One Last "Vacation"

"Vacation" in quotes because I'm not sure traveling with two kids by myself can really be called a vacation, but I certainly gave it a shot!

I wanted to take advantage of the fact that I'm not currently working full-time during maternity leave by going down to Houston. It's not often that I can just pop on down to the city that I grew up during the week without burning precious vacation days, so why not make the trip the final days before I return to the office? I also thought it would be a good opportunity to give James a well-deserved break, let the grandparents see the kids without having to make the trek upstate, and get some all-too-seldom friend time in while I was there.

After debating transportation modes, I finally decided to take SWA down and risk the one-hour flight versus a five-and-a-half hour drive (shudder). I mean, how hard can it be, right? James looked at me like I was crazy, probably secretly glad that he wasn't going with us.

Let's go! We're ready!

Thursday
Figuring that I would be parking at the airport, I managed to get all three of our gear packed in one suitcase, one diaper bag, and one small backpack for Claire, plus Gavin's carrier for the car and a list of things that I would purchase once I got down to Houston (ie diapers, baby wash, etc). Luckily James volunteered to drop us off and pick us up, but the compact packing did help once I got to the airport and lugged everything inside to the ticket counter to get Gavin added as my non-rev lap passenger (which, if you ever need to do, I highly recommend getting to the airport way early because that line can be quite a beating).

I dressed Claire in the brightest shirt I could find in her closet and hoped that she didn't get away from me because it was unlikely I'd be able to run after her. Just in case, I tucked a business card with my cell phone and some other pertinent information into her backpack; lotta good that would have done since I ended up carrying the thing for her the entire time anyways. :P

My plan for flying with Claire has always been simple: keep her busy the first thirty minutes with food and then distract her the rest of the time with stickers, markers, and anything else I can get my hands on. If the flight is longer, try to arrange it during naptime, too. After getting through security (Gavin in the Ergo and Claire doing a great job taking off her shoes and walking through by herself), we got our McD's and ... our flight was delayed by an hour, which was so going to throw everything off. Claire ate her nuggets and played while Gavin slept, and I watched the clock knowing that this was a ticking time bomb.

What was supposed to be a plane activity ended up being a
waiting at the airport activity

Finally it was time to board. We got in our spot, and just as they were about to start, Claire announced she had to "poo-poo potty, Mommy!". I debated making her hold it but didn't want to set her back by weeks, plus everyone around us assured me that they wouldn't start boarding for AT LEAST 15 more minutes. We ran back to bathroom so she could do her thing, but when we got back to the gate, group A had finished boarding, and they were getting ready for pre-/family-boarding. I tried to show the attendant that I was part of group A, but he just threw a glance my way and huffed that family boarding hadn't started yet and I could just wait over there. Oh, and that I need to be prepared to hold Gavin in my lap the entire time because the flight was completely full. Okay, okay! Hmph.

When I did get on the plane, the attendant at the front said that there was a group that had held seats for me -- the people who were in line with me earlier that urged me to take Claire to the bathroom. How nice! Being surrounded by such thoughtful people definitely came in handy when Gavin started fussing and I needed to get his bottle. The gentleman next to me (grandfather of five) took Gavin without any hesitation and held him for the remainder of the flight which gave me time to hang out with Claire and breathe. Thanks! Claire was a doll, although I do recommend when traveling with a child (or two) to get rid of as much trash in advance as possible. Unpackage those crayons, take out the stickers from their individual envelopes, etc, because you'll just end up having to do it on the plane and being surrounded by a bunch of trash.

Stickers and crayons; a toddlers heaven

All done sleeping

Mom and Dad were waiting at the exit for us, and Claire ran right up happy to see them. After we got back to my parents', we hung out in the backyard -- we had AMAZING weather all weekend -- and then I got a real treat: a long nap!

One of the things I was most worried about traveling with the kids by myself (yes, I was worried, I just didn't voice it out loud lest anyone try to convince me not to do it) was nighttime. Bedtime in our household is a bit insane, and I was curious to see what would happen trying to put the kids down by myself. Luckily, my parents helped give Claire a bath while I got Gavin down, then I put Claire down during the window before Gavin woke up again. The three of us snuggled in bed together the rest of the night (and weekend, really).

Friday
Friday morning we enjoyed the gorgeous weather in the backyard. We were really lucky on this trip; it was hot and sticky the day we showed up but then was gorgeous until the morning that we left Yay!

Sunny!

Later, we went to Kemah with Claire sporting actual braids for the first time (got the idea from Jill's blog) for lunch and to play. We ate yummy food at Landry's and hit the rides on the Boardwalk. When the attendant asked Claire's age, I said "almost two" without thinking (free for kids under 2), to which Claire immediately corrected, "Mommy, I two. I two, Mommy!". Whoops. The attendant laughed and still let her in for free. Claire played so hard she fell asleep before we even made it to the stringrays and climbing area!

Kemah Boardwalk

Dad folding himself into the ride.

Gavin's first ride on a carousel

Choo-choo

Friday night I got another treat: dinner out with friends. I met up with Debbie, Syndee, Chi, and Mike for yummy crawfish and good conversation. It was also the longest I'd been away from both kids at once (3 1/2 hours) since Gavin was born as well as the first night I didn't have to put the kids down. After one tearful phone call from Claire ("Mommy, I miss you! Come home, Mommy!"), I headed home to help with the mess. As we were on our way home from dinner, my parents called to say Claire had fallen asleep in the car as my dad drove her around to look for me and to take my time. I still thought it would be a good idea to go home, and good thing because as I came in, Gavin was giving them a hard time. After they passed him over, he immediatly stopped crying which was pretty funny to all of us, so we took turns passing him around between us again to watch the cry-stop-cry-stop-cry phenomena. I guess the boy knows his momma. :) My mom was traumatized enough that she's not exactly jumping at the chance to watch the kids at night again anytime soon. Sorry!

