Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Weekend in Dallas

Another wedding, another trip. Few photos to share, but plenty of fun stories. Here it goes.

Thursday night around 8:00 p.m., we fed B a bowl of oatmeal and whatever else I can't remember... and then let him play a bit. He was resistant to the food, so that's why I resorted to oatmeal because it's our go-to meal if he puts up a fight. Should've listened to the cues. He came down with a cold five days prior, but things were on the mend. I sat down to breastfeed him and realized he couldn't breathe, so I grabbed Nose Frida. Apparently the pressure was too much, because he started to gag and then proceeded to projectile vomit all over me, the couch, the Boppy pillow, the blanket, my clothes, and all over himself. I immediately called for Ray and he grabbed him and walked into the kitchen. First time real vomiting on me before, ever. Before this, it had only been spit up.

As I was trying to figure out where to go from there, I heard two consecutive splats of more vomiting. I spent the next 30 minutes following scrubbing down baseboards, walls, cabinets, countertops, clothes and all the items still covered in vomit from the living room while B was fed another bowl of plain oatmeal and given a bath.

Did I mention we had to wake at 3:45 a.m. the following morning to make our 6:30 a.m. flight to Dallas? And that it was Valentine's Day?

Yeah.

B was showing no signs of the flu, but all signs were pointing to a minor case of food poisoning. We carried on with our plans, slept very little, and managed to make our flight. Except, after boarding, our flight was mechanically grounded for an hour.

Did I mention we had to wake the baby up at 3:45 a.m. after only 6.5 hours of sleep (when he normally sleeps 11+ hours?).

Yeah.

Pissed off and tired baby, exhausted parents, rude flight attendants, and of course the plane was full of unsuspecting fools who thought they could sleep on the early morning flight.


Finally, we're off the ground after attaching the baby to a breast and getting him to sleep. No more than 10 minutes into the flight and... you guessed it...

Projectile vomit all over me. Just as I was finishing up the McDonald's hashbrown I bought for B to eat.

I spent the next 2 hours attempting to rid myself of the nastiness, pass a screaming baby back and forth, and cleaning the area so it wouldn't smell like rotten eggs.

At the end of the flight, I handed over a granola bar to our seat partner as a peace offering. He accepted.

Finally, in Dallas. The rest of the trip was a whole lot easier, thankfully. First stop, hotel. Then, lunch with a few pretty cool cats that I felt like I'd known my whole life. We drank beers, ate Mexican food, hung out with rainbow babies toddlers, and talked about Cale and Andrew like it was no big thing. It felt good.
We attended the wedding rehearsal dinner at a sushi restaurant and spent lots of quality time with B's grandparents, aunt, and lots of extended family in which I took basically no photos.
Crawling around the hotel hallways with fun Aunt Samantha & hanging out with Gramie & Grandpa
We had quality hangout time in our amazing hotel suite and enjoyed a lovely wedding, reception, and a little dancing before heading home on another early morning whirlwind of a flight that had us with the entire back five rows of the airplane to ourselves. They definitely lost money on that flight. Let's just say it was a world better than the flight to Dallas. As if you wouldn't have guessed that. There's no question that flying is getting so much harder now that B is more aware and more mobile.
In the car on the way home, B had ditched the toys we gave him {per usual} and since I was in the front seat, I was searching for something to keep him entertained for the last 10 minutes of the ride. We had an Oats & Chocolate Nature Valley Granola Bar (amazing, btw) and knowing how robust and difficult those wrappers are to open, I handed it to him because he enjoys manipulating shiny and crinkly packaging. About 3 blocks from our house, Ray and I both looked back at the same time having realized the baby was eerily quiet and sure enough, he had both granola bars, one in each hand and was covered in chocolate. The rodent baby managed to get that package open and was none too happy we took the bars away from him either. He had a full mouth of the chocolatey goodness. So much for introducing him to chocolate ourselves. This is the shrapnel he left behind.
Wished we had the means to really explore Dallas, but something tells me we'll be back eventually. But hopefully not before we explore Austin.

Stay cool, Dallas.
{No really, stay cool. It was in the 70's days leading and following out visit but in the 50's while we were there. Now we're living in negative wind chills again. What a bust.}

8 comments:

Brie said... [Reply to comment]

Oh brandy, I feel for you. Traveling with a sick baby is not easy but I admire you guys for keeping the humor.

Lj82 said... [Reply to comment]

Oh! Poor little guy and his mom and dad, too!

So jealous of your meet up, I totally knew Caroline was amazing. I'm still jealous though.

And I love B and Finn's big boy faces in the photo! too cute!

Brooke said... [Reply to comment]

Oh my gosh. What a trip. That's one you'll remember forever. You're making me nervous about our flight in March.

Can't believe how big Finn and Benjamin are. Wow. Missing their big brothers, too.

Too funny about the granola bar. No such thing as B-proof!

Caroline said... [Reply to comment]

You getting vomited on multiple times was TOTALLY worth it to get to see you all. Ha.

But seriously, come back. And isn't it funny how kids can totally puke and rally? Like B couldn't have been cuter at lunch....you'd have no idea he had yaked in the hours before whereas when I puke I'm MISERABLE alllll day.

Melissa said... [Reply to comment]

Oh what a hellish plane ride for you! I think I would have been half sick myself. I am not looking forward to the days of "real vomit."

I am soooo jealous that you got to meet up with Caroline! What a beautiful photo of you four.

Kristi said... [Reply to comment]

I know you live by the pack light philosophy, but I often pack a change of clothes for each kid and myself in my carry on (especially for longer flights).

Party of Three Heads said... [Reply to comment]

Pretty darn funny about the oats and chocolate bar.. I can just see him smiling ear to ear covered in Chocolate goodness!! lol

Nicole said... [Reply to comment]

Oh.no. on the puking. I hate vomit, like for real. Addalee has gotten me a few tines pretty bad though. The joys of motherhood, right?!

So incredibly jealous of you and Caroline for getting together. Happy for you, yes, but jealous!

And I'm like Caroline, if I puke, count me out for the day!