Jason & Lindseyā€™s Wedding (6/4/2010 ā€“ 6/6/2010)

[mightymulhern]

For the wedding we Meghan and I both took off work Friday in order to maximize our non-driving time for the weekend. Rather than waiting until nap time though we left around 9:30. Meghan also packed a bag of fun new toys and activities, and one of us planned to ride in back with Sydney the whole way there. That plan was a success however Sydney ended up dozing off early (10:00/10:30) and only sleeping for an hour (most days lately feature a 2-1/2 – 3hr nap from 11:30 – 2:30). That left her awake until the last 15 minutes of the trip when she dozed off again. We made good time though and only stopped once to eat and let her run amuck.

Once at the hotel we touched base with my parents by phone, said hi to Jason, Terra, and Louie, and got situated. We tried taking Sydney into the pool but that didn’t work. She was very scared of the water and cried when we carried her down into it. Meghan and I both tried, but she wanted no part of it. She only wanted to play with her pink boat on dry land. At this point we’re hoping that getting pool passes for the summer wasn’t a huge mistake.

Later we had the rehearsal dinner right there in the hotel and Sydney started out playing the shy act. She did the thing where she climbs under her high chair and hides. Later she warmed up and ran amuck.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and family members gradually joined us. With Sydney we tend to be up at the crack of dawn just about every morning. Sydney was really shy and clung to me all morning burying her face in my neck when anyone tried to talk to or look at her. Any time someone tried to talk to her she tried to bury herself further into me. Unfortunately someone had a runny nose which meant my shoulder got a nice glazing. Oh well.

Later Sydney loosened up a little and started playing with a Styrofoam cup. She threw it, put it on her head, and eventually tore it up. At one point I excused myself to go back to the room and Meghan stayed with everyone else holding Sydney. Somehow Sydney found another coffee cup with a little bit of coffee in it and while sitting on Meghan’s lap, flung it back to throw it dumping coffee down her own back and down Meghan’s front. Doh! Wardrobe change.

After breakfast, a group of us took Sydney and Cassie to a park near the hotel to burn off some energy and play before the wedding. Papaw taught Sydney to climb up the slide and they did it over and over again. Grandma brought bubbles which provided some good entertainment. Both kids love bubbles.

While loitering around near the play area, Sydney got into an ants nest and ended up with ants crawling all over her feet. She really didn’t notice though and Meghan ended up picking her up, brushing her feet off, and shaking her sandals out.

The other “moment” happened when Cassie tried to follow my mom away from the park looking to see if there was more play equipment a block over. Abe and Jenny wouldn’t let Cassie follow and she ended up climbing up next to Abe and crying. Sydney saw this (from the other side of the play area), looked at me with a very concerned expression, pointed, and then grabbed Cassie’s bucket of bubbles, took it over to her, and walked back to us. It was very cute and deliberate. It also required some effort for those little legs because Cassie and Abe were sitting quite a ways away from us.

Later in the day was the wedding. We needed to be over at the golf course at 4pm for pictures. Sydney was cute as a button in her little dress. During the wedding itself, Meghan and I sat 2/3 of the way back and on the far end with Jenny, Abe, and Cassie in the row ahead of us and a few seats over. Sydney climbed up into a chair next to Cassie and just sat there as if that’s where she was supposed to be. She actually stayed there quietly for much of the wedding too. Later she came back to us and sat in the chair next to me (again by herself). It was remarkable that a 1yr old was able to sit quietly alone in a chair for the whole ceremony. …actually I think she moved to Meghan’s lap toward the very end but she sat by herself for most of it. The only peep she made (which corresponded with a quiet moment in the ceremony) was when she dropped her program and uttered an “Uh Oh!”. She also disassembled one program during the ceremony and started on a second.

At the reception Sydney was super clingy and initially didn’t want either Meghan or I to leave the table. That made getting dinner from the buffet somewhat of a challenge. The clinginess seemed to gradually subside as dinner went on.

Later when the dancing started a totally different Sydney came out. She started out dancing with Jenny. Then she danced with Cassie and this other little blond haired blue eyed girl who everyone assumed was our daughter because she had the same dress as Sydney. I’m guessing she was 3. Sydney had a huge grin on her face as they all joined hands and jumped around. Later Sydney danced with Papaw (my dad) for a long time. Dance after dance she had a huge beaming smile. She also danced a little with Nana (my mom) and a little with me but Papaw was her favorite followed closely by Aunt Jenny.

After a lot of dancing, we were well beyond Syd’s bed time and decided to call it a night. She had been a little angel. Sydney fell asleep before we were out of the parking lot and woke up only briefly when we carried her across the parking lot to the hotel in the rain. Despite waking up briefly when we got her undressed, she crashed hard that night and didn’t wake up until morning (at which point she popped up like a jack in the box from the pack & play).

The drive home was uneventful although we did hit some traffic in Chicago.

Overall, the trip was great and Sydney was well behaved albeit extremely clingy. She also napped and slept poorly for much of it resulting in her being really beastly the Monday through Wednesday of the following week.