Lauren at 13 months

Alas, I am dusting off the laptop to write a little something as Lauren turns 13 months old. A day late. We are well into our fourth week on the road. I'll admit I'd hoped to update more along the way but a couple weeks of spotty Internet service, sketchy nighttime sleep by the subject of this post plus many--mostly wonderful--distractions have kept me from doing so. I've opted to spend my daytime hours trying to relax and enjoy doing whatever I want. Apparently, I have not wanted to blog or upload photos to Flickr. I imagine I will get to chronicling our adventures soon enough. Just not today.

As for my dear daughter, our traveling, which has taken up the better part of her thirteenth month, has been a mixed bag for her. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked that her nighttime sleep has been so poor (many, many wakings every single night) since traveling can do that to a little one. But on previous vacations, including our trip to Florida at the end of May, she'd done so much better. I hate it for her and, selfishly, for me, as I've gone nearly a month without a decent night's sleep.

Of course, during the day, Lauren's been her usual charming self. I think that's what has kept me from calling the whole thing off and heading home. While she's been fairly selective about who she will let carry her around, she's been especially quick to reach for Mimi and Grandma, much to their delight. She's enjoyed swimming, riding in motor boats, playing with babies very close to her own age and crawling around interesting houses and hotels. She waves "hi" and claps and dances and babbles all the while. While she hasn't loved sitting in her car seat on our traveling days, she's done progressively better as we've logged our 3,000-plus miles up to this point. She seems to do best when Mama drives and Daddy sits beside her. I suppose I tend to bring out her more emotional side. But that's exactly as it should be for my baby.

Yesterday, as Lauren finished her thirteenth month, she also lost one of her best admirers: Nana Yardley, Matt's maternal grandmother. We were blessed to make our way to Louisville late Saturday night in time to spend a couple days saying our good-byes to Nana. Though she slept most of time during our hospital visit, I like to think she rested peacefully to the sound of the boys playing cars on the couch in her room and Lauren babbling and clapping for the small audience of fellow Nana devotees. Rest in sweet peace, Nana. We love and miss you.