Back in Cali :)

Hola Mis Amigos and Familia,

Well we are back in Cali after a very quick stop in PA for an awesome wedding we attended this past Sat (we had such a great time!!!!)! We left Sacramento late Thurs night and arrived Fri morning in Phili and left Sunday night at 5pm. It was about a two day stay and it was prob one of the quickest trips we've made in the 6 years we've been traveling back home. Mia didn't do well on the way home and was very cranky, fussy, squirmy, screaming to the top of her lungs at times, and just not liking being confined at all. Mia didn't like being delayed either on the runway for about an hour (in Chicago) due to weather in Phili...neither did we. :( She eventually slept though and both legs for a total of about 2:45 hours but was very tired since she didn't get her 12 hours of beauty sleep. We were happy to be in Phili once we landed and happy that Mia napped another 2 hours on the way home...poor thing was so tired!! :)

Sunday night we headed back to Cali and Mia did pretty well considering how tired she was. She only napped 1 hour maybe on the way to the airport and could have slept longer if we didn't stop at a rest stop which woke her up. She was cranky but lasted and did okay the rest of the way. Once in Phili, Mia got to see Josh's parents for a bit b/c we borrowed their car which they picked up at the airport. Mia was pretty cranky in the stroller but once she got to walk around in Phili while Daddy watched the Eagles game (poor Eagles), she was fine. Our flight was suppose to leave at 5 but once we got on the runway the pilot told us that due to weather in Chicago, we'd be delayed for an hour and half!! Yeah so we weren't thrilled partially due to our layover which we thought we'd miss, but didn't b/c it was delayed also. Mia did pretty well on the way to Chicago and we sat next to a guy who didn't mind Mia pointing at him and wanting to grab his book. Mia slept on the way to Chicago but woke up after 30 mins b/c of an extremely, I mean extremely inconsolable baby. Everyone felt really badly for this little girl who was maybe 1 and whom no one could calm down..she was literally screaming the entire 1 1/2 hours! So Mia didn't sleep but 30 mins and wasn't too squirmy due to babies behind us whom she was playing with off and on. That was one time I was glad to be sitting by other babies! :)


Once Mia, Josh and I were in Chicago, we couldn't believe all the people in that airport..it was crazy due to the weather delays. Our flight was delayed an hour and 40 mins thankfully and we were able to grab something to eat and let Mia wallk around which she loved. Once on the runway though, we had to wait about 30 mins I think due to the line of planes taking off. We encountered turbulence this time around and I was holding on and praying b/c it was pretty rocky at times and all I saw were drinks swaying and stewardists trying to get their drink cart to the back of the plane. I was scared too b/c I was holding Mia who wasn't buckled in. We were fine though and luckily the turbulence didn't last long. We got lucky this time around b/c there was an empty seat in b/t us due to the guy sitting next to us who moved to an open seat. It was great having the space but still hard to get mia to sleep. She was pretty squirmy and fussy and didn't want to sleep. She'd lay her head down for a min then would just get antsy. Then she pooped her pants and the stinken plane was an older one and had no changing table in the bathroom like the other one in July did. Soooo we had to change her in the middle seat which caused her to SCREAM BLODDY MURDER! She also had a nasty rash on her butt which caused her to scream even louder...it was hard, veryyyyyyy hard, but we got her changed thankfully! I really don't know what we would have done if that guy didn't move who was supposed to sit next to us?!! After all that, Mia did end up sleeping on Josh for a bit and woke up fussy. She then fell back to sleep on me for maybe 2 hours thankfully. We ended up getting to our house 17 1/2 hours after leaving PA (usually it's a 13 hour door to door trip). It was a longggg day to say the least and we were all very exhausted, but it was well worth the quick trip home! :)

Overall, our trip wasn't as bad as it was in July...I really thought it was going to be just as bad. It was definitely hard traveling with a baby and I can't imagine what it will be like traveling with two! We hope we don't have to encounter traveling with two babies just b/c we hope and plan to be back near our families by maybe May of next year. I have to student teach from mid Jan to mid April so we can't move until after I finish. We just want to be closer to everyone though we realize we are leaving a great place with a lot of great friends. You just don't realize how hard it is to travel with kids until you have one of your own. Plus, we want Mia to grow up around our family and friends which we feel is really important. We really look forward to driving to see our friend and family instead of flying!

Mia is doing well today although she only slept about 8 hours this morning. She is napping now and will hopefully nap a long nap b/c she needs her sleep. :) Mia is happy to be home although she misses her family back home...so do her parents.:( TOo bad we won't be in again until Christmas. That's the sad part. I'm sure it will go by fast though! We look forward to seeing you all again in December. :)

Take care,

Cathy, Josh and Mia