Adventure in New Jersey

The first week of March I received notice that I needed to go to Princeton, New Jersey for a 3-day conference for my company. I tried to see if I could telecommute since Ryan is young, but no luck. So with 2 weeks to spare, I got us a plane ticket and started stressing about all the details, the biggest one being: who would take care of Ryan during the conference? My Mom couldn't go as she was already going to be in San Francisco part of that time. I didn't want Mike to come and leave Jake with no parent around. In desperation, I called Guthrie in NYC to see if he knew anyone who could be a nanny for 3 days. By a stroke of luck, his otherwise very busy schedule happened to be open those 3 days in the middle of March, and he was game to try his hand at taking care of a baby!

So off we went!

At the Portland airport, waiting for our flight to Newark.
Ryan and I arrived Monday night and got settled in our room. Guthrie arrived via train Tuesday morning, about 80 minutes before the conference was to begin. We quickly went over details. Prior to the conference, my Mom and Mike had both tried working on getting Ryan to take a bottle, with not much luck. So that was nerve-racking.

I went to the conference, which luckily was in the hotel. Guthrie and Ryan quickly got off to a great start. Ryan really only cried/screamed for me once on the first day prior to the first break, I think he was unsure that his mama was coming back. I was able to see him within 5 minutes of that starting. The rest of the time he was busy...

Out for one of their daily walks.

Playing on one of the pool chairs -- it was warm inside the pool area!

Water fun!
It all went so well! I had a break/lunch every hour and a half in the conference (except for the very end of the day, when we went 3 hours without a break). Ryan was able to wait and was hungry exactly at each of my breaks! The last part of the day I simply took a break to go feed Ryan when he needed it. The rest of the time he was either sleeping or happily entertained by Guthrie, who quickly realized how much energy this took and took naps with Ryan!

Ryan was a great traveler. However, the time zone difference was not easy -- Ryan would not go to sleep prior to 10:30 each night!!

Bedtime story with Mama.
Finally asleep.

Before the conference I was worried about the headaches that I always get from long meetings/conferences. So I worked with my naturopathic doctor to come up with a plan to reduce/prevent headaches. Her plan worked so well, but one part of it was no chocolate 2 weeks prior to and during the conference. So after the last day of the conference was over, I ordered a chocolate cake to share with Guthrie. I was so happy!

Mama gets chocolate!!
The aftermath. (Yes, we were silly. It was 11pm and I was giddy from it being over and having gone so well.)
Ryan's awesome manny and my wonderful friend.
On the plane back to Portland.