A Plane, A Mom, and a 15-month Old....

You can only guess where this is going to go....

I have a work event the 28th-29th in Utah so Matthew and I decided to head to Utah a week early to see family and go shopping. This was my first time going on a plane alone with Matthew since he was about 3 months old. Here's a run down of how our experience was....

Jordan takes us to the airport and we are checked in for our 4:21 flight by 3:00. We look at the security line and "see" that it's short so we grab some lunch/dinner before we go through security. I get into the security line at 3:30 and you can't see the real line until you round the corner and it was huge. I thought uh oh, I wonder if we're going to make it.

I'm too cheap to buy a second seat for Matthew so I had to take my laptop bag and a huge carry on because Matthew's carseat was one of our checked "bags". I hooked both bags onto the back of Matthew's stroller and we went round and round security for 1/2 hour before finally getting through. To get through security I had to unload my laptop, portable DVD player, video camera, take both of our shoes off, fold up the stroller, put both bags through and carry Matthew through. Just that alone made me sweaty and Matthew was really good through the whole ordeal. Jordan was watching us the whole time (unbenownst to me) because he was worried I wasn't going to get through in time. I finally got out of security at 4:09-too close for comfort.

Our gate was only 3 gates down so that was nice. I don't think I realized how late we really were as there was no one left to board so we jumped on the plane. At the end of the walkway I had to get Matthew down, get both bags off the stroller, fold up the stroller and then carry Matthew and my two bags all the way down the plane. I know that helping me isn't anyone's job, but I was rather surprised that no one offered to help me as I ambled down the plane with everything (definitely not an easy task) while everyone was staring at me. I finally get to my seat and someone is sitting there. I ask the guy if he has 17C as that's my seat and he said no, he was just trying to get an aisle seat. He moved pretty quick because I don't think he really wanted to sit by MJ.

Ok, so I've stowed my bags, have things ready to entertain Matthew and I'm seriously hot and feel like throwing up. Matthew was pretty good during take-off and then the wrestling began. I am so glad that the middle seat was empty or he would have been screaming the whole time. He played there for awhile, peeked at everyone around him and gave them smiles, and then wanted to get down and screamed about 3 times because he wasn't happy about having to stay up in the seat. Let's just say that the pretzels were the perfect size for him and kept him entertained for awhile.

Once we landed I had to haul everything off again and once again not a soul asked if they could help me. Matthew was not happy the whole ride to my parents house and was so excited when he was finally out of the car and able to run around and be "free".

I leave on the 30th to fly back home and only can hope that the middle seat will be empty and that Matthew will be pretty tired since it is a 8pm flight. I really don't think I'll be flying much alone until he gets older. I was very stressed out trying to keep him entertained and not screaming his head off. After this week of being on my own with Matthew I am even more impressed by single moms and don't know how they do it day in and day out with no breaks and possibly minimal help.

I was contemplating flying to Russia this summer just me and Matthew alone to visit our friends Paul & Lindsey. That WILL NOT be happening. Jordan will be going even if it burns up the rest of his vacation. There is no way I can handle Matthew myself for that long of a flight. It's really our only shot at going so let's hope he's a bit better by the time he's 2. We might even buy him his own seat (actually we'll probably have to).

Movin' On Up

Last week, Karin took MJ to the doctor for some shots, and they ran him through the typical battery of baby tests to see how he stacks up. He continues to be somewhere in the middle weight-wise, despite the chubby cheeks, but he's falling a bit behind the pack on height. We're going to work on that one - stretching, Nutri-Grow... whatever it takes. Kidding, of course - I'm guessing that stuff tells you absolutely nothing. I'm highly, highly suspicious of statistics that are thrown at you with no context. I'm sure Matthew has just as much chance of being 6'3" as he does being 5'3", and either way, it doesn't matter really all that much.

Actually, we should be counting our blessings, because Matthew has now discovered climbing, and maybe his somewhat less-than-average height at the moment is the only thing keeping him from swinging from the ceiling fan. As it is now, he uses everything at his disposal to get onto the couch, in some cases to get at things on the other side but mostly just to run back-and-forth or sit down like the big people. I'm glad we have a happy, active kid, but he definitely is keeping us on our toes.

Starting Over....:( (sniff, sniff)

Ok, you know your ward is HUGE when it is constantly referred to as the largest ward in the world by the Stake Presidency and other leaders and we checked in at just over 1,000 people on Sunday (no not in attendance). We were so big our Relief Society met in the chapel and even that was getting full.

