Ellie's first road trip

Brian, Ellie and I went to Rockford this past weekend to visit family and help celebrate the slew of September birthdays among the cousins. We were nervous about how Ellie would do on the car ride, which is usually about 4 hours each way but wound up taking us closer to 5 hours this trip. She did pretty good on the way up Saturday. We stopped to feed her about an hour in and then she slept another couple hours. She started screaming about an hour from Rockford, but once we stopped, changed her and gave her some love for a few minutes, Ellie was good to go for the rest of the trip.

The way home was a little more eventful. Ellie had a couple big stretches of screaming, but once we found exits off the highway we were able to get her calmed down each time. Overall, I think she did great for a one-month-old. But we're quickly learning the complications and stress of traveling with a baby.

Aunt Pat (below) hosted a big extended family celebration at her house Sunday and got to meet Ellie for the first time.

Cousins Jay and Alora came all the way from Nebraska to meet Ellie! Jay is very happy to meet her... and he's very well-dressed, too.

Alora is such a big girl! And she's going to teach Ellie all sorts of things before too long :)

Chris wasn't the most-eager to hold the baby, but really who can resist Ellie in ruffled pink pants?And these are the Lewis cousins -- Eliot, Ila, Meriel and Izzie. Ellie is very excited to have lots of clothes passed down from these beautiful girls.Ila, Mason and Alora got to blow out the candles on the cake. They are the newest generation of September birthdays... Alora (who is turning 6) even shares her Sept. 23 birthday with me! Maggie, me and cousins Matt, Jason and Kevin also have September birthdays and have gotten plenty of group birthday action over the years.