Traveling + Small Children = Nightmare

The title should say it all but if you are still curious to know all the details of our trip, proceed. But beware - this is probably not much of an encouraging post. In fact, I'm writing this more to remind myself to never attempt it again with a small child. And now I know why kids under 2 are free. No one in their right mind (even the greedy greeds) would make someone pay $200 AND have to endure. That would just be cruel. Although I will admit - I would have paid the plane fare if it automatically granted me a well-behaved child but those aren't being offered just yet. I'm thinking it might involve some sort of opiate -- for mother AND child. Good news is we should be able to fly again in about 3 years because d3 will be 4 and, for sure, there will be no more children born from this mother. I was 99.9% sure before this weekend - now there is zero question. D-O-N-E.

Oh and another thing. I have very few pictures despite the fact that we were attending a wedding that my husband and son were in. Oh, I brought the camera but no memory card. I didn't realize until MUCH later that it would still work and capture the memories. Just perfect. So any pictures I have are either from my phone (before it broke - just one in my list of small catastrophes) or from others who snapped shots.


OK, so where to begin -- chronologically, I suppose.

Thursday night, we grabbed a quick dinner at BoJangles and headed to GSP, where we were scheduled to leave around 5:55pm for a short 30 minute express flight to Charlotte (NO, we could not just drive to Charlotte and fly direct to KC - that would actually make sense. Keep reading. My frustration on that subject will resurface later on the flight back). So we prepare to board the itty bitty --





We taxi out to the runway and all appears to be going as planned. That is, until the dreaded announcement comes over the loud speaker - 'Sorry folks, we have no idea why but there appears to be a delay. We're going to shut the engines off to save gas - get comfortable and we'll keep you posted.' Get comfortable? Where? And guess who was the only family on the flight with a baby? I think it's safe to say that no one wanted to hear that broadcast but I would bet the people seated in front of us were the most disappointed. Not only did they have d1 kicking the seat from some nervous twitch he seems to have taken on but d3 is antsy and wanting nothing to do with any of my edible distractions. I packed every type of snack possible, which is ordinarily the way to his heart, but by the time the delay was over (lasted 30 minutes but felt like 300), he had gone through a tasting of each and was done with them. Isn't that great? What in the world will we do on the next flight that is nearly 2 hours long? Guess we'll be chemically assisting him to sleep with the help of Benadryl. The rest of the flight went okay - d1 and d2 played their 'portable electronic devices' and were excited with the surprises that awaited them in their backpacks, d3 just squirmed and whined.....


Welcome to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport - where the stellar logic continues. We get off the first flight and prepare to find our connecting flight, only to see that the gate is on Concourse B......and we are currently on Concourse E. And we have 10 minutes to get there before our flight leaves. Not boards, LEAVES. So, with three four boys and eight bags, we high-tail it to the other side of the airport. I'm fairly certain we resembled the 'Home Alone' family in a mad dash to our plane. We could have had a faster pace if d2 didn't like to randomly stop and people watch because then I had to stop my slow-jog and pull him along. We get to the gate, at which time the flight attendant says 'You must be the Darnell's.' See - we were THAT late. We board the plane and I'm pretty sure the same guy that was constantly kicked on the first flight and is now on the second flight wants to throw himself out of the emergency exit. And he has good cause. Turns out Benadryl has zero effect on d3 -- perhaps maybe even the opposite -- because he turned into a monster. I have never seen him throw down the way he did -- exorcism, anyone? I was in tears, he was screaming.....everything I feared this trip would be. So we struggle through that craziness and he finally falls asleep with about 15 minutes of flight time left. d1 and d2? ANGELS - thank goodness! They were the ONE good thing we had on that flight. Just when I thought we had survived without the criticism or ridicule from our fellow passengers, the guy in front of us turns around and asks how old d3 is. We tell him and he decides to open his mouth wide and insert his foot - 'Yeah, I have a 9-month-old at home. I can handle my own child crying but I just can't stand listening to others.' Really? Did you really just say that? Did he really just say that? D1 says my look must have clued him in to my potential explosion because he followed up with 'Oh, but he was fine. No big deal.' Damage done, dude.

