Notre Dame Visit!

Joseph and I successfully made it yesterday! Daddy dropped us off at the airport, and we had no mishaps there (Joseph is the only one in the world interested by the security check-point). I even found the TSA to be ::gasp:: FRIENDLY! Sort of.

Joseph was awesome on the plane. He nursed at takeoff and landing, and was awake the whole time in between, but in a great mood. He just looked around and laughed. Very cute. The nice Delta lady gave us a whole row to ourselves, which was great for nursing and just being able to spread out.

The car ride with Teresa was a bit more harrowing. He slept until we got to Gary (the armpit of America), then got hungry, so we stopped. After that he was just really ornery, and by the time we got to South Bend, he had worked himself into a tizzy, so we stopped again (we were en-route to Elkhart). Turns out he had a dirty diaper, but it took forever to calm him down. :( It was as worked up as I've ever seen him. Poor baby. I had to swaddle him to calm him down! Then he cried some more and finally fell asleep about 10 miles from Elkhart. ::sigh:: Luckily he slept most of the evening once he had Teresa and her parents to love all over him! They had fun playing baby games first though!

Tante Teresa (tante = aunt in German)

Joseph & Paul

Today we went to Notre Dame and walked all over. Wow have things changed! Over by the JACC they build a science building, and outside of it is the coolest thing ever - a compass rose. It shows various sunrise and sunsets on the ground, as well as the directions to various cities. It was uber cool.

Compass Rose

We got pictures by the Dome, of course, and stopped at LaFortune for a snack for Joseph. I think it's the first time I've EVER felt uncomfortable nursing in public! Kind of weird on a campus with all young kids. No one was anything but really nice, I just felt totally out of place, and was happy for my cover for the first time ever! Plus it's finals week, so everyone was pretty quiet with studying, I felt bad when Joseph cried, even though we were in the T.V. rooms of LaFun. Luckily he was very quiet in general.

Teresa

Near the GrottoGod Quad

Joseph and MamaDomerBaby in front of the Dome!

The crazy fundies were out at the entrance to ND with their horrid partial-birth abortion photos. They really irk me. And of course there was the "abortion plane" circling the campus, as well (it had a different slogan today that we couldn't read). Before I came, I was so embarrassed that ND was associated with this, but after being on campus, I have to say that it felt much more like the University is being attacked by these crazies rather than *a part* of the madness. I'm sure the Right to Life group on campus is doing their part, but believe me, I think most students are VERY excited to have Mr. Obama on campus. I am totally jealous, by the way!

Tomorrow we head back to Chicago to visit Taylor, then fly back home on Friday to a (hopefully well-rested) T.J.

Fun notes from the trip: Our whole bag is pretty much filled up with diapers. Without diaper covers, unfortunately. Mommy brain struck at an inopportune time, and I forgot to pack the extra covers. Luckily he was in a fitted when we left so I had one cover - a Thirsties cover. I highly recommend those, by the way. They are cute and very very good. We stopped at Babies 'R' Us today and I bought some yucky plastic pants to use in case of emergency.