Boston Bloggin' - The Conclusion...at last

Now, lest you think we did not take Jane to Boston with us (or that we only took pictures of Josh), here are some pictures documenting Jane's first visit to Beantown.

If Jane looks like a princess in her plush stroller nest...well, it's because she is. But there is also a story of love and devotion that goes along with this picture. As I have stated before, the weather was unpleasant and blustery during our visit. At some point I noticed a tiny, bare foot poking out of the stroller. I was dismayed to find that Jane had lost a sock and had worked her foot out from under her blanket. Of course, I hadn't packed a second pair of socks. I'd remembered just about everything else, including two extra outfits, three diapers for Jane, two diapers for Josh, wipes, a sippy cup, snacks, a bib, Baby Tylenol, etc... But no socks.

Luckily we were at Quincy Market with plenty of stores around. Dad and Jason went to see if the Gap had a Baby Gap. As Mom and I looked around for a store that sold baby socks, a well-meaning passerby noticed our predicament. She was pushing a stroller with a toddler boy in it. She kindly offered me a pair of extra socks she had in her diaper bag remarking that she always carried an extra pair of socks. Truly, what mother worth her salt doesn't carry around at least one extra pair of socks at all times? But this is when things started to go awry. Now I had put a fair amount of thought into Jane's outfit. Dressing your baby girl in flowers and pink and softness is a special joy. So you can understand my hestation as the stranger handed me a pair of red and white toddler boys' socks. My reluctance only increased when to my horror I realized the socks were dirty. Sure, the bit of masticated granola bar stuck to the sock could have come from the bottom of the diaper bag and attached itself to an otherwise clean sock...but the sock had that stretched out tired look socks get after little boys put them through their paces. I cringed as I realized I would have to put the yucky socks on my clean baby (who incidentally, had a bath that morning) while this stranger watched. I tried to smile and say thank-you but I'm pretty sure I just grimaced and mumbled as I forced my unwilling hands to put the socks on Jane.

"Mom...," I said weakly as we walked away.

"I know," she said. She was feeling my pain and no words were necessary. Now we really had to find a pair of clean socks.

For some reason we wandered into Brookstone. Clearly we weren't thinking straight as I am pretty sure Brookstone has never sold a pair of baby socks since the chain opened. We tried to call Dad and Jason from inside the store to see if they had any luck but the thumping techno-gadgets on display and the customers operating them made it impossible to hear anything. That's when mom saw her favorite NAP blankets. Surely Jane would be much warmer if she had one of those than she was under her current blanket. Two blankets and a complimentary teddy bear later we walked out of the store. (Thanks, Mom!) There we found Dad and Jason with no less than three pairs of socks from Baby Gap. I put a lovely pink pair on Jane and tucked the donated socks under my stroller. I didn't dare throw them away lest the girl who gave them to me was watching. Really though, I wanted to burn them. (I have feet issues.) And Jane spent the rest of the day comfortably esconced in her stroller.

So you see it is a story of love and devotion. I am so grateful Jane has people who love her and are so concerned about her welfare and comfort. What a blessing! And as you can see from the last picture, Jane is lovin' life. For some reason she puts her hands behind her head sometimes when she lays down. It makes her look very relaxed.