Flight of the Navigator

Expecting to have plenty to blog about I'm shocked to report my solo portion of last night's trip was largely uneventful. I got through security easily, despite having my 'spaceship' as the TSA official referred to the double stroller, my family boarding session went smoothly. H stayed put without the assistance of his car seat, my flight arrived early and the luggage was all there as I stood at the carousel just after 10pm with two sleeping babes; neither of which had made a peep the entire flight.

The only hitch in the plan was that my flight arrived in a city three plus hours from my destination, so the trip was not yet over. Having been almost eight months without seeing Sherri, we were both ecstatic and the jokes and ridiculous laughter that is annoying to all but us got us through the drive. At one point, however, I realized that I'd fallen into a coma for about three minutes, my mouth hanging open mid-cackle. Even in the dark, the massiveness of the Mississippi River was again surprising and the star-filled sky made me homesick for Eastern Oregon.

We made it home in time for H to wake up and have a second wind for about forty-five minutes, and then he slept just long enough to reach his normal waking time, leaving me with just over two hours of sleep.

I crept down the stairs at my sister's house and tried to figure out the space-age remote to turn on PBS kids so that I could pry my eyes open while H was entertained by something other than the various ceramic and otherwise breakable items artfully displayed in the living room. Luckily (yes, I am evil) H is still timid around the oh-so-vicious Cooper (a fifteen pound Yorkipoo...I swear that's a real breed) that he stayed on the couch once the Coop made his appearance downstairs, limiting the amount of supervision that I needed to provide.

It was only after Sherri and I had been downstairs for some time, annoyed with H's vim that Sherri urgently mouthed, while pointing at the very child to whom I was speaking harshly about the position that ones body should take on furniture..."Oh my God! It's his birthday!" Yes, I'm such an awesome mom that my sleep deprivation finally led to the ultimate in neglect...I forgot for the first hour of the day that it was my child's birthday. So instead of just feeling like death warmed over, I was death warmed over with a healthy dollop of guilt on top.

After sucking down a large cup of coffee, the morning ablutions began and I finished first, heading downstairs to feed C while H remained with Sherri and Kyle. Kyle, being eager for some toddler bonding time, asked "Can you say 'Whoop there it is!?'" To which H replied, 'Where's the hoop?"

I was so proud to hear Kyle call out in a panicked voice not twenty minutes later to have some help removing the entire roll of toilet paper that H had put in the toilet...which had luckily not flushed down. This was after I had taken H out of the tub due to an unfortunate plunging of his washcloth in the toilet, then in the tub and back in the toilet again. At least I can be assured now that having toilet locks so complicated at home that guests either soil their pants or just break the locks has been necessary.