Congratulations to Wendy, who had her little guy, Carsten! And he looks to be a redhead! What’s up with all my friends having redheaded babies?
Congratulations to Eli, who made it to the two month mark yesterday! Poor thing had to spend it in airports and a car seat most of the day. We’ll make the third month better.
And happy anniversary to my parents, who celebrate 39 years of marriage today. Happy anniversary, Lolly and Pop!
I’m not done with the tweaking, I just put Eli’s BIG GIANT EYES up there as a placeholder because it made more sense than the subway picture the theme sported. Hopefully I can do something interesting in the next day or two…new photos up at the flickr site. I am loving the new camera lens. We took 348 pictures over the last two weeks! I think it’s time to invest in a big, big hard drive.
Going to change themes again, I realize that header picture up there makes no sense but it’s customizable so I’m going to try to figure out today how to make it Eli-specific….just FYI
We got to the apartment around 7 PM last night. Although the flight was only a little delayed (about 20 minutes) it was a rough flight. Eli wouldn’t sleep really much at all, only 15 or 20 minutes here and there and was clearly not in a very good mood. There was another baby behind us and he and Eli seemed to be tag teaming because every time one would quiet down the other would start up. Maybe they were talking to each other, just in a screamy sort of way. I’m sure the other people around just LOVED us.
As usual, Andy took it all in stride while I ended up with a giant tension headache. I think it also had to do with the fact I had almost no caffeine yesterday. We bought some really terrible coffee at a truck stop but I didn’t drink much of it (the nastiness of the coffee outweighed the need for caffeine). Andy and I split a coke on the plane and that was it. We got back to Seattle and the last 5 or 10 minutes of the descent was pretty exciting, we had gusty winds from the south and it made for a very swervy, jerky landing. We got all of the bags except for the box we packed. All the gifts! I went to the baggage office to find out what to do (I had also accidentally left our baggage tags and my boarding pass in the airplane seat pocket) and the box was sitting at a carousel down there. I have no idea how it got there, it was just sitting in the middle of nothing by itself, a good two or three carousels down from ours. But HEY! Woohoo! It was found. Yay for that.
We gave Eli a bottle and a bath (boy, that kid was ripe and not in a poop diaper sort of way) and Andy swaddled him and he was out by 8:30 PM. He slept through until 3 AM (wow!) and then ate and went back down until he finally woke up at 8:30 AM. There were some binky replacements between 4:30 AM and his final wake up but he generally fell right back to sleep. I’m sure a few of those he might not have even needed but sometimes he’s such a noisy sleeper he fakes me out and I think he’s awake.
So today we’re just trying to get the apartment in order. Andy has practice tonight and I’m going to go to June’s for a short bit so she can have some baby therapy. For all the sleep, Eli is still a little out of sorts, much happier than yesterday but nowhere near the pleasantness of the last week. I think it’ll take a day or two of a lot of make up sleep to get him back to his usual smiley self. We think he also misses all the grandparents, he doesn’t get quite the constant attention with just us 😉 We’ve got him in a footed sleeper and it’s a 6 month size and he almost fits it. He’s about to bust out of several of his 3 month sleepers. We measured him this morning and he’s at 25 inches, a good 4 inch growth since he was born and last week he weighed 13 lbs 7 oz. Quite the chunk.
Baggage checked. Flight on time and everything is looking good. I think we might actually make it! Sitting at gate now, flight should leave in a little over an hour. Posting this from my iPhone. Andy and Eli are exploring around with Eli in the baby bjorn.
8″ on the rail of the balcony and blackness beyond.
Ok, this has gotten ridiculous. We’ve had better than 8″ of snow here in Ballard and more than that in other parts, particularly on the route to Seatac. The stuff continues to fall. We’ve had no word of cancellation for our afternoon flight tomorrow, but again, things don’t look good. I hope it’s worth noting that American is not mentioned as one of the stricken airlines; hopefully they’ve had the good sense, fortune, or ability otherwise to de-ice their planes.
We remain hopeful. Wish us luck.
