Whew!

The wedding was beautiful. We went to the bride's house at 8AM yesterday morning (in the pouring rain, no less - it rained almost all day) for hair and make-up. We all got dressed over there - the photographers got a couple of pictures of me helping Bella with her dress and her necklace, so maybe those will turn out nicely. They were also quite taken with Bubba, who fell asleep in his car seat half dressed. He was lying there with his dress pants and a white onesie on, and his button-up shirt and tie were hanging off the handle of his seat. They took some photos and some video, so it will be interesting to see those.

We headed over to the church around 11AM for pictures, which I think will turn out beautifully. The bride was gorgeous, her wedding party looked beautiful.....it really was very lovely. Bella was well-behaved and looked breathtaking. The wedding actually started on time, which was nice. It was a full wedding mass, so instead of walking all the way down the aisle to stand with the bride Bella just walked down to where we were sitting (in the third row - we had great seats) and then sat down with us. I cried, of course, when she walked down. But when she sat down, she leaned over to me and said, "I'm not sure, but I might need to throw up". I was alarmed, to say the least, but she said she was OK for the moment and didn't want to go to the bathroom. I think it was a combination of nerves and hunger, but she made it through.

Brian was able to make it to the wedding, but couldn't stay because he had to get some sleep. He held Bubba for most of the ceremony, which was a nice break for me. He also took Bubba to the reception while I waited with Bella for them to finish the post-ceremony pictures. When I finally got over to the reception Brian was looking a little glum. He had put on some pinstriped finery for the wedding - a pinstripe suit with a striped gray and white shirt and tie that I jokingly call his pimp suit. When I found him and Bubba at the reception he showed me a damp spot on his suit jacket. "Bubba peed all over me". So I responded: "Bubba put the 'P' in your Pimp suit, then?". He was mildly amused.

He left, I cleaned up Bubba and we ate. Bella was doing pretty well until the wedding party dance - the ring bearer (who was a couple years older and a head or so taller than her) sort of begrudgingly asked her to dance (because his mom made him) and she started crying and flung herself into the arms of her Godfather, who was sitting right in front of the dance floor. I went up and tried to calm her down, and a very nice lady who knows Brian but whom I don't know at all offered to hold Bubba so I could dance with Bella. I agreed, and Bella agreed to dance with me but only if I picked her up. So I danced with my baby, who was tired and nervous and a little frayed, and who clung to me like a baby. I stood there and swayed with her to the music and cried. Tears of joy, tears of exhaustion, tears with all sorts of meanings behind them. Sigh. I'm close to crying just thinking about it, so I'll move on.

Bella wanted to go home after that, but I had to stop and talk to someone before we left. While I was talking Bella started dancing to the music and then decided she wanted to stay. So we did the chicken dance, and we did the YMCA, and she rode the train, and at that point Bubba was a screaming ball of exhaustion so we opted to come home. If we had hung out another ten minutes or so we would have been able to see the bride and groom leave, but I don't think Bubba could have lasted another ten minutes. And I don't think I could have lasted another ten minutes with Bubba.

We got home and got settled and were glad to be there. Bubba happily went to bed and to sleep, and I was settling Bella down for the night when I noticed that she felt awfully warm - she was running a fever. And she is still running a fever off and on today. And, maybe to make her feel better and sympathize with her, I am now running a fever, too. So I'm going to lay on the couch some more. But I do have a few pictures that I will put up once we feel better!