the daily bebe: wedding

i'm not sure if it came through in my other posts, but i was really worried about taking beatrix to this wedding that happened last night. for the past week, she has spent the hours from 4 to 6 screaming -- and i mean screaming. bloodcurdling screams that pierce the eardrum and make the eyes water. then, after about a hundred laps around the apartment with her in the moby wrap, she finally falls asleep around 6, at which point she is out for the night. this sleep is only preserved, however, by utter and complete silence. we watch TV on mute, whisper almost soundlessly to each other, and don't dare make dinner until after she's made the transfer from moby to bed around 8.

so, this wedding started at 6. and weddings, at least all the ones i've been to before, don't tend to be silent. on the contrary, they are usually quite loud. josh and i spent the past few days debating whether we should even go at all -- we both had visions of her ruining the ceremony with her screams, and/or of one or both of us spending the entire thing walking her up and down some hallway, trying desperately to find a quiet dark place.

but in the end we decided to try, knowing that there was a good chance we'd have to leave after twenty minutes. we wanted to see our friends ben and andie get married, and we wanted to see my family and all of our other friends who were going to be there. bebe hardly napped yesterday, never a good sign for how the evening will unfold, and started her screaming even earlier than usual. we got ready and packed up the car with a feeling of dread.

well, she was absolutely amazing. we couldn't even believe it. she did almost ruin the ceremony, when she started to cry, but luckily it was right before the bridal party entered so we made a quick escape and found a quiet place to breastfeed. then i put her in the moby and she slept soundly on my chest through most of the cocktail hour, while music played and a hundred people talked all around her. all our friends, who hadn't met her yet, got to peek at her sweet face. then she started to wake up, and josh and i looked at each other worriedly. after i nursed her again, however, she dug deep down in her little baby self and found her second wind. when i brought her back out, she was the life of the party, turning on the charm and smiling widely at any and all who got right up in her face. before dinner, the bridal party entered, dancing, to raucous music and then invited everyone to get on the floor for the first dance. at this point bebe was back in the moby so we joined everyone else on the dance floor. we in my family (my mom, dad, sister, and i, and for the past 10 years now josh too) have always had a lot of fun dancing together at weddings. it was pretty cool to have my daughter join in the fun too!

shortly after that, bebe started approaching a meltdown, so we packed up and left. we were so glad that we had braved it, though, not just because we got to join the celebration for ben and andie but because so many of our friends go to see bebe at her absolute cutest. my camera was packed away for most of the night but i did get a couple shots.

daddy and bebe looking spiffy

bebe hanging out with eli, the groom's nephew. eli was due 4 days after bebe and was born over a week early. mommy sure was jealous at the time! sarah and brad, eli's folks, and josh and i discussed an arranged marriage but in the end decided to leave it up to the kids. they did seem to like each other though.