DAY ONE - Tuesday, February 3rd
G (my husband) and I woke up at 5:30 and did our last minute packing and getting ready. We woke Henry up around 6:30 to give him a bottle. We got out of the house around 7:15, which was only 15 minutes later than we had planned. In hindsight, we probably should have left much earlier.
We got to the airport around 7:45am. I ran in and got a luggage cart. G loaded it up with our two bags to check, our wheeled carry-on, and our cheap car seat. Henry was put into his stroller and we went into the airport. G then had to take the car to the parking lot and catch a shuttle back. This took WAY longer than usual. So Henry and I just had to hang out in the airport.
Once he finally came back, we checked our bags and went towards security. It was a fairly long line for the Omaha airport. We didn't get to our gate until just after 8:30. We got a gate check tag for our stroller bag. Then there was just enough time to get Henry's diaper changed and whatnot before we boarded at 8:50.
The flight to Las Vegas was about 3 hours long. Henry was content to sit in his seat and play/look at books for the first half.
Then he started to get cranky and we figured he was tired. G held him for a bit then he reached for me (in the aisle seat) so I held him. Out of nowhere...he starts vomiting all over me, himself, the seat, the aisle. Other than spit-up when he was a baby, he hasn't thrown up before. (His spit up as a baby was huge, insane amounts...not just tiny amounts...but it was formula so it was just different.) I stopped the flight attendant in the aisle. She brought me back a couple trash bags and a bunch of paper towels. Thankfully the vomit didn't get on anyone else around us (though it did get close!) I was so flustered and embarrassed.
I had brought an extra shirt for myself but not pants so I went to the bathroom to change my shirt and use water/paper towels to clean up my jeans. We couldn't find Henry's extra pants (found out later they had been moved into a checked bag by accident.) So Henry had a fresh shirt but had to stay in his vomit pants, just like me. The rest of the flight, Henry seemed okay and happy...so that was good. A little later on, I had a tap on my shoulder. It was an older gentleman in a cowboy hat. He said, "Your son is cute." It was really nice of him because I'm sure he could tell we were having a rough day. The guy next to him asked how old he was and I said 16 months. He said he has a 14 month old at home. It was just reassuring that at least a couple people on the flight felt sympathy for me rather than being annoyed.
Once we got off the plane in Vegas...I was so annoyed. The airport there is just awful and crowded and fully of gross looking people. We found a small area to eat. I gagged while trying to eat a burger from Burger King. There wasn't much Henry could eat so I got him some strawberries and a muffin. I also got him some sliced turkey but he wasn't interested. After a disgusting lunch, we went toward our gate and then let Henry run around a bit. G was on baby chasing duty.
Eventually, it was time to board for our flight to Santa Ana. Thankfully this flight was short...only about an hour long. Henry did well on this flight. Hooray!
We landed, changed Henry's diaper and went to the baggage claim. Our bags were already there. Woohoo! G went to get the rental car. I just rolled Henry around in his stroller. I also talked to my mom on the phone for a bit. It took a long time for G at the rental car place because they didn't have a car big enough for us even though we had reserved one *insert Seinfeld reference here.*
Once G finally got the car, he installed Henry's crappy seat. At home, we have a decent seat for him. But for the flight and rental car we have a $40 Cosco Scenera. Eventually he got the dang thing installed and came to get us. I decided to sit in back with Henry. He fell asleep really quickly. Kind of a shame our drive wasn't very long.
We stayed at the Desert Inn and Suites in a Parlor Suite on the 5th floor. I was so happy we decided to stay in a larger than average room. We got "moved in" and G picked up our Pack n Play from the front desk. We ordered it on
Amazon a few days earlier and had it shipped to the hotel. It was only $40 as opposed to $80 to rent a hotel crib.
Next, we walked to Denny's right next door. I had a salad and soup. Henry had macaroni and cheese, broccoli, and bananas. This was certainly not the last time Henry has mac and cheese on this trip! Ha! After eating, we went to our car and then made a trip to Target. The Target we went to was pretty crappy. I remember it being bad before, but for some reason it just seemed worse. Maybe because our Target back home isn't too bad. We bought a LOT of stuff. Food, shampoo, diapers, etc. Unfortunately, they didn't have everything I wanted so that sucked. We stopped quickly at a Neighborhood Walmart to see if they had Bibsters (disposable bibs) but they didn't. They did have some dude begging for money in the parking lot though so that's great. Once we were finally done we went back to the hotel to unload everything. (We also ordered Bibsters on amazon. They arrived on Thursday.) It was hard to find places to put everything and still keep it all out of Henry's reach. I wish there had been some higher shelves or something in our room.
After all of that stuff was finally taken care of, Henry got a bath. I also took a shower. I think G did too. We like to wash the 'airplane' off of us. Haha! Henry had a bottle and played a bit.
Then he finally went to sleep around 9pm. His Pack n Play was in the front room. The first time G put him down, he cried and cried. So he snuggled him some more and put him back down and he finally slept until morning. Then we went to bed around 10pm.
It was a very long day. I was happy it was over and that we were heading to
Disneyland the next day!
We, however, left our baby behind. He's 15 months and we just felt that it would be a more enjoyable trip without him because then we could do the rides together without someone sitting out with him! But I know he would have enjoyed it anyway! Luckily he stayed with his cousins and aunt/uncle and we were only gone for 3 days. I can't wait until he is a bit older and we go again with everyone this time!
