Wedding #3- Memphis Part 2

Saturday, we got up a hung around Ben's parents house for a bit while we showered and gathered things up. Mid-day we went and picked up Ben's jacket for his tux and then drove to Dave and Liz's house. The boys left right away and Liz and I hung out. We eventually got ready and headed to the wedding. Miller slept through the wedding and woke up while we were waiting on Ben to finish up with pictures.

The reception was a bit a ways but it was at a very pretty country club overlooking a golf course. 

 Miller with his grandmommy. That is not his coke, or wine.

Miller and mommy.

 

We managed to get an alright family picture.

However, I think the outtake is pretty funny. 

Miller and his aunt Lizzy. 

Trying to entertain him so he would be quiet during the dances and announcements.

Love that face!

We eventually changed him into a onesie because it was really hot. This was at the end of the night and we were all exhausted.

The next morning we went to brunch at Brother Juniper's with Ben's parents, Liz and Dave. It was really good.

After brunch, we went over to see Ben's grandmother. She has been really sick for a while and we were so glad we could take Miller over to meet her.

4 generations 

 

Miller played for a bit while daddy visited.

It was heartbreaking to watch Ben just sit with his grandmother. 

Ben's parents have hardwood and tile through out their house so Miller played in the hallway a lot on the rare bits of carpet. At one point, Ben was in the office (the room behind Miller) playing with his dad's computer and I was in the bedroom (the one of the left there). Ben skyped me and Miller was so confused that he could see me on the computer in one room and sitting on the bed in another and vice versa with Ben.

Sunday night we went to a hole in the wall with Dave and Liz. They had Shrimp Creole, Ben had a burger and I had tamales and it was all really good. 

We got up to leave on Monday morning and Ben's mom fixed breakfast. Liz come over to visit while we were packing up. She was talking about how her and Dave were going to go pick up some ducks that day. For months, Dave has talked about getting chickens and ducks and he knew I was so excited to come and play with them. Of course, he picked the day we were leaving to go get the ducks. Conveniently, the farm they were going to was kind of on our way out of town so we went with them. We saw all sorts of animals but here are the two ducks they got. We also got some ducks eggs to take home.

Driving through Nashville, we managed to coordinate with my friend Elizabeth to meetup for dinner. It has been forever since we had seen her and I was so glad she got to meet Miller. We saw her twice last year while I was pregnant but the last 7-8 months have been kind of hectic for us all. It was short but a good visit.

We got home sort of late but Miller was very good for the whole trip. I was hoping he would sleep most of the time but even though he did not, he still a good boy. We had 10 days at home before we left for our last trip for a bit.

Wedding #3- Memphis Part 1

Tuesday afternoon we got into Memphis. Miller did really well with the drive. He slept a good portion of both legs, with us stopping in Nashville for lunch. As soon as we got to Ben's parents house, and unpacked, we got right back in the car. First we went and picked up Scruggs, the groom, at his moms house and visited for a few minutes. Then the 4 of us drove to Ben's sister's new house. Liz and her husband have lived in Virginia since we met and they just moved back to Memphis last fall. We were so excited that we got to hang out with them as well as Ben's parents.

We went out to eat that night with them and Scruggs' mom, Judith and his fiancee, Lisa.

The next day, Ben had to work from his parents house, so his dad and I hung out with Miller. Miller is normally so impatient when someone reads to him but sat there for a bit while his grandaddy read to him. 

That night we went to eat dinner at my favorite burger place with Ben's parents. Then we went downtown to meet some friends. They were eating dinner a bit late so we were just going to  hang out for as long as Miller could last (which was about 15 minutes). We took some pictures while we were down there though.

I love this one because he is talking and his face is hilarious. 

We were dealing with a cranky, teething baby the whole time we were in Memphis. He was running a fever every night. We were just trying to cool him down so Ben went to get something from the freezer. He found this mask and we laughed our butts off watching Miller trying to figure it out. 

Thursday was the bachelor and bachelorette party. Ben left for the bachelor party around 11AM so I hung out with Ben's parents and Miller. Around 5, I left to go meet Liz at her house. Here we are before we left.