Ballard got 5 inches overnight and it’s snowing for about the third time this morning. Although I’m disappointed our flight was canceled, no small thanks that we got the text alerts before we left for the airport and I was able to call and reschedule for a Monday flight. Hopefully the weather will let up and we’ll be able to get out then. Mike has been stuck at the airport since Saturday morning, getting bumped from standby after standby (he missed his flight due to general foolishness, not weather) and he just bought another one way ticket to Dallas for tomorrow morning. He’s decided to just wait it out at the airport rather than risk having trouble getting there tomorrow morning. Our friends KC, Alison, and their 5 month old were at the airport a short while ago. Their flight was canceled and after waiting in a line of approximately 162 people (according to Mike) they opted to go home and try to reschedule from there. June is flying to NJ and although her flight wasn’t canceled, she has now spent a good two and a half hours sitting on the runway in line for the de-icer truck (apparently Sea-Tac only has one?). This will more likely than not mess up her connection in Chicago although it seems Chicago is having some serious delays as well, so hopefully not.
Will has built a snowman that is almost as tall as he is and he seems to be enjoying the snow a lot. We’re just going to spend the day getting some things taken care of we didn’t get around to yesterday and we’ll head out for the airport around 8 AM tomorrow, barring another cancellation although I think this is supposed to let up by tonight (please!). Eli is content to sit in his car seat and look out the windows, agooing at the snow and generally being a drooly, happy little baby. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 1:20, arrives in Dallas at 7:05 PM, American flight 1900. Keep your fingers crossed!
Here’s hoping we get home tomorrow!
Will got his Christmas wish early and has had an eeeeaasssy school week. We had a round of snow last weekend and since the temperatures have yet to get above 30 or so degrees, he got late starts Monday and Tuesday at school. Schools closed Wednesday since we were supposed to get hit with more snow but nothing happened all day. However, the snow started up about 5 AM Thursday morning and Seattle got about 3 inches, effectively shutting the city down. He got Wednesday, Thursday and today off. Although the side roads are basically ice slicks, the main roads are sanded and fine. We’ve got a lot of errands to run today and Will has made plans to meet up with a lot of friends to go sledding so we’ll be dropping him off then taking care of the rest of shopping. He is going to ride the Metro back home once they’re done. I would have loved something like this when I was his age–going sledding on a snow day off from school! Not to mention the freedom that the Metro provides–he isn’t reliant upon Andy or myself to get him around town. It’s great independence for him and he does really well with it.
We’re trying to get all the last minute things taken care of today and tomorrow. Since our flight leaves at 6 AM Sunday morning, we have to be at the airport at 4 AM. We have to check the car into long term parking and also security will take longer for us since they will pull us out of line to inspect the formula and bottles. That means we have to be out of the house by 3:15 AM and guess what? They’re forecasting more snow starting Saturday night with freezing rain! This means that I will basically ride the entire way to the airport with my eyes closed, trying not to scream so Andy can concentrate on driving. I really hate being on the road in icy conditions. I’m thinking we need to get up at 2 AM to make sure everyone has time for some coffee, getting the baby fed, etc. To say it’s going to be a long day is an understatement but we’re all really looking forward to coming home and showing off the little guy. I’ve managed to get him in bed by 9:30 the last three nights so hopefully this work towards moving him to an early schedule for bedtime will stick. We’re trying to make a schedule for all the running around that has to be done in Shreveport, making sure we try to show Eli off to everyone who wants to see him and spend a good amount of time with everyone. If past experience holds, I’m sure I’ll fly back still feeling like I didn’t quite manage to do everything but I feel hopeful.
Because of the weather I didn’t get around to mailing the package full of maternity clothes for Carrie and Christmas presents so we’re going to pack a smaller box and check it with luggage for the flight. Paying for the extra box on the flight will be cheaper than paying for express shipping so it works. We’re bringing two cans of formula home for the week and that will hopefully be enough. Eli seems to be stepping up the eating and has chugged his last few bottles in less than 10 minutes. He continues to be a dream, Andy is a dream and has been taking most of the overnight feedings and letting me sleep and life is good. I couldn’t ask for better! Well, except maybe if I didn’t have to fly this weekend but until I figure out how to teleport, there’s not a lot to be done about that.
Tales from the Smiths 