We went to visit my side of the family down in Southern California during weekend of July 23-25. It was Julian's Debut! We took a flight down, Julian was a good baby on the plane and slept most of the way. He had a little cold, which I was worried about, but I gave him some baby decongestant and he seemed to be OK. My mom picked us up at the airport and met her adorable baby grandson for the first time. It was love at first sight on both sides.

We went over to Julian's great-grandparents house after that and visited with them. It was my grandfather's 86th birthday, so nice to be there to celebrate the occasion. Julian was in absolute heaven with, not one, not two, but THREE adoring females (Mama, Grandmama, and Great-Grandmama) all loving him up, kissing him, petting him, holding him and telling him what a wonderful baby he is. Smiles everybody, smiles! I thought his little face would crack from smiling all day long.

It was really nice to have the baby spend time with my grandmother. Her short-term memory comes and goes, so she asks the same questions over and over, then she realizes that she just asked the same question and gets embarrassed. Conversation is kind of a high-pressure situation for her. But with the baby she can just hold him on her lap and love him up, and he just smiles and loves her back. He doesn't care at all if she asks him the same questions over and over. Hell, he's used to it...I'm always asking, "Who is Mama's most beloved boy? Who is the best baby ever? That's right...YOU!". And then a few minutes later, "Who is *such* a sweet boy?". Like I forgot already! ;-)

My grandfather was apparently a bit apprehensive about the baby before he came...there had been a baby screaming his head off next door recently, and it wasn't so pleasant. But he fell in love with Julian after a few hours too, and marvelled at what a good and sweet boy he was...he had never seen anything like it! "That's one fine young man. Have you ever *seen* a boy like that? No, sir...no way!"

We spent the night there, then went to my mom's house the next day, where we played, read his new nursery rhyme book, walked to the beach, took a nice cooling bath in the sink (which was just the right size for a baby bath), and visited. Mom told me a lot of stuff about what *I* did as a baby, which was very interesting to compare with what the Little Man is doing now. Mom and Julian just love each other, so cute. Poor baby was still stuffed up from his cold, so I spent some time hosing out his nose so he could sleep, and we built up a little pillowy platform for him to elevate his head to ty to relieve the congestion.

Sunday we spent with Dad/Peggy/Lisa/Jimmy, Heidi/Michael/Ricky/Leo/Carlo, James/Chandra and Grandma Wava/Manny. It was his Hamilton Family Debut Brunch! Went to a nice restaurant in Dana Point on the water, but it was hot outside, all the new faces were clamoring to hold the cute baby, and he missed his nap. Finally he lost it and burst into tears, so I took him inside the restaurant to a cool, somewhat empty dining room and let him fall asleep in his sling, which took about five seconds. He woke up again about 45 minutes later, fresh and ready to be held by non-mama people again.

He spent some quality time with his grandfather in the rocking chair once we got back to the house, and was presented with multiple toys to play with by his Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jimmy (who are 5 and 7). Lisa even put on a dog costume for him. See family pics below...

We're still trying to figure out everyone's titles. I call my grandmother Nanny, so is she still Nanny to Julian, or is she something else? Is my mother now Nanny to him, and my grandmother is his Grand-Nanny? Should everyone pick their own names? But what do we start with? My mom doesn't like Grandma Sandy, and it's true... it doesn't really fit her. My Dad is now Grandpa Jim, but that's what we called HIS Dad, so it's confusing. He probably needs a new title as well. I guess we'll figure it out in time.

Julian did just fine on the ride home, we're now an incredible 4-for-4 on problem-free plane flights! He was tired and hungry, so he just slept-nursed the whole way. So cute when he is soundly sleeping but keeps up a little suck-suck-suck the whole time. There was a year-old baby behind us who screamed his lungs out, but my baby was perfectly quiet. At the end of the flight he popped up like a jack-in-the-box and started wildly flirting with all the ladies sitting nearby. I got a high five from the guy sitting in front of us.

People congratulate you like you just won the Super Bowl if you can make it through a flight without your baby crying. Of course, BEFORE the flight those same people are giving you the major hairy eyeball, like you just brought a hand grenade on and have it sitting on your lap with your finger in the pin.

When we got to the airport Dan was there to pick us up, but as he was loading our suitcase into the trunk a very excited Bugs jumped up, pushed down the door lock, and locked us out of the car. Annoying, but quite funny. Dan had to take a cab home to get the spare key.

Baby J had a rough Monday at school. He was still tired from his exciting weekend, and had a very runny nose. He was fussy in the morning and didn't want to take a nap. His teacher asked me to have him checked out for an ear infection when I came at lunch. Zoe was napping all morning, so she wasn't available for him to play with. After I came for lunch he took a two-hour nap, but he was still very fussy. He drank a little bit from his bottle, but mostly just bit it and talked to it.

I decided to work from home yesterday, give him a good restful day, and take him to the doctor. He checked out just fine, ears and lungs all clear, just a stuffy nose. He took a 2+ hour nap at midday, then another long nap later in the afternoon. We went for a walk with Bugs and he slept again in his stroller, then we took a bath and read his new nursery rhymes book. He got fussy at the end and wanted to nurse and go to sleep, so that's what he did. A real nap-a-thon day, just as planned. I love it when that happens!