Thursday, April 21, 2011

Loosing it

Payge lost her first tooth! I can't believe it, she is only 4, but it makes her seem so much older. This is her crazy face when she doesn't like that we are taking her picture.


I decided it was time for hair cuts. Both girls always complain about me brushing their hair and short hair puts an end to that. I was going to have it done professionally, but the cheapskate in me won out. They're young, I can't scar them too badly, right?

Sorry about the blurry pictures. I was trying out a new camera. Yes, it looks uneven, but I promise it looks much better in person. Happy Birthday Mimi!

The first 8 hours (part 2)

I made it to the ticket counter in a haze of craziness and yes, praise the Lord, my wallet was there. I didn't even bother checking to see if it all was there, because  I was nearing close to 20 minutes before our scheduled flight. Having flown Southwest before, I have just missed a flight because when they close their doors, they are closed. I didn't want to be stuck in an airport with three little kids. ha!
We went through the security line again, this time with a lot of grumbling and complaining from Payge and Haydee about having to take their shoes off again. We made it to our gate, can I just say at that moment I was grateful for small airports?
Hmm, no lines of people waiting for boarding. Do I have the right gate? Yep, right gate. Well, okay. I guess we will find a small out of the way corner and try to make sure all is accounted for and wait for the boarding call.
Soon, the first announcement over the speaker system consisted of something like; "Well, folks, maintenance is having a quick look at the AC, but don't worry, we will only be 10 minutes late and will not affect any connecting flights." I chatted a few minutes with a nice grandpa who lived in Franklin, TN which was our final destination too. Still no boarding call and I started to get worried. Then came the next announcement. "The maintenance crew needs a little more time to take care of the issue, but we still will make those connecting flights. We'll let you know as soon as we know something." I started texting family since the drive to the Nashville airport for my parents would be around 45 minutes and I didn't want them to have to wait around unnecessarily. Of course, it had been enough time that the girls really wanted to get into their backpacks and see what special prizes I had put in there for the plane ride. I had kept it simple of course, since it wasn't a long flight, I wasn't going to need that much to keep them entertained. Myles wanted down to crawl, ew gross, airport floor, but hands are washable, I guess. Then he wanted to eat, bummer, I had wanted to be able to do that on the airplane. Then the girls were getting hungry, my throat was getting more sore, my toe was throbbing, the girls had already torn through the new "toys" and the trip began to quickly unravel. Announcement after announcement came. They (Southwest) were clever though, gradually letting us down bit by bit to the moment we would find out the flight would canceled and the next airplane  wasn't going to be available until 8:45. We had planned to eat with my parents in Tenneesee, I had planned to have our bags with Haydee's medicine before we ate, I had planned that one Veggie Tales DVD would be enough. Of course, I couldn't plan that there would be a foul odor in our plane's AC that would require them to take the whole thing apart only to discover, that they couldn't figure it out. So, I limped around chasing Myles trying to figure out if I should go out of the secure area to get our luggage for Haydee's meds and some dinner for our empty bellies. Small airport meant no food options within secure areas, don't like small airports so much anymore. I had debated about calling the whole thing off, and having Spencer come get us, but for many reasons, I couldn't just "give up". Finally, the whining of hunger pains won out and we ventured out to find food. Payge and Haydee didn't like all my answers for "why it was taking so long", but I tried hard to remember they are just 3 & 4 and I felt like whining waaayyy louder than them. After Payge spilled her cup of ice water all over the floor, and some shared cold, expensive pizza, we headed back to wait for the new plane. We were security line pros now, I even endured the "pat down" with a smile. The nice man from Franklin we had spoken with at the beginning saw us on the plane as he was boarding and told me, "I didn't look as tired when we started out 4 hours before." If you only knew. The plane ride went well. Only two temper-tantrums and one crying fit from Myles because of exhaustion. I tried not to join him. Of course, we got into Nashville and our gate was the furthest one away. I half-carried, half-dragged all 4 of us to my parents where I practically fell at their feet. We were here though. We made it. Once we got to their house, it had been over 9 hours of travel. Gosh darn it, I could have driven there in that amount of time!
Oh yeah, Payge and I had strep throat and that toe needed meds too. At least, I had lots of help and we had an amazing time of memories. Yes, I guess I would do it all again, but really, I pray that won't be necessary.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Springtime Trip

