Walter & Christina Lee

On April 10, 2010 one of my best friends, and my old college roommate was married! We drove up and stayed Friday night at the Sheraton in downtown LA to enjoy the festivities of the evening. Here we are at the rehearsal- what a lovely group of ladies:

Christina and Walter prepare to say "I do" in less than 24 hours. Here the pastor tells them how the hand-off from father to bridegroom will go:

For the rehearsal dinner, we ate at The Dragon. It was amazing, and there was way too much food. Me and Greta pose because I knew I was taking too few photos.
Unfortunately we (read Tim) did not have a wonderful dinner. Granted it was a little late (8pm) when we started eating at the Dragon, we did not expect Madeleine to have the meltdown that she did. I was giving her a sampling of the dishes and she was eating just fine when all of a sudden she started getting really fussy and eventually let out some scary cries. The ones where you know it is not the normal cry or fuss and it makes your heart leap in fear that your child is in pain. Tim had to excuse himself with her and they packed up to leave. We were confused and figured it was just overstimulation and weariness. I stayed to be supportive of my friend, the bride, and since I knew Tim was totally capable of soothing and taking care of Mads, I said goodbye. Of course my heart went with them, but Tim insisted I stayed and made it clear that he wanted to administer love and attention to Mads. It was only later that night at the hotel when I learned about how horrible his night (and Mads' tummy) had really been. The story is funny now, something about carrying a screaming child to the valet who couldn't get the car back fast enough, to driving with a screaming child to some sketchy LA area looking for a Rite Aid on his Droid and then rushing back to the hotel carrying in a screaming child as he realized there is a Rite Aid just across the street from the hotel, to giving said screaming child Baby's Bliss Gripe Water and holding her for the next hour. When I came home about 2 hours later, she was still up! I couldn't believe it. Of course by then, the gripe water was in effect and she was laughing and giggling on the bed- back to her normal Madeleine demeanor. It appears that something I gave her really upset her tummy. Maybe it was a watercress or a shrimp, but she was in gastrointestinal pain! We then snuggled her, put her down and shared some laughs and leftovers in the bathroom while we discussed the trauma our poor daughter endured. And poor Tim didn't really get a good meal in either, so he was thankful that I wrapped up a little doggie-bag for him. Definitely one for the baby book.

The next morning, I prepared for the wedding and let my sleeping babies sleep.
Of course, Tim was my amazing angel by running to get us a smoothie as I put the final touches on makeup. He also prepared our car for checkout, loading all our bags and stuff in the parking garage, because the hotel wanted us to check-out by 12. I got Mads up and nursed her, then she played with Dadda while I left for the wedding.

Tim dressed her all up and she looked so adorable!

On the streets of LA, they found a commerical being filmed:
The wedding was beautiful, and Christina was absolutely shimmering in loveliness. She gifted us each with a fancy beaded necklace unique for each girl. Mine looks like a multi-stringed wave of copper and bronze; it is perfect! The pastor gave a wonderful exposition on the purpose of marriage and how to sustain that loving feeling, even when it gets harder at times. We later dined at a fabulous eatery outside called Dominick's on Beverly in West Hollywood. It was a nice gesture for Christina to invite my parents, who also attended the wedding. What a wonderful weekend to be reminded of how wonderful my man is. He serves me and our family without thought to himself and how we have such fun together. I'm so happy we found each other, there truly is no one else I love more on this earth.

Love, Lauren