Exhausting but fun weekend

Lots of social activity. Here's what we did:

--Saturday: Let Rachel sleep late (as did I, although I can't seem to sleep past 8 even if I force myself to. This is a worrisome trend; I hope it changes when winter comes and/or Drew returns), so we missed the Multnomah Days parade, a cool event in Multnomah Village in Southwest Portland. We did, however, make it down there to browse among the food stands while visiting our friend Amy and her two sons Jake and Tony. Rachel actually ate some chicken and tortilla, which I considered a victory.

--Saturday afternoon: Left the parade and went back to Amy's house, where the boys immediately took Rachel upstairs to show her their toys. Tony, who is at Maplewood Elementary, was wonderfully gentle with Rachel; he carried her down the stairs when she was afraid to go down and patiently played "chase" with her on Sunday morning when she started running up and down the living-room hallway.

--Saturday night: Rachel can finally get to sleep in a Pack-n-Play! We set it up in the guest room of Amy's house; Rachel fussed a little when I put her down for bed and cried for about a minute or so. Then she was out. I crawled into the bed next to her at 1 a.m. -- Amy and I had a lot of catching up to do -- and found out that Rachel is quite a restless sleeper. At 4 a.m. or so she started talking in her sleep, but then we both slept in until 7:30 or so! I woke up to hear her say cheerfully, "Good day!" and play quietly with her rubber duckies. Then she stood up in the Pack-n-Play; I opened my eyes and said, "Would you like to cuddle in bed, sweetie?" She said yes and it was so fun to cuddle and fall back asleep for a half-hour or so.

--Sunday morning: Said goodbye to Amy, Jake and Tony -- "I like Tony!" Rachel exclaimed as we left -- then grocery shopping, then on to our friend Jeanette's house. Jeanette lives in a large aerie in Northwest Portland with her 10-year-old daughter Berrit. She immediately took a shine to Rachel and they sat at the dining room table playing with stickers and coloring with washable magic markers. I made some pasta with basil and cherry tomatoes which unfortunately we didn't get to enjoy much because the neighbor kids came over and Jeanette had to take an important call.

So then we went home and Rachel took a late nap while I unpacked everything. I desperately wanted to nap, too, but I didn't have the time. For dinner, all I had the energy to do was re-heat some chicken. Then I gave Rachel a bath, cleaned up the kitchen, cut up berries for breakfast this morning and collapsed in front of "Mad Men" -- my one guilty pleasure of the week.