This past week we loaded up and headed out for Emma's first trip to Austin. I was SO excited and had high hopes and so many pictures I wanted to take.
Well.
I will say we had fun with the time we had, but someone(ahem, Emma) decided to go on a nightime sleep strike, so we came home a day early.
Oh, and I kind of failed in the picture taking department.
(I'm going to detail the craziness for my memory's sake, so feel free to skip over all the reading!)
We left on Monday around Emma's nap time. She fell right to sleep and I would have bet money that she was going to sleep the whole 3 hours (she loves riding in the car.) You probably guessed that wasn't the case. We got caught at the light in Brenham and she woke up and never went back to sleep. She was fine the rest of the way and luckily we didn't get stuck in any Austin traffic. We made a quick pit stop at Target to pick up some milk and snacks for her and then checked into the hotel. By this time it was 4:00ish and we were hungry so we settled into the hotel (unloaded and let Emma play for a bit) and then headed to dinner at Baby A's. Of course I didn't take any pictures but Emma enjoyed chicken fajitas, rice and black beans.
When we got back to the hotel Emma played a bunch more. We had a suite so all her toys were in the living room part, but she loved going between the two rooms and shutting the door. Another favorite was giving herself lots of kisses in the mirror! This is the first time I failed in picture taking. I didn't take a single picture at the hotel! They also had a coy pond in the atrium that she loved looking at the fish, but no pictures to show for it!
When it was time for bed I did the normal routine of bath, play and nursing. I had brought everything from her crib and I was trying to keep everything the same as at home. The pack and play was in the living room part and I was thinking I could just put her in it and she would go to sleep, just like at home. She actually fell asleep nursing, which she hasn't done in forever, and here's where I made mistake number 1-I tried to lay her down too soon and she woke up. And after that, she wasn't having it! Long night story short, we moved the pack and play by our bed and tried everything from shushing and singing, to ignoring her. She REFUSED to lay down by herself and if we layed her down she went nuts! We gave up on ignoring her when we would see her little hands on the edge of the pack and play, then her head pop up followed by a wave and the cutest "hi" you've ever heard. She did that over and over! I would have let her cry it out, but I felt bad for doing that in a hotel AND she was getting her teeth caught in the mesh of the pack and play because she was biting it! Oh, and as far as bringing everything from her crib? Turns out that the one thing she kept looking for is the one thing I forgot! She kept looking up at the ceiling for the projection from her sound machine. She finally fell asleep at 11:00pm and woke up at 5:30am. Blah.
Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and Emma proceeded to chow down on potatoes, eggs, sausage and fruit. Since she was up so early we actually got her to take a nap around 10:00 and she slept for about an hour and a half.
After she woke up we headed out for our first, and only, full day in Austin.
We stopped and ate at Jason's Deli where Emma put away half a sandwich and lots of veggies and more fruit.
After that it was time to introduce Emma to the Forty Acres.
The first stop was the Co-Op where she got a new onesie.
I had a ton of pictures that I wanted to take of Emma on campus. I was trying to find a spot to put her down for pics with the Tower when my oh-so-smart husband kindly mentioned that the concrete was probably too hot. I knew I married him for a reason! Daddy to the rescue so our daughter wouldn't have second-degree burns. Of course I didn't have a blanket with me and the grass was off limits because of graduation, so all of the pics had to have me in them. Also, because of our timing, it was also a cool 90 something degrees, so our campus tour was cut short.
The Tower
This is the Human Ecology building, where I had a lot of my classes.
More Tower pictures. And to keep it real, Emma was reaching for the concrete because she was trying to get the bird poop.
This is an iconic Austin mural close to campus. Since Emma's favorite word is "hi" I thought it was only appropriate to take a picture with it. Keep Austin Weird!
I didn't even get half of the pictures that I wanted. We couldn't really park on campus because it was during the week and walking the Forty Acres was out of the question, so we'll be seein' ya again UT!
By this point Emma was tired and hungry, so we headed to the outskirts of Austin for some good 'ole BBQ at The Salt Lick. She fell asleep in the car so we drove around for a bit so she could get at least an hour nap, which she did.
Daddy and Emma waiting for dinner.
The facial expression may not say much, but as you can see by the bits of turkey, ribs and brisket on her face, she enjoyed it. She is definitely a meat and potatoes kind of girl!
After dinner we made one last stop at Cabella's in Buda. Emma loved the fish, especially since she recently learned how to make a fish face and sounds.
Can you guess which of the things in this picture Tray wanted to mount on our wall? I'll give you a hint, it's not Emma!
She really likes looking at fish!
By this point it was about 8:30 and we knew Emma was completely worn out. She looked it and vocalized it! We had planned on going swimming to try and wear her out before bed, but by the time we got back to the hotel I assumed we didn't need to because of how tired she already was. Instead I gave her her bath and got her ready for bed.
And boy did I assume wrong!
On this night she didn't go to bed until 1:30am. I don't think anybody will really understand how she was flat out REFUSING to go to sleep unless you were there. She played and played and even when I took all the toys away, she still found ways to play. We tried everything from the night before, but we ended up playing some more. She wanted in the pack and play, but then cried as soon as I'd put her in. She wouldn't nurse to sleep, but wanted to use me as a pacifier. I tried nursing her while in bed, but she just thought the bed (and us!) was her own jungle gym. It got to the point where if we even said "night night" she would start crying. She kept signing for "eat" and "milk" but she would nurse for a couple seconds and almost fall asleep, and then literally would sit up and get down and start playing again. She definitely didn't want to be held and rocked. I was just about to go get the stroller to walk around the hotel with her when she FINALLY nursed to sleep. It lasted about 2 hours and then she was up again, at which time we co-slept for a few more hours. It. was. exhausting.
Through it all I have to give Tray some major props because he never lost his patience (even when I definitely did!) and he was SO good with her!
Because of that we decided to head home a day early. I knew she needed sleep and so did we! Before leaving though we went to the Capitol and walked around.
Hanging out on the front steps.
She didn't want to be in the stroller if we weren't moving, so we let her crawl around for a bit.
Eeating goldfish in the Senate.
We tried to get her to hold a press conference on the importance of sleep, but clearly she wasn't interested.
I love all the details in the architecture of the Capitol. These are the door hinges.
I also loved the look of these stairs. Emma was just chillin'.
By the end of it she was wiped out and ready to head home. I wish I could say she slept the whole way home, but she had one of her worst times in the car.
Even though things didn't exactly turn out the way I had dreamed about, we still had a great time and I'll always remember it. We'll definitely be going back, maybe just not anytime soon!
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