OK, so I'm glad that nightmare is behind us.....for a few days anyway. We arrive, our friends pick us up from the airport and graciously offer up their SUV to us for the entire weekend (thanks, J&L!) and off we go to another friend's vacant home to sleep. By this time it's about 11pm and the boys go right to sleep. And so do we. Unfortunately, we have a human alarm clock at 5am -- about 2.5 feet tall, 30lbs, yells 'Da-eeeee' until we pull him from his pack-n-play. After some wrestling in bed with us, he finally falls back asleep....just as the other two rise for the day. At this point, we realize just how long of a day it's going to be. We pick up tuxes, make a couple of Target runs for forgotten items, visit some family, visit some friends, attempt some naps and off to the rehearsal. Since D1 is the best man, I'm flying solo (and in heels, which becomes a struggle very soon) with all three and trying to keep them quiet and somewhat civilized. d3 is constantly trying to make a get-away and when he is sitting on my lap, he's dumping his Teddy Grahams on the carpet of the soon-to-be ceremony hall and then taking pleasure in stomping on them. And chucking his juice that is definitely NOT spill-proof. And then d2 is trying to rehearse his part as ring bearer but I can't seem to keep d1 from following behind him everytime he walks down the aisle. He would whisper in his ear, 'That's not how you do it. You're walking too slow. I've done it two times. It goes like this.' So I was trying to keep d1 in his seat and keep d3 from screaming. And the sweating begins....in the heels. What's a mom to do to keep their hineys planted? I do what anyone in their right mind would do - I come down to the child's level and I open my goodie bag and pull out some earlier purchases from Target -- Junior Mints and Halloween light-up toys. Listen, I'm not proud that their pre-dinner was mint-flavored chocolate candies but 1) Grandpa was coming to kidnap them for the night and 2) it worked. And soon after, Grandpa arrived and the night went smoother.

Wedding day arrives. We had the chance to sleep in since boys were still with the grandparents. I say 'have the chance' because we didn't actually do so. I would have but 'someone' woke up and thought he would flip and flop in the bed until I woke up, too. I mean, really. We NEVER get to sleep past 7am. So we got up, head to Target again, grab a Starbucks and enjoy some alone time. And then it's time for the big show and it was awesome. A & T planned an amazing wedding and everything went off without a hitch. d2 was perfect and extremely handsome. It was too cute seeing him stand up there in the same line as his daddy, especially because looking at him is just like looking at a mini-D1. Here are several pics from the wedding (not from my camera, though) ~













The reception was a lot of fun. There was a photo booth for the guests to enjoy (and a scrapbook created for the bride & groom) and we got lots of souvenirs. Particularly a lot of souvenirs of d1 -- they eventually had to ask him to stop because he was going around to every table, asking complete strangers to take a picture with him just because he loved making silly faces in the booth. Goob. We got to spend time with so many of our friends that we dearly miss and it was just a great time. And D1 tore it up with his dance moves to 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia.' He was pretty hysterical. And we all busted out in the Cha-Cha Slide and the Cuban (I stand corrected - my husband informs me it is called the Cupid Shuffle)....and I was beginning to wonder if my toes would ever be the same after his size 13 foot kept making its way to my dainty little piggies. That man can be so clumsy but at least he didn't discriminate -- he stepped on everyone's feet.










Notice all the pictures I have and none show off the dress. Or rather none that show the size of the person in the dress. My whole weight loss goal was for this wedding and merely to give myself a target and timeframe to work hard. After lots of spinning, zumba and boot camp classes at the Y and many meals where the main ingredient was lettuce, I did hit my goal and lost 15 lbs. I'm thrilled to be where I am -- I haven't seen these numbers on the scale since high school -- but I have to gripe because, well, I'm pretty good at it. Why oh why does the weight have to come off in the wrong areas? My bubbies must have been half the weight I lost because they are deflated, like someone let the air out of them. If that was the case, I would really have liked it to have been a little lower in the body. Okay, I'm done complaining.


