The Adventures of Selena Kate and Mama

This week has been a whirlwind and quite adventurous and exhausting! We had planned a trip to Byhalia, Mississippi to visit our families and show Selena Kate to the rest of our family who had yet to meet her. Due to the stupid Air Force, Chad was unable to go with us. I set out Thursday morning with Selena Kate. The morning itself should have let me know that this was the beginning of an adventure that would exhaust us both by the end of the weekend. Thursday morning, we both got up and got Selena Kate fed. Chad left for work and I began to pack the car. Minor problem...Where were my car keys? I ALWAYS put them in the same pocket in my purse but they were nowhere to be found. After over 30 minutes that included dumping my purse, checking my pockets of the previous days pants, I decided I had better look outside...maybe I left them in the car! Nope! I was baffled so as I went to go back in the house to call Chad and inform him I had lost my keys, I spot them in the front door! Very safe! The front door had been locked the previous night but apparently I forgot to take the keys out of the front door and had left them outside and available to the world! Great! Once, I recovered from my very unsafe move I was ready to finally begin packing the car. I had planned well. I made a ice coffee and ha everything packed except for SK who was waiting patiently in her car seat. I decided that I could grab her car seat handle on my arm AND hold my iced coffee and get out the door. NOPE! I spilled the whole coffee on us both. So yet another trip was made back inside in order to change my clothes and Selena's too. After this, we finally made it on the road. I got around 21 miles from our house only to realize I had left my coat hanging by the front door. I would not have normally returned for this but there was snow on the ground in Byhalia. I was not going anywhere that had snow without my jacket. I turned around, went home and got the coat. Now I got on the road for REAL!
The trip took 9 hours and usually takes 7.5. Selena is the best little traveler and does not make a peep unless she is hungry. When she did get hungry, I would stop and pull over and feed, burp and change her and we would be on our way. We arrived in Byhalia at dinner time Thursday night and were greeted by Sha, Helen Grace, Ben, Trish and Bubba. My cousins, aunt, uncle and grandmother. Helen Grace who will be two this May kept saying: "Pretty" and "baby" and she would rub Selena Kate's hands and belly and feet. She also spent a lot of time staring at her while lying on Bubba's bed.
Friday was spent with SK's "Sissy" and Auntie Em as well as cousin William, Ant Di and Uncle Bill eating pizza. She also visited with her Mimi and Papaw (Chad's parents). On Saturday, Bubba, Trish and Sha hosted a Sip and See for people who had yet to meet SK to come and see her. This was so beautifully decorated and everyone in Byhalia it seemed showed up to catch a glimpse of our sweet girl. She was an angel and stayed asleep the whole time for the most part.Later that night she visited the CrawDeLis restaurant with Amy's family. On Sunday, Selena Kate went to church and then watched myself and Bubba open all the gifts we were given from the Sip and See! We have been so very blessed with an amazing amount of generosity and gifts and have so much for Selena that I do not think we could ever run out! Today we drove back home and after a slight detour to get Chad ribs from Dreamland in Montgomery, we spent our first Valentine's Day as a family together. We arrived home to tulips and these beautiful glass bottles Mama has been eyeing at Celebrations in Pensacola and even a Valentine's sleeper for SK all courtesy of Papa. Chad also got sushi for dinner which was amazingly yummy! We are so glad to be home and settled. We have enjoyed our adventures and many travels but are happy to be back. Selena Kate was one month old on Saturday and we cannot imagine our life without her! It has been quite an adventure and we are looking forward for many more to come, but they will be occurring closer to home for awhile because Mama is exhausted from all these adventures!