I had to take a quick break from the lengthy description of the "first 8 hours". So here are some of  the pictures of what made it all worth while. We had a fabulous time and of course I loved showing off the kids to my grandma. She is such a wonderful example of strength and positivity. Since Papa Rollo passed in August, she has stayed busy and active and this was her second trip alone to Tennessee. We had a blast together, taking in the show my mom and Aunie are in and several parks nearby. We celebrated Haydee's birthday and enjoyed a lovely tea party. Mostly, we enjoyed spending time together.
Sword fight!

loose tooth



Happy Birthday to you!




Story time with grandma




Morning exercise

Tea Party

Walk downtown

Simply Devune!

Car picnic

Four generations

The first 8 hours (part 1)

WARNING: this blog post contains no warm fuzzy moments or cute pictures, just a series or horribly funny events happening to a woman traveling alone with three small children. Do not read if you are about to embark on plane travel, it might make you stay up late worrying about what might happen to you.
If you've read my blog for awhile or have known us for more than a couple of years you know that we travel, a lot, considering we have such young kids. Mostly, our trips revolve around seeing family or fulfilling a family trip, but we have certainly had our share of misadventures and I would recommend strongly to never, ever take more than a 2 hour flight with children under the age of two. I've missed flights, experienced delays, endured 2 hours of in-flight screaming (more than once), and a certainly had other stressful moments, but this last trip takes the cake.
A few weeks ago now, I took Myles to Colorado to visit my sister and had a fairly easy go, in-spite of the first flight being cancelled and having to leave the next day. Security was tricky,but let's admit, unless you are traveling with no shoes and no bag, it is a juggle. I considered this my dry run, before the scheduled trip with all three kids alone to Tennessee.
The night I got back from Colorado, Haydee started complaining about her stomach being upset, little did I know the whole week in-between trips I would be spending almost one whole night in the ER with her, hours of cleaning up puke and other bodily functions, three hours in the doctors office with all three kids trying to get her to drink Pedialite, and then the moment she felt better Payge would take her turn. The week was spent in haze of vitamins and prayer hoping we would still be able to make our trip. I honestly would have canceled, but my grandma was visiting in Tennessee all the way from California and I really wanted her to meet Myles and see the girls. The day of our scheduled flight everyone seemed better; my throat was killing me and I had an horribly infected toe (maybe TMI, but its part of the story), but "gosh darn it!" we were going on this trip.
I had hoped to have Spencer take us to the airport, but he wasn't able to get off. So, a friend who has babysat for us was glad to earn a little extra money and drive up with me, so I didn't have to park and then try to transport all our luggage and the kids to the check-in alone. This was a smart idea, because even with help I was a sweaty, exhausted mess when we arrived to the ticket counter. I had Myles in the Bijorn to aid in the transportation, the girls, three bags plus a diaper bag, laptop, and two small backpacks that the girls were carrying. Immediately, I asked for assistance to get our boarding passes and luggage checked since I was going to need an infant boarding pass and such. The lady at the counter wanted to know if I had the "little one's" birth certificate. I didn't, honestly, I haven't even sent for it yet. I had his SS card though, would that work? She gave me a long hard look, and said she could not issue me a boarding pass for him, since I had no proof of his age. I explained I had just used this airline, at this airport the week before without any question, coming or going, without proof of his age. I mean, I know people might take advantage of the system, but he certainly looks older than 14 days and younger than two. She spent five minutes typing and grimacing acting as if she was not going to grant me the boarding pass. Finally, she did and we proceeded. Then, due to a large gift I had packed one of my check-ons was overweight. She allowed me a chance to shift things, but you can imagine how tricky that was. My hands full and Myles hanging in the front carrier, I put everything down and started repacking. Finally, after a couple trips to the baggage security area, we were ready to head through security. I had dreaded this part, but I figured we would just take it slow and we'd be okay. We were doing just fine until I realized my wallet was not in the diaper bag. Oh boy, don't panic, but I did a little. In the back of my mind I could vaguely remember setting it down to repack the bags. CRAP! A very helpful TSA lady made a call for me and yes they found it at the ticketing counter, but they were too busy to have someone bring it so I would have to go back up through the security line, since I had not cleared the final security checkpoint. Shoes half on, carryons hanging on every arm and Myles somewhat secure in my arms since I had to take off the Bijorn to go through the xray machine machine.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

How does your garden grow?



