We Survived!

I'd even say we thrived! Thank you so much for praying us to Missouri and back. Curtis' drive through the night was uneventful and Jackson could not possibly have done any better on both of our airplane rides. Now I'm not itching to try it again soon, but he really did great. It was one of the greatest experiences of his life just getting to watch all the arriving and departing planes outside the airport window. Then he got a huge kick out of actually getting in the plane and, after take off, seeing all the trees, buildings, and cars below get smaller and smaller. Some of the things in my bag of tricks that really worked were the little toy airplanes, alphabet cookies, m&m's, the chocolate milk in his sippy cup, the brand new tractor book with little flaps, and the Cars stickers that changed colors when you looked at them from different angles.

I was concerned about getting home because I knew we would be in the car 2.5 hours before we ever got to the airport. Sure enough, by the time we got through security Jackson was really, really testing me. He wanted to run free but that was not about to happen. Also, I had found out on the way there that Houston (Galveston actually) was going to be hit with a Category I hurricane the next day. I guess you could say I was a little anxious. I looked at the departures/arrivals screen and saw that my flight was delayed and hour and I almost cried. Then I realized it was a flight going to a different Houston airport. Thank God! Ours was only delayed a few minutes. Once we got on the plane Jackson was fine. (Also, Hobby Airport is great. It has very good food choices like Pappas restaurants, Barry's Pizza, and Hunan. I've always thought it was a dirty and gross airport but it was the opposite.)

After the flight we headed straight to my parents house because I'm a big ole chicken baby and wasn't about to go through any type of hurricane alone in my house with Jackson. We went to sleep expecting the hurricane to hit in the morning but we woke up to find that it was only a tropical storm. It rained a lot but we didn't have much wind at all. We kept waiting for it to get worse but it didn't. In fact, the day the movers packed up our house in Irving seemed much worse in terms of wind, rain, and lightning. That was a miserable day, let me tell you.

Our time in Missouri was great. It went by way too fast and I was not ready to leave. It was our nephew Gavin's seventh birthday and we were lucky enough to get to celebrate with him at Chuck E. Cheese, a pool party at Cousin Erin's house, and at a family feast at Grandpa and Grandma Dixon's house (in which I learned to play the Wii and lost at dominoes). We also went to a big lunch in honor of Lindsay's in-laws' 40th wedding anniversary (Lindsay and Matt's moms have been BFF's for years). On Sunday we had an early dinner with my father-in-law's extended family in honor of his parents' 56th wedding anniversary. So as you can see, the weekend was full of celebrations. We made the obligatory stop at the Jelly Beans boutique and I bought a replacement blanket for one that Jackson had torn up. I haven't decided whether I will save it for the new baby or risk giving it to Jackson. (It is a brown Little Giraffe blanket and it has a matching pillow.) The highlight of the trip, for me, was when my sweet mother-in-law decided to make pancakes one morning. Honestly, I have never eaten anything more delicious in all my life. I'm pretty sure it's because she didn't hold back on the butter. We had a really sweet time visiting in the kitchen that morning, although I can't remember what we talked about. I just love Cozy and I'm thankful to have such a wonderful m-i-l. Also, Lindsay is the cutest thing ever with her baby bump. It was really fun to get to talk pregnancy talk with her. The next time I see her she will have that little baby boy in her arms!

As for me, I do have a little bump starting to poke out, not just the my-stomach-is-bloated-pooch that has been there for a while. The stuff I looked okay in last week did not look good at all when I got to Springfield. So I bought a maternity shirt from Target and wore it three times. (This shirt works for now but when I get bigger I will hate it because it will look too "sweet" as I explained to Curtis. The "sweetness" of a pregnant belly combined with the "sweetness" of some maternity clothes is too much for me.) I can still wear my regular pants but they look a bit wrong with regular shirts. I bent a weird way yesterday to grab a little car of Jackson's that had gone under the couch and it definitely did not feel good. So it already feels like I have a melon on my stomach but it just isn't sticking out much yet. I might as well already be huge by the way my back hurts. I've even found myself moving around all gimpy because of it. I can't explain it except by saying that my lower back feels loose, almost like when the chain falls off the gears on your bike. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow in which I will actually meet my new OB. I'm excited! Hopefully everything will be fine with Baby.

Alright, Jackson is in his bed for a nap now and I have to do some work. I have 50 emails to catch up on, mostly about the Siesta Fiesta. Speaking of Jackson's bed, I forgot to say that he slept in a regular bed for the first time while we were in Missouri! He was so sweet in it! He never tried to get up but I think that's partially because there were no toys to play with in that room. I think we will wait it out a little while longer here at our house, but it's nice to know he can do it when necessary. He's just growing up so much!