Thanksgiving

We've successfully completed our first plane trip with Natalie (and with the added challenge of three working arms between two adults). Natalie did great!

We were originally supposed to leave last Sunday, but that morning (before leaving for the airport, thankfully), we got a call that our flight had been canceled. They offered us a later flight, with a layover, arriving at 10pm, or the same direct flight we had been on one day later. Although it was suboptimal to lose a day of time with Mike's parents, changing planes and arriving late at night just felt too challenging. So we opted for the latter. Then, while waiting at the gate area on Monday, they called my name. I approached the kiosk with trepidation (after all, luck hadn't exactly been on our side so far). It turns out we had been upgraded to first class! Although I was stressed about potentially having a crying baby in first class, things worked fine since Natalie spent nearly the whole flight sleeping (except when she woke up upon descent to have a poopsplosion, a performance that she repeated on the return flight).

Anyway, once we finally got to Michigan, we had a wonderful time. The weather was crisp, but not too cold, and, of course, the people were warm and welcoming!Natalie got to meet her great-grandfather and Renee:And, of course, bubbe and gramps were happy for some Natalie time:As was Auntie Jenny:Natalie got her first Hanukkah presents:And she met her (second? once removed? something like that?) cousin, Brody:Natalie and her great-uncle Frank:Here we are on Thanksgiving:And here's an up-close shot (mostly so you can appreciate Natalie's cute dress!)Here are a few other good shots:And here's a video of Natalie repeating some sounds that gramps was making:

And here's the entire Thanksgiving album: (also available by clicking here)

p.s. For those who asked about my arm, I'm doing better. I saw the orthopedist on Monday, and he said that, while the arm was definitely broken, there wasn't much point in casting it, due to the location and relatively minor nature of the break. So the arm is just in a sling, and I'm gradually using it a bit more. However, Mike is still doing the bulk of everything around here!