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

Wilder is wearing this special shirt because of all the lovely sweet potato poops we've been experiencing this week :)

Well, I was right... flying with a 6-month-old is definitely different than flying with a 3-month-old. In a nutshell our 4-hour flight consisted of Wilder sleeping about an hour and a half, ~~crying~~ screaming for 10 minutes, and playing/digging through the diaper bag/putting his mouth on every surrounding surface (don't worry I foresaw this and wiped down everything around us as soon as we boarded)/bouncing in my lap for the rest of the time. It was pretty exhausting trying to entertain him for most of the flight but overall he did really well. And considering he could have ~~cried~~ screamed for the whole 4 hours, 10 minutes is nothing (although at the time it seemed like it would never end).

To be fair, I have to tell you that the reason he was ~~crying~~ screaming in the first place was totally my fault. There were a lot of kids on our flight so the stewardess was passing out little cards with pictures of airplanes to color. She didn't want to leave Wilder out so she gave him one too. Knowing that everything goes in his mouth, I should have politely declined but I guess I was thinking I could keep it as a souvenir for his baby book. Of course, before I could get it from him, in his mouth a corner went and it didn't come back out. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the corner was stuck to the roof of his mouth in a little soggy wad. I may have freaked out a little thinking that any second he was going to choke on it so I quickly stuck my finger in and pulled it out... at which time my fingernail scraped the roof of his mouth... at which time he proceeded to scream bloody murder. You know when babies are tired, the slightest little thing will completely set them off? Yeah, that was the situation and he had a total meltdown for the longest 10 minutes of my life during which all of the surrounding rows pointedly did not look at us. Finally we pulled out the diaper bag to distract him and sang about 52 loops of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and he was fine the rest of the flight.

Even if flying with a 6-month-old is more difficult, it's also more fun. Wilder was much more interested in everything going on around him and you could tell he was really taking in everything about the experience. When we came down out of the clouds to start descending he was pressed up against the window watching the scenery rush by underneath us. It was really cute.

And of course seeing my parents light up as soon as they caught sight of us him immediately made me forget any trouble we had getting there. :)

This has been one of the most enjoyable trips to Tennessee I've had in a long time. Last weekend was really really busy with all the wedding festivities, but it was so much fun getting to see family and friends and watch my brother get married. On Friday morning Wilder and I went to a bridal luncheon for Lauren and then Friday night we had the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Wilder was such a trooper all day and it was fun getting to show him off and see my family love on him.

Wilder and Uncle William

Us with the bride

Us with my dad

Our little family

Saturday was the big day. William and Lauren's wedding was at a country cabin in Cedar Grove, TN, that my grandfather built several years before he died. My grandfather loved that land so much and I'm pretty sure his heaven is an exact replica. William and Lauren have spent a lot of time there so it was very special for them to get married there. They worked so hard getting the cabin and property ready in the months leading up to the wedding and everything looked so beautiful. The ceremony was on the front lawn of the cabin next to the lake and then tables were set up on the lawn and the cabin's deck for the reception. The weather cooled off as the sun set and really everything was just perfect.

Wilder was so good the whole time and got passed around all night from aunt to cousin to bridesmaid to cousin to uncle to grandmother to me of course and back again. He had so much fun looking at all the different people and watching everything that was going on. At one point I tried to put him down for a nap in a back bedroom but he was not having it. He didn't want to miss any of the party. It was such a fun night, I almost didn't want it to end but we finally sent off the newlyweds through a gauntlet of sparklers and went home and crashed.

My new sister-in-law --

she looked SO gorgeous!!

Wilder with cousin Katie

Wilder and his Grana

The wedding cake -- the toppers were William and

Lauren's dogs, Diesel and Layla, so cute!

Wilder with Uncle William -- Wilder wore

one of William's little Feltman outfits from

when he was a baby

Love my brother :)

Wilder dancing with cousin Maddie

Tired boy at the end of the night

Sending off the newlyweds

On Sunday we took Wilder over to Paul's grandparents' house for lunch. The last time Wilder and I were in town they had the whole family over to meet him but this time they purposely didn't invite anyone else (except Paul's dad) so they could spend more one-on-one time with him. They just ate him up and were so cute playing with him and loving on him. It did my heart good... and my belly since we had a typical Mama Sue feast for lunch (green beans, creamed corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra, roast beef, homemade fried chicken, coleslaw, corn bread, and chocolate cake). Lord have mercy, I can only dream of cooking like that woman!

Wilder with Pappy

Wilder sitting in the highchair that

more than a dozen Taylor grandchildren have

used through the years starting with Paul

Playing with Daddy G

Four generations of Taylor men

Wilder with his daddy, granddaddy, and great-grandparents

And Mama Sue dug this old picture out of Paul...

who does that look like? I never stood a chance

of Wilder looking like me, haha!

