THE TRIP (a "wait till you have kids" post for N&B)

We made it!! We are in Boerne...here in the flesh...we SURVIVED. I can honestly say it was the most exhausting trip I have ever experienced. Nothing major went wrong, we made all our flights, no poo blow-outs or sick babies. Just a tiring 19-hour journey where my little angels plotted against me.

First leg: Montevideo to Miama, 9 hour flight. Bran fell asleep quickly and slept the entire time until an hour before we landed. Then he woke up quietly and happily. What a good little fellow. NUALA, on the other hand, stayed awake for 3 hours. THREE HOURS. She was so tired, but refused to sit in her car seat and twisted and crocodile-rolled and wiggled for THREE HOURS. Then she flopped herself into the car seat and slept fitfully off and on for four hours. I didn't strap her in, and she twisted and turned and even slept on her stomach in the car seat for a while, poor child! No wait. Poor ME. And my poor mom, but she had Bran duty and her charge was sleeping. Well, he sorta woke up a couple of times, but she sang and soothed him. When Nuala woke up, it was screams and flops. She was not happy. I'm sure the nice people around us weren't thrilled either. Nursing only partly worked, and nursing an 18-month old is not a discreet business. Almost as indiscreet as nursing them both at the same time when they were crazy 11-month olds on the flight back from Peru. Hmmm...Nobody ever claimed to have had more privacy as a mother, I guess. I will say Nuala looked like a little angel when she fell asleep, though she acted like a little opposite-of-angel when she woke up. Bran was soooo good, though. He had the hugest wet diaper that soaked his pjs and he didn't complain one bit.

Layover 1: Not too bad, cleared customs quickly. Getting through security was a circus, though. Usually Zachariah and I wear the babies and don't bother bringing the double stroller. Mom and I didn't wear them. We had a double stroller, two car seats, our carry-on bags, and the tired, sorta-cranky, and very unwilling occupants of the double stroller to wrestle. And of course we had to take them out at security, fold up/down the stroller, and try to keep two toddlers and everything else under control. A circus. But not a fun one! Honestly, I don't know where we got the superhuman strength to lug all that stuff around. It's like those stories of people lifting cars off their friends. Only without near-death and crushing, etc. We both have about 8 million bruises on our legs from the darn car seats, and I don't bruise easily. I'll just say it: Basically, my mom and I are awesome. And humble. So after all that, we finally changed poor Bran. He had to wear slightly girly pjs that he's a bit too tall for and his big toe pokes out of. Oh well! Anyway, the kids enjoyed a longish time to stretch their legs, and Mom and I were sooooo tired! Proof: Nuala at one point insisted very vigorously on eating some play-doh with a red crayon as the spoon, and I was too tired to make her stop. I did, of course, verify that both the play-doh and crayon were non-toxic. She had pretty poop later that day.

Bran watching planes in his slightly girly, slighty too-small pjs.

Second leg: Miami to Dallas, 2.5 hours. Nuala played in her car seat with the colorful sticky notes I brought for about 20 minutes, then quietly fell into a sweet, sweet slumber. My hopes unwisely rocketed. Bran was car-seat-less, as our seat arrangement forced us to gate check it. He almost, almost fell asleep lying on the seat, snuggling his blankie. THEN the drink lady came by and it was all over. Bran's turn...(crazy laugh) He spent the flight wriggling and trying to run down the aisle and doing the jelly-slither thing when you pick him up. He so badly wanted me to keep holding him up in the air so he could put his finger in the A/C blower holes. Dude, 26 lbs. gets heavy. And then 26 lbs. gets mad when you put him down. He was a wiley little rascal, and kept throwing everything on the floor. Luckily most of it was returned. And poor Granny, sitting by her little Eagle Scout friend. She had Bran off and on, but he mostly wanted to be wiley with me. Then he was poopy, and Granny (bless her heart! Again!) changed him, and then she snuggled him and he fell asleep for the last 20 minutes. Really. The very LAST 20 minutes. Life is not fair.

Layover 2: In Texas! Yay! We only had an hour and 10 minutes and had to get to a different concourse. Luckily, we got to ride on one of those big carts, with a super-nice grandfatherly guy helping us out. He was really nice, but Bran still cried when he held him. When you're tired and cranky, you're tired and cranky. We got to the gate in plenty of time.

Third leg: Dallas to San Antonio, 45 mins. Best flight ever. The irony. They both were happy and entertained, neither minded sitting in their seats (Nuala loves those sticky notes). Why, oh why did the "good" flight have to be the 45 minute one?? No matter. At least it wasn't 45 minutes of screaming.

So we got to San Antonio!!! So incredibly hot here...I was really looking forward to getting to Texas and escaping the chilliness of autumn in Uruguay. As soon as we stepped out of the airport I questioned my eagerness. Then I took off my shoes and socks and felt better. I love Texas. Grandad picked us up and we got Taco Cabana to eat! That alone would almost make the whole trip worth it. Yummmm....

This is what I saw when I looked in the back of the van on the way home from the airport:


(We miss you Zachariah!!! We love you :)