Beyond Bon Bons: Spring Break Trip 2011

Even though I'm no longer teaching, I still think about Spring Break every year, mainly because my mom is off for the week and I get to see my teaching friends! This year my mom decided she wanted to 'get away' and go some where, so she decided to go to Alabama to visit her parents and family. I decided to take Kalaya and go too! My grandparents are getting up there and I like to take advantage and see them whenever I can.

My mom left a day earlier than us, because it was almost half the price for us to fly out a day later! Her dates weren't flexible, since she had to be back to teach, but it didn't matter when we went! We left on Tuesday the 22nd. Honestly, Kalaya did about the best she could have done riding on my lap, but I really think the airlines should change their rules about lap kids. Yes, it's great that I didn't have to pay for her ticket, but she really was too big to sit on my lap the whole time. I can't even imagine if she was a child who was in a higher size percentage or if she wasn't as wonderfully behaved as she was. We had a layover in Dallas and she did well during both flights. I had packed lots of snacks, books and little toys. I had packed my mom's portable DVD player with some Elmo DVDs (from the library) to use as a last resort. She napped on the first flight and read her books and played with toys on the first flight and did really well. The layover was short enough that we only had time to get to our next flight, grab a snack and get on the plane. Luckily, she had her own seat on the second flight, because the plane was only about half full. I should have known it was too good to be true. We sat at the gate for TWO AND A HALF HOURS waiting for them to fix something or other and after all that they took us off the plane and put us on another one. She was ready for a nap when we first got on the plane, which would have been perfect for the hour and a half flight, but on the ground waiting? Nope, no sleep. AND, the DVD player refused to work, OF COURSE. I let her (with me right behind) walk up and down the aisle and she was very well behaved and everyone loved her. We survived.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday at my grandparents' house in Alabama. Their house is anything but baby proof, but Kalaya did a great job. My cousin had loaned us (thank you Victoria!!) some of her daughters' toys, so we had lots to play with. We went shopping at an outlet mall one day and just had time visiting and being together.

Friday we drove out to the Atlanta (Georgia, duh!) area to visit my mom's brother, his wife, 4 kids and granddaughter. We had a great time and we stayed at my cousin's beautiful house with her 2 year old Emma. Kalaya and Emma were instant buddies and had a great time running around the house and playing with Emma's toys. Saturday was spent at my uncles house with a big family lunch to celebrate my cousin Greg's 12th birthday. We played board games and visited, having a great time.

Sunday started off fine with a visit to their family church, though Kalaya and I did not like the nursery situation, so she napped on me in church instead. (not a problem at all) Then, Pa Pa (my grandpa) took all of us out to breakfast at IHOP. Kalaya hadn't eaten much breakfast, which is REALLY weird for her and had been extra fussy all morning. Once we were seated and she started eating, she threw up ALL over herself. It was AWFUL! I am not a person who can handle puke in any way, that's what Nelson does. She's never had a stomach bug and I was worried. I went into Mommy-mode though and my only concern was not upsetting her. I cleaned her up in the bathroom (thank goodness I ALWAYS carry a change of clothes and extra wipes!!) and then she seemed totally fine. Then, about 3 hours later (on our drive back to Alabama) she threw up every where again and we still had a 2 hour car ride to go. Luckily, I had anticipated the problem and brought a really big, old towel and managed to catch almost all of it. I threw the towel away, changed her again and she slept the rest of the way home. She threw up again at the house and wasn't keeping anything down, even breast milk, which was a concern, so I called our nurse advice line. I was advised to continue to nurse her and that if she didn't keep it down through the night to take her in to urgent care the next day. Luckily, she didn't have another episode and even ate a couple of saltines. The next day she wasn't totally herself, but managed to eat some small meals and seemed to be feeling better, which was good, because we flew home on Tuesday!

She did really well on the return flights. The biggest challenge was the 3 hour layover in Dallas, but we found ways to kill time by having a leisurely lunch, riding the tram around and around and playing in the children's play area, that was, luckily, right next to our gate. I had a killer migraine, so I'm thrilled that she was as well behaved as she was. The pivotal moment of the entire trip was her reunion with Nelson. I don't think she realized how long she'd been away from him until that very moment and both of them had tears in their eyes and she held onto him as though she would never let go. So sweet!!