Over the weekend we went up to the DC area for my very good friends’ from college baby shower. I was the first of my college friends to get knocked up and, even though these guys say their baby wasn’t planned, I’m convinced that, after they met Luki last summer and witnessed the magical poop missiles, they were like, “We need to get ourselves one of these STAT!”

And really, I couldn’t be more excited for them. Ever since they told me they’re having a boy, I’ve been referring to their fetus as “Luki’s BFF” and planning family vacations in my head for the next few decades.

To all other college friends who may read this blog: Babies are awesome! All the cool kids are having them and if you get on the ball, you could also get invited to one of these awesome vacations featuring diaper changes, Yo Gabba Gabba, and 9:00pm bedtimes! DO IT!

Anyway, now that I’ve gotten my baby crusade out of the way, I’m happy to report that this trip went a lot more smoothly than our (mis)adventures in Atlanta back in October. No strangers banged on our hotel room wall at midnight, Ton Ton and I were able to SIT DOWN to eat in restaurants AT THE SAME TIME, and, instead of screaming his head off the entire weekend, our child smiled, cooed, and even showed off his tricks (i.e. old man face, head slap, and Stop trying to trick me! I know the difference between yummy fruit and nasty chicken & squash puree) to our friends. He is growing up you guys! I mean, yes, he did spill an entire glass of water on the floor at dinner one night and hogged all the banana bread at brunch Sunday morning – but that banana bread was damn good, and, well, I’m 26 and spill food on the floor/myself/others on a daily basis.

Luki gets and A+ on travel.

Ton Ton and I, however, learned a few crucial things about traveling with a completely-mobile-solid-food-eating child. For starters, there’s a whole lot more stuff we needed to keep track of. This was learned the hard way after we left every single one of Luki’s spoons at the table of the Cracker Barrel (I know, classy!) where we stopped to have lunch on the drive up. There were some loud words in the car upon this realization and it all ended with Ton Ton declaring, “I’LL BE IN CHARGE OF ALL THINGS IN THE DIAPER BAG, YOU JUST MAKE SURE WE DON’T LOSE THE BABY.” Easy enough. Except when we almost left Luki’s plastic bib in our friend’s apartment and she had to run out to the elevator to give it to us.

Other than that, we also had to come to terms with the fact that Luki was going to keep standing up on the hotel crib and licking its metal rails — it’s a good thing Big E wasn’t there — and that he was NOT OK with just napping in his stroller as we tried to hang out with old friends past his bedtime.

Cutting our evenings short was not our favorite part of the trip, but that cramp in our style was totally counteracted by the flood of “HE’S ADORABLE! WOW, HE SEEMS SO SMART! SO ALERT! SO FUNNY! LOOK AT THOSE EYES!” comments from everyone who met our son.

Yep, this kid has definitely become my most complimented accessory. I just hope to never leave him behind at a Cracker Barrel.