New friends.

A 7am flight is early with a baby. We were up at 4.45 and got to the airport at 6am. Luckily I downed a few cups of tea in that short time. I felt like mainlining it.


It was so strange to leave Sonja behind. I've never been away from her for any length of time, but I've had updates from Peter and it sounds like they had a fun day together. With Peter traveling so often lately, I am really happy they will be getting some Daddy-Daughter time.

Waiting to board our flight. Her giraffe was put in a plastic bag to
go through the security check. It was an instant hit.

Getting ready to leave the terminal for take-off. 

The flight went well, although I was reminded just how busy Haven is. I also realized that a sleep-trained baby is less likely to fall asleep on Mommy's lap, since she is no longer accustomed to doing so. The opposite was true with Sonja, who slept quite easily on my lap during our flights to and from Mexico. At least the flight to Calgary was only about an hour, and the other folks on the plane seemed to enjoy seeing her as we walked up and down the aisle. She gave out lots of smiles and was her usual charming self, and crashed out in the car during the forty-five-minute drive to Olds.


It's fantastic to see Kate and Glenn and to finally meet little Landen. Well, she's not all that little; Haven and Landen are almost four-months apart, but you can see by the photos that they are the same size. In fact, I think Landen is a touch taller than Haven already, but Haven wins in the "large cranium" category.

First meeting with Landen.

Cutie-Pie.

I don't know if it's just a girl thing, but babies love other babies. Both Haven and Landen were so stoked to see each other, but they really just wanted to grab each other. And in Haven's case, she was all about trying to grab Landen's face and eyes.  


I don't quite know why Haven always pokes eyes, but Sonja did it too and I've seen lots of other kids do the same. It must be because the eyes are so bright and shiny and they move around a lot. I even see Haven grab and poke at her dolls' eyes. I find myself saying "gentle..." a lot lately.


When she wasn't trying to poke out Landen's eyes, Haven tried head-butting, face pinching and head/face slapping. Example:

Before...

...and after.

They are really very excited by each other and the next couple days should be quite fun. At any rate, I am so happy to have these photos of the first time they met.