Jenny apparently picked up a bug or virus or something this past weekend, and has had a fever and some eating problems and some disgusting poo-ing issues (I don’t think that ‘mucous’ and ‘poo’ belong in the same sentence together, EVER). And some sleeping issues. She wanted to wake up at 2:30a and 5:30a and I did not, so we had a difference of opinion. Plus then she was awake from 5:30a until EXACTLY 10 minutes before I had to get up. Barf.
So, yeah, the Cincinnati trip. Well, Beaner was a rockstar. We did all the right things like changing diapers right before boarding and either eating or having a pacifier during takeoff and landing, and otherwise she just slept. It was a lot more work than business travel, however, lugging that stroller etc. through the x-ray machine and juggling a baby. No, no one offered to help. Stupid strangers.
It was nice to see everyone and show off the baby, but it wasn’t oh-it-will-be-a-breeze-because-so-many-people-will-hold-her-for-you like I’d been promised. First of all, she was freaked out and over-tired and a bazillion degrees so she cried at almost everybody. Secondly, people want to hold a happy baby, not change or feed an unhappy baby, and everything was a struggle because we were in a strange place. At one point I was trying to get a bottle ready and people were forming a group around us, watching as she screamed and I sweated, and they kept trying to talk to me (“Wow, looks like you’re having a tough time, bet you didn’t realize you’d have an audience!”) and I just wanted to scream. I finally went upstairs to try to get her to sleep, despite the fact it was even hotter, because at least there wasn’t a parade going by. So, uh, that sucked. Shortly thereafter I realized my throbbing headache was a full-on migraine and things went downhill fast. Relatives started freaking out at me about getting my parents and grandmother home since we were low on designated drivers, and that’s when I unfortunately got a little snippy. I started trying to organize things but the effort of not vomiting was more pressing, so I found my grandmother a ride and then I think I said something to the effect of, “They’re grownups and need to deal with this, Seacrest out”.The next morning was brunch with the family, which was greasy but fine (the brunch, not the family), and then there was some confusion because my mom and brother and sister went shopping while I sat at my Grandmother’s with The Bean and my father for a few hours. So I didn’t get to spend any time with my youngest sister, who I hadn’t seen in a year. So that blew. Although my dad spent a few minutes with Jelly that were really super-cute, and of course my Grandmother LOVED it.
Dinner that evening was exactly what I didn’t want – more noise and heat and chaos. I was planning to meet my Top 3 favorite cousins for a nice quiet dinner, but everyone ended up deciding to come, so there were 21 of us. Yep, twenty-one. Again, nice to see my family, but I was so maxed out on stress and lack of sleep (did I mention the couch?) and couldn’t drink like everyone else (baby + afraid of triggering another migraine) that it was not a fun evening. I have pledged to be much nicer to teetotalers from now on. 
Yes, there were some good things – my cousin’s 10-year old daughter was freaking precious with Jellybean, at my elbow the whole time asking questions and wanting to dress her and give her a bottle. There were some good laughs at dinner, mostly at everyone else’s expense (we’re a cruel people). I got some quiet time with my Grandma. She got to meet Beaner. I got to see my family, albeit briefly. I now appreciate business travel even more. Cousin J held Jelly so I could eat at least one meal on Saturday. I didn’t have to pay for a hotel. Everything went (relatively) smoothly with the flights (I didn’t mention the delay flying out, because it was traumatic).So now I’m just counting down the hours til the weekend when Jenny and I can get some quality rest and extended jammie time, and I’m going to start worrying about how to cope with Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment