Monday, January 18, 2010

Returning from Atlanta!!

I apologize for not blogging in so long. Poor Stina is not getting the internet exposure her brother got! I still feel like I'm getting used to having 2 kids, but it's fun! Now on to the story at hand.

Saturday, we were returning from a week in Atlanta. I had to work a conference and Karl had to be in Florida for work, so my sister Jenni GRACIOUSLY volunteered to come with me and babysit, in a hotel no less! Not only did she come to Atlanta, she flew to D.C. and made the whole round trip with me! I don't know anyone that nice!!
Saturday I wrapped up the conference at the hotel, while Jenni took Lars and Stina to her future in-laws (Todd's parents) for the day. I arrived there to pick them up and needed to repack a few things. Lars was being unusually clingy cause I had been leaving him all week, I thought. Come to find out he was being clingy cause he didn't feel well. A few minutes into packing Lars was crying and then projected vomit ALL over me. I kinda panicked and called Jenni over, but her "father-in-law" came over. I just asked for Jenni and said Lars had thrown up all over me, he said, YES he did and went to get Jenni. We changed out of those clothes, while Todd's mom hand washed our clothes and put them in the dryer. We had to leave the house in 45 minutes so we wouldn't miss our flight. We sat down at the table to eat quickly when Lars insisted on sitting in my lap. A few minutes later I was covered in vomit again! Put clean clothes on and rushed everything into the car. We really needed to drop something off at FedEx and put gas in the car, but as we got closer to the airport we realized we didn't have time for either of these things! Plus, on the way Lars again threw up all over himself in the car! We got to the airport, I let Jenni out of the car with Stina in a baby carrier and all of our bags to be checked, 5 total, miraculously they let her check them all! I drove over to the Rental car return with Lars sleeping in the backseat. Knowing we would never make it to the plane on time if we took the normal transit system back, I asked to rental car lady if she would drive Lars and I back over there. Thankfully, she agreed! We got back over to the terminal. I got out carrying Lars (with throw up on him:), his carseat and my carry-on bag, unknowingly headed in the wrong direction. A VERY nice man who worked at the airport asked if I needed help, don't know what gave him that clue!:):) So he carried the carseat and bag while I had Lars. We ran through the airport and made it to the gate just as they would doing the final boarding call. Jenni actually was behind us with Stina cause she had gone to the wrong security line, which the airport man saved me from!

So, we actually made it on the plane, much to Karl and Todd's surprise. Todd was already making arrangements for his parents to come back and get us, cause there was "no way" we would make it!
On the plane we were surrounded by men who were thankfully all fathers and understood how difficult it is to travel with kids! After take-off with both kids screaming, Lars decided to throw up on me yet again! The rest of the flight was relatively uneventful. Stina cried a little cause she was hungry, but no biggy. We are finally on the ground and they tell us we have to wait for them to bring stairs so we can get off the plane. Everyone was already standing in the aisle and you guessed it, Lars threw up all over me again! It was quite dramatic since everyone was watching and wanted to help! It was 45 minutes before they came with the stairs, so even though I was sitting there soaking wet, others had it worse cause they missed international connections!
Karl, is there waiting for us. He takes all the bags, the sick child and then we realize Stina's carseat is not there. At this point we are laughing cause we are wondering what else can go wrong. After another 45 minutes of paperwork and locating the carseat (which is still in Atlanta) we get a loner and we are on our way! Lars of course had to throw up one more time, just to make it an exciting trip home!
We made it all in one piece and even received Stina's carseat back the next morning. The only thing missing is a small back cushion from Lars' carseat. AND of course we had LOTS of laundry!
Anybody want to volunteer to travel with us!!:)