Travel lessons learned

It has been a busy month in our household. Sera has turned 11 months and in a few short weeks, she will be celebrating one year. She continues to be a fast crawler and giggles when we hold her hands to walk. She easily cruises around the furniture, but has yet to master standing independently. She still babbles and everything has been labeled as, "Dada." However, her day care teacher and I swore that she said the word "dancing" while shimmying to music last week. Her social development has improved, as she is learning to kiss and hug:

She is also developing a sense of humor. She thinks it is hilarious to try and lick my nose and giggles endlessly when I playfully pull my face away from her waiting tongue.

The weather in Oklahoma has been wild. On May 20 and May 31, we had two tornado outbreaks that tore through the state. Two strong tornadoes were predicted to hit our home, causing us to retreat to our storm shelter. Luckily (for us, but not the others who were in the path of these dangerous storms), the tornadoes changed direction and missed us. I am happy that we are fortunate enough to have the storm shelter, but it is an anxiety-provoking experience for both me and Sera. Sera panicked during our first trip down on May 20. She was calm on May 31 until I had to close the door. Fortunately, her fur sister, Fred was there to entertain (and poop inside- Thanks, Fred!)

Thankfully, most of our family and friends are safe, but sadly, some of Craig's family did lose their home and furbabies. We have reached out to them and will be available when needed.

Our family is now ready for us to move to a less tornado-prone area. For those of you who have never lived in Oklahoma, please remember that just because we live in tornado alley, this does not mean that we will be inevitably hit by a tornado. Our house has been standing since 1955 and has never taken a hit. Also, Oklahoma is a big state and not every tornado has the Oklahoma City area in its sights.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Sera and I traveled back home to Virginia to visit with family. This was Sera's first airplane trip and my first trip with Sera alone. Sera was an excellent traveler and I received many compliments from our row-mates and the flight attendants. She endured a three hour delay on our flight out and a bit of turbulence on our flight back. However, if she was given the opportunity to entertain or look out the window, she was happy.

We learned several new things during our visit back to Virginia and our travels:

1. Mommies can be human pack mules: After picking up our luggage, I had Sera in a stroller, a diaper bag, a food bag, and a roller bag, as well as a car seat strapped to my back.
2. Mommies have contortionist abilities they never knew they had: Most everyone has had to use those cracker box sized airplane bathrooms. Have you ever tried to use one with a 19 lb baby in your hands? We managed, but it involved some interesting twisting and turning on our part.
3. Bathrooms are commodities: With a baby in a stroller, using the bathroom becomes a bit of a hassle and the handicapped bathroom is really the only place we will fit. I felt very frustrated watching as 16-20 year old girls occupied these larger stalls while others remained opened. After landing at the Southwest Terminal at BWI, we were also required to wait for some time as their public restroom does not have a changing table and their one family restroom was taken for an excessive amount of time.
4. Even babies get annoyed with DC traffic after awhile. After we left BWI, we did manage to catch the beginning of DC traffic. Sera slept through most of it until we hit PG county. Sera then decided she had enough and was inconsolable until we hit Waldorf.
5. Sera, her smile, and her sweet voice have the magical abilities. It is impossible to see Sera smile or babble and not fall in love with her.
6. Sera is a good restaurant patron, as long as you keep food on her plate. Even if she has just eaten, she always wants some of my food. I call this my "Sera diet."

During our restaurant visits, we discovered that Sera surprisingly enjoys pickles and would eat them endlessly. However, she refused birthday cake and ice cream after only a few bites.
7. Carl's is now Sera's favorite ice cream. Okay, technically, Carl's is the only ice cream Sera has ever had and if you live in Fredericksburg, chances are Carl's is your favorite ice cream, too. But Sera eagerly waited in the long line

and happily ate some strawberry and vanilla ice cream.

8. Sera soaks up the spotlight. We visited family during a piano concert. Many were immediately drawn to Sera and loved making her laugh (and eat). When Sera finally realized where the music was coming from, she turned around to the piano and began to dance. Her dancing garnered applause, which caused Sera to turn around to the audience and clap and dance more. This drew more applause, which then motivated Sera to clap, dance, and laugh more.

When the concert was done, the piano player approached us and asked to take a picture with "the little girl who stole my spotlight."
9. And finally, never, ever lose your rental car key. Yeah, there's a story there, but honestly, I am so embarrassed and frustrated that I lost my rental car key, I'm not sharing. (Whoa! Something I won't share?)