So, let's finish this post and go out with a bang. We headed to the airport Monday around lunch time and prayed for no delays or major issues. As we were going through security, an older man patted me on the shoulder and told me I was entitled to take my time since I had three little ones and that they were blessings. I was just hoping he would be sitting next to us on the flight.....and also occurred to me that he might retract that last statement if he had such luck. Once inside the gate, I bought some bananas for the kids.....I paid $1.19 EACH. A few obscenities might have gone through my head but I was bound and determined that we were getting back to some form of nutritious meals considering all the junk we had consumed for 3 days straight. As d3 was eating his nana, we gave him Motrin in hopes that it would work differently than the Benadryl. Wishful thinking. A few minutes later, another older gentleman asked me if I feel like the ringleader in a circus, referring to my crazies running around. He chuckled but I'm thinking he was laughing at me and not with me. Oh and here's a good one. Just before we board the plane, I reach in my bag to get something and all I feel is moisture. Seems d3's sippy cup (you know, that one that is 'spill-proof') got tossed in the bag but with the lid only half on. So now everything in the bag - camera, diapers, SNACKS - are all wet, sticky and smell like apple juice. (Sorry Laura - no stains, only a fresh apple scent.....)I don't even get mad at this point. Why bother, right? Fortunately, the plane ride wasn't as bad as the last one but d3 wanted no part of sleeping....or snacks....never mind sitting still. He did temporarily enjoy playing with the swizzle stick in a cup of ice -- that is, until he realized he could get attention by throwing the ice. Oh and he did like taking one piece of cereal, squatting down and hiding under the seat. He did this for awhile so I'm sure there's quite the little dry goods supply under there of my trail mix if anyone ever bothers to vacuum. We were hoping it would continue longer but he just reverted back to the crying/whining/screaming. However, no one took it upon themselves to share their inner most thoughts on how much they despise crying babies on this flight so I did find that to be refreshing.

Last bit of this trip I want to be sure to remember was our little stop in Charlotte on the way home. Again, where is the direct flight, people? We had 1.5 hours to eat so we grabbed some Burger King dinner (Healthy resolution lasted 3 hours. Grease always makes me feel better....temporarily.) and headed to our gate, only to find our flight delayed 30 minutes. And then another 20 minutes. Do you know how frustrating it is to be delayed in an airport that is an hour from your home and there is nothing you can do about it? We tried blocking the boys in an aisle with our luggage but they still managed to climb/jump/run all over the place, having 'sword fights' with blankets and coloring books. As long as I could see them and they weren't (fatally) hurting themselves or others, we just let them do whatever. I usually like for strangers to think I have some sort of control over these kids but let's be real. I had lost that four days before.....

Bootcamp Butt-Whoopin'

In all my infinite wisdom, I thought it a good idea to start working out again. Figured it couuldn't hurt my weight loss journey. No big deal, really. I know my way around a gym and am aware of what I need to do to burn calories. A little elliptical, a little treadmill, some ab work, and out. Then I decided to take a chance and take a Zumba class at the Y and it was super fun. I got a nice little workout, nothing too strenuous. I'm thinking 'Wow, maybe I'm not nearly as out of shape as I thought.' I will soon find that to be an incorrect (and painful) assumption.

The next week a friend and I decided to attend a Saturday morning bootcamp session. This was my first ever bootcamp and I wasn't really sure what to expect. We did some suicides, some mountain climbers, some burpies, some lunges -- just a bunch of circuit exercises. It was tough but not unbearable. The next day, my legs were pretty sore but not nothing too intense.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. Yesterday. Same friend, same time, different instructor. This week, GI Joe was in charge. I jogged. I jumped. I did more push-ups in 58 minutes than I've done in my entire 30 years on this planet. I did bear climbs and crab crawls up and down a hill, resulting in one nice face plant by yours truly. Um, yeah. Real graceful. However, I was just glad I survived without vomiting. Seriously, though. I have never hurt so bad after a workout. Never. Not even after d1's childbirth that included 3 hours of pushing his abnormally large sized head out. OK, maybe that part of my body wasn't as affected but the rest of my body was begging for mercy. Today is worse. It literally hurts to breathe. The boys hug me and I want to cry. I am starting to wonder if I passed out along the trail yesterday and someone came by and beat me with a baseball bat. Yes, it feels THAT bad. Although I will say -- there's some sort of pain management in whining and it just so happens that I can do that really well.....

Starstruck

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of personally meeting one of my all-time favorite authors, Nicholas Sparks. In my quick little minute to say hello and have my picture snapped with him, he seemed really down-to-earth and 'normal' -- as normal as one can be, given his accomplishments and acheivements. I even momentarily forgot all about how much I detested the recent movie based off of his book 'The Last Song' during our 'moment.' Besides, I can't really fault him, right? He wrote an amazing book, someone else ripped it apart with the acting and screenplay. In any case, it was an awesome experience. Thanks to my sweet friend who went to all the trouble to pre-order our book and secure our purple passes!

SuperMom or SuperMess?

