TEETHING, AND SCREAMING, AND PUKING...oh my!

Ah yes...sleep. It's what I should be doing at this time of night, yet I find myself still hanging on to the 3 hour time difference between here and Washington, our final destination over the Christmas break. I've been hesitatnt to start this entry because I know what it will entail. It's the same feeling I got when I opened up Isaac's journal only to realize that the last time I wrote was about 5 months ago. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but when he's only 8 months old, well, you get my point.

I certainly don't like to be Debbie Downer, so let me start off with what went great over the break. That way, if you don't want to read about the "Teething, and Screaming and Puking...oh my!" part, you can just simply end where Terror begins.

What was great was that we got to visit both sides of the family. Christmas was spent in New York, and then we left for Washington soon thereafter. Great food is always in abundance, as well as my desire to eat every last cookie (or crumb for that matter) but I somehow managed to curb my desires by stuffing my face with raw carrots, apples and air. Um, yeah right. Well, I truly did try my best to not gain back the baby weight I've lost (arg) but who on earth would enjoy a diet of carrots, apples, and air? Perhaps someone who didn't grow up Italian, where food was talk, and talk was food, and if you didn't eat all of the food on the table, you were a disgraceful unthankful silly little girl. No, my parents never called any of us that (to our faces) but I'll never forget visiting my "Nonna" (grandmother, in Italian) in Phoenix and saying "No, Thank you" to her chicken parm (I was already stuffed) and I'll never, ever do that again. Oh no. Never. Bless her heart, she took it quite personally and seeing her this way almost made me cry. Alright, give me a piece of chicken I suppose. Cutting it up into several pieces is a great way to diguise not eating much.

So you see, good food is a must. In New York we played a lot of Rock Band, watched a movie on the birth of Christ, sang Christmas Carols, woke up waaaaaaay too early Christmas morning, and mainly we just hung out and played games. Unfortunately, Isaac got a stomach bug, therefore I managed to be an awful friend and didn't visit any of my friends in N.Y. :( Please forgive me. Isaac is finally crawling. He hates it. The minute I put something out in front of him to crawl to he starts to whine, like, "Mom, why don't you just give that to me. It would be a whole lot easier." He has also mastered the back pedal. This is the simple but tricky move that happens when he's standing up and doesn't want me to sit him down. I try to get him to bend his knees or bend at the waist but man, he puts up a really good fight. He loooooves standing up. He's like those little jewelry boxes every girl has as a kid. The one where you open it, and a ballerina pops up and music starts playing. Isaac isn't as graceful, but the minute he grabs my fingers, he shoots up to a standing position in no time. Boing!

As for Washington, it was sooooo great to see Sean's side of the family. The last time we saw them, I was almost 5 months pregnant and had just found out we were having a boy. Crazy how time flies. We got to see almost everyone, and we sure loved watching them interact with Isaac. Unfortunately the stomach bug he had in New York carried on for a bit longer than any of us like (poor baby) so he was not his super happy, laugh-at-everything type of mood. Sad. Just what I didn't want to happen. Once again, because Isaac was sick, and because Sean was sick by that point, and because I was a walking germfest because of the two, we didn't get to see any of our friends:( Darcee, I soooo wanted to see the twins! I'm heart broken that I didn't get to meet them. Sean's mom spoiled us with such great meals, and we had a great time watching the Bowl games and celebrating New Year's Eve at the house, although all of us were about ready to fall asleep standing up.

