Southerners in SoCal: Life of Wilder: Week Twenty-Eight

Last weekend was our last couple of days in Jackson. I was ready to get home so I could get Wilder back on his schedule, but I was not really ready to leave at all. This trip was so relaxing and more like a vacation than any of the other trips have been so far. I know Paul was ready for us to be back though. He was living on PB&J's and tap water because he was too ~~lazy~~ busy to go to the grocery and one night Rider had a run-in with a skunk which resulted in Paul having to bathe her at 2:00 AM, plus he missed his baby Wilder. So, needless to say, we were welcomed home on Monday with lots of hugs and kisses... and a grocery list.

Let me backtrack to last weekend though. On Saturday we met some of my mom's family in Mason, TN, to eat at Bozo's Hot Pit BBQ. It was opened in 1923 by some of my cousin Amber's family and has been a West Tennessee staple ever since. Its most recent claim to fame is that a scene from the movie "Walk the Line" was filmed there. They serve classic Southern BBQ and sides and have some of the best BBQ sauce I've ever tasted. I promised Paul I would go eat there while I was in town so I could buy more sauce since we had recently depleted our stock at home. It was a fun lunch and was nice to see my grandmother and aunts and uncle one more time.

(Don't worry, I sanitized the table first)

Wilder and his great-grandmother

On Sunday we went back over to my grandmother's house to swim and grill out. My brother and Lauren, recently back from their honeymoon, came over with some of their friends and I had Jinny and another old friend from high school, Katie, and her kids over. We ended up staying at the pool for something like 5 hours so it was pretty exhausting but it was such a fun day. It was really good to see old friends and their kids and Wilder loves being in the water so much. I definitely have to find a pool out here to take him to.

Seriously, he never wanted to get out of the water...

Look at those little wrinkled baby toes :)

William and Lauren left to go back to Mississippi on Sunday and it was hard saying goodbye to them. Wilder just adores both of them and they are so sweet with him.

Monday was the day I'd been dreading since we arrived in Tennessee. It seriously makes me a little ill just thinking about saying goodbye to my parents at the airport. I can never sleep the night before and, last time, I balled my eyes out all the way through security and until after the plane took off. This time I told my mom I felt like I was going to need a Xanax to get through the goodbyes so she asked my dad to stay home and not ride with us to Nashville so I didn't have to tell them both goodbye at once. I would never have thought to do it that way but it actually helped so much.

Diesel thought he was riding with us. He

jumped in through my open door and

over Wilder to that seat, haha. Wilder

thought that was a great trick :)

It's a good thing I was able to stay more composed at this departure. That way I didn't look like a distraught, crazy person when I stopped in the middle of the terminal to take a picture of The Band Perry who I just happened to recognize on the way to my plane. I seriously regret not asking them to take a picture with Wilder, but I was in a hurry and the girl was on the phone. I was pretty excited to see them anyway and at least get somewhat of a picture.

I have now flown both on nonstop flights and a flight with a layover and I can say with confidence that including a stop is sooo much better. Even if it's kind of a pain to change planes, a layover breaks up the flight and gives you at least a short break from entertaining a baby in an enclosed space. Note to self (and to anyone flying a long distance with a baby): Schedule your flight with a layover! Nothing's worse than making it through the first hour of a flight and then realizing you still have 3 more hours to go. Oh, also please note that it is a fact that even if you are on the coveted first row of the plane, every single person will pass by you and choose to have a terrible seat rather than sit next to a baby. Do not let this offend you. It's simply a fact that a baby is a wild card on an airplane and no one wants to take a chance that they will be trapped next to a crying baby for hours.

Even though it was long, the flight home really could not have gone better. Wilder slept for an hour and a half straight, which gave me a nice break, and then just played the rest of the time. The guy next to us slept for most of the flight but every so often Wilder would pat him on the arm and make him jump. It was pretty funny and luckily the guy didn't mind too much. I think he was just relieved that he ended up next to Wilder instead of the other five crying babies on the plane. The last hour of the flight I could tell that Wilder was getting tired of sitting in my lap, and frankly I was getting tired of holding him, so I scooted up to the edge of the seat and let him sit behind me. He loved this change of scenery and thought he was a big boy getting to sit in the seat by himself. Oh, and here's another flying-with-baby tip: Give him your phone. Wilder sat there and played with/chewed on my phone for basically the whole last hour. It was a lifesaver.

Oh, and we flew over the wildfires in Arizona.

We were at 36,000 feet and were going through

smoke from the fires... Pretty crazy.

This week we've been working on getting back on our schedule. Wilder actually wasn't thrown off at all by the time difference coming back, so that was a big relief. He's been a little more tired and fussy the past few days just readjusting to our daily routine and to not having multiple people around him at all times. He's been eating so good and learning all kinds of new things though.

For about the past week and a half Wilder has been eating 3 solids meals on most days as well as still nursing 6 times during the day. I swear I think he's gained at least 2-lbs in the last 2 weeks. He has had sweet potatoes (fave), prunes (surprising 2nd fave), peas (best if mixed with rice cereal), apples, apricots, pears, spinach (hates), potatoes, and carrots.

I've also been trying to teach him a few new things. The crawling is a no-go so far, but he can now roll across the floor to and/or spin around to whatever it is he decides he needs to put his mouth on at any particular moment. I've also been trying to teach him how to high-five. It's kind of slow going. He will, without any enthusiasm, put his hand up to your hand and then proceed to grab your hand and put it in his mouth. He definitely doesn't get the concept completely yet. Maybe I should try doing it after something he's naturally excited about like eating his sweet potatoes. Then he might be more inclined to understand the need for a celebratory gesture.

The best thing he's learned to do this week is... dum duh duh duh... turn off lights. When I'm putting him down for his naps, I always hold him while I close the door and turn off the light in his room. One day this week he started putting his hand on the door with mine when I closed it so I wondered if he could also learn to turn off the light and sure enough...

How funny is that! What a helpful baby, I have :)

Paul has been working basically nonstop on his studio project, but yesterday was our 4-year anniversary (!) so he took off early and helped me finish cleaning the house for our babysitter (that's another whole story*) and then took me to dinner downtown at George's on Fifth. We've only been out alone together once since Wilder was born so it was a nice change of scenery to go to a fancy restaurant to talk about how wonderful he is instead of sitting at home talking about how wonderful he is. Plus the steaks were fabulous and we got free anniversary desserts. It was a good night and I feel so lucky to have this man in my life. I'm looking forward to spending 100 more years with him. :)

*I used to make fun of my mom for cleaning before the maid came and I still think that's a little extreme, but I have to admit that I cleaned for two days before our friend Kate came to babysit for us. You all clean before your babysitters come over too right? Anyway, Kate is the fiancee of a good friend of Paul's from school. She is so sweet and nice and I'm sure she wouldn't have cared if our house looked like a wreck, but, I deep-cleaned it anyway because a) Her apartment is immaculate and beautiful and all-white and I didn't want her to turn and run for the door when she walked into our exact opposite of a house, and b) Imagine with me what your house would look like if your husband stayed in it by himself for a week. Are you seeing two days worth of necessary deep-cleaning in your future? Exactly.

Most of the rest of the week was uneventful sooo I guess that's all for this week. I'll just leave you with a few more cute pictures as usual...

Hanging out with Granddaddy