Proud!

First, excuse my absence. I smashed most of the fingers of my left hand into our garage door about a week ago (don't ask - my clumsiness will be my demise, I'm sure), and although nothing was broken or otherwise seriously damaged (at least I don't think - I didn't actually go to the doctor or anything) my left middle finger is still in some serious pain, still hasn't regained all the feeling, and is just now starting to develop a pretty serious bruise under the nail. So, typing hasn't exactly been easy, or fun.

BUT ---

I talked to my mom earlier today. My mom is ... okay, I won't reveal her age here. (She says she's 19, again, on every birthday.) She has never, once, in her life, flown in an airplane, anywhere. She has, as many people do (myself included) a fear of flying. We've talked about it in the past, and she has given her excuses, but shown not much real desire to overcome this fear.

A week or so ago, I talked to her on the phone, and invited her here, to visit us, for Christmas this year. The thought of traveling to Missouri with the boys, the hassle, the cost, not spending Christmas in our own home (again) just seemed so ... not fun ... to me, and I thought she and Samantha could come here, to Texas. I even looked up the Amtrak schedules to see how it would all work.

Well, today on the phone, she said that she is thinking about coming, and thinking about FLYING!!!!!!!!!

I cannot properly express here, on the internet, for anyone in the world (or, okay, the 6 people who occasionally read me, LOL) to see, how terribly proud I am of my mother for taking the first steps to conquer what has been, for her, a lifetime fear. Truly, fear of flying is nothing to be ashamed of (John Madden anyone?), but taking steps to overcome a fear is a huge accomplishment, and I am so so proud of my mom for even considering it. Whether she does it or not, she rocks for trying! Yea!!!

And come on, everyone, all 6 of you, give my mom a little encouragement. Missouri is cold and snowy and icy and cold and ... COLD at Christmastime. She could fly down here, spend a couple days in San Antonio, and then spend Christmas, not slaving over a hot stove cooking a huge feast, but on the BEACH on SOUTH PADRE ISLAND (or Corpus Christi - we love Corpus too) eating perfectly yummy junk food and being WARM and on the BEACH. Hmmm, someone really has to think about this?

Home

After a nightmarish day of flight delays and spending 4 hours wandering Houston airport with the boys, plus then spending over an hour sitting on an airplane waiting to take off, we successfully made it home late Sunday night. Oh, yes, we'd had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to be sure we made it to the airport in time for our 8 a.m. flight, which ended up being an 11:40 a.m. flight, and then the flight from Houston was delayed - repeatedly - and our 12:30 arrival home ended up being at nearly 10 p.m.

We had a mostly fun and eventful stay in Missouri, with a very full schedule. The only real downside - and a big one it was and is - was whatever cold or other virus we all managed to pick up while we were there, which left the boys with a low grade fever and general ickies for a few days, my mom with a pretty serious illness which kept her from work for 2 nights, and me with a nagging cough and stuffy head and headache here over a week after the fever first hit.

Well, the lack of sleep - none of us slept well while we were gone - is a bit of a downside, too, and probably another reason I'm still trying to recover from what for the boys was a rather minor illness.

We spent time at the Knob Noster fair, where Guthrie had a blast going on lots of rides and eating lots of junk food, we saw lots of old friends, went to see Thomas the Tank Engine in Baldwin City, Kansas, and spent some time at KMOS (the local PBS affiliate) Kids Day, where the kids got to see Clifford, Curious George, and Jay Jay the Jet Plane. .

We are glad to be home now, and trying to get settled back in. I feel like there is a ton of work I must do, and feel the need to have it all done RIGHT NOW, and Turner is still being a velcro baby and needing to be held about 23 1/2 hours a day., I'm trying though. And Guthrie is helping me type this post, so any extra "dots" or commas can be blamed on him.

Today is Eric's birthday, which he had forgotten about until we started singing to him this morning. I even had to remind him how old he is. If Turner ever goes down for his nap, Guthrie and I are going to get to work on a chocolate cake topped with strawberries, at Guthrie's choosing.

Visiting Missouri

A week from now the boys and I will be in MO, visiting our friends and family, eating the wonderful ... oh wait, sorry.

Then again, I chose this time to visit because it was a time when Eric will be having to work like crazy and will have no time for the family, and also because it will be during the Knob Noster (yes, I come from a town called Knob Noster. go ahead, laugh, get it over with. Done now?) Fair, so I will be eating one of my favorite yummy junk food creations ever ... FUNNEL CAKES! Oh dear gourds how I love funnel cakes. And those giant ridiculous baskets of fries?

(So I just discovered that Knob Noster has a website. I linked to it above. Wow, high-tech.)

I'm looking forward to the visit, seeing everyone, and taking Guthrie on the caruousel and ferris wheel and all that junk food. I am not, however, looking forward to flying. First, I'm a teensy bit afraid of flying. Irrational, stupid, ridiculous, I know, but still ... we all have our irrational fears. (Someone I once knew practically panicked at the sight of grasshoppers. I think fear of flying is a little more rational.)

More than that, though, I'm not looking forward to flying, alone, with a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old. And even more, the 2-hour layover in Dallas on the way out.

