When I was almost 2 months old I went to Nipple Camp in Canada

 I can't figure out why the videos now go triple speed/no sound.  My MacBook is old but this is a new problem with no change in my upload method (direct from iPhoto).  Apologies.  I'll insert them two ways.  Give me a) vs. b) feedback, please.

Let's start with a shout-out to Schuyler, Alice, and the new bride Tess!  We love you, aunties!

Tess and Mike got married in a beautiful ceremony up on Lopez Island this past Saturday.  This was cause for lots of joy and celebration and for more new and fun experiences for Fiona.  We took her on her first Ferry ride Tuesday evening.  Here are my loves heading from Anacortes to Lopez, all duckied up for the evening deck breeze.  

Wednesday at 6am about a dozen of us started the 3-legged sea journey to Pender Island in Canada, home of Mike's family.  We boarded the Lopez Ferry bound for Friday Harbor where we would then go on to Sidney, BC, and then, by water taxi to Pender.  Although we packed 8 nipple shields and got them to Lopez, in a moment of panic thinking I had forgotten my passport (I hadn't) I put down the shield bound for Canada and left it on the sink.  

In Friday Harbor we cased the joint on foot and stranger's car for a shield.  While I wrestled with Fiona in an abandoned farmer's market Elliott accepted a ride with a nice young mom and her 1yo girl to a family resource center ("nipple what?!") and to the hospital ("you can't just 'see a lactation consultant' without an appointment") and the best we came up with was a big ol' bottle nipple that Elliott tried to doctor with borrowed scissors from the Ferry cafe staff.  Long story short: we avoided starvation, dehydration, great maternal bodily harm, and even formula supplementation and now consider Pender Island to be "Canadian Nipple Camp", site of our suckling skill solidification.  We are now total breast feeding pros freed from the plastic barrier which once divided us.

See, look!  We're on a ferry bound for Canada form Friday Harbor and she is sleeping with a full belly.  

 Next leg of the journey, having cleared customs (under 16 years old you only need a birth certificate), was on this cool water taxi!  

We stayed with Aran, Alice, Zach, Josh, Dennis, and Meg in a wonderful house next door to Mike's parents.  Alice and Fiona got in some good snuggly aunt-niece time.  

At the end of the rehearsal dinner on a deck overlooking a sweet little bay we heard a bagpipe start up.  This was our call to adjourn and we mosied en masse down the road to the next rocky outcropping where we found an 11-piece Scottish band set up to serenade the fianced couple.   

Yes, that's a sake glass of Glenlivet at my side...

This was easily the most beautiful nursing perch yet.  It'll be hard to top.  

Crazy video #1.  Tell me if one of these versions works right.  

a)

b)

The next day we got royal treatment (thanks, infant!) and hitched a direct ride home to Lopez with Mike's brothers, Darren and Steven.  We stopped briefly to pee and clear customs.  FYI, we have the cutest little personal flotation device for Fiona but just kept her in the sling.  One of these days we'll try it on for entertainment.  

Back on Lopez we spent a couple sweet days doing pre-wedding tasks, taking turns cooking family meals, going for walks and runs, admiring the gorgeous property, and feeling wonderfully far from daily responsibilities.

We took a nice walk on the spit of land across Fisherman Bay where we'd never explored.  Super sunny!  More nice views.   

More evidence of good meals.

The hair dryer on the "cool" setting works magic for diaper rash.  It's also a fun baby reset button.  

Isn't this an awesome sign?  Family members each made a letter and Meg commissioned and assembled it for them.  

Big sun-hat.

And the sun just kept on shining as we headed back to Seattle yesterday.   I realize we don't end up with many pictures of all three of us so I asked the quesadilla guy from the Lopez farmers' market to take this.  Thanks, Quesadilla Guy!

And now we're home, all filled up with the love of family.  Yay, Mike and Tess!!!

  Yesterday Fiona got her 2-month immunizations.  It seemed to help a lot to nurse her while she got poked but, even with purple tylenol she was pretty puny (thanks for that term, Momma) yesterday and through the night.  She has gained about 3 pounds since birth and is tracking along her ~3rd percentile. We're going to try to feed a bit more often during the day to bulk her up for soccer season but she's developing perfectly and healthy as a tiny horse.  This tiny horse is currently whimpering as she wakes herself up farting in the bassinette.  Time to eat?  

Ergoing out to Trader Joe's to restock the fridge.  There's so much fun alert time these days. 

Is it possible that she's even more snuggly than usual in this recently vaccinated state?

Bonus entertainment:

Here she is from last week dancing to the Arrested Development theme song.  

There are way more adventures afoot!  Thursday we head to Ithaca and Aurora for 2 weeks and then Huron City (where we got married) for 2 more.  There's something about a job when we get back but for now we're taking this show on the road.  

We've got some 8-year-old cousins to meet and happy birthdayize, a grandpa with a new decade to launch, a wonderful great-grandmother to meet, and a lot of other friends and family to dance with.  See, Nan loves little babies!  This is Nan with Haven Mae Tillepike (or "Tillemans" if you're particular) from last summer.  There may not be a dance floor there this summer but we'll have a party anyhow.  

xoxo, Liz