Monthly Archives September 2011

That is how long the rental car clocked we had been in it for the last 10 days.  And that was after we arrived into Philadelphia.

When Nathaniel pointed that out as we were returning the car, I almost burst into tears.  Not for me, and not out of exhaustion, but because I had no idea just how much we had put our kids through, and had no idea how much they had risen to the occasion.  No one wants to be in a car for 34 hours, but especially not toddler boys and little baby girls, but both of them did an outstanding job at patiently being loaded and unloaded into the car time and time again, sleeping in a new place almost every night of the trip, and meeting so many new people every day.  Gabriella smiled at everyone she saw, and Jeremiah made instant friends with anyone under 4 feet tall...

I’ll call it “Nashville to Philadelphia.”

The actual flight was supposed to take 2 hours, leaving at 1:55p.m. but between traveling to the airport, the time change, and leaving our car in a cheap car lot, we left the house at 9a.m.  The car was loaded with luggage and children, and both kids did GREAT on the way here.

Which means they both completely melted down once we reached the airport.

First we had to take a shuttle from the parking lot to the airport.  And by shuttle I mean a scary white van with tinted windows…

The driver seemed friendly enough, but soon into the drive over, he starts telling us that this van keeps getting flagged at the airport and the security keeps threatening to give him a ticket – well, in the whole week that he has worked for this company...

So many things are swirling around in my mind.  As I write this, my 31/2 month old is “crying it out” because I physically cannot nurse her one more time this hour, my 2 year old is watching Curious George because that is the only thing that will keep him from sneaking into the bathroom to play in the sink, or into our bedroom to splash around the leftover water in my bedside glass from last night, and I’m completely avoiding the massive task of packing for another support raising trip.

We got home last night – Nathaniel from a wedding/support raising trip to San Diego, and me from fleeing into the welcoming arms of my grandma who nurtured us (me especially) while I was alone with the kids...