Last night, I wanted to watch the Carolina game. Patrick wanted to watch Curious George. So I told him he could have a turn and watch George, then I would have a turn and watch basketball. He said okay. We watched George. Then he turned to me and said, "Just one more, monkey? Okay?" And I said, "No, Patrick, now it's my turn." And he said, "Okay, Mommy, it's your turn to watch my show."

-----

I turned the basketball game on anyway, with the plan that Patrick would go to bed at halftime (~9pm, his supposed bedtime), which might have worked (probably not) had he not spontaneously started jumping up and down on the couch yelling "GO TAR HEELS!" Score one for Patrick, the little manipulator, who got to stay up until the game was over.

-----

This morning, when we got to daycare, Patrick's class was already playing outside, so I took him over to the door, and the teacher came over to supervise the handoff. Then I went over to sign him in and he came running across the room and yelled, "One more hug!" and gave me a big hug before he ran back outside. I melted. It was so adorably cute. 

Posted by Molly at 3:45 PM EST

Updated: Thu 02/16/2012 3:55 PM EST

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So. I sort of went all stealth mode there for a while. Let's catch up. Sort of last minute, Kevin and I decided to do our sibling fun weekend at Busch Gardens. We had missed baseball season, would have enjoyed a football game in Pittsburgh except it was so expensive, and weren't super excited about hockey season. Kevin had a tradition of going to Hallow-Scream (not with any of his family, ha) and wanted to go back. We found a weekend where the Kingsmill Resort had a room for two nights (only place Kevin will stay), got BOGO tickets to the park, and we were set.

Meanwhile, James and I had been TTC. This had been going on since April or May, with no success as yet. Some months we probably tried harder than others. This time, we didn't try overly hard. I had stopped temping because I thought I was probably getting too obsessive about it. HOWEVER. We happened to hit the timing pretty well BY ACCIDENT.

The day we were leaving for Busch Gardens was the day my period was due. Normally I would have peed on a stick, but James was out of town at a funeral and didn't want to miss all the fun. So I didn't. I did, however, pee on an ovulation test that I randomly had. I had read that it was the same hormone, but of course wasn't reliable. I was NOT ovulating, but in fact the control line was super faint. I found a posting in an online forum that someone had had this happen to her and been pregnant. Hmm.

I started googling things like 'riding roller coasters while 10 days pregnant.' You know, just in case. The consensus was: don't. The problem with this was that Kevin was NOT going to let me off the hook, and it would have been fair to him anyway to not go on any of the rides, and I was trying so hard not to let TTC impact my life. So: ignorance is bliss.

Busch Gardens was pretty awesome. I hadn't been in probably 10+ years. We drove up on Saturday, checked in to the hotel and headed to the park, mostly for the Hallow-Scream festivities ... and a couple of roller coasters. We went straight to the Loch Ness Monster, which is starting to feel a little dated (as it should) but is a classic.

The "scream" part of the evening was fun too, especially since they had scary clowns, and Kevin has a clown phobia. We REALLY enjoyed dinner at the smokehouse in New France. Also, it was cold. The next day, Sunday, the park was SO dead. We went straight on the Loch Ness without any wait at all. Then we went again. We were trying to get a classic photo to remember our trip by, but we were unsuccessful. The best photo was actually when we went on the lame log flume ride and Kevin was cowering in the back (trying not to get wet). Kevin also convinced me to ride Griffon (twice), which sort of made me feel like I did that time in Vegas on top of the Stratosphere when my life flashed before my eyes. We left not too long into the evening and went back to order room service.

I got back Monday afternoon, and still had neither started my period nor taken a pregnancy test. Although I was pretty sure it was going to be positive by that point, because I am nothing if not regular. For some reason or other, I STILL did not pee on a stick until Tuesday night.

Patrick sees no evil.

It was positive. Yay! ... But after last year, we weren't getting too excited just yet. Next up:

Looking good, but still too early to stop worrying.

Soon after, the baby was already mocking my worry.

Around the time we hit the second trimester (still having told very few people ... except Lark, who is also pregnant and due two days before me, and Sarah, who is also pregnant and due about a month after me), it was time for this:

I still owe him a "3" update, which perhaps I will get to before he turns 38 months old. His 3-year well-child visit isn't until Feb. 22 so maybe that's what counts. (Aside: what kind of primary care provider has a 5-week wait for established patients?)

Then it was Christmas. We did the big reveal at Christmas dinner (at our house) with my parents and Kevin and Chris, Jeff & Megan present. Mom and Chris were super excited. :)

We went up to Asheville to tour the Biltmore Estate after Christmas, but you weren't allowed to take pictures inside (lame) and my mom has the ones of Patrick in the pool on her camera and I haven't seen them. (Hint, hint, MOM, if you're reading this.)

