. Edward's friend Cara (who went to Yosemite with us this summer) happened to be in town for job training so we go to meet up with her for dinner. It was fun to hang out with her and hear about her new job and all the hoops she's jumping through to renovate/upgrade the house she's living in. Sunday was also my mom's birthday so we all sang a very off-key rendition of happy birthday to her after the waitress surprised her with a slice of delicious chocolate cake.The day after the wedding it rained and Dave and I were overly happy about it. Certainly not because the Atlanta area needed anymore rain after the recent floods, but because WE needed the rain. Being from California, we get very excited about non-winter rains. Ahhhhhhhh.Overall it was a great trip. It was surprisingly low stress, in part because we made sure our flight out of SMF was late morning instead of at dawn. We're all hoping for a Levie family reunion next summer at Lake Tahoe. It is crazy to think that Eddie will be a year old by then.