What I learned on my weekend in Anchorage

I (we) learned a lot of things on my (our) weekend in Anchorage this past weekend. It can all be summed up pretty simply in four small words...

A baby changes everything. (Go ahead, laugh now....)

Because 11 weeks of having this little person in our life didn't quite get that message across yet, our trip to Anchorage this weekend for a little getaway definitely hammered it home! I hadn't left the island since April (waaaaayyyyy too long for me), so we took advantage of a recent sale on airfare, and headed over for some different food and some retail therapy. WOW was it a different experience from our past weekend trips over there!

Michaela did great on the plane, with the exception of a major blow out diaper shortly after this picture was taken. Luckily, it was before take off (and before there were a lot of people seated around us), so she had a quick diaper and wardrobe change while we waited for everyone else to board. So, lesson 1 - change the baby's diaper before getting in the security line. Other lessons we learned were that we needed a bag for her carseat (which we bought while in Anchorage), and that the stroller was completely unnecessary as a gate-checked item. We bought the travel bag for the stroller while in Anchorage as well, and it came back as checked luggage. Much smarter. And, finally, on the trip back, we learned that wearing her through security in the carrier was the easiest way to deal with the whole screening process. So those were lessons two through four.

After the short flight over to Anchorage, we checked into the hotel, and then headed down the street to meet Christina at the Glacier Brewhouse for a yummy dinner and house-brewed beer. Our tired, and somewhat overwhelmed girl made it through dinner ok, though we also learned lesson #5, which is to be ready for her to need to eat at exactly the moment her mom's food arrives to the table. Jason did a great job keeping her occupied while I scarfed down my food and then got myself all covered up so I could feed her. He then enjoyed his food. Oh, that's lesson #6... we'll never eat a meal at the same time again (we kind of knew lessons 5 and 6 from home, though).

Here's Daddy and Michaela enjoying some play time on the floor at her first hotel... and a fancy one at that. She and I had a chat about making sure she gets a good education and makes enough money so that she can always stay at nice hotels like the Hotel Captain Cook. You'll note the crib bars in the background there. That crib was a lovely decoration in the room. I say decoration because she definitely did NOT use it. That brings us to lesson #7: you can have them bring the nice crib to the room, but if it's not hers, she won't sleep in it. On Friday night she slept on Jason's chest on the couch. On Saturday night, she slept in the little cocoon-like nest we made for her in her carseat. That was not my first choice of sleeping location for her on Saturday, but after Friday, we were desperate!!

She may have slept in the crib on Saturday, though, because she was EXHAUSTED after a big day out. We shopped til we dropped and exposed her to a whole new world of sights and sounds. And our girl, who suffers from serious PMS (paranoid of missing something) just would not sleep while we were out. We saw LOTS of babies snoozing happily in their stollers, but our baby just wanted to look around at all the new things! So she did not sleep, but instead did things like enjoying the people watching at the food court of the 5th Avenue Mall! So, the lesson learned there was to break the shopping up into a couple rounds with a quiet nap in between. That's lesson #8.

She also enjoyed all the lights and fun things to look at while we were at Red Robin for dinner Saturday night. For the lessons learned there, I'll send you back to numbers 5 and 6. She was pretty good at Red Robin, though. I think she knows a good thing when she sees it!

On Sunday, we had the opportunity to go to church at St. Mary's. Why would we go to church on a weekend getaway? Well, I'd like to say it's because we're good Episcopalians like that. But really, it's because Ted, who used to be the curate at the church we went to in Massachusetts, recently took over as the Associate Rector at St. Mary's! So, we got the chance to visit with him for a few minutes before and after the service. It was GREAT to see him!! The visit to St. Mary's brings us to lesson #10... when visiting a new church (or pretty much any other gathering place), be sure to scope out a good nursing location in advance of the actual need to feed a soon-to-explode-with-hunger-crankiness baby! I found a nice quiet spot, but we almost had an emergency situation there!


And, finally, we get to the last lesson of the weekend... Lesson #11... even though it's a completely different experience now, we wouldn't trade it for the world, because this little girl has filled a part in our lives that we didn't know was empty. I mean, seriously, what's not to like about this?

So, we had to learn a lot of things the hard way, but we're armed with this information for our next trip off the Rock in November, which will involve a LOT longer travel day, and a whirlwind week+ of meeting friends and family. Of course, by then, she'll change all the rules on us again, but some of it might carry over!

And, finally, because I told Mom I'd get this up, here's a short video of Michaela showing off her new skill... she has figured out that she can make a different noise when she breathes in from what she makes when she breathes out. She's been practicing for a few days now.... and I can't get enough of it!

I hope our lessons can serve to help others as they adjust to new life after the arrival of a baby. And it's ok to laugh at us... we're laughing at ourselves!!!