Christmas Cheer

Things have finally settled down over here, unless you count the fact that we are leaving this afternoon to go to Memphis for the weekend. We've been going full throttle the past 2 weeks, spending time with almost all of our family.

My dad's family was here last weekend, and we had a blast showing off Sarah Beth to everyone. They all adored her, of course; my 80-something-year-old grandmother kept talking about how cute he was, although she had to ask every few minutes, "Now whose little boy is this?"

Unfortunately, I was only able to snap a couple of pictures before my camera bit the big one. I think it's finally dead this time.

We had a great time, and SB slept through most of the festivities.

We spent Christmas Eve and Day with an assortment of parents, grandparents and siblings. The best present I received was a toss up between the Liberty Bowl tickets and the day after Christmas shopping spree with mom and sisters while Jack kept SB.

I took SB to Jackson yesterday to see some of my girlfriends from college. We had lunch at the OG (Olive Garden), but SB didn't sleep through that like I thought she would. Way too much going on to be napping. She recently started trying to communicate by shrieking as loud as she can. She was very excited yesterday to meet all of my friends, but I don't think all of the other OG patrons shared in her joyous expressions of life. We had to leave a little early.

We had a great time catching up, but I was rethinking my decision to make the trip alone when we got ready to go home. As darkness fell, SB threw a fit. We were on our way to visit one more person on our way out of town when she started screaming bloody murder. I freaked out and pulled over, desperate to save her from whatever horror was attacking her. I took her out of her car seat and held her and rocked her and made sure nothing was poking/pinching/biting her. I have only heard her scream like that one other time-when she got her shots at 2 months old.

I could not calm her down, and I was getting a little freaked out. There we were, sitting alone in the backseat of my car, both of us crying hysterically. I didn't know what to do, all alone, 2 hours from home. I finally pulled myself together and, after checking her all over and feeling pretty confident that she was not injured in any way, put her back in her car seat to scream it out. She finally screamed herself to sleep and woke up when we got home, just as happy as a lark. And just when I was ready to retire the SF title... So I probably won't be making any more trips by myself for a while.

All things considered, the holidays were pretty great. And SB has slept through the night 4 out of the past 6 nights. The other 2 nights she only woke once to eat. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but maybe this is it!! I feel like a new woman.

Okay, I've got to go get ready to go. Liberty Bowl, here we come!