In Pittsurgh

After more than 6 1/2 months, Nathaniel finally got to meet his uncles, aunts and cousins on my side of the family. On my side, he has four uncles and an aunt, along with spouses that led to 12 cousins. On Amanda's side, he has one immediate aunt so far.

On Sunday, Nathaniel met three uncles and their wives/aunts along with seven cousins ranging in age from 18 months to 10 years or so. There was MUCH screaming as these cousins like to wrestle around and such. Nathaniel seemed interested in all of this, but he wasn't really ready to get too involved with the rough play. Overall, he seemed to like getting to see all these crazy people.

The most difficult part, however, has been the adjusted schedules.
Nathaniel spent about six hours in a car seat on Saturday, which made for some iffy sleeping Saturday night. Then, on Sunday, an uncle arrived during the key 12-2 naptime and we woke the little guy up to visit with that family. Then there was all the screaming from 5 to 8 p.m.

Nathaniel was absolutely exhausted, but he didn't fall asleep very well. Once he was out, though, he was out for a while.

But the altered schedule goes further than that ... he also is sleeping in a much smaller travel crib now, so he can't roll over as he like to do. The result is he gets upset and wakes up. Then there's the fact that feeding him solid food now is a two-person job since we couldn't fit the high chair into the car. This just doesn't work as well for Nathaniel ... he seems to think it's more play time.

Anyway, tonight we'll be meeting some old friends ... and hoping Nathaniel stays calm for a while.

Tomorrow will be a more relaxed day (we hope). Wednesday will be lunch with some other old friends. Then Thursday will be another six hours in the car seat.

Poor kiddo.