Now for Terror. Like I said, Isaac was sick almost the entire 2 weeks. I was sooooo sad for him, and it frightened me that at certain times, when I couldn't even comfort him. I'd hold him, rock him, sing to him but nothing would work. This is when I felt like a deer in head lights. He started throwing up the day before we left for Washington. Oh, my heart sank like you wouldn't believe. So, on we go to Washington. We had to fly from Rochester to JFK, JFK to Salt Lake City, From SL to Yakima, and all the while we managed to fall back three hours because of the time change. By the time Isaac went to bed in Washington it was 2:30 in NY/MI. I knew he wasn't feeling good, but then came the JFK/Salt Lake flight. A 5 hour flight that needed to be 4-1/2 hours shorter for my sake. Isaac was acting so weird, he wouldn't settle in my arms, wasn't smiling, was very lathargic, laying against my chest. I said to Sean, "something's not right." A few minutes later, he was throwing up. Luckily we had a blanket on my lap, so it caught what it could, but managed to still get all over my jeans, and then on my sweater. Funny thing is, I instinctively held out my hand to catch it all. Ahhhh. So, we asked for a bag, put his barf blanket in it so it wouldn't get on anything else, stripped him down to a diaper (it soaked everything) and then realized all of his other outfits were in our carry-on bag that they ended up having to check at the gate because the overhead bins were full by the time we got on the plane. So for about 45 minutes, he sat in just a diaper wrapped up in his second blanket. And then he threw up again...alot. So, there goes that blanket, the diaper, my pants (again) my hand (again) and some of Sean's pant leg. Poor boy was in so much pain, it killed me.

So, now we were really up a creek without a paddle! I managed to change his diaper, wrapper him in an airplane blanket and cuddled him in my arms. Thankfully the lady sitting across from us had a two year old.....girl, and she offered an extra shirt for Isaac. A pink shirt for that matter. I thankfully threw it on him. She also offered pink flower pants but I just couldn't do it. It was scary enough to see him in a pink ruffle shirt. And all the while, he didn't sleep at all. "Ding! This is your captain speaking" "Ding! I'm your long-winded stuardess who doesn't know how to make a quick announcement" "Ding! Sir! Get back in your seat! The plane is about to land!" "Ding! We will now be playing a movie" Holy crow, I was about to ding someone in the head. So, we get to Salt Lake and I let him sprawl out on the floor. He actually smiled a bunch and played with some toys but I didn't dare feed him any food. Just liquids. And then, the second terror of the day came when Sean said that he wasn't feeling well. (Meanwhile I'm doing the type of heavy breathing you do after you run sprints in gym class) "What? What do you mean you're not feeling good?" Sean: "I mean I feel like I'm going to get sick." (We've come to find out that this stomach bug was very contagious and spread like wildfire) Jeannette (in my head): Oh, please don't let this be happening, please, no." And to spare you the details, the same thing happened to Sean on our flight from Salt Lake to WA that happened to Isaac on our other flight. Man, I wish we had the super power to turn off our ears whenever we like. Between holding Isaac who was beyond tired at this point, and rubbing Sean's back saying it was going to be O.K. I really just needed some other noise besides the noise I heard. O.K. Enough.

So, we finally arrived in Washington around 11:30, warned all family members that we were a humungous germ hazard and said hello without getting too close. Unfortunately, Sean's entire family seemed to pick up the bug as well. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Here we are!! :)
And somehow I've managed to not get this bug....yet. How I haven't, I don't have the slightest clue. I wonder if it was because I KNEW I had to stay healthy or else there wouldn't be anyone to care for Isaac (Sean stayed in bed the first entire day when we got to Washington.) I just kept saying litle prayers, "Not me, Not me. Please don't let me get this bug or we are in huge trouble." So, although I'd like to consider myself blessed, I won't be saying that for another week until perhaps it's completely dead. My luck, I'll get double the pain, and it will happen the day Sean goes back to school (knock on wood, knock on wood.)

And now that we are finally home, sleeping in a familiar bed/crib, being around familiar objects, now Isaac is finally started to feel a bit better. Arrrrrrrrrg. Finally eating food again, and having something other than ginormous pee diapers because of all of the Pedialyte I've been giving him. Oh, and one more terror, Isaac is teething. All in all, if asked if we would do this all over again even if we knew what was to come, we would in a heart beat. It was sooooo worth seeing everyone and being around family. There's nothing to replace what I feel when I'm around the people I love most.

Happy New Year Everyone! I will post pictures shortly. And Beckster, thaaaank you for picking me up from the airport. You are a saint!