Friday, January 8, 2010

Barrett's birthday and Christmas part 1

Barrett's first birthday was really low key. I know it's a big deal but it's also one he won't remember. With the hectic December schedule and having just done Becca's party the weekend before, we decided to do something small. We invited a couple of babies and their families over to play. Because kids schedules are never completely set, the party started a little later which worked out fine. One of the babies couldn't make it but his mom and 3-year-old brother came. Another baby and his 2-year-old brother came with their parents. The kids played a little, then we blew out candles and had cake. That was the exciting day of Barrett's party. Because we weren't doing a big party, I decided I could at least make a cool cake. It wasn't terribly hard, just a little time consuming. I was very proud of it though...so cute. It was a barn with chick, sheep and pig cupcakes. Barrett was so cute opening presents. He did get the hang of it but he preferred ripping the paper and then covering the present back up.

Tuesday morning the 22nd, we woke Becca up at 5:30 to get ready to go to AZ to visit Darren's parents aka Grandma and Grandpa as well as Darren's brother and family. We left the house at 6:00 a.m. to drive a little over an hour to the airport, park the car in long-term parking and get to our gate in time. Becca doesn't always like to eat first thing in the morning but figured we'd get something in the airport or at least on the plane. Well, we got to the gate in time to hear early boarding. So, we just decided to wait to eat until we got on the plane. Well, with all the cutbacks, not all flights offer food. We got something to drink but luckily I brought some fruit snacks and some cheerios so Becca and Barrett got something to eat. Okay, so we can still get something to eat at DFW if there's enough time. But, not if you have to go from terminal A to C. They were already boarding by the time we got there and Darren didn't figure we'd have time to grab something quick and I've got a 5-year-old complaining that she's hungry. Well, I found some puppy chow someone had given us so she ate that. Luckily, this flight offered food...for a cost but it was worth it. Becca wanted milk and we got some cheese, crackers, raisins and nuts. Barrett fell asleep and Darren was holding him. We had just gotten our food and I was putting everything on my tray because there wasn't enough room with Darren holding Barrett and I didn't want Becca to spill anything. You know how small those airline seats are and the trays are pretty much against your body. Well, I look over at Becca and she has thrown up all over her shirt. Great! How am I going to do this? We got the flight attendants to get us paper towels and a trash sack. I did my best to clean her up with that. Luckily again, I had a change of clothes. I had to transfer all this food and drink we'd already opened and poured onto Becca's tray so I could reach my bag and get her clothes, then transfer everything back to my tray so I could change her. When I had Becca stand up, she started freaking out because it was on her pants and all over her seat. Anyway, I got her all cleaned up with new clothes, the flight attendants gave us a blanket to put in her seat so she wouldn't sit on the wet seat and we were doing okay. It was a little like a comedy however with me moving the food and drinks several times to reach things to get her all settled. Well, I made sure she promised to let me know if she wasn't feeling well and I had the airline bag all ready just in case. I also know what you're thinking but it didn't smell, thank goodness. That would just be the icing on the cake in such a small space. We made the rest of the flight just fine. The crew got another seat to switch out after we got off the plane.

Luckily, Darren's mom had made sandwiches for us to eat on the way home. We flew into Phoenix but had to drive about an hour to their house. I was nervous all the way there because I just knew Becca was going to throw up in their car; I still had the airline bag ready and asked her several times how she was feeling. She never got sick again. I think it was lack of sleep, food, the excitment and the flight just worked against her. Next time, I bring PLENTY of snacks.

2 comments:

Valerie said...

Amy, that cake is ADORABLE!!!! I am way impressed!

Annie said...

I love that cake. Especially the cupcakes.