5 Things I Learned This Weekend

 

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I'm pretty sure I'm in line for the Super Mom award.  Either that, or 200 high school youth should be rising up and calling me blessed.  What did I do this weekend?  I joined my husband at the LCMS District Youth Gathering in San Diego with 200 high school kids and their youth ministry leaders.

AND this little tyke.

Yup.  I was in charge of a room of high school girls and a seven week old baby.  We had a blast, though!  I'm really glad that I went.  I'm sure it's the last DYG I'll be going to for a long time (while it's one thing to bring a newborn to the Hilton for a weekend of noisy high schoolers, bright lights, live band worship, and seminars, it's  a completely different thing to bring a toddler!).  Anyway, it was a good weekend of growth.  Here are some things that I learned:

1.  Babies pack more than high school girls.  Every year, I laugh at the girls and the huge suitcases they bring.  They need 2-3 changes of clothes at the most, and yet they look like they're ready to join Taylor Swift on her world tour.  Babies, on the other hand, take up half of the station wagon.  Between Kayleigh's car seat, stroller, play yard, diapers, burp cloths, extra clothes, and heaps of blankets, Handsome Man and I were shaking our heads and wondering why we don't own a minivan.

2. Kayleigh can sleep through anything.  We had several people question our baby's hearing when they saw her sound asleep against my chest in the middle of a live band performance.  Yup, she'll sleep through the loudest thing you can send our way...but why is it that as soon as her swing turns off, she wakes up?

3. Never put a recently fed baby in a Moby without burping her first.  Warm, gooey spit up straight down your front (bonus points if it makes it inside your shirt!) while your baby is strapped to you.  Need I say more?

4. You can't be a germaphobe when you're spending the weekend with 200 high schoolers.  Everyone wants to hold that sweet little baby's hands and kiss those chubby cheeks!

5.  It's really heartwarming to watch the girls from our church interact with our sweet Kayleigh Grace.  Seeing their expressions as they talked to Kayleigh, and the way they lit up when she smiled at them made my weekend.  I'm glad that they enjoyed their time with her, and didn't complain about having a baby along for the ride.  Luckily, a 7 weeker can't really cramp your style :)

And one bonus bit of advice:

6.  Never stay at the Mission Bay Hilton on the 3rd weekend of November.  If you're going to pay for a nice time at the Hilton, be sure you won't be competing with groups of high schoolers who think it's a blast to race each other to the top floor on the only two elevators in the building!  (We did our best to keep the craziness to a minimum, folks, I promise!)