LA Babies!

Back at the beginning of the month (whoa, October seriously flew by), Tommy and I packed it up and headed out to California to visit with Jennifer and her new baby girl, Aberdeen. I was a bit nervous, as I always am, about flying with a baby and keeping them quiet and entertained, especially on such a long flight. Tommy was a dream. He happily played in my lap, ate, and napped a bit throughout the whole flight. We were lucky that our early morning flight to the west coast was nearly empty, so we had the entire back row to ourselves, which meant I could kind of stretch out, too.



As soon as we touched down and grabbed our bag, Jennifer whisked us off to a spot near a beautiful beach for lunch. At that point we realized that the babies implemented a new rule for the weekend: at least one baby must be crying at all times. It's like they chatted ahead of time to plan this out. Not cool, babies. NOT. COOL.



After lunch we headed out for a relaxing walk along the beach so we could get in some light exercise and chatting, but Tommy had other plans. I brought the Bjorn with me to carry him around the airport, but left it in Jennifer's car for the walk since she brought a stroller for us. He FREAKED out and did not want to be put in the stroller at all. So I carried him on my hip while pushing the stroller up and down the boardwalk and at one point he slumped over in my arms, fast asleep, but then immediately woke up the minute I tried transferring him to the stroller. GRUMP.


After our walk we went back to the house to settle in and figure out what we wanted to do with our weekend. Plus I got my hands on that sweet little girl.


Such a snuggle bunny - I so love the teeny tiny baby stage.

The first night Jennifer cooked a delicious lasagna for us and we just hung out at the house. We decided to get up early (as we always do when together) and head out for custom donuts, a mini photo shoot of the babes and a nice walk around a reservoir in the afternoon and then MEXICAN for dinner! Yum!

I thought it was funny to take pictures of the babies side by side in their car seats. One baby! TWO BABIES! Tommy loved it.


The custom donuts were AH-MAZING. I mean, seriously, I really hope they open a place on the east coast. We chose two donuts and some donut holes to share and they were all so good. I think my favorite was a combo strawberry, goat cheese and basil donut, though the apple pie one was good, too.


If you're in the LA area, definitely check out Donut Friend. So yum.

Now, the photo shoot of the babies didn't go as we had planned. Tommy wasn't having any of it. Remember how I said that one baby must be crying at all times? Yeah, he tagged in for the photo shoot, so most of the pictures of him look like this.


And when I finally threw in the towel on trying to get a decent picture of him, this is what he did.


LOL

After our walk we headed back to Jennifer's place to cool off. It was much hotter than we'd thought it would be and we were a sweaty mess after walking around the reservoir, though it wasn't nearly as hot and nasty as it was last summer. Tommy and Aberdeen both fell asleep when we got home and I got a chance to use my swaddling ninja skills and wrapped that baby up tight. Snug as a bug.


Tommy slept okay while we were in LA, but I didn't really push the Ferber method since we were in a new place and different time zone. I kind of just went by his signs and he was waking up a bit more at night than he usually does. And since I didn't try to get him on west coast time, he was waking up at like 3:30 for the day, though I was able to get him to relax in the bed with me until at least 4:30 or 5:00.


One baby. TWO BABIES!

Our last day in LA was packed with fun. We woke up super early (thanks, babies!), got them fed and all of us dressed and headed out for breakfast at The Griddle Cafe. That place was amazing. We split food again and got a baked potato omelet and lemon pancakes. The pancakes were huge. And by huge I mean bigger than my head. Bigger than two of my heads. It was all so good and I literally had to force myself to put my fork down so I wouldn't explode. After breakfast we packed up the kids and drove over to Olvera Street for some walking and light shopping. I ended up getting the girls fighting masks and capes, of course they were princess and Hello Kitty and not anything traditional or scary.


We ended our shopping trip with a light snack and a street show then packed it up again and headed back home, with a super quick stop at Glendale Harley Davidson to get a shirt for Tom.



Once home, we stripped the babies down and let them "play." Play time really consisted of Tommy attacking Aberdeen. He was just so excited to have another baby down on his level. He enjoyed being the one to be all up in someone's face. It's the only way he knows how to play since that's what his sisters do to him on a daily basis. He turned and twisted around to get back to Aberdeen every time we moved him away. Determined, he was.





Seriously. He couldn't keep his hands to himself. All over her.


At the last minute we decided to pack up my stuff, get the babies redressed and spend some time with Courtney before my flight home.

One baby. TWO BABIES!

The babies decided to coordinate outfits for our trip to Courtney's. Look at these two. So adorable.


And then Tommy realized that Aberdeen was laying next to him again and he just.couldn't.help.it. MUST EAT BABY.



Again and again. Then we made Courtney double up with babies and Tommy tried attacking her. He's insatiable. Crazy baby.


We walked to The Counter for dinner and  then back to Courtney's to hang out until my redeye back home. I figured that the flight would be pretty empty since it was Saturday, but I couldn't have been more wrong.


Our flight was so full that they staff were begging people to check their carry on bags at no cost. We ended up stuck in the very last row in a window seat (thank goodness), and it was so crowded. Ridiculous. I barely slept on the flight between trying to get comfortable and Tommy waking to nurse and was exhausted when we landed in Dulles.


While I was happy to be home - I missed the girls and Tom - I was sad that the trip went by so fast. I miss having Jennifer close by and hope we can make it out there more often. I promised Stasa that she could come next time.