Conventional fun

Our trip to Atlanta for Dragon*Con over the weekend was a complete success! Baby B did SO GOOD--much better than we ever anticipated! The large crowds didn't bother her, nor did any of the many people in costumes--in fact, she seemed quite drawn toward Stormtroopers. LOL

I've got a ton of thoughts in my head about the weekend, and I'm too tired to organize them into any kind of coherent post, so I'm just going to go over some random bullet points so I can change subjects quickly and easily.

*Baby B did great on the car ride down and back. The normally 6- to 7-hour drive took closer to 8 or 9 hours, but we took it slowly on purpose. We could have made it there faster if we'd tried, but we wanted plenty of breaks.

*I was amazed at how much Baby B was the center of attention when we were in a given location (especially elevators). Everyone said how cute she was, how she looked like a doll, how well-behaved she was, etc. I'm normally one to really shy away from attention, but part of me secretly loved this. It made me feel like a celebrity. In fact, many other convention-goers were even taking our picture! Look for us on the cover of People magazine! ;)

*One of the first events we attended was a musical performance by the Celtic band Emerald Rose, which Baby B loved. All through the show, she bounced and smiled, and make a tiny little spectacle of what a good time she was having.

*Baby B got fussy only once during the weekend when we were out at the convention, and only because she'd not napped during her normal morning naptime. An afternoon nap cured her just fine. We were able to keep her on a fairly consistent routine similar to what she has at home, so I'm sure that helped.

*Even though Baby B is a very good baby, she's still going to have some times when she cries. I found it very stressful to deal with crying in a hotel room, where you know that everyone in the adjoining rooms can hear it and is probably annoyed by it. She actually didn't cry all that much, but I was tense trying to get it to stop quickly so as not to bother our neighbors.

[The Husband would like to interject that he was very impressed by how quickly & quietly Baby B fell asleep, and how well she slept through the night. We were afraid the Pack 'n Play would be a poor substitute for the crib at home, but it seemed to do the trick!]

*I'm definitely glad we took the Baby Bjorn for the convention; it was so packed that there's no way we would've been happy with a stroller. We saw many families with strollers, but I honestly don't see how they did it without tearing out their hair.

*We got a picture with my favorite musician, Voltaire, which turned out to be a funny picture because I've got her in the Baby Bjorn standing next to him, and I didn't realize she'd grabbed his necklace, so there I am just cheesing away obliviously while she's trying to get his necklace in her mouth. He was a good sport and at least acted like he thought it was funny.