sunny cali

Auntie Hilary loves her niece Eliana. Eliana loves her beautiful Auntie Hilary (enough to even behave during her dance performanc!)

we continue to have excellent adventures here in mama's home town. and eliana proved, once again, that she is indeed the most stupendous baby on the planet. we had a busy day planned. the kind of day that makes mama a bit anxious, because at any moment, the day could turn upside down, potentially, perhaps, disastrous. we even had a matinee at the theatre involved - like the real, los angeles style theatre where people are very serious and despise noisy, fussy babies. but i'll get there in a moment...

we started with a superb breakfast at mommy's old friend' the vaughns. eliana was charming and sweet, and then dutifully passed out in her sling after a few walks up and down the palm tree lined street. mom was amazed at how big the houses are (they seem to get bigger the longer i'm in montana), amazed at the limes and persimmons growing on trees, the wisteria ever blooming, the sun, ever shining. after sweet sauce woke up, we moved on to trader joes where gran needed to pick up some wine. rockstar was hungry, so mama dutifully fed her in the back of gran's car in the blistering heat of the ginormous parking structure. then it was on to....the theatre. i was worried. the theatre was small, intimate, the exact worst place for a crying baby. i was so happy to see my old, beloved high school theatre friend hollace in the lobby. her beauteous smile made me relax, but not enough to fully focus and move on from my worries about baby's time in the theatre. so first i fed eliana discreetly in the lobby, hoping to help her pass out. to no avail. then i put elie in her pouch and started to bounce, sway and pace in the back of the theatre, hoping, again, to put her to sleep. again, no luck. so i decided to sit in my seat, settle in, relax, and nurse her there. superstar! the little lady nursed through the whole show, coming to just in time for the finale, which she stared at bright eyed and alert, loving every moment of her auntie's glorious choreography. hurrah.

then it was on to auntie hilary's house for a post show party. eliana loved meeting her new friends. she met another cousin, the gorgeous daniella, my brother mark's five year old daughter. she also met her "cousin" emelyn, azure and jason's two year old. the little people loved each other and continued to gravitate towards each other as the evening wore on. how proud i was to pass eliana around. so proud of her smiles and relaxed attitude. she did so well, even tempered even in the car ride home (the car seat has not been her favorite thing here in the big city...). princess perfect then dutifully fell asleep after a long, fulfilling day, and slept, yet again, through the night.