The moral: Never walk a sleepy baby in a parade

Have you ever known something wasn’t a good idea, but you did it anyway … maybe out of stubbornness? Perhaps because you were determined? Or maybe you just felt pressured?

Yeah, I had one of those mornings this weekend. Greg wanted Cate and I to walk in a parade with him (and some family and the realtor/property manager Bonnie and her family) to promote our realty company. It’s a new venture that spun out of Greg’s real estate investment and attorney work.

I made an exception to my personal “no matching clothes” rule for the occasion.

Here’s part of the walking crowd: That’s nephew Elijah in front of Greg. You all know Cate in the stroller. Then niece Ethne is with her momma, sister-in-law Angela.

(Just a little piece of information: Murray has many parades, one of which is the Christmas parade. Complete with Clydesdales and camels.)

So we all wore matching shirts and walked beside the nativity scene float that Greg’s dad pulled in a truck. We had magnets and peppermints to pass out. Good to go …

Except the parade was just a little bit after Cate usually takes a nap. My first thought was: No big deal. The girl sleeps anywhere. Church. Basketball games.

But then I was hesitant because a parade involves a lot of people saying, “Oh, look at the baby. She’s so pretty. And her hat. It’s so cute.” OK, so I didn’t imagine those exact words. But those were the words. I did imagine correctly the over-stimulation that would prevent a sleepy baby from being able to close her eyes and enjoy a walk down Main Street.

We waited around for the parade to start and the 40 or so floats/bands/trucks in front of us to proceed down the route. Cate tolerated it. Then it was our turn. And she wasn’t so thrilled about it.

Long story short: I pushed Cate in the stroller for two blocks and then we left the parade route and headed to Greg’s grandma’s house, which is conveniently just a few blocks north of the parade route. There Cate got comfortable on her mommy and closed those big, beautiful eyes.

When she woke up, she was ready for more adventure. This one involved a snow globe and its music with her great-grandma, who is her middle name namesake.

Cate was fascinated. And I love how it looks like she’s telling Nana all about it.