First Cousins, Second Cousins and Best Friends

Sarah and I embarked on our long-awaited visit to Colorado early Monday morning (and when I say early, I mean 4:30 a.m. start time.) I have to say flying early has its perks - the flight was only half-full so Sarah and I had an entire row to ourselves. She slept in her car seat and I slept next to her. It was bliss. Natalie and crew picked us up and we started our adventure of what I call THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. (This may be quite long so feel free to skim or skip as desired) Also note that the photos are just randomly put in. They really don't go along with the text, but they are super cute. I sure love these girls!

THE GOOD



We had lunch at PF Changs in Denver. I realize it's a chain, but I had never been there and it was a first for our girls. Sammy enjoyed fried wantons while Natalie and I tried the Ginger Chicken and Chow Mein. Super yummy choices. Afterward, we jumped in Natalie's cool new ride and headed back to home base. It was so fun to chat with Natalie about EVERYTHING on our ride back. That night we let Jonny hang out with us and went to Outback for dinner. I love good steak. Sarah enjoyed her baby food and a few bites of my garlic mashed potatoes. (Note to self - don't order the blue cheese chop. It's not yummy.)


Tuesday, Natalie got down to business. She gave me a super cool Mary Kay makeover - complete with a skin care class. It was fun being pampered. I definitely recommend the satin lips to anyone in a dry climate. I wish I would have discovered it when I lived in Utah! I love the eye makeup remover (It's perfect for water-proof mascara) and the 3-step face wash, moisturizer and foundation are fantastic. I put the Bella roller perfume on my wish list. I love being a girl.


That afternoon we ventured out to the Castle Rock Outlets. It took a while to find it as there are no signs indicating where they would be located until you actually pass them. But find them we did and we explored all their baby shops. Natalie and I picked up matching thanksgiving bibs for our little ones and a few other treasures. I like shopping outlets but I find I am more critical on prices at them. I ended up spending less than $15. But the company was great and the girls were fantastic.


Wednesday we ventured out to BX and the Commissary. I anticipated better prices at the Commissary, but they were still definitely better than San Francisco grocery store prices. We did find the cutest Mary Janes for Sarah's Christmas dress.


Thursday was a movie day as Sarah wasn't feeling well (refer to THE BAD section below) Natalie and I watched Pride and Prejudice - the real BBC version. No, we don't like the new one. Jane Austen's masterpiece has never been so well done as in the BBC one. I LOVE IT!


As you can tell our outings were few and our chill time plentiful. Sarah LOVED playing with her second cousins. She loves their alphabet letters, their piano and their exersaucer. She loved sitting in Charly's high chair to eat. (Yes, I need to purchase one.) I loved being able to chat with Natalie in person. We painted our toenails and watched our favorite chick flicks. She introduced me to a new BBC flick - Wives and Daughters. I definitely recommend it to all those true chick flick lovers.



Other good things - I loved watching Sammy say the Pledge of Allegiance each morning with Natalie. I can't wait for Natalie to post the recording. Sammy Jo is getting to be quite the talker - I think my favorite phrase she said while I was there was "What in the World" but I can't leave out Sammy's dancing - she runs around the room in a circle saying "Sammy's Dancing." It's soooo cute. Natalie is such a good mommy.

I was super sad to leave, but know we will see each other again. Natalie is planning a trip out to SF next spring. Can't wait!

Now for THE BAD
Sarah didn't sleep well in Colorado. And therefore I didn't sleep well. It all culminated on Thursday morning at 4 a.m. when Sarah threw up in the crib. At first I thought it was in reaction to part of an orange I had given her for lunch on Wednesday, but this was not the case. After cleaning up the crib, changing Sarah and nursing her, we eventually got back to sleep. She woke up again at 6:45 and I picked her up to lay with me on the air mattress while I woke up. Unfortunately, her stomach was still uneasy and she threw up again. There are silver linings to this event - Natalie has a washer/dryer in her home and we got to get a picture with all three girls in the bathtub!


