hello strangers!

wow, seems like forever since ive posted! it has been quite a whirlwind of an adventure and i will try to quickly recap what has taken place thus far.

the plane ride was good but exhausting. the first leg was 3 hours but ended up close to 4 because of a different plane having landing problems. our girl did well, but fell asleep about 20 minutes before landing (whats up wit dat?) and didnt sleep again until bed time. thank the Lord I had an extra seat next to me or it would have been a fiasco. this way she was able to sit and color, look at books, and just stand up in front of her seat to play off and on.

the lay over was the disasterous part of the journey. i thought i had about an hour between flights, and since they dont serve you anything but nuts anymore, (actually they have switched to pretzels due to allergies) I knew i had to grab us some food before heading to our gate. ive made this flight thru denver enough times to know that the gates are very far apart so i had to book it. i fastwalked over to (where else?) Mc Donalds, grabbed our food and basically ran to the gate only to learn we were delayed. how long? who knew? "Stay close" said the attendant. "we have clearance to board but no flight crew. as soon as they arrive we will begin boarding." the weather was terrible and every flight before ours was still waiting to board. there were few seats available, and at this point our girl just wanted to run. here was my dilema: i can force her to sit and just stroll around so i dont lose her, or let her run and possible lose my stroller and everything else while i chase her down. i had bought a harness (yes, i know how ridiculous they look, but i thought it was worth it to look insane rather than lose her) and decided to pull it out. the previous attempts at getting her to wear it had resulted in a tantrums of gigantic proportions. i decided to just use the "leash" part and attach it to her tag in her sweater to avoid stares from onlookers. she didnt seem to mind so long as she got out of her seat. then she decided to make mommy look like a fool, and began playing "ring around the rosie" with herself, continuously wrapping the leash around her neck, and forcing me to grab her, unwind her, and ask her to "calm down" in my "im not a crazy mom, just a little high strung" voice.

FINALLY after an hour delay we boarded....only sit an HOUR waiting to de-ice so we could take off. i was actually still on the ground when i should have been arriving at my destination! but she was a trooper. she didnt throw a single tantrum, although she was at her wits end when we arrived. i got to my mom's and told her it was almost time for bed. she willingly got in her pajamas, told everyone goodnight, and walked to her room. i asked if she wanted to read some books and she said "no." she walked over to the port-a-crib, lifted her arms, and i dropped her in. didnt hear a peep after that!

ive kept her on East Coast time to make things easier, so she gets up at 430-5am, and goes to bed at 530-6pm. it's working well, although the three hours of utter darkness each morning before sunrise are a bit weary! i decided to take her to my dad's last night and try sleeping there. BIG mistake. she was hysterical (and who can blame her--im a bit confused myself!) and didnt sleep well at all. now we are back at mom's and she's having a rough time sleeping. Shoot fire and spit! (as my mother-in-law would say:) I went and messed things up! Oh well, tonight she will have to cry herself to sleep--im tuckered out!

a fun adventure this trip was a few days ago when we drove a little over an hour to the town i grew up in and spent the afternoon with some of my high school friends and their kids. we all look exactly the same to me! except now we have our own children. so strange! ive know these friends since sixth grade...let's see...20 years! and i hadnt realized just how much i miss them. it was so much fun, and i wish i lived closer. it's so easy being around friends you've known virtually your whole life. we didnt talk a whole lot about the past and other people like i thought we would. we talked more about our marriages, every day things like gaining weight, losing weight, how to discipline the kids, and what's come and gone business-wise around town. it's funny, driving thru town all the homes seemed smaller. the town seemed familiar but a distant memory. i could still easily get around, but cant remember the names of roads, or just what's changed.

in the end it's been a good trip--a hard one, but very worth while. (is that one word or two?...)