Spectacular S: The flight home.

On Monday SS woke up on her own, always a good sign. But when she jumped on P's arms he noted that she felt warm, I reached over and felt the same. Not such a good sign. SS was in a mood during breakfast and we thought it was just the trip catching up with her. After checking out of the hotel we went shopping. I scored four shorts for our next trip and at the same store, a first for me. SS demanded to be carried and I regretted listening to P and not bringing a stroller. When SS would not eat her curly fries or cole slaw we knew something was wrong. Our girl never turns down those two food items. When we left the restaurant we had less than thirty minutes to return the car and still had to stop at a pharmacy. When I got out of the car we erroneously thought we had less than 15 minutes to return the car. I heard P say "Screw it, she needs this." I am sure we could have found over the counter meds at O'Hare, but I did not want to risk it or have to walk all over the freaking airport. I grabbed the med, a syringe and off we went. P had the return time wrong, so we did not have to pay a penalty fee.

SS fell asleep on the flight from Chicago to Cincinnati, but it was only a 47 minute flight. She woke up as we were descending and was not a happy camper. At the gate for our connecting flight we were greeted with the news that they were working on the plane and we had at least a one hour delay. SS got to try Cincinnati chili courtesy of Delta (meal voucher). She ate very little and we suspected her throat was hurting.

The flight from Cincinnati to SFO was uneventful. I am surprised at what a non event take offs and landings are to SS. P still holds my hand and also during turbulence, but SS is unaffected. SS enjoyed Monsters Inc., played with her stickers and was very upset when her very tired Baba offended her by taking a nap. Poor guy was exhausted and SS kept pulling his arm and saying "WAKE UP BABA!!!!!!!" We discovered that SS's headphones are crappy, we need to invest in a better set for her next trip. With the engine noise we could hardly hear, no idea why SS had not complained. This was SS's 13th flight and it was the first time her ears hurt. We tried to get her to open and close her mouth or take a drink of her sippy but she was not cooperating.

Before we departed SF I changed SS into PJs and we hoped she would sleep. About an hour out of SF I hit a wall. I did all the driving the previous week (P drove once, from the reception to our hotel), but the drive home was the most important because P needed to go to work. What I did not take into account was that by the time we hit the road it was 4:00 a.m. in Chicago, the time when I usually succumb to sleep. I downed a huge cold coffee but it did not help. Safety comes first so I had no choice but pull over and let P drive.

At the time I thought I would rest for an hour then resume driving. I was so messed up there was no way I could drive. SS did a lot of whimpering during the drive probably because of her fever. About an hour from home SS began to cry while still asleep. She escalated pretty quickly and P exited the freeway. I held SS for a while but she did not look eager to return to her carseat. That is when we did something that I am not proud o. P told me to close the door and put my seatbelt on. Dude, what the heck? P seriously told me that there was no way SS was going back into her carseat, she was a mess, was running a fever and was in the middle of a well deserved meltdown. I had never made an exception to the carseat rule, not even with JJ and carseats were optional his first year of life. But P was right, SS had a death grip on me and it wasn't a good idea to force her back into the carseat to further traumatize her. P said that the worst that could happen would be getting a ticket. No Baby, the worst that could happen would be our daughter flying through the windshield to her death. I'm just saying. SS fell asleep but her death grip on me remained. When we got home I placed her in her crib and she remained asleep. P helped me bring the luggage in the house, changed into jeans and went to work. We made it home at 4:30 a.m. I have no idea how the guy managed that.

It wasn't until I started writing about the drive home that I remembered the meltdown that SS had last October when they picked up Abu at the airport. P was very overwhelmed, because I cannot imagine him calling me at the hospital with SS screaming bloody murder in the background unless he really needed me. It makes a lot more sense now why he would take such an uncharacteristic risk. We made it home in one piece and SS had her first fever with us midair. We can't tell you how high a fever because I am a moron. I picked up the med and the syringe but did not get a thermometer.

SS and I are nursing nasty colds, because it's what we do. She is finally feeling much better today, while I look like I had 20 blue margaritas in a two hour period. Now that is one unpleasant visual. :) We have not unpacked yet, can't gather the impetus.

Oh, did I mention that we are doing it again in three weeks? Oh yeah, but this time it's Maui baby!