Saturday
On Saturday morning we went to the park in the neighborhood until James' parents arrived from North Houston. Then Zong arrived, so Claire was in heaven. It really amazes me how good he is with her. I got some visitors -- EmJay, her mom, and Mary Mac -- so there was much conversating that afternoon for me, and then Crystal and Kirby came over that night, so Claire was over the moon happy.

I always appreciate an extra set of hands

Passed out from playing

Just throwing this in 'cause he's so darn cute

That night, bedtime was interesting. It involved me feeding Gavin while extending my arms for Claire to hug. She's such an awesome little girl and didn't mind at all, but it did make me wonder if I should consider going home early. Could I handle two more night of this? Too much to do still!

Sunday
Sunday was playdate day. The whole group headed to Sugar Land to Stomping Grounds which is essentially a coffee house with a playarea, kind of like the Wiggles or, well, McD's. We met up with Syndee + Charlie and Diana + David + Jacob who were down from Dallas. The kids (and Zong) had a blast, and Zong quickly became the favorite of the kids (no surprises there). I had an awesome time crawling around, but could have lived without the crazy fast slide, though. Ouch!

The kiddos sitting as they were asked to do

Short-lived, of course

After playing -- and Claire was POOPED! -- we went to Yummy Restaurant (really, that's the name) in Bellaire for yummy Chinese food before heading home where we got another wonderful visitor: Dwo was home! The Law kids were all home in Clear Lake for the first time since Christmas 2006.

That afternoon, Dwo and Crystal took Claire for another first: flying a kite. Amazingly, she knew exactly what to do. How, I'm not sure, but she was off and running as soon as she got her fingers on that string. James can't wait to try it with the big Tinkerbell kite he got her recently. You can tell that Dwo took these next pictures; when you've got it, you've got it, and he's got it (the eye, I mean)

Running

Uh-oh

Ready to go again

By the way, Sunday was also the time change when we all sprung forward. The kids handled it great and didn't miss a beat. I'm not sure they even noticed, and since I'm living a child-driven household right now, I didn't miss a beat (or that hour of sleep) either.

Monday
Monday morning I was supposed to meet up with Jenny and her boys but wanted to spend more time with my family since Dwo needed to head back to Austin before noon. We celebrated my birthday with cake and bummed around.

Happy birthday to me!

I wonder if the kid or the dog will fall in first

I spend forever trying to put Claire down for a nap, and by the time I did get her down, I found a surprise waiting for me: Jenny, Wade, Alex, Christy, and Tara were all there! We got to hang out for a little while before they had to leave. I'm so glad I got to see my Chum. Claire got a wonderful gift from the boys that she proudly wore the rest of the afternoon, even on our walk around the block.

My Chum-Chum

Bedtime this last night was awful. Claire didn't want to go down, and Gavin had a rare inconsolable fit. Nothing I was doing could calm his overtired butt down, so finally I gave up and handed him over to my dad. Both my parents thought there was no way it would work, but Dad tamed the beast! I know that made him feel good (especially after Friday night), and made me feel great. Plus, I got to put Claire down which I have to admit I miss sometimes now that James mostly handles it.

Tuesday
How quickly the visit passed! Tuesday morning we just packed and got ready to head back to Dallas. The only weird thing at the airport on the way back was security. Gavin has his Longhorn Wubbanub that seems to get a lot of comments (hook 'em!). I had gotten a couple of jabs -- mostly regarding the bball standings -- and the security guy as we were walking through said real low, "I'm not sure I can let that through." Thinking he was joking, I smiled at him and then realized he was serious! Then he added, "you're going to need to send that through the scanner". Seriously?! So I had to back out, put it in the round container, push it through, coax Claire back through the metal detector again which went off this time since she touched it on her way through, have her come back and then go through again without touching the sides, and then go through myself with Gavin strapped to me. Geez.

Ready to go home

The plane ride home was easy. The flight wasn't too full so we had a whole row to ourselves, Claire ate her subway -- sans bread, of course --, and Gavin slept. We hit some pretty bad turbulance which really scared Claire, and then a scenario happened that I had never considered when booking the flight: Claire fell asleep. The plane lands, and I'm looking around me: one diaper bag, one backback, one baby in carrier, and a sleeping toddler. Um, okay.

THIS I did not plan for

Luckily the guy in the row in front of me saw me predicament (or dismay) and offered to carry the bags. I took him up on it -- I'm not stupid -- and hoisted a sleeping Claire onto my hip. As we walked through the terminal, Claire woke up and exclaimed, "shopping!", so I relieved my second angel of my bags and did a little terminal shopping with Claire.

James was at baggage claim to meet us, and Claire was happy to see her daddy ... I was too. I feel great that I was able to take the kids out of town with me by myself, but I love knowing that it's even better when he's there beside me.

Welcome Home
When we got home, I found that none of my "honey-do" items got done, but James had a special surprise for me that made up for it: he had cleaned our bedroom and bathroom top to bottom and gotten new bed and bath linens that define the word "luxurious". Mmmmm ..... thanks, honey!

And that was that. I'm so glad I got a chance to take the kiddos to Houston and that the grandparents could see their babies without having to make the 5+ hour drive themselves. I hope to be able to do it more often, though I might push harder to get James to make that flight with me next time. :)

I'm still going through the 900+ pictures that my dad took (seriously), so the ones on this posting are from my camera. Check back to link to the Houston trip album!