First plane ride

On August 4, Eliza (the country traveler) experienced her very first airplane ride. She was such a trooper through all of our travels across the county to the west, and was such a good girl. My father in law decided that it was much more economical to fly us out there to visit, rather than flying his whole family out here to visit. I was a bit nervous taking her on an airplane when she was not quite 3 weeks old. The man sitting next to us told us that she would probably cry when we took off and landed because she can't pop her ears like we can. I had the pacifier ready for her to suck on to help with the ear popping, but low and behold - the girl didn't open her mouth and didn't cry. She slept for 3.5 of the 4.25 hour plane ride. She only woke up to eat (which was very difficult to do with the limited space on an airplane), and then after cooing at us for a bit went promptly back to the sleep. She did equally as well on the flight back, but this time the flight attendant awarded her with a first flight pin.

Meeting Grandpa and Grandma Richards at the airport.


At the ripe old age of 3 weeks, Baby cakes has succesfully stayed in 3 states. Eliza was a very popular girl while in Utah/Wyoming. Everyone wanted to hold her - how could you not? She's so adorable. I felt a little left out since the only time I got to hold her was when she was hungry, and when she wanted to stay up all night - that's not very fun in my opinion. However, because we flew across the country to give family and extended family members a chance to meet Eliza, I couldn't possibly say, "You can't hold her." That wouldn't have gone over very well with the fam.
Nevertheless, we had an enjoyable time visiting with friends and family - the week went by all too quickly, and now we are back in Pennsylvania trying to adjust back to everyday normal life.
This hasn't been easy mind you. There have been numerous problems since we have been back.

Problem #1: while on "vacation", Eliza was only put down at night when I put her to bed. Most nights she slept well - probably because of the cooler night time temperatures. Other than night time, she was held by someone (not me). Now, baby cakes seems to think that is what life is like and wants to be held all the time. She has a difficult time sleeping when I put her down. If I hold her, she will stay asleep for hours. Honestly, I can't hold her all day (no matter how much I might wnat to) - my arms would probably fall off, and nothing would get done. (The house can wait, but dinner can't.) I've resorted to sometimes putting her to sleep in her swing because then she can be rocked. Besides she really loves the swing, and sometimes prefers that over beind held.

Problem #2: it is a two hour time difference (despite the exhaustion of travel), so her sleep patterns are quite out of whack. We are working on that, but considering problem number one - it hasn't been easy. Sometimes the girl just plain won't go to sleep - then after she is completely exhausted, she will marathon sleep (4 to 5 hours straight), but never at night.

Problem #3: As mentioned before, I got the privledge of only holding my baby during feeding times. Now, everytime I do hold her or pick her up, she thinks that she needs to eat. Considering problem #1, that means that baby cakes wants to eat all day long.

It's only a matter of time before she gets back in the groove again. I'm sure both of us will recover, but until then who needs sleep and a clean house, or a shower for that matter.

Lots of pictures were taken of the girl being held by loads of people - not all of them were taken with my camera though. What I post is what you get.

Here is Uncle Seth holding Eliza.


Eliza may have even been a bit tramautized by the overabundance of attention given by strangers and not a lot of attention given by mom. She has now resorted to clinging to me, reaching for me, and grabbing at my clothes and face. She will spend long periods of time just staring at my face (which I love). If I shift her from one arm to the other, she will look back up at me to make sure that I am the one who still has her and not someone else. Poor girl! Maybe she felt abadoned by her mother on this vacation. I'll have to be sure that doesn't happen again.

We did learn one important thing while in Utah. Either Baby cakes only likes bathing in the sink, or she only like when grandma Richards gives her a bath. She always cries when I bathe her in her own miniature bath tub, but she didn't cry for grandma in the sink.

Notice in this picture that she is holding the wash cloth. She moved it across her body a couple of times. Maybe she's so independent she wants to bathe herself. :)