Tara & Darrell's Excellent Adventure, Part 2

For the first time ever, Darrell slept five hours and 45 minutes! Wow! It was actually me who woke him up about 6:30 am when my rock-hard, soaked, engorged right boob woke me up because so much time had passed since his last feeding. If I didn't wake him up or pump, I'd be in pain soon. Of course, he was probably exhausted from screaming for the whole drive the day before, but regardless, I was glad he allowed me the longest continuous bout of sleep I'd had since he was born.

And I needed it! After feeding him, I got up for an early morning chat with my dad and then went back to bed for an hour before leaving for our first visit: my friend Latha at 9:30am. Of course, I was running late because I had to stop at my favorite bagel shop, Iris Bagels, on the way to say hi to the family there and get my once-standard poppy seed bagel - Oh, how I miss those bagels every day! Latha, one of my closest friends, had children before any of my other friends, so she's an old pro at this whole motherhood business with her sons Shrayes and Saurung. In addition to giving us a ton of awesome hand-me-down clothes and supplies, she's also been wonderful at dispensing helpful advice. Her schedule was tight, though, so I just popped in for about 45 minutes so she could meet Darrell and we could catch up.

Then it was off to see family friend Vikki, or "Aunt Vikki" for little Darrell. She just moved into an awesome house in Fort Worth, but she was still at her medical appointment in south Arlington when I called. So, I drove from Latha's in north Arlington to get Vikki and then off to see her adorable, cat-tastic Fort Worth home (the only home of cats I've ever visited that doesn't smell like cats :)

From Vikki's, it was back to east Arlington to see my "daughter" Taylor, a former student who calls me every Mother's Day and rightfully regards little Darrell as her little brother. Then it was back to my parents' in southwest Arlington to pick up Casper and Ghost and take them to Creature Comfort Animal Clinic for their annual shots. After dropping them back off at my parents', I headed to a central Arlington Starbucks to meet up with another former student Fatima and my friends Jaya and Charles with their adorable 11-month son Cayden.

Fatima was apparently stunned at my "transformation" into a mother, complete with "mom clothes." Mom clothes are a practical choice, of course, and I don't fit well or comfortably into much else besides sweat pants and a basic nursing top, so I suppose I look the part! It was amazing to see how big Cayden is - it's hard to believe that Darrell will be about his size and running around within a year... I want him to stay small for much, much longer!

From Starbucks, I swung back home to feed Darrell and then met my friend Jana - another super-close friend and the second of my friends to have kids - at America's Best Coffee before she headed to work. Jana had seen Darrell in the hospital, so she could really appreciate how much he's grown in just six weeks. And at last, after meeting Jana, I was off to the home of my husband's parents, Alice and Russ.

Whew! I was pretty damn tired by this point, so it was nice to just sit and relax at Alice's and have a relaxing dinner there. Khrystal, my husband's brother's fiancé, came with her kids as well, so little Darrell got to meet his cousins Ryleigh and Gabriel. They were utterly fascinated with this tiny new family member of theirs!

Darrell with cousins Gabriel & Ryleigh

By the time I left Alice's, I was definitely ready to crash, especially since the following morning would be the long drive back to Austin. Little D didn't sleep quite as long this time, but we still got in enough rest for the drive. I made sure to stop for my bagel and coffee at Iris Bagels to say hi to Earl and his parents again before getting on the road again. The ride back wasn't quite as harrowing as the drive north: Darrell only screamed for about 50 percent of the time. By now, I had nearly learned to tune it out while still alert for any abnormal or warning sounds.

Of course, central Austin greeted me with Friday rush-hour traffic since I wasn't arriving until nearly 4 pm, so I ended up getting home a little later than I'd planned to meet up with my friend Bridgett and her seven-month old daughter Satya. Bridgett and I had been trying to meet up for ages despite busy schedules, so it was nice to catch up, introduce her to little D and see how much Satya has grown since I met her a few months ago.

And at last, Friday night, we slept in our own bed, thoroughly wiped out from our whirlwind DFW odyssey!

Ryleigh, Darrell and Gabriel