Party Time Baby

We got back last night from a wonderful weekend in Hendersonville. My Dad’s 75th birthday celebration rolled into a third week with a party attended by 80 of his closest friends, mostly from the community of Cummings Cove where they have lived for the past 13 or so years. Up until my parents moved to NC, my Dad had lived on literally the same street his whole life in the small NJ town of Little Silver. He was the Police Chief and knew just about everyone in the borough and surrounding area. He could point out the school where he fell off the roof as a kid, the chocolate shop he worked in as a teenager, and he just had to look across the street to see the house where he grew up. They had tons of friends and family around them, so when they decided to up and move after that long history, I was shocked and worried that they’d miss their lives up North too much. As my Dad said at his party Saturday night, he and my mom had a deal that they would try it for a year and if either one didn’t like it they’d move back. They were so warmly greeted by their new neighbors that it took them less than a week to know they made the right decision. It is wonderful to see my parents have such a wonderful bunch of people in their lives. They were so excited to celebrate my Dad’s big day, and dare I say just as thrilled to meet his lovely granddaughter. It was like having 40 sets of grandparents doting on her, and she ate it up! Ever the party girl, SB greeted her adoring public for over 2 ½ hours without complaint. She dished out quite a few smiles, dined on cheese and applesauce, and squealed with delight at shiny objects like watches, sparkly earrings, and Budweiser in a pilsner glass. This child definitely takes after Grandma and Grandpa Fagan.


She slept well that night in her Pack & Play in the corner of Mommy and Daddy’s room. Mommy, however, does not know how other Mommies can sleep in the same room as their babies. I tossed and turned all night, jumping at every little baby snort and sleepy whimper. And when I couldn’t hear her making any noise I’d just lay there waiting for the next sound before I jumped up to check on her. Good grief. At home we have this fantastic AngelCare baby monitor that has a motion detector under the mattress so you can tell that she’s breathing. An alarm sounds if it doesn’t detect motion for more than 10 seconds. It’s mainly to prevent SIDS I think but it is a nice security blanket that helps me sleep at night. One of those ‘silly’ overkill baby accessories we pooh-poohed until we had her home sleeping in the crib her first night at home and then rushed out to buy day 2. She slept quite soundly last night, after our big hiking adventure we took before leaving the mountains yesterday. More to come on the baby backpack maiden voyage next post…