Some girls I work with have often referred to me as Supermom and I just laugh it off. Though I know they say it with total kindness, I often think how they couldn't be more wrong.

If they were to be a fly on the wall in my home on any given day, they might see carmelized cereal-milk stuck to my hardwoods in the kitchen. I've yet to mop my floors and we've been here 3 months. Gross. They might find every bathroom trashcan overflowing with dirty diapers and TP tubes because I wait to empty them until that very next Q-tip causes a landslide. And home organization? Clearly a concept of the past. I have this amazing master closet that I had envisioned to easily house all of my scrapbooking toys in a neat & orderly fashion. However, one might not make their way back out of the closet due to the never-ending piles of laundry.

I constantly forget about show-and-tell, lunch money, birthday parties and book fairs. I can't seem to keep their names straight when I'm (gasp!) yelling at my boys. Sometimes my mind wanders when I pack d1's lunch and he ends up with two desserts and no fruit. I showed up late to Meet-The-Teacher AND Open House (two separate occasions). d3 tinkled on his way in the tub - I didn't change the water.

Uh huh. I'm a self-proclaimed mess.

Here's the crazy part -- we're about to multiply the maddness. D1 starts his season soon and I revert back to my 'coach's wife' role, d1 & d2 start their own b-ball leagues and I'm heading up some outreach projects at TFBC. Some of these projects have the potential to really make a difference for those who both give and receive. I don't really know where the extra energy is going to come from but I have complete FAITH that God will provide. He will provide me with patience, enthusiasm, spirit,....everything I need to pull it all off.

Maybe SuperMom has her house in immaculate condition, laundry neatly folded and a healthy balanced meal on the table every night. I certainly don't. But that's okay. There are more important things in life. There are lost people who need us to reach out, people who yearn for hope, for a reason to live. I desperately want my children to understand how extremely blessed they are and show them how to spread God's love to the world. If that means I neglect house work (even more) or cook a couple extra frozen meals, so be it. The boys probably prefer Stouffer's over my homemade anyway.

When God's love prevails, I'll accept SuperMess over SuperMom.....

Labor Day Get Away to the Mountains

Last weekend we headed north a couple of hours to Blowing Rock, NC -- particularly to Tweetsie Railroad. I would like to mention that this wasn't much of a planned trip. Instead, it was another one of those 'hey, let's go away this weekend' emails from D1 that sparked this little mini vacay. The point being that I am actually getting better at this sponataneity thing. I've done this twice in the same year and it's pretty fun. We debated a few locations including Atlanta & Charleston but my awesome friend recommended this place to us and the train theme pretty much sold us so off we went.

And it was gorgeous! We had a perfect day, almost on the chilly side being up in the mountains, but it really was a good choice. If we had any major catastrophes, they must not have been that bad because a week later and I can't recall. Oh wait -- we did lose d3's 'blankie' but that was temporary. D1 had to push d3 in the stroller up the 'nature trail' (aka mountain climbing with the Graco) and somewhere along the way, d3 tossed it out into the wild. It made for a tough few hours because it happened right around his nap time and I was hoping that blanket would soothe him enough to pass out for a while in the stroller but he would have none of that without the taggie blanket. On our way out of the park, we checked in the lost & found and someone had dropped it by. I wasn't real surprised - it's definitely not a blanket that one would marvel over but my baby boy sure adores it.

And so what if I gave it right back to him from the lost & found bucket. I'm pretty sure that whatever he ingested on his fingers was worse than anything on that blanket. It had been a long day and I was ready for the whining and fussing to end so I gave it to him to suck on. I make no apologies....


A few pics at Tweetsie ~


Exploring the county jail (notice the article in d3's hand - this is a before) -





Brothers riding together - and once again, d2 has another mark on his face, this time right in the middle of the forehead. Seriously, this kid.....





Against my direction to stay off the broken slide, D1 decided that it was 'fine' to play on. And we wonder why our children don't have great listening skills....





On ole Tweetsie herself -





Choo-Choo!




Side note here - notice d3's fingers? Our little nasty habit he's had since birth? G-O-N-E! Hopefully I didn't just jinx the whole thing but we ordered some stuff from Amazon that had a bazillion reviews of 4 and 5 stars, claiming to have stopped 30-year nail biting, thumb sucking, etc. We are now two full days in and we haven't seen him suck the fingers once, not even at bed time which is when I typically have to remove them from his mouth once he's asleep. Praise GOD - we might just be over this hump!