Boston or BUST

Since it is Easter, and Piper's first Easter at that, I feel like I should post a couple of pictures of her with her Easter basket before we back up to last weekend's Boston trip. Between you and me, she's actually been enjoying playing with the eggs in the basket all week, but it was like she had just discovered them for the first time again this morning so I don't think she really minded. And this was the first time she got to play with the grass, which was probably her favorite part anyway!

And of course she had a cute dress for the day - the sweater was dumped due to the simply gorgeous weather! And who doesn't love playing with a diaper? Honestly sometimes I don't know why we ever buy her toes ...

Ok, so back to Boston.

I will say the trip was book ended with some less than ideal traveling behavior by the peanut. Gone are the days when Piper gets in the car, immediately falls asleep, and wakes up when we get somewhere. Now the lull of the engine only serves as background noise to either playing, screaming, and very occasionally, snoring. We had plenty of screaming both ways, but luckily the actual time spent in Boston rocked.

We arrived Thursday evening, giving Piper and I all day to have fun on Friday while Reid had meetings. First we visited Waggener Edstrom, where I worked pre-Piper, and it was so much fun because the last time these ladies say Piper was when she was just over two months old. This time, her personality was bursting at the seams! Next we headed to the Children's Museum for lunch and then two and a half hours of playing. Two and a half hours! Piper was in absolute heaven. We literally spent 99 percent of our time in the "crawler" section of the 0-3 room, where they had a wall of mirrors, a fish tank, a circular water bed hang out place, toys and other babies. Piper played and played until we had to leave before a meltdown happened from exhaustion. It was great to see her having so much fun!

And then Friday night was a little piece of heaven: Reid took care of Piper while I went out to dinner with two of my best girl friends. It was the first night I've gone out solo since Piper was born, and while I love her like crazy, it was so nice to get a little break and hang out with my friends. Thank you, honey!!

Saturday included a lot more activity. First brunch with our friends Julie and Rob, whom we stayed with for they weekend - exposing them to parenthood. They were definitely troopers, not batting an eye as baby crap exploded all over their apartment, and luckily Piper was super well behaved the whole time! Then it was off to Somerville to visit our friends Jay and Julie and their new (seven days!) arrival Lucy. She was teeny tiny and super sweet. Piper looked like a massive child comparatively, but I think we all enjoyed it because Reid and I got an infant fix and Jay and Julie got a glimpse into life becoming more normal than just sleepless nights with a very needy lump who you give and give and give to and don't get anything in return. I mean newborns are great, but it's a good thing they get bigger and turn into little people!

And from there we headed up to Malden where we had a play date with our friends Mary and Tim (and Stella) and Jasmine (and Mariko). At that point Piper was pretty exhausted, but with a little bit of food in her, she perked up and had a great time rocking out with her friends. Keep in mind she'd slept about 20 minutes all day at that point ... her stamina is unprecedented. Stimulate her and she will NOT give in to exhaustion.

And this picture sums up why Stella and Piper were the chunks at the play date. Stella stole the bag of puffs out of Piper's diaper bag - she knew what those little pieces of heaven were. In the picture, I'm pretty sure Piper just noticed what Stella had. Mine!

That night, Julie and Rob hosted an amazing dinner party and Piper charmed the pants off of people, clearly. Man, I'm getting tired just recounting our weekend! But the dinner party rocked - and it rocked that Piper went down at 8 and gave us the rest of the night to just hang out with friends and have fun. The next morning was brunch and then we were off. Exhausted but exceptionally happy after spending a bunch of quality time with friends we love!