College Game Day, Baby

First off, GO CATS!

Boo woke up this morning doing the classic Wildcat growl and moving her little claws in the characteristic fashion. She's already a fan - and a fiesty one at that.

Our child is quite portable, being approximately the size of two footballs. And we've found she loves to go new places. Her eyes light up at the new shadows, new voices, new smells. So we love to take her places.

Case in point:

We attended our first hometown tailgate today, and let me tell you, we college town residents do it up. Probably because we have the hot stoves and comforts of home just minutes away. Our theme was cowboy - as in Wyoming. I made cowboy oatmeal cookies (with butterscotch, yum!) and seven layer dip. Others brought turkey burgers, buffalo brownies, puppy chow, etc.

And although I worried that an afternoon in the hot Florida sun with the Bean would be taxing, she did great, dressed up in her little team tank and bloomers. The ladies took turns holding and admiring her. She nursed in the car once, from the bottle once, and was largely sleeping the afternoon away.

We did have a triple diaper change, which I executed on my lap in the car with surprising precision and grace. By diaper #3, I was giggling quite hard because I had managed two full loads of especially runny yellow ooze - and a voluminous impromtu pee - without getting a spot on my mini skirt. (Yes, I wore a mini-skirt. Not a single pair of my shorts fit, and no way I was wearing pants in that heat. So I went with the college girl look, and topped it off with pig tails for kicks.) Husband was impressed. (I just re-read this. I meant by the diaper change. But he quite possibly was equally impressed by the outfit.)

But there's a catch:

Having left Husband behind to go to the game with the guys, S and I were on our own in the car. And let me tell you, car rides with her give me headaches. Even if she doesn't fuss, my shoulders tighten up in anticipation of the worst. This time, She freaked upon being put in the car seat, which is par for the course, and then settled as we got moving - also usual. Halfway home, she flipped out. Sometimes I can calm her by taking a corner quickly, but that was just a stopgap this time and she got herself so worked up by one mile from home that her face had turned purple and she did that mouth-wide-open, nothing coming out, can't seem to breathe very well cry. The one her dad never has to hear. Sure that her poor little screams had given me my first grey hairs, I veered off the road. Whew. It took much longer than usual to calm her - by that I mean two or three minutes; she's quite consolable.

She's so great during outings. But the getting there and back really, really sucks.

We have thousands of baby contraptions - from Bjorns to slings to wraps to seats to strollers. But what I need is one of those Star Trek beam-me-up things. Maybe I'll try Babies R' Us?