I felt like this baby was a girl. The Chinese lunar calendar said so. I was super sick at night. I felt way worse than I ever did with Patrick during the first trimester. I normally don't trust my intuition because I'm an overanxious worrywart, and I'm usually wrong. But when we went to the ultrasound, I would have been SHOCKED to discover it was another boy.

And, I was right. And she is not shy. Also, when the tech started the ultrasound, James announced that he saw a giant penis. HA.

So pretty much, that brings us to date. I will attempt to write Patrick's 3 letter as well as obsess over my latest worry regarding the pregnancy. You can't wait. :)

Posted by Molly at 11:14 PM EST

Updated: Sat 02/11/2012 11:16 PM EST

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Dear Patrick,

Today, we spent two hours waiting for a train to come.

We started the day lazily enough. You wandered downstairs around 8. I was still in bed, though I was awake, trying not to be. You see, I had the day off, but your dad had to work. Normally, this would be cause for daycare to be closed, but it was actually open today -- something about the employees wanting three days off at July 4th, which I imagine was something of a hardship to any employees who happen to have school-age children, as all schools were closed -- but I digress. You wanted to watch The Princess and The Frog (you like the 'scary man'), a calculated move, since you know the movie is longer than a standard episode of Curious George, which is what you usually get to watch before daycare. You also knew, since Daddy was at work, that you would be expected to go to daycare. Full disclosure, I did consider sending you and having a day to wallow on the couch watching bad TV, but when the movie ended and you turned to me with your puppy dog eyes and said, "I don't want to go to daycare. I don't like Ms. Cici," I said you didn't have to go.

I still didn't have any plans for the day, but then your dad called and asked if we wanted to meet him for lunch, so we headed into Durham. There's a little Mexican restaurant we like in Brightleaf Square, which is right next to the railroad tracks (and also my favorite place for coffee, which I did consider). Whenever we get Mexican, you always order a quesadilla, and you order it yourself. You ate it all, and you said you really liked the salsa at this place. As we were leaving, we heard a train whistle. Your face lit up, and we ran to the railroad tracks ... and we waited. The train had stopped at the station, so we walked up to the corner and watched the train go by.

One might think you would be satisfied. One would be wrong. Immediately, you said, "I want to see another train." I should mention here that it was about 44 degrees and windy at this time, and I didn't have a coat, because I thought we'd just be running to the restaurant and back. (At least I had your coat, though.) I have been to this particular restaurant at this particular time before, and usually about three trains go by over the course of an hour or so. Since we'd only seen/heard the one, I thought, well surely another will be by soon. You can guess where this is going, right?

First I tried to convince you to sit at the coffee shop for a bit -- you can see the tracks from there. You said you wanted coffee, but quickly lost interest. So we walked over to the station and back. Then I called Uncle Kevin, and he came over to have coffee with us.

STILL NO TRAIN.

We went to a little woodworking store by the train station for a while, and distracted you with orange soda. We walked back around the station again. My coffee got cold. You asked if we could ride the train when it came. I said it wasn't like the train at the museum; this train went far, far away. You seemed fine with that idea. I started to lose hope. Kevin went home. I convinced you to go back to the car, only by agreeing to sit in the car and wait for the train in the parking lot. So that's what we did.

Finally, we saw a train.

This was good for about 2.5 seconds, until you decided you wanted to get on the train. When I said you couldn't, because it was going far away, you said, "But Mommy, I want to go far away."

Up until that point, it was a really good day.

You fell asleep on the way home, so I still consider it a success.

Anyway, Patrick, I just want to note that we spent two hours waiting for a train to come. And we had fun.

Love,
Mom

Posted by Molly at 10:48 PM EST

Updated: Sat 02/11/2012 10:20 PM EST

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It's been a while since I've done something like this...lucky you. ;)

