Part 3 - Joshua Tree for the Memorial Day holiday

I'm not quite sure why it is, but when you're in a city with millions of people, you can feel completely isolated and lonely, but when you're in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, you can go days without seeing a single human being, but you feel so connected to the world and you know you're not alone.

Uwe and I plan to own a home one day in the desert. I just can't imagine a more tranquil place. (Although Uwe would argue living by the ocean is a contender.)Houses here have no curbs because there are no sidewalks or paved roads, so they use a sign with their address that's driven into the ground in front of their house. Astrid in her new swimsuit that Uwe bought for her.Astrid's figured out how to open and close cabinets and doors. Here she is trying to open up the entertainment center.

Funny thing is, I never even knew the house had a TV, since we watch zero TV when we stay there.Reading her bath book in the pool.Astrid loves books. We've started reading her a book each night before putting her to sleep. I read to her in a soft voice, letting her know it's bedtime, and she will follow along and point to things in the book. Afterward, she loves to flip through the book on her own and look at the pictures before falling asleep. Mama's back!

I drove up on Friday night and raced to get there to see Astrid before she went to bed, but traffic was bad and I ended up getting there at 7:45 PM which was too late. (It takes about 3-4 hours to drive there from LA.)

Surprisingly I had been so busy the 3 days in LA that I didn't have that heart wrenching separation anxiety from being away from the baby for the first time. There was one photo on Uwe's blog where Astrid chubby cheeks are prominent, where my heart did a loop de loop because I wanted to be with her and Uwe, but it was reassuring to know that she was having a great time with her Papa.

Uwe said that the first night there was the hardest for Astrid (and for Uwe). Astrid cried and cried and just wanted to be held the entire time, so Uwe had to hold her while making umpteen trips to the car to unload everything. Then at bedtime she cried again and had problems falling asleep, so Uwe had to go into her room a few times to reassure her that everything was okay.

I'm sure it was because she was in a strange place, and it was scary for her. After awhile she had fun running through the 3 bedrooms and livingroom. But Uwe said on Saturday night when I put her to sleep, it was the first night she didn't cry. Awww. She missed her mommy. =)Playing with the dog.Playing with Papa's hair. Uwe just came back from a run and his hair was standing up. Astrid and Mama playing in the pool together.