meeting baby wyatt

i've got to lighten the mood in here or i'm going to just keep dwelling on the sadness.  luckily, i do have a fun trip to share that i've been waiting to recap for a couple of weeks now.

over presidents' day weekend, the hub and the bean and i took off to visit brother wan and his wife and their new baby boy.  he was born the day before valentine's day, and being the first baby boy wan in quite a long time, there was lots of excitement in the family.  the bean happened to have a half day at school the friday of that weekend, and so we booked an evening flight out of LAX to oklahoma city.  since the old lady had to work, she couldn't join us and stayed behind to take care of molly in our absence.  we sent her this when we finally got out of the house and headed down to the airport:

with typical airport traffic, we managed to get the car parked and get from the lot to the terminal and through security with just enough time to grab a quick dinner before it was time to board the plane.  and then of course, it turned out that we had to hop onto another bus that took us to the gate where we found ourselves shivering out in the cold as we waited to take our seats.

it only took 2.5 hours of flying time before we landed in oklahoma city, where it was already 11:30.

the terminal was empty, which made it easy for us to take a quick bathroom break.  the bean and i were both enthralled by the automatic toilet seat cover...we're pretty easily amused, you know.

as we made our way towards the rental car shuttle stop, i took note of the current temperature and realized i was probably woefully unprepared for the weather.

the rental car center was about five minutes away and when we arrived it was empty, with a skeleton crew of employees at each vendor's station.  not exciting at all, and this was the only picture i took because...well, why not?

our hotel was a mere 6 miles away, which was great considering we couldn't figure out how to get the heater to work in the car and we were turning into popsicles before it finally kicked in.  the hub went into the hotel lobby to get us checked in and then we finally got to our room, where we put on pajamas and fell right to sleep.

we slept in a bit the next morning, unaccustomed to the 2-hour time difference, and we didn't get out of our room until almost lunchtime.  oops.  brother wan's house was about 15 minutes away in moore.  we made sure to take note of the eating opportunities in the area.

when we finally arrived at the house, the bean was over the moon to realize that she was going to get to see not only the new baby and her favorite uncle, but her beloved grandparents as well.  we were greeted at the door by MIL and these funny doggies:

baby wyatt was having a snack and then a diaper change, and then we finally got to meet the little guy for the first time.  so sweet and tiny.

the bean was so excited to meet her new cousin, and i'd forgotten how wonderful it is to hold a tiny baby.  we all took turns holding him, checking out the house, chatting with the ILs, and it was nice to have some family time with them.

we hung out for awhile and then decided to head out to find some lunch.  it was a pretty nice way to start our quickie visit, and i was looking forward to logging in some more baby holding time.  after all, we wanted the new parents to get some rest, right?  luckily they were perfectly fine with us hijacking their baby for hours on end.  heh.

somebody put the bean in a corner

we were super excited to welcome a much-anticipated new baby into our family last week.  and it was extra fun because the parents had chosen to keep the gender a surprise - damn near unheard of these days, right?  i always wondered if i could hang for the whole 40 weeks without knowing.  i'm such a planner, but i love surprises too.

leave it to me to turn the convo around to make it about me.  heh.

anyway, i (and, as it turns out, 95% of other folks) was convinced that it would be a boy.  you know what that meant, right?  yup.  here's the gift i was frantically sewing together on the morning of our visit to the hospital:

not to mention, i don't know how to make any boy gifts yet!  ha.

when i picked up the bean from school, i told her we were going to see a new baby in the hospital and asked her to help me pick out something to add to our gift.  okay, i actually already knew exactly what i wanted to get, but it's always fun to let her think she came up with the idea.  and voila - baby's first hello kitty!

the bean was quite enchanted by them - "they're JUST LIKE MINE, mommy!"  she thought that was pretty stinking cool.

as it turned out, i had to deliver some disappointing news when we got there - you had to be 14 or a sibling to be admitted to the new mom wing.  i felt like such a weenie when her face twisted in agony and she crumpled into a ball into her sister's arms.  "but...i wanted to say hi to the baaaaaaaabyyyyyy!"

i promised her that i'd take a picture so that she could see, but that didn't appease her - at least at that moment.  when i returned from my abbreviated visit, i showed her the snapshot i'd taken of that sweet baby girl, and she melted.  "awwwwwww, she's sooooo cuuuuuuuuute!"

yes, she drew out her words just. like. that.

my mom asked me to do up some cookies for a weekend visit, and because i was making half of them vegan, i decided to tint the dough for the "regular" ones pink.  i told her that she'd be able to remember which was which because my favorite color is pink, and i'd eat the regular ones if i were given a choice.  heh.

i can't wait to take the bean for a proper visit to baby a when they're settled in.  yay for little girls!