we are family

This past Sunday, we traveled down to Louisville, KY, to spend time with my relatives. My cousin, Joe, is currently living and working in NYC, but is in town for the week. He asked for the Ohio relatives to visit while he is home and staying with my aunt and uncle. We were so excited to visit with him! Jack has only met him once. I worked for a few hours in the morning and then we hit the road! Piled into the boxy Scion, for the two hour drive, was myself, Jack, Mom, Dad, and Kathy. The road trip went ok. Jack, thankfully, had adjusted much better to car rides! He has had moments (especially, this past summer) of major intolerance to riding in the car and it's painful for everyone involved. Lately, though, he babbles away, is highly entertained by books, and enjoys listening to music (Linda Ronstadt lullaby cd - a library discovery - and Veggie Tales are two current hits!). Due to all the evidence I've read about the safety of rear-facing car seats, we've decided to keep him rear-facing as long as possible. So far, we have had little resistance (well, he doesn't really know any difference, so that helps, too...). When we talked to our pediatrician about it, she said that everybody would be safer, seated rear-facing in cars! Here is a link about car seat safety: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx.

It was really wonderful to spend time with my relatives. Of course, there were a few missing bodies, including my hubby, who was working. Eric, Kathy's husband, and my aunt, Lisa, and cousin, Matt (in Chicago, where he attends college) were also not able to make the trip. It was nice catching up with Joe and hearing about his job and life in the city. He is glad for the experience, but hopes to return to Kentucky or Ohio. Jack and I also joined little Grace, Kurt, and Bernard for a disco dance party before dinner. That was super fun! Grace is such a cutie and says the funniest things. Dinner was also a great time to chat with everyone. Jack actually, happily and calmly, sat on my lap and ate off of my plate. He has never done this before. It allowed me to talk with everyone else, without having to constantly guess what Jack wants to eat (we've been signing to him since he was an infant, and he seems to understand the signs, but he rarely uses them... instead, he does a lot of pointing and saying "that!").

A lot of time when we go do family stuff, I look so forward to the time to spend with my family, but when we get there, it seems as though Jack has a meltdown or is in a, particularly, fussy or feisty mood, and my time is totally spent soothing and calming him. However, today, he was in a really playful and relaxed mood, which made me so happy!

These photos are from our family day (I took the first photo and the second photo is Gracie and me). She's so smiley!