Can I just say I love the Target dollar spot? I go through withdrawal if I don't get a chance to check ours out once a week. Of course, this is a very dangerous area, as I can easily spend all my month's mad money in one trip. I usually find fun things for the girls and if I am really lucky I find educational workbooks that they love to do. Which they call "racing" books.
Anyway, the other day I found little pots and seed packets to start an herb garden. Last year none of our plants survived; either the ridiculous heat, being very pregnant, bugs or my not-so-green thumb. Most likely, the later. I wanted to have both girls help start our garden this year with the hopes that we have some better success if we grow our own seedlings to transplant. Haydee was so sick she couldn't join us on the first step, but we've got a lot ahead of us. Payge had so much fun helping me. I admit, I really am enjoying the fun of "4". She is full of questions, which often drive me to the point of insanity, but I love doing preschool projects with her and seeing her expand her world.
I am believing for future posts to show off how well our garden grows!

Sisters

I got my mountain fix a couple weeks ago and boy did I need it.  Myles and I got on a plane, his first flight, and headed to Colorado Springs to see my sister. Of course, leaving the girls and Spencer was really hard for me and I had a lot of anxiousness about leaving. Ironically, we drove all the way to the airport on for my evening flight only to pull up to find it had been delayed almost 4 hours. Knowing that traveling with exhausted children is a terrible idea, I was able to get a flight for the next morning. As we were driving back home I couldn't believe the relief I felt about the flight change
and even though I was sad about missing a few things we had planned for my first morning there, I believed that it was all for the better. Myles was a dream child for the flight and security went well, since MCI is such a small airport. We packed a lot in during my short stay and as I knew it would, it went faster than I wanted. April is in full "nesting" mode and I got to see a clear picture of Baby Bear during her ultrasound. My vote is now for a girl and she looks a lot like April and even has at least one dimple! While we were there,
she treated me to a hair make-over by a good friend who does awesome things, I really needed it.
It is so much fun to be "moms" now and share this experience that is drawing us closer together. I wish we were in the same city for play-dates and babysitting swaps, but I can pray that someday we can share the same zip code. 
Baby Bear, at this point, will come sometime on the 27th of this month. We can't wait to come back to meet this little one!
Love ya sis, thanks for such a great time!

Friday, April 8, 2011

7 months

This is such a fun stage. Myles is truly a wonderful baby. So grateful for his easy-going nature and ready smiles. He has slept 12 hours on average for almost a month and is now working on teeth 9 and 10. The 8th one took awhile, but it wasn't like I was hoping he would hurry. His bite is painful! He crawls around like a snake at this point and likes to get up on all fours and "rock". He sits up when placed that way and loves to get to the entry-way or kitchen so he can pound his hands on the hard floor to make noise. Usually, he enjoys adding his little squeal to the fun.
He follows me whenever he can and I do my best to not step on him when I am cooking or doing dishes. Mostly, I've learned to avoid the light colored shirts so I am not reminded how dirty my floors are. ha!
Because I am not on top of things, these pictures were taken a few days after he turned 7 months when I took a trip with just him to Colorado. This is at Aunt April's house, where he thoroughly enjoyed the soft new carpet. It was so wonderful to have time alone with him. A great oppotunity to bond in a special way without the distractions older sisters. He really missed them though, they bring him such great entertainment.

Z double 'o'

The girls get so excited about going to the zoo, I often spell it out when talking about it the possibility of going. Heaven help us all, if they think we are going, but aren't able to. All Haydee talked about this winter was, "when the weather got hot we would go to the zoo and see the animals." The weather is quite nice, though in the back of my mind I am fearful of another dreadfully hot summer.
Last Sunday, a video camera that we had been looking at went on sale so I used my Christmas/birthday money and splurged! We had fun testing it out this weekend, at swim lessons and then at the zoo this morning.
Myles is also 7 months today, March 20th. His first year is going by way to quickly. I will hopefully, take some better pictures tomorrow to post.