More bad - Sarah and I had to say goodbye. :(

THE UGLY
(And I do mean ugly. If you have a weak constitution you may want to skip this section)

Just when I thought we were over the throw-up stage, It hit me like a brick wall. Our return flight to OAK was completely full. And Southwest has changed their pre-boarding policies. Families with children now board after ALL of the A-section. (And to that I just say, why doesn't Southwest just do what all the other airlines do and give us seat numbers!!! No one wants to board like cattle. This new "line up in numerical number" is ridiculous!) I digress.

So as Sarah and I were boarding I folded her stroller and took her out of the car seat while people were pushing past me. I eventually got back in line to board the aircraft. We had just stepped onto the plane and turned to face the seats when Sarah decided the sweet potatoes she had just eaten didn't agree with her. That's right folks, she threw up again all over herself and in the isle. I don't believe she got anyone, but I can't be sure. I turned to the flight attendant - a very nice but clueless male - and asked if I could use the area in the front to clean her up. He stared at me and asked intelligently, "huh?" I looked at him and lifted Sarah a little and said, "Is there some place I can clean her up?" Shocked at the orange-brownish goop all over my little girl, he opened the door to the tiny airplane bathroom and I proceeded to strip down my whimpering babe. Well, Sarah has now had another first - she has delayed boarding. It took the flight attendants 10 minutes to figure out how they could clean up the mess. (Most of it was on Sarah so I'm not sure what the big deal was.) I was so glad I had an extra set of clothes for her in my bag. Another flight attendant - this one a mother of children - gave me a garbage bag to put Sarah's soiled clothes in and an extra one just in case. She even carried my bag to the very back corner of the aircraft for me so we could sit without disturbing others (I actually like the back so it was a good place for us.) I had escaped getting too much throw up on myself because Sarah was facing forward when her dinner came up. I took off my jacket, put my bag under my seat and settled in. I gave Sarah some sips of water and 5 or 6 rice puffs to try to ease her empty stomach.

Oh and by the way, yes, the last seat taken on the plane was the one next to me. The poor gentleman had such a sad face when he realized he was going to have to sit next to a sick infant.

I would like to tell you that everything went well from then on out, but not unlike Lemony Snicket would say in The Series of Unfortunate Events, alas, THE UGLY is not over yet. Just before the plane reached its cruising altitude Sarah gave a couple of coughs and out came more of her sweet potatoes, along with water and rice puffs. This time I was most unfortunately affected - all over my shirt, pants, coat, etc. I immediately rang the stewardess button and asked for more towels. The flight attendant gave me such a pitiful, sorry look. I could tell she really felt for me. I tried my best not to disturb the foreign gentleman next to me, but Sarah was sick and squirmy. We did finally get cleaned up as well as we could. I again was glad I brought extra clothes for her. I took off the onesie she was wearing and put on the her last clean item of clothing - a long-sleeved shirt. The stewardess gave me a blanket to wrap around her and we settled back in. Sarah was still a little squirmy as she was not feeling well, but about 30 minutes and 4 oz. of formula later she was asleep. She slept for the duration of the 2-hour flight. Whew.


OK I probably shouldn't post these photos, but I wanted to have it as a reminder that I don't want to fly alone again for a very long time ... maybe not 'til next Spring when my two nieces are born. :)

And as Lemony Snicket would continue ... Sarah did sleep well last night - as well as could be expected with being sick and the time change. She only woke up once at 1 a.m. I fed her and put her back down. She woke up for the day at 6:45. I nursed her and let her climb on Daddy. As I was taking her into the family room to play while we ate breakfast, Sarah decided she wasn't done throwing up! All of her "mommy milk" went all over her pj's. I took off her pj's and Roger started her bath while I started the laundry. Now, here I am all the laundry is washed and dried waiting for me to fold it on my bed. Sarah is sleeping and I am about to post this Good, Bad and Ugly story.