The 3 wards in Maricopa got split into 5 on Sunday (plus a Spanish branch). Our ward (Maricopa 6th) is teeny tiny in boundaries compared to everyone else. Why am I so sad?...(sniff, sniff) because ALL of my friends are in another ward. Not one single good friend of mine is in my new ward. It's just such a bummer to feel like the new person sitting all alone again after being here for 1.75 years.

Of course Jordan is optimistic because we did inherit a tiny part of the development next to ours that was going to a different ward-they'll know even less people than we do. It's just hard finding couples that we connect with. In the spirit of trying to stay positive, here are some good things about the split.

1. A new ward building-the old one's AC is kindof broken. I've been getting headaches every Sunday at church lately from the heat.
2. At least we can meet people and see them regularly. You'd meet a new person in our old ward and not see them for a month and not even realize it because there were so many people.
3. We MAY get a padded seat for sacrament without arriving 1/2 hr early.
4. Less noise from all the children. Sacrament was so noisy in our old ward.
5. Matthew's nursery size should be doable. We had 4 nurseries in our old ward and the 18 month nursery was 30 kids alone. Only 3 months to go-yipee! Yes, we are all looking forward to it. Matthew is going to love playing with the kids and we are going to love not having to fight with his wiggle wormness after Sacrament.
6. We move up an hour to 2-5 pm from 3-6 pm. Only 4 more months and then we'll get a better schedule-hopefully 9-12.
7. People who bugged us are not in our ward.

So that's all I can think of right now. Maybe Jordan can think of some additional positive ideas. On the downside there are plenty of positions to fill so that's a scary thought! Please send good vibes our way that we'll meet some cool couples soon.

p.s. I have a friend in Maricopa in another ward and I go to her book group and Bunco group. They are so cool and I wish I could be adopted into that ward. I really click with a lot of them and they are not snobs!

Oh The Funny Places I Sit my Seat

Lately we've been finding Matthew in all sorts of silly places. This kid is so quick he's somewhere so fast it's hard to keep track of him. You usually know when something is going on because he is way too quiet. Here are some funny locations we've found him in recently. He's a climbing fiend and has some amazing balance skills.

I took the car seat out of the car to put in my friends car since we were going somewhere together. Before I knew it Matthew was sitting in his seat (that was by the door) ready to head out. This car seat is not low to the ground and pretty high so I was surprised he was able to climb in. He makes me laugh.


One of Matthew's long standing fun things to do is push our rocking chair ottoman over. Well, Monday he climbed on top of it before I knew it and was sitting there enjoying his great view. He did need help getting down as he kept getting stuck-silly boy!














This is our new storage unit for Matthew's older toys. He loves to go into his room now and play with these toys. It was so quiet the other day so I checked on what he was doing and low and behold he was hanging out inside one of his storage buckets. I think he just likes climbing in and out of things lately.














Jordan found Matthew inside of this other toy basket that is located in our living room. Doesn't that hurt having hard plastic toys press into your flesh. Once we found a huge spider in that basket--ewwww!!!














Jordan knew I was going to write a blog about silly sitting locations so he let Matthew climb up onto the dishwasher while I was at work yesterday.














We keep this step in the laundry room and try to keep the laundry room door closed so Mr. M will stay off the step. He likes to climb up though and pull open the blinds and look out the window. Knock on wood he hasn't fallen off yet. I know he is sitting precariously close to the edge of that step and I would have freaked out, but I was at work and Jordan took this pic.














This shoe rack is also in our laundry room and I have never seen Matthew climb up on it. He usually just takes my shoes and walks around with them throughout the house or throws them in our flip flop basket (you must have sandals and flip flops if you live in AZ, let me know if you don't know the difference).














Once again something new I've never seen before. He decided to sit on top of the stereo in his room. I think we need to get him his own player that I can put on top of his TALL dresser.













P.S. It is a balmy 93 degrees today. It's so nice not to broil when you get inside your car and an added bonus is the AC works quicker too (I hate the blast of hot air you have to endure for at least 2 min. before the cold air kicks in-I swear I'm crisping my skin when that happens).

Me and Matthew are heading to Utah at the end of September as I have a work function up there so we're going to make it an week long outing. I asked my sister if I should bring long sleeved clothes for Matthew and she said yes, it's 63 degrees today and will be cooler by the end of September. I don't think we'll see 63 degrees down here for another 4-5 months. Good thing I just purchased some warm clothes for Matthew from Gymboree the other day when it was on sale. About a month ago I even found some closed toe shoes (on sale) for the winter. Now I just need to get Matthew some socks!