1. Started my own blog – obviously the answer is yes … several times over
2. Slept under the stars – erm, no. I’ve been camping, though, does that count?
3. Played in a band – no, closest I got was recorder choir in elementary school
4. Visited Hawaii – no and not near the top of my list either
5. Watched a meteor shower – yes, although somewhat lazily
6. Given more than I can afford to charity – <small voice> no </small voice>
7. Been to Disneyland/world – yes to Disneyworld (…I worked there) but never Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain – not precisely, though I have been to the top of Pikes Peak and the top of Europe (Jungfrau) thanks to cable cars
9. Held a praying mantis – no and I hope never to be faced with this prospect
10. Sung a solo – no … I can’t sing … at all
11. Bungee jumped – no
12. Visited Paris – on my list … closer to the top
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea – well, yes, from the beach
14. Taught myself an art from scratch –.not well, hee
15. Adopted a child – no, and I don’t know how I’d feel about that, either
16. Had food poisoning – probably?
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty – yes, before 9/11
18. Grown my own vegetables – yes! we have successfully grown tomatoes, basil and parsley ... not so successful with the cucumbers or carrots but did produce some as well
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France – no
20. Slept on an overnight train – no, although I’m sure I’ve dozed on a non-overnight train ;)
21. Had a pillow fight – yes, most recently with Patrick
22. Hitchhiked – nope *shudders*
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill – well, I like to call them mental health days … very restorative
24. Built a snow fort – nah, we never get enough snow for that
25. Held a lamb – maybe? at a petting zoo? in my youth?
26. Gone skinny dipping – why yes, yes I have … but in the hot tub in the back yard
27. Run a marathon – no and I can’t see that ever happening
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice – no but I rode in a gondola at the Italian village at Epcot (hah)
29. Seen a total eclipse – no … just partials
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset – yes … many sunsets, fewer sunrises but both neat from a plane
31. Hit a home run – no … I never could get my timing right and I always swung too early
32. Been on a cruise – no and this is not on my list
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person – yes, from both countries :)
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors – well some of them anyway … Ireland, last year
35. Seen an Amish community – why yes, I have been to Intercourse, PA
36. Taught myself a new language – no
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied – yes, I suppose I have had enough but I worry about it so I haven’t actually been truly satisfied … I need to work on being grateful and appreciating what I have
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person – no
39. Gone rock climbing – well I did climb Split Rock at Grandfather Mountain…
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David – nope … I’m sadly unworldly
41. Sung karaoke – once, in a large enough group that I could mouth the words (see #10)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt – no but this is one I really want to do
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant – yes … when we were in the mountains over July 4^th weekend there was a guy eating (and drinking) alone across from us … he smiled at Patrick and we thought he looked lonely … I hope he didn’t feel offended; I even overthink random acts of kindness apparently
44. Visited Africa – once it was a (slim) possibility that I might have been sent there for work … I thought of every possible excuse not to go, although that is probably wrong of me
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight – oh yes, and I hope to do it again soon … like tomorrow
46. Been transported in an ambulance – no, although I did require an after midnight trip to the ER with Patrick curiously awake in the backseat
47. Had my portrait painted – not to my knowledge
48. Gone deep sea fishing – no, that’s James’s territory
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person – no

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris – no but another one I’d like to
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling – no, not interest
52. Kissed in the rain – I must have, right?
53. Played in the mud – sure
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre – I don’t think so
55. Been in a movie – no … some of my coworkers were (tried to be?) extras in Walk the Line when they were filming in Memphis but I didn’t even try
56. Visited the Great Wall of China – no
57. Started a business – no … I’d like to but I need investors … anyone?
58. Taken a martial arts class – never found the idea attractive really.
59. Visited Russia – no … I go back and forth on whether I’d like to
60. Served at a soup kitchen – no
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies – yes … and bought many more
62. Gone whale watching – er, no
63. Got flowers for no reason – sometimes James buys me flowers for no official reason but I assume it’s because I’m so fabulous
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma – no
65. Gone sky diving – no
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp – no
67. Bounced a check – no although I’ve overdrawn my account … once
68. Flown in a helicopter – no … might be fun
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy – well, my mom saved them … I just pulled out my old Lovey Bear for Patrick, who was unimpressed
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial – yes!
71. Eaten caviar – no!
72. Pieced a quilt – I am crafty in some ways; sewing/quilting is not one of these
73. Stood in Times Square – yes … it was busy
74. Toured the Everglades – no
75. Been fired from a job – yes and I’m still not over it … sorry I couldn’t get my nose a little browner, there, buddy
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London – no
77. Broken a bone – yes (tibia, Oct. 10, 1988 … clearly a memorable experience)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle – James made me go on the back of his once … I think we went about 20mph but it felt really fast
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person – no … on my list though
80. Published a book – self-published … which means no
81. Visited the Vatican – nope
82. Bought a brand new car –  no; I’ve only officially bought two cars and both were slightly used
83. Walked in Jerusalem – no
84. Had my picture in the newspaper – yes … when playing hooky from work one afternoon … and not the job I was fired from, either, ha
85. Read the entire Bible – no but I would like to
86. Visited the White House – yes
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating – mostly I dislike raw things … and I’ve never killed/hunted anything
88. Had chickenpox – yep … they have a shot for that now … Patrick hasn’t gotten it
89. Saved someone’s life – not that I’m aware of
90. Sat on a jury – no, I luckily was living out of state last time I got summoned
91. Met someone famous – I met Kurt Browning, that counts for me … and some ballplayers, which you may or may not count
92. Joined a book club – no
93. Lost a loved one – yes
94. Had a baby – yes … I’d like another, please
95. Seen the Alamo in person – yep
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake – no … been to Salt Lake City though
97. Been involved in a law suit – no
98. Owned a cell phone – yeah, I need a new one though
99. Been stung by a bee – yes, and although getting stung on the inner thigh by a wasp was worse, I find I am very fearful of bees

