Aftermath of Traveling

Mia and I flew solo to LA for my grandmother's funeral the day after Thanksgiving. The flight there was pretty uneventful. We were lucky enough to get a two seat row to ourselves and Mia did extremely well. While in LA Mia's incessant squeals and babbling was a comfort and source of laughter for all. She entertained us by putting her feet in her mouth and having a blow out at my aunt and uncle's house. For the Chinese, there is a phrase that is somewhat equivalent to "Eureka!" or "Strike it Rich" that is used when a baby poops in one's home. Apparently it's a sign of good fortune. But for me it was a bad mom moment.

You see, I had forgotten to replace her emergency outfit in my diaper bag. I used the one from my diaper bag as her PJs the night before since the one footed sleeper I brought to LA was still dryer. And of course, she blew out into her onsie. Now Mia does not blow out often. I've probably only had to change her outfit under 1o times, so it was a surprise to me. I had to run to the KMart near my aunt and uncle's for a fresh outfit.

Of course in the 15 minutes I was gone Mia blew a gasket. She cried almost the whole time. Poor baby. Prior to that she had done well with the relatives. The other thing that was not ideal while we traveled: sleep. Mia was kept up until way past her bedtime each night making it all the more difficult for her to fall asleep in a new place. Each night we'd start the bedtime routine around 8 or 8:30 and each night she would not sleep until 9:30 after numerous attempts. I caved and went back to nursing her down which I had just put an end to only a week or so ago. On top of this I slept with her because I was too lazy to bring the travel crib. UGH!!! Boy are we paying for it now.

Before I go there, our trip back to Seattle was less than ideal. A big snowstorm hit the Northwest and paralyzed the Puget Sound Area. Truthfully there isn't that much snow here, but for some reason people are not prepared for it out here. Our flight was set to land in the midst of it so we were diverted to Portland. Once there we were told that we would fly right back to Seattle after refueling the plane. Then it turned into needing a whole new flight attendant crew. UGH. By the time we made it to Seattle, it was 10:30, about three hours later. Mia was completely wired. While she did not fuss at all, she could not sleep either and left me exhausted after entertaining her for so long. Now while we were in flight poor Papa had to walk home from UW because the buses stopped running and then he was stuck in traffic for about three hours getting to SeaTac. Once we reunited getting the luggage from the N terminal to the Main Terminal took another chunk of time. By the time we made it out of the airport area and back home it was after midnight. Poor Mia. Luckily the next day was declared a snow day at work, so Mia slept in until 10 AM! I tried to get her to take a couple of naps during the day too.

Last night Mia would not sleep on her own. She cried and cried. Finally we went in and discovered that she had vomited. It's the second time she's done that after a crying jag. We felt so bad for her. The vomit was in her hair and required another bath, so we stripped her down and it was deja vu! I felt so bad for her that I nursed her to sleep and it was nearly nine by this time. Good thing we had another snow day at work. Again, I think I could have driven to work with no problem, but the boss said to stay home and I wasn't going to argue with that since Mia had another rough night.

Now tonight, same thing. She cried and cried. I went in a couple of times to reassure her after 5-10 minutes because I wanted to prevent the vomit again. Finally Papa went in and rocked her to sleep. I hope she gets used to sleeping alone in her crib, but I know we have to let her cry it out to teach her again. Knowing how to balance the crying it out while avoiding vomit is the challenge.

So now as I write this, beautiful large snowflakes are falling outside my home. Darn it, why didn't it start snowing when Papa and I were trying to take our annual Xmas photo just a couple of hours ago. We all dressed in festive attire after we decorated our tree and made a fire. Do you know how hard it is to get a baby and a dog to look at the camera? Thank goodness for the new camera because Papa has a remote that will take the photos. So instead of going back and forth to set up a shot, he just has to push a button on a remote. Pretty clever.

Anyhow, I took Kona for a walk just to enjoy the snow. I was brought back to the days of my childhood in NY when we eagerly anticipated the magic of snow. What is it about snow? The pureness? The fun of snowballs and snowmen? The fact that each snowflake is unique? The taste of it melting on our tongues? The hope of a snow day? Such pure joy came over me while watching Kona chasing the shadows of the snow falling on the ground. Growing up snow days were so rare because it took at least 6 inches of it to fall right around the time school would start to make the officials declare a snow day. NYC was always prepared to salt and plow the roads dashing a kid's hope of having a day to frolic in the snow. Tonight I was reminded of that feeling and brought back to childhood. That hasn't happened for me in a long time. I thought for a split second of waking Mia up to take pictures outside, but she's too young to get it and it would just be a disastrous affair.