Another Quick Trip

November 19 Lee and I packed Elle up and headed to Baton Rouge, LA for a shower for one of my besties. I was so uber excited about the trip - not only were we getting to bring Elle along but it also meant spending some quality time with my friends from college and their families. Lee was pumped to get to see all my friends but he was more excited about seeing their dads and hubbies/fiances. Those boys always seem to get in trouble together! However I expect something to go - I should just think that the opposite will happen because nothing ever seems to go as planned. Elle got sick in the car once we made it in to Louisiana and the trip that should have taken us 4.5 hours, took us 7 hours because of 1) a puking baby and 2) massive and terrible traffic in both Texas and Louisiana. By the time we finally made it to our hotel, Elle was exhausted so I took care of her while Lee went to the nearest drug store to get some pedialyte. An hour later, he returned - traffic was that bad (did I mention the store was about 2 blocks away?). I was able to get dressed so that by the time Lee got back to take care of Elle, I could leave and make it for the last few minutes of the shower for Lauren and her fiance, Madison. I am so glad I got a few minutes to spend with my friends. These girls are my heart and although a few of them were missing, they were still there in spirit!

Corey, Me, Laura D, Shannon and the future Mrs. Lauren Turner

The shower was beautiful and in case you can't tell by the pictures - we all had to wear our school colors. Oh I love the look of red and blue! It sure beats the nasty color combination of purple and gold! The scarves were a gift from my mom to each of the girls since she and my dad couldn't be there for the party. I loved the few minutes I got to spend with my wonderful friends. It make the hellish 7 hour trip seem like a faint memory. By the time I got back to the hotel, Elle was asleep and Lee had her hooked up to a pedialyte feed. Thank goodness for her feeding tube!! Wouldn't you know that the puking princess woke up on Saturday morning blowing and going?! We thought for sure our day in Baton Rouge was going to be cut short and we would be heading back to Houston first thing....but nope. Elle woke up at her usual 6:30am and the first thing she signed was "Daddy bath stinky." Not sure if she meant that Lee needed a bath or that she needed him to give her a bath because she was stinky. Either way - we were so shocked that she signed "stinky." Neither one of us knew that she knew the sign or the context. She is such a funny little girl. Since she appeared to be feeling fine and was definitely not at a loss for energy - we all got cleaned up and went over to hang out with our friend's, The Miller's. Mrs. Sheila and Mr. Dan are Laura's in laws and have a beautiful house in Baton Rouge. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to spend the morning with Mrs. Sheila and Mr. Dan, Matt, Laura, their son Jackson, Corey and the other house guests they had. Elle made an instant connection with Mrs. Sheila and didn't want Mrs. Sheila to be out of her sight. Every time Mrs. Sheila would leave the room, Elle would start looking for her and crawl right on over to wherever she was. It was so sweet! This was also Elle and Jackson's first meeting. Elle kept looking at Jackson like "I'm usually the only baby here - who are you and why is my mom holding you?" Pretty funny!

Jackson

I love these pictures! Elle's facial expression says "great, another picture" and Jackson's says "get me outta this chair!"

Classic Elle - "really? another picture?" we really need to teach that girl how to say cheese!

Again Elle is looking at Jackson saying "who are you?"

Laura (Aunt Eldy) and Jackson - I just love this picture of the two of them

I promise Lee was there - unfortunately we didn't' get any family pictures. Shoot - we didn't even take any pictures! All of these came from Laura D - thank you Laura!

our little Ole Miss Cheerleader at the Cabela's store

After our morning with the Miller's, we took Elle to see the fish at the Cabela's store outside of Baton Rouge. The girl loves to look at fish. The store was amazing! Not only did they have some pretty large fish tanks, but they also had a wildlife museum and great displays with animals. Elle loved it. She was definitely the only Ole Miss cheerleader walking around the store!!

After our adventures at Cabela's we met up with the rest of our friends for an afternoon of catching up, eating yummy mexican food and watching a really great football game as Ole Miss and LSU played. We had so much fun with the Jexes and the Richardson's. Elle got to meet Lauren's twin nieces for the first time. I show her their pictures from their blog all the time but she finally got the chance to meet Natalie and Claire in person. They were all so cute in their cheerleading outfits! We had such a good time and were so sad to leave but we had to head back to Houston. So around 5:00pm - we loaded Elle back into the car and headed to Houston. The trip back wasn't any better than the trip going to Baton Rouge. We barely made it into Texas before Lee and I both got extremely sick. We had to spend the night in a hotel because neither one of us could drive. It was awful - I wouldn't wish that kind of sickness on anyone. 10 hours of not being able to keep anything down later - we were finally able to fall asleep for about an hour before Elle woke us both back up. Lee and I were so weak and still not feeling great that the only thing we could eat were ice chips as we made the drive back to Houston. Thank goodness Vickie met us at our house and took care of Elle while Lee and I were able to sleep! The good news about being so sick...I lost 7 lbs....right before Thanksgiving...whoo hoo...bring on the extra calories!

Despite the traveling mishaps, it was so much fun to see all our friends. I wish we all lived closer, but because we don't - weekends like this past weekend are so much more special! I can't wait for March and Lauren and Madison's wedding! Whoo hoo!!