My Uncle Bill is a photographer based in Oxford, MS, (check him out here) and he worked his butt off photographing my brother's wedding Saturday night. Sunday afternoon Paul, Wilder, and I met up with him at my grandmother's house (where Paul and I got married four years ago) and he took family pictures and 6-month pictures of Wilder for us. We didn't have maternity, newborn, or any professional photos taken up till now so I'm so grateful that he would take the time to do that for us even though I'm sure he was exhausted. I know they will be gorgeous and so special! After the photo session we hung around and Wilder played with his cousins, Bill's four children, for a long time. Wilder loves being around other children so he had a great time and they were all so sweet to him, especially, to my surprise, the usually rowdy baby of the family, Tad. It was a great day and so nice to be able to relax with family without having to rush around from place to place.

Center of attention much?

Wilder playing with Alison, Tad, and Trip

Wilder with Sally Kate and Grand-Sally

"Baby Tad" wanted to hold baby Wilder :)

Paul left to go back to San Diego on Monday to finish up a project for school. He was so sad leaving knowing that he wouldn't see Wilder for a week, but duty called. I'm so proud of how hard he has been working this quarter. It's his last quarter of studio class and we are so ready for him to be done with that! That afternoon I took Wilder to my grandmother's house to get in the pool for the first time. I learned to swim in that pool at 18 months (believe it or not; Paul doesn't believe it, haha) and grew up swimming there all my life so it was special to me that Wilder's first pool experience was there. He absolutely loved it. I would hold him out at arms length and he would kick his legs in the water and he was fascinated by Tad and Sally Kate who kept going underwater and then popping up in different spots. He also loved watching them jump off the diving board. He thought they were magical :) It's amazing to think he'll be doing those same things in just a few short years.

Tuesday Wilder and I rode back to Cedar Grove with my mom to finish picking up stuff left from the wedding. I got some cute pictures of Wilder while we were there.

On Wednesday we went over to my best friend Jinny's house to play with her 4-year-old, Aniston, and 14-month-old, Blane, and eat dinner. Wilder loved getting to play with them and watch them run all around. Every time he gets around other kids he always comes home doing something new. This time he came home babbling away. He's been "talking" for months with sounds like ah-goo, gahh, fahh, etc. and more recently saying heyyy and yeah without realizing those are actually words. Now he's added baba, lala, and dadada (much to Paul's delight) to his vocal repertoire. I'm going to try to get them together again before we leave to see what else he can pick up. We had a great time getting to visit with Jinny and her family. It's hard not getting to see them much!

When we were at Paul's grandparents' house for lunch on Sunday, his grandmother told me "If you and your parents want to go to dinner one night, we'll be glad to babysit," which I took to mean "Please let us babysit!" I knew they really wanted to spend some more time with their only great-grandchild so on Thursday I dropped Wilder off at their house and my mom and I went shopping for a little while. Then we picked Wilder up and went to dinner with my grandmother at a Jackson landmark, Catfish Cabin, where they serve bottomless hushpuppies and coleslaw and delicious classic Southern favorites. I've never liked seafood but after trying Paul's fried catfish a couple weeks ago at the North Park arts festival I decided that Catfish Cabin would be the best place to order my first ever seafood entree. The fried catfish was sooo delicious! I took a picture and texted it to Paul to prove that I had actually ordered seafood and he said he wouldn't believe me unless I sent him a picture of it half-chewed in my mouth haha. I told him the first photo would have to suffice.

This morning my Aunt Annette drove to Jackson from Covington to pick up some serving dishes she had loaned us for the wedding and brought her 3-year-old granddaughter, Rowan, with her. She and Wilder had a fun little playdate in the living room.

This afternoon we'll probably go back over to my grandmother's house and get in the pool. It is SO HOT here it's ridiculous. The only comfortable way to be outside is to be in a body of water.

In food news, Wilder has now eaten peas, sweet potatoes (which he can't get enough of), pears, bananas, and applesauce. He's also tried a couple bites of a baked potato and tasted a lemon (which he had a love/hate relationship with). I've decided it's too difficult and not very practical to introduce one new food at a time because the Level 1 baby foods only come in about 6 flavors and then the Level 2's are mostly all multiple new flavors mixed together. How am I supposed to introduce him to raspberries by themselves when they only come mixed with blueberries for example? Plus, who have you ever heard of that's allergic to bananas? Neither Paul nor I have food allergies so I'm just going to keep letting him try new things and then if he has an allergic reaction I'll backtrack and start eliminating things to find the culprit. Wilder is such a good eater and it's so cute to see him do his little baby bird mouth waiting for the next bite. This week he's been eating his meals in an ancient highchair that was my Uncle Bill's as a baby and that all of the Dabney grandchildren have used through the years.

We have had such a great week. We haven't really planned anything and we haven't been rushing around from house to house this time. It's been so nice to just relax with family and let Wilder get to know them. Here are a few more cute pictures from our week in Tennessee...

Hanging out with Uncle William