Guthrie is really excited at the thought of flying -can't wait. Keeps asking all kinds of questions, and climbing on the futon and pretending like he's "driving" the airplane. Turner is absolutely clueless, of course, and has recently turned into super-high-needs clingy, "don't-you-even-think-of-putting-me-down," needs to nurse 37 times a day, won't eat real food and won't sleep more than 45-minutes at a stretch, velcro baby.

Which should make for fun traveling.

I have 6 days until we fly, but I am already trying to make lists and get a bag together. trying to fit as much as I can, for all 3 of us, into one big bag, and keep the carry-on as small as possible - diapers, granola bars, toys. I am going to be that mom, and I'm buying a carrying case for the portable DVD player. I'm actually thinking of it more for the layover in Dallas, when I'd like to not be running all over the world with the two little ones, and if I could get Guthrie to sit still and watch a movie during that time, great! I'll try to avoid it on the plane if at all possible.

So, any tips for traveling with 2 little ones? I haven't flown in 4 years - since before I got pregnant with Guthrie. My usual coping mechanism for flying - massive quantities of booze in the airport bar (which our local airport doesn't have anyway) won't work with little ones, so I'm thinking I'll pop a valerian before I leave for the airport, and that might help a bit. All the samples of baby products I got at the Baby Expo will come in handy now, too, for staying under the limits for liquids.

And any old friends who happen to be reading this and might want to get in touch during the prime social event of the year, the Knob Noster Fall Spring Whatever-The-Name-Is-Now Festival, e-mail me.

And wish me luck!

We're, uh, home

yeah, so we got home late Thursday night. It's just taking me for-freakin'-ever to get caught back up and settled into being home again. How is it taking so long to recover from being gone? Laundry alone is a task I haven't gotten finished - I keep getting it all washed, but no chance to put it away, and by then there's more dirty! Aargh!!!

We had a good visit, overall. But we are of course glad to be home. Guthrie keeps saying we must go back to Missouri, so grandma won't be lonely, and I'm telling him that we will in a few months.

We've bought and had installed a new dishwasher. We also got and planted more trees - a peach, a plum, a magnolia and two oaks. And after I casually mentioned that I was thinking of starting a garden, or at least getting some hanging strawberry plants, Eric bought me a bunch of strawberry plants and committed me to the idea of having a garden. Our yard is slowly but surely turning into a food source.

The weather is beautiful - low 80s since we've been back - and as soon as we think it's relatively safe and free of spring-breakers, we're going out to the Island.

Guthrie had a great birthday - the celebration stretched out over 3 days. He loved his train ride to and from Kansas City, and I think he fell in love with the conductor. I'll try to post some pics later.

Samantha did very well at her math contest - 9th place in both of the tests. Her best friend got first place in one event, and qualified for state!!!

Guthrie woke up at about 5 this morning, and saw that he was all alone on the futon. He crawled over onto the other futon, where Eric, Turner and I were all asleep, and snuggled up to me saying, "I want to be with my family." How do you say no to that?

And for now, a picture we just got developed. I think it's from Thanksgiving, but I just love love love it.

Where Have I Been?

To answer the question -

Missouri. (aka Misery)

Things were too crazy, and the dates were still not set in stone, so I never got a chance to blog about it before we left. And now that I'm here, my mom's computer is very, um, cranky, and can be very slow, or just freeze up in the middle of something, so I hadn't really attempted to blog about being here. Well, that, and I've been running all over west-central Missouri visiting people, eating junk food, and amusing my small children and mother.

Here I am, though, sitting in 50 degree weather rather than the beautiful 80 degrees back in Texas. *sigh*

We are having a good time, in spite of the lack of fruit and veggies, overconsumption of high fructose corn syrup, and whatever illness Guthrie was struck with yesterday. (We decided to go to Ryan's, a nice "homestyle" buffet, where he might actually eat some fruit and veggies. We got up to the counter to order our drinks when his breakfast and previous night's dinner decided to emerge from his stomach. GROSS! And then, after his nap, whatever else might have been contained inside his tiny body exploded from the other end, overflowing his diaper and going up the front of his onesies - he was lying on his stomach - and all the way up to his chest. GROSSER!!)

Eric has/had business trips - Atlanta Wednesday-Saturday of last week, NYC Thursday to Saturday morning this week - and then his school's spring break, so I figured it would be a good chance to visit my family. It was perfect timing - Samantha's singing group had a performance this morning I got to see, tomorrow is the gifted program open house, and this weekend is her math contest, where I'll be able to attend the awards ceremony. Then Sunday we'll do cake and ice cream for Guthrie's birthday, and if all goes right, we're going to try on Monday to take him for a train ride to and from Kansas City as his birthday present (the kid is obsessed with trains) and to Fritz's train restaurant in Crown Center.

It is hard being away from home for this long, and I miss my husband - this is the longest we've been apart. I could cause a scandal by mentioning that I'm going out to dinner with a single man tonight, but Eric not only knows about it, I think he asked our friend if he'd do it.

Nothing terribly interesting to report just yet. Turner is on the verge of walking, bbut we're hoping he waits until Daddy gets back. Guthrie is getting used to the idea of turning 3 in a few days, and he's having a blast with his sister and his cousins and grandma. We're all getting enough TV and restaurant food to last us the rest of the year, and Guthrie has learned the words to the "Wonder Pets" theme song, while I keep catching myself singing the theme to the Backyardigans.

And tonight I'm eating kimchi. Yum!