Family, Friends, and Barf

Posted by kara

Surprise! I’m blogging in a timely fashion. I usually take advantage of the two month grace period (that I made up) for blogging, but not this time! No sir. I have some good pics and I feel pretty proud to share them. I’m mainly proud because it is hard getting a non-blurry pic of kids, and if you get one where they are actually looking at the camera and smiling, it seems like quite an accomplishment (to me).

Okay, so I took the girls to Chicago. Toshi was a little nervous to fly since she had barfed on the last plane ride. But she had barfed at the very end of the plane ride, after a long hectic Christmas visit. So we thought it was just too much travel.

Well, perhaps I should have prepared more. We got on the plane and she was fine. Then about 20 mins into it, she said she didn’t feel well. I was holding a sleeping Marf and manage to also hold open her barf bag. She kept coughing but didn’t barf until an hour later. She slept some, barfed some, went to the bathroom, barfed some more. One mom felt so bad for me, she handed us 2 barf bags and a sheet of princess stickers. Gotta love the understanding passengers! Anyway, we made it. Toshi and Martha were as good as could be expected. Toshi even tried to smile at me a few times. She never complained or anything. She was such a little trooper!

We spent the night and the next day with my brother, Molly, Gus and Penelope. It was fun. I wasn’t much help to them, as it seemed that Penny did not take to me all that much. I managed to hold her once when she was sleeping.

Toshi and Gus had a grand old time. Sometimes Marf played with them, too. It was great that the kids really got along.

My parents drove us to Toledo. Toshi felt carsick but perked up after having a ring pop.

We hung out, went to the zoo, met up with some family friends for Japanese, hung out with Papa and Gigi, and took it easy. Toshi made a million gifts with Oba’s craft table. She also played pretend food with Great Grandma Toshi. Martha kept talking about elephants and we read Dumbo repeatedly.

I promise Toshi got love too… just don’t have the pics to prove it!

The zoo had a little play tunnel that had pretty cool lighting for taking pics! Too bad Paul wasn’t with us. We could have had a great Christmas photo. Just kidding?

Then we went back to Chicago on Mother’s Day. Molly and David did an excellent job hosting us… They really have it together for having an almost 2 month old baby. I tried to get good pics of the kids. I think I managed a few good ones. Others are just telling of how it is.

So the day we left Chicago, I held Penelope while Molly got ready for the day. AND I GOT HER TO STOP CRYING! I felt my confidence soar. Unfortunately, Martha got a little jealous and started throwing a fit that I wasn’t “all done” with holding the baby. She kept asking, “All done?” and it quickly turned into her crying face down on the hardwood floor.

Anyway, the ride home was fine-ish. I had butterflies in my stomach (nervous about if Toshi would get sick), so I can only imagine how Toshi felt. She felt a little sick in the car, and then she felt sick in the airport. She kept grabbing the barf bag, but did not barf. I think it gave her comfort. I gave her some saltine crackers and Dramamine. It was stressful because Marf wasn’t in her car seat stroller, so I was chasing the kids, trying to herd them toward our gate. (Toddler leash would have come in handy.) I’m amazed they weren’t knocked over by all the people they cut off. There was a lady who let me cut in line at Starbucks when she saw the two girls. Little gifts like that really help the stress level.

On the plane, Toshi felt sick, but did not barf. You better believe I paid for both girls to have Nick Jr. TV the whole ride. I think the TV kept her mind off her sickness. I was so glad to see Paul at baggage claim. It has never felt so good to be home!

I also got to talk to Jamus Saturday night. We were supposed to see each other in person, but our plan did not work how we thought it would! Anyway, we talked and it was good. I should have taken a screen shot for the blog. Nuts.

Tada! Impressive, right? [Blog made possible by Marf’s super long nap.]