Trip Diary

After a mostly satisfactory weekend involving too much driving, too much sun, and not enough sleep, our little boy decided to take a two hour nap this morning. So, Mama did too. Yeah, baby, life is good.

He's down for the second now, so I decided to get back to the business of blogging. Something about my trip. Except many of the details escape me at this point.

Well, here's what I can tell ya. The flights out were way too long. The first leg, from San Diego to Denver, was almost an hour late leaving, though they assured me I would make my connecting flight no problem. I sat next to this nice man who let me watch some pirated copy of "The Love Guru" (definitely a renter) on his computer. (As much of it as I could, while trying to entertain Wyatt after what was to be his ONLY (20 minute) nap of the day.) Thankfully, this man also helped me carry the car seat off. (It's quite heavy and awkward with the little man in it. And I have the bruises to prove it.)

When we arrived in Denver, I was happy to see that my gate was the next one to the left, so I hurried to use the restroom and change Wyatt. I was in there for maybe two minutes. When I got out, there were still people sitting down at the gate, and no one was standing. I only had about 20 minutes, so I thought this was odd. As I approached the gate, the attendant looked at me and said just about the most appalling thing I could imagine at that moment.

"You're not trying to get on the flight to Baltimore, are you?"

"Yes, I am. My connecting flight just arrived. Why?" (I'm fairly certain that by then the blood was draining from my face.)

"The flight is full."

"Well, I have two seats paid for on that flight. My other flight was late arriving. I need to be on that plane."

After staff consultations, they politely asked if someone would mind changing seats so Wyatt and I could sit together. Finally someone did, although I had no help lugging him halfway to the back of the plane. They had actually been planning on taking off EARLY. Geeesh.

As luck would have it, we were seated next to a business man who claimed he had kids, but then asked me if I had any Benadryl for mine. (I didn't). I guess I can't blame him, he said he had been up since 4:00am, and the flight would not arrive till after 11:00pm. Still, I was a bit tense trying to thwart off Wyatt's tantrums. He did as well as he could, but he was teething and had been strapped in the seat ALL DAY. As luck would also have it, there was no nap to be had on this longer flight. I was SO happy to step off that plane. And tired. We had to wait an extra hour for them to unload our bags, and we didn't get home and into bed until after 1:00am. But we had arrived. FINALLY.

The next day was spent sleeping in (well, I did anyway, while my mom got up with Wyatt. All the extra help was much appreciated. I have to admit I milked it, given that there is no family to help out here in California). Thursday we drove up to NJ to stay with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and my 19 month old niece and 2 month old nephew (who I had never met.) My nephew fell asleep in my arms, just laying there, and I had never had a baby do that before. I was in love. ;) We had a great time, although it was MUCH to short. The previous day, my other sister-in-law had had her second, a boy, so we were able to visit them in the hospital. (Which was awesome, considering that same sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and my niece were here in CA when I had Wyatt and visited US in the hospital.) My brand-new nephew ALSO fell asleep peacefully in my arms, and so I was fairly convinced that Wyatt was the wild card, not me. ;) It had me thinking...;)P

Anyhow, we stayed with Eric's parents on Friday night and went to the beach on Long Beach Island on Saturday. We had a really nice visit with them, and I think Eric's dad really bonded with Wyatt. Which is great, because he is Wyatt's only living grandpa. Wyatt couldn't say "Grandpa", so he called him "Pa", which I think Eric's dad really got a kick out of.

We arrived back in MD late Saturday night. We went to church with my mom the next morning, and spent the afternoon with my grandparents, who just LOVED their great-grandson. That week was filled with relatives coming in and out. My brothers and sisters-in-law (well, one of them is not YET), aunts, uncles and cousins. It all culminated in a big family reunion which my Grandma had planned for the next Saturday. There were people in the house all week, and I loved it. (So did Wyatt; he was loving all the attention and showing off. As well as loving Grandma's HUGE yard, where he could run around every day.) It was great to see everybody, but Wyatt was certainly the star of the show ;). Even my mom's cat (who she was convinced would care less) loved him. The cat allowed, and even invited himself to be hugged, pulled, smothered, etc. It was hilarious.

It was definitely hard to go when it was time to leave, but I was more than ready to see Eric again. Paranoid from the last flight, I had broken down and done something I said I would NEVER do; give my kid baby Benadryl. Well, turns out, it wouldn't have made much difference if I didn't, because IT DIDN'T WORK. NOTHING. He never took a nap, until 3 hours later, when we were in the terminal in Chicago waiting for the second flight. It was then he decided to take a 20 minute nap on me, until a lady came and sat down next to us, talking obnoxiously loud on her cell phone. So, that was the end of that. No more naps to be had, and to think, it was wasted in the terminal. Sigh ;)

We finally made our awkward way onto the plane and the first thing I did after strapping in Wyatt's carseat was to spill water out of my water bottle all over my seat. Only I didn't notice. Until I sat down. So I spent the rest of the flight in soaking wet pants. (No one ever told me I should bring extra pants for ME in the diaper bag.)

Well, Wyatt decided he didn't want to be left out, so he peed right through his diaper, soaking his pants and car seat as well. I put a plastic bag down on the carseat, and took him to the bathroom to change him. It was then that I heard my mother's words in my head, reminding me to pack extra clothes for Wyatt. Which I happened to ignore. Oops. The shirt was soaked as well, since we also had a bit of sippy cup leakage. Arghh. Ok, well at least I had a DIAPER. That was about it though. I asked an attendant for a blanket, but other than that I had a naked baby in a diaper. It was near the beginning of the flight.

Thankfully, about 10 minutes later a girl a few rows ahead came back and offered me an extra onsie she had with her. It was 18 months. Lifesaver. It seems our sons were the same age. And there was another reason I was happy they were on the plane that day. See, whenever Wyatt wasn't screaming or fussing, her son picked up the slack. It was great to not be alone. ;) And it was WONDERFUL to arrive back in sunny San Diego at last. :)