Home sweet home

Ella and I came home on the afternoon flight yesterday. Being Christmas eve, there weren't that many people in the airport and the flight wasn't full, although there was an abundant number of people flying with children. I used to gasp at the possibility of flying with loud, screaming, annoying children but now I am one of those people that other people will look at and worry, "I hope I dont' have to sit next to them". oh well, that is life now and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We got to our seats with no delay in our flight time and got into a window seat shortly before an older couple sat next to us. They were really friendly and told me that they were admiring my beautiful baby from afar and oohed and aahhed over her. They were as sweet as can be but holding a 20+ pound baby in those tiny cramped airplane seat was not the most ideal of places to be in. As soon as the doors closed in the plane, I flagged down an attendant and asked her ever so nicely if there were 2 seats empty that we could moved to. I felt bad for my sweet neighbors but I"m sure they were as happy for us to move. The attendant went up and down the aisle and told me to move to row 13. I held Elle close and scooted over into the aisle and headed to row 13. We didn't just have 2 seats, we had 3! The whole row was empty! I was more than thrilled to have elbow room, leg room, and whole lotta room. Besides a few squeals and yelps, Elle, slept through the entire 3 hour flight. My mom had a separate flight coming back home so I had asked her to take my luggage incase my flight was delayed and/or incase it was just too much "luggage" to carry everything on my own so when the flight landed, I was ready to just leave.

Unfortunately for my parents, as I type this, they are on their 4th hour of waiting for their delayed flight. They opted to come back today instead of yesterday. I should say, I opted to come yesterday instead of today with them in order to be with A-man for Elle's first Christmas. I now know never to fly again during the holidays.

Overall the visit was nice. I had stayed with my mom in a hotel the first 3 nights and then at my sister's house the 2nd 3 nights and although it was stressfull having a sleepy baby that was interupted constantly, I loved being with my sister and nephews. Things got a lot better once my mom went off to Scottsdales to play golf with her friends. I love that woman but we don't agree on anything, not one thing, so the bulk of the stress was being with her 24 hours a days for 3 days.

During the trip, I was an abusive mom. On the way to Phoenix, I bumped my sweet baby's head with the armrest on the seat. (look at the red spot on her forehead) During one car ride, I had zipped up her chest
, and on the flight back, I pulled out the seat belt that was caught in the seat and it hit her elbow. All incidents were accidental and resulted in major tears and a broken heart from baby and mommy, respectively. The worst of it was the chest incident but thank God it didn't bleed and the redness is fading fast. I will never forget it and I guess I have learned to take my time and be extra careful.

All in all, it was great to see everyone and see how they were living. They have a great house in a great neighborhood full of parks and walkways. The weather was beyond perfect and I ate way too much.

Here's a picture of the happy cousins.