Trip to Atlanta

Eli and I spent the last five days in Atlanta, visiting my old roommate Amber, her husband Stephen, and their cute baby Sydney. Below are the highlights of our trip:

Eli enjoying the crazy lights in the O'Hare United terminal:

Eli LOVING walking to the park in Amber's neighborhood - in shorts and a t-shirt in the middle of October! It was so warm.

Sydney enjoying the swing for the first time
Attempting to get them to slide down at the same time (didn't happen)
Sweet boy
This has to be the funniest picture I have ever taken of a baby before - I LOVE her expression:
Playing in the downtown square in Marietta:


It's so cute when little ones snuggle

Georgia Aquarium - the world's largest aquarium
Eli and Sydney LOVED seeing so many fish - and Eli enjoyed pointing them out to Sydney
Spider crabs - a little gross!
Checking out the beluga whales - Eli kept singing his version of Raffi's "Baby Beluga" song; it was cute.
Taking a snack break at the aquarium


Eli thought this fish was hilarious and kept waving to it after we walked away. Amber and I thought the aquarium had a slight Disney feel to it, including stuff like this walking fish :)
Next jellyfish exhibit
Making a fish face
Pointing the fish out to Sydney
Going through the ocean exhibit that had a moving walkway under the aquarium
Cute baby food face:
I took Eli to get his haircut at a place called Pigtails and Crewcuts. He is always miserable for haircuts, but this time I let him go without the cape (which he hates), and having a lollipop was the magic trick! He was still whimpering and borderline unhappy, but the sugar, combined with being strapped into a fire truck, made a huge difference. I think my friend Lindsay should invest in a fire truck like this for when she cuts kids hair! (just kidding...)
On my last day there, we took a tour at the CNN headquarters, which was fun to see! A little tiring though - we couldn't take strollers on the tour, and it takes you down eight flights of stairs. I was carrying Eli for most of the hour-long tour, but was impressed at how well behaved he was.

I would say overall, the trip was a success. This was my last hurrah before having the second baby (having two young kids will definitely restrict my ease of travel without Ben). Both flights were completely full, and on the way to Atlanta, the guy in front of me leaned way back in his seat, which was pretty uncomfortable for me, being pregnant and holding Eli in my lap. But we made it - and two-hour flights are a cakewalk compared to the three or four-hour flights I've gone on in the past alone with Eli.

I'd say the hardest thing about the trip was getting Eli to nap - he does fine in his crib at home, but on the first day, I put him in the pack and play in Amber's office, and he cried so hard that he threw up. Gross. Such a nice way for Amber to get to know my child in the first hour of us being there :) She was very understanding though! Thankfully, Eli napped some every afternoon at least (often with lots of fuss), and nighttime was always fine.

I had never been to Atlanta before, and love how green it is there. And that it was so warm outside in October. I had so much fun catching up with Amber and Stephen and meeting their cute baby Sydney. Thanks for a really fun visit!

When we got home from the airport tonight, Eli was so funny - he was so excited to see his toys again and kept jumping on his Spiderman couch and kicking back on it. It's always nice to be back home.

On a side note - I think these pictures don't accurately portray how huge I am now - (I didn't put any on here that actually show a side view b/c those aren't very cute)