For a send-off, our friends Robert and Amy had a farewell gathering for us at their home on Saturday night. Great food covered the table, including a "massaged" kale salad that Anne made. Yum. The weather was delightful, though the mosquitoes drove most of us indoors and away from the bonfire. Olive enjoyed visiting with the guests, getting passed around and creating more adoring fans throughout the evening. Our friend, Damon, made the astute observation that, "she looks very german." I told him that Rob and I both have german heritage, but then he elaborated: "She looks like a german twenty year-old. A german twenty year-old guy." Hmm. Can't say I've seen it, but then again, the vast majority of strangers that we encounter assume that she's a boy, even in her floral prints and hat with rosebuds sewn onto it. I mean, if a baby isn't bathed in Pepto Bismol pink with a bow stapled to the head and ears pierced courtesy of Claire's Boutique, then it can't possibly be a girl. That being the case, our Olive will remain blissfully male until she can decide for herself that pink is her favorite color, or at least until the hair starts to come in. 
New mama Anne and mama of four years, Lindy
New papa Rafi with Cecilia
Ellis!
After the party, the work began. We got up early Sunday morning to pick up the U-Haul for the things we weren't taking with us over the summer. Aside from the piano, which required the help of Darrin Dana, one of my former coworkers at Beatrice Rafferty School, we got everything loaded into the truck and then unloaded it at our storage unit shortly afterward. The house then needed to be cleaned when we got home, and we still weren't at all sure how we were going to fit everything else into the station wagon while leaving enough room for the four of us plus the cats. We ended up having to leave some things like the cosleeper, jogging stroller, and Rob's duffel bag with Rafi and Anne to ship to us. It's going to cost a bundle, but it has to be done. We finally went to bed, sleeping on the bare mattress in Zoe's room, with Olive right down from us on the trundle bed. My cell phone alarm went off at 5 am, as we wanted to get on the road by 6, and I soon realized that the phone, which I hardly use, picks up the canadian signal, and is an hour ahead, so I was up at 4.
Leaving just a 36 minutes behind schedule, I estimated that we'd be pulling in to Mt. Airy no later than midnight. The trip went shockingly smoothly, though, and we weren't held back by the presence of an infant (who slept most of the way). It took us a shockingly pleasant fifteen hours, thanks to my front-seat pumping (I love you, Ameda Purely Yours car adaptor) and passing the bottle back to Zoe who kept Olive content for almost the entire trip. The little thing cried for no more than twenty minutes total, an impressive feat for a 16 week-old not confined to a hot and sticky car seat for the better part of a day. She is my hero.
We're back now, braving the heat - or what feels like heat to us. It's been overcast and coolish, but still humid enough to drive me half batty. Oh, and Olive and I fell down the stairs yesterday. I landed right on my back, but Olive remained safe in my grasp. She cried, as the fall must've scared her to death, but that was it for her crying yesterday - a mere couple of minutes. And we've hit a new milestone: laughing. Both my mother and I have had her chuckling on several occasions, to all of our deligh
t. There is nothing in the world like the sound of a sweet little thing who has figured out the joy of laughter. How we love her!
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