Places to be, planes and pee pee potty

An entire month has gone by and I haven't been on the internet very much to check my email let alone write a post for this blog. Now that the dust has settled and the last load of laundry has been folded, I thought I'd share a few highlights of the last month. We were in Jacksonville Beach, Florida for two weeks at Christmas then we were at home for a week before we headed off to Nashville, Tennessee for a wedding. Our trip to Florida was really great on the whole. Nonetheless we did have our challenges. Mainly the plane trip back was the largest of all mishaps.
Picture this... a precious 7 month old baby girl, happy, yet a leaky faucet of mucous and a 28 month old little boy full of energy and a sippy cup of apple juice, and lastly a frazzled mother who is trying to keep it together despite the circumstances. We are ready to board the plane after a long two weeks away from home and daddy. As we get on the plane and the flight attendants are always kind and cheerful to us, but the looks and comments I get from the folks in first class - well, I just smile and shake it off. "My you're brave to be traveling with those little ones" or "This is gonna be a long flight". The whole flight from Jax to Dallas was fine and uneventful, but the flight from Dallas to Phx - Oh, Lord RAPTURE me now. Eric was exhausted and so was Amy, but yet no sleep came to either. Well, finally the voice of the captain came over the intercom and I was never so glad to hear the words "flight attendants, prepare the cabin for arrival".
As we gather ourselves a few moments later I hear, "Mommy, pee pee potty"

Great.

Eric starts doing the pee pee potty dance and kept saying with panic in his voice, "mommy pee pee potty, pee pee potty". As the scene unfolds, the lady sitting across the aisle from me obviously sees my distress and offers to help. I have no idea who she is, but I thrust Amy into her arms and say "she is a happy baby, here - have fun holding her" and I sweep Eric up into my arms and we rush down the aisle to the lavaratory. No sooner did we get there the flight attendant says "I'm sorry, but the captain requires that all passengers must be in thier seatbelts... the landing gear is already out". Look lady, you don't understand, Eric has to go PEE PEE POTTY NOW!!!!!! I reluctantly sat down in the empty seat right in front of the bathroom with Eric in my lap and we buckled in. By this time almost everyone in the back half of the plane knew without a doubt that Eric had to go pee pee potty really bad and they were all wondering the same thing... will he make it?

Yes, he made it. Whew! We landed and the flight attendant let us get up and go pee pee potty before the captain turned off the seat belt sign. Walking back to my seat, I remembered that I left my baby with a total stranger and I was hoping that the landing went okay for them both. Luckily, it did and Amy didn't cry upon landing. In fact, she seemed more happy to be with this lady than with me.

Well, after that wonderful episode, I was extremely reluctant to get back on a plane ever again, but alas we boarded a plane again in order to attend the wedding of a friend. The Lord heard my unspoken prayers and the kids slept most of the four hours to Nashville!!!

So we have been back home now for about a week and it sure is nice. Eric is totally into his toys like they were brand new and that is a good thing because it's been kind of cold and rainy here.

May the new year bring fun and joy to you all. And a word to the wise... go pee pee potty when you have the urge and don't wait until the plane is landing