Deep In the Heart of Texas

So I made it! Fortunately by yesterday afternoon most of my strength was back and I was feeling nearly back to normal. I feel so blessed that I got sick the day before I left, not the day of, and that my husband was home to help instead of it being a week day. Also, my wonderful mother came by to help me get packed and watch the kids, which saved my life. And I managed to get everything done and get out the door only half an hour later than expected (oops). We still made it to the airport on time. And thanks to a friend of Kelly's at work, we found out that he could get a special pass to go through security with me and accompany me all the way to the gate! That was a complete and total miracle. So I didn't have to try to manage all those kids, strollers, car seats, and bags, plus shoes and belts and liquids in my purse, etc. all by myself at the security check point. And when we got to the gate, our flight was about 15 minutes late, so I had time to go get some food for the kids (I had forgotten that our flight was right at dinner time). Really things couldn't have worked out better and I feel like God's hand was really watching over me yesterday. (His hand? Hmmm...maybe his eyes? Actually, I'm not sure how that all works. Let's just say God was with me.)

So that part went well. The flight, however, was much more challenging. When I got on the plane, a flight attendant helped me carry Beck and the car seat while I held Daphne and the backpack. But she told me I had to put Daphne in the car seat because she was the ticketed passenger and Beck was the lap child. I had hoped to keep Beck in the car seat so he'd be more contained. Oh well. So I strapped Daphne in, and we proceeded to wait another 25 minutes for our plane to get put back in the departure queue. Beck was NOT happy about staying on my lap. He wanted to get up and go. I was trying to feed the kids some of the food I bought, but they weren't interested in the turkey sandwich or the fruit. They just got their hands sticky and threw the $8 fruit on the floor. But they liked the cheetos, and Beck got his hands nice and orange and then turned around on my lap and put his hands all over my light blue shirt. Great. He also enjoyed dumping the shredded lettuce from my $17 airport turkey sandwich onto the floor all around me. And chucking the crackers and cookies the stewardess gave him. Oh, and trying to stick his hands in my cup of coke or dump it on my lap. Or throwing his sippy cup in the aisle next to the crushed cookies and crackers. Meanwhile, I had given Daphne a drawing book with a dry erase marker. Within 1 minute she had dropped the dry erase marker down the far side of her car seat near the window. Of course I couldn't reach it with Beck on my lap and all of our crap on the floor. So she freaked out, "My marker! My marker!!!" They guy in front of me kept turning around and giving me crusties.

The rest of the trip consisted of holding a squirming Beck on my lap or walking him up and down the aisles. He smiled at everyone, which might have made up for me bumping everyone's elbows 20 times as I passed. Then it was Daphne's turn to go up and down the aisles. At one point we had turbulence and the captain told everyone to be seated. Well, I had put Beck in Daphne's chair and he was nearly asleep, so I was just trying to hold Daphne on my lap. She had an absolute FIT, so I set her down for a minute so I could get some stuff out of the bag for her to play with. Well, the snotty flight attendant got on the loud speaker and said, "Just a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the seat belt sign, so all passengers must be seated. That includes small children who are roaming the aisles." What a jerk. I wasn't letting her roam the aisles! I was just getting something out of my bag and couldn't hold her on my lap at the same time.

The good news is that the last 20 minutes of the flight were great. Beck was sleepy and just sat there and Daphne played quietly on my lap. And finally the plane landed. I let everyone get out before me so I could gather the kids' things from the 5 foot radius around our seats, unhook the car seat, and get the stewardess to help me carry all the stuff. Several people actually commented to me as they passed me that my children had been very well behaved. Phew! And when I deplaned, the double stroller was there waiting for me. We made it! And by the time I got to the baggage carousel, both Jennie and our bags were waiting. NOW this is going to be an awesome trip, now that that horrible plane ride is behind me.

Hopefully I'll have some good pictures to add to my next few blogs. I wanted to get pictures of me and the kids on the plane, but that was the least of my worries at the time. So stay tuned for pictures of the cousins and Texas.

p.s. One more awesome thing to add: My stomach bug made me lose 2 more lbs!!!