I was nervous about leaving Miller since he was teething, and I was not sure how adjusted he was to Ben's parents at that point. After a couple of hours, they started calling saying he was crying. He went through some lulls but ultimately we decided to leave around 10, after dinner, because he was screaming incessantly. When we walked in, he screamed until I held him, then looked at me and smiled then smiled at Ben's mom. He just wanted mommy. It is nice to feel loved but so not a relaxing, fun evening like I was hoping.

Friday afternoon, we joined Dave and Liz downtown. We went to Mud Island where they have a scaled replica of the Mississippi River. It was so much fun to walk around and put our feet in. Miller loved it!

Dave and Liz with the Mississippi.

After that, we went to Rendezvous for some BBQ for lunch. 

"Uncle Dave, let me show you how to do it". (He really did figure out how to do something Dave did not know his phone could do).

We rushed back to Dave and Liz's house, where the boys changed clothes and immediately left for the rehearsal since they were both groomsmen. We took our time getting ready and met them at the church.

Miller had not napped all day but fell asleep on our way to the rehearsal, which he slept through. He continued to sleep through part of the rehearsal dinner as well. 

Yes we were all matching in green. Someone asked Ben if Miller was his kid and one of the other groomsmen said, "Duh! They are all color coded in green and khaki". 

It was a great dinner. Ben gave a speech and Miller helped. He also decided he wanted to speak while Scruggs did but we quieted him down. Here he is giving the bride and groom a dose of birth control before the big day.

To be continued with the wedding and last day in Memphis..........

Wedding Trip #2- Knoxville

The Friday after we got back from Oklahoma, we left for Knoxville so there was not a lot of time to do anything.

Miller found a new food that he loves, quinoa. It is about the messiest thing! With purees, you can wipe them off. This is a teeny, tiny seed that gets everywhere. Here is my messy face after he had some quinoa and prunes.

In the few days we were home, of course Miller picked up a new skill. He crawled over to where I was sitting on the sofa and dropped his paci through the slats. "Hmmm, how do I get that?"

"Forget that. This is more fun. Okay, so I grab here"

 

"And pull. Yay! A new chew toy."

"I can almost reach it"

*If you want to know why his shirt is around his neck in the above picture, well, he always laughs when we are taking off his clothes and stop when we pull his shirt/onesie over his head and leave it on. In fact, he almost always looks at you and laughs when you put something on his head. I was changing him and just left it because he was having fun and it ended up coming down.

Saturday we did a little running around and then dropped Miller off with my parents. They watched him while we got ready and then went to my friend Amanda's wedding. I have no pictures from this portion of our trip. Lets just say, I drank a little too much (ahem, okay a lot too much), and acted stupidly that night. It was fun though and this mommy feels like she deserved that fun.


The next day we hung out with my parents, then we all took a 2 hour family nap. That evening my grandparents watched Miller while we went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant for a belated Mother's Day treat. No pictures here either.

Monday, Ben worked from Knoxville but Miller would not let me do much so we just hung out around my moms house. That evening we went to my cousin Mitchell's graduation.

Ben took Miller out because all he wanted to do was talk and he ended up falling asleep.

Mitchell with his mom, dad and little sister Madison. 

We left graduation and headed out to go eat with everyone. Well the stupid police officer who was supposed to be alleviating the traffic caused by us leaving Mitchell's graduation and the people coming in for the next one, was not very good at his job. We sat perfectly still for 30 minutes before we got out. Miller was good for a bit and then lost his patience so I got him out and played while we waited. This is my normal view when I look into the back seat lately. I love seeing him smiling back at me.

Most of the crew at dinner. 

Mitchell and Miller. People always screw up and call Miller Mitchell because they sound similar and that is also his (Mitchell's) last name. 

I am sorry this is blurry but this is the face I wake up to every morning. We just sat in bed for a few minutes and played and cuddled before waking up Ben, who was on the couch. 

Tuesday, we got up and got ready and then left for Memphis. At a 5.5 hour drive, that would be Miller's longest car trip up until that point.