Posted by Molly at 4:54 PM EDT

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We went to the Museum of Life and Science on Saturday. Patrick has been there a few times. The first time we went was in June 2010. We rode the train with Mom & Aunt Chris -- Patrick's first train ride, and it was super hot, and Mom decided to buy a museum membership.

Patrick has been back a couples of times since then with Grandma and Grandpa. It seems like a pretty fun place for kids. I like the dinosaur trail.

"So, you're a herbivore, right?"

The grandparents took Patrick to the museum I guess around the end of June this year. They had tickets for the train -- sidebar: You have to buy tickets at the admissions desk when you first walk in and buy your museum tickets. You CANNOT buy tickets at the train. I guess once you've realized that it's no big deal but I think it's stupid. The train also is smallish, so it sells out rapidly. -- and were first in line for their scheduled departure. Patrick was all excited until he totally flipped out because the train was so loud. He refused to get on, much to the chagrin of Grandpa, who I got my cheap gene from and who was peeved to have wasted $9.

Nonetheless, James and I took Patrick to Tweetsie Railroad for the Fourth of July. We were a bit nervous given this bit of news about Patrick's reluctance to ride the train, but we figured there was enough other stuff to do that it would be okay even if he did not want to ride. Our fears were unfounded. He LOVED it. We rode it twice.

When we got home, my mom asked me how he'd done. I said he loved it. She said, "Patrick, will you ride the train at the museum with Grandma and Grandpa?" He said no. Back to Saturday. There were two trains with seats available. We asked Patrick if he wanted to ride. He said no. We asked if he was sure. He said no. We didn't buy tickets. As soon as we walked outside, Patrick said he wanted to see the train. My mom and I exchanged a glace. We asked him, again, if he wanted to ride. He said no, he just wanted to see it. True to his word, he did not want to ride it. He covered his ears. (It wasn't running at the time.) He said he wanted to watch it, but he had no interest in riding it. Then he said he wanted Grandma to take him to Tweetsie Railroad.

After the museum, we grabbed dinner at Parker & Otis in downtown Durham, which is right by the train station. You can see the tracks if you're sitting on the outside deck/eating area. Which we were not. We had just started eating when the train whistle blew. Patrick wanted to go outside and watch. Since he is spoiled rotten, Grandma took him out. As soon as they came back in, he wanted to go out again. We told him if he heard the whistle, we would take him back out. "I heard the whistle, Grandma," he said, immediately. When that didn't work, he moved on ... to Grandpa. Eventually he and Grandpa ended up outside while Mom and I were doing a bit of browsing around the store. "I hope he's okay," said my mom, "since I don't think there's going to be another train. And he's so excited." We were on our way out when we heard a whistle.

Patrick was indeed so excited. And he got to see a nice long freight train. And that is the perfect place to put in one of the pictures of Grandpa and Patrick watching the train but those pictures on not on my camera so just imagine that and think, "Aww."

[placeholder for image ... heh]

Posted by Molly at 12:06 AM EDT

Updated: Mon 09/05/2011 11:40 PM EDT

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Tonight, Patrick and I had the following conversation while I was putting him to bed:

P: Mommy, I want to go to the beacher on Saturday.
M: Yes, we're going to the beach in a few Saturdays, when the house is ready.
P: We'll play in the sand.
M: And the water.
P: No, it's yucky water and there's sharks in the water and they would bite me and hurt me.
M: Well, I don't think the sharks will get you. But we could dip our toes in.
P: No, Mommy. Not in the water. The sharks would hurt me.
M: Okay, Patrick. Well, there's a pool, too.
P: There's a big storm coming.
M: Yes, there's a big storm coming.
P: But not today.
M: No, not today. It's probably coming tomorrow.
P: [covers his ears]
M: It's okay, it's not storming now. If you wake up and it's storming, you can come get Mommy.
P: The storm will hit the beach house. Not Mommy. Not Patrick. Not Daddy. Not Grandpa. Not Grandma. Not Kevin.
M: Right. The big storm is at the beach.
P: Not today. Tomorrow.
M: Mm-hmm.
P: I want to to go to the beach on Saturday.

I realize this is probably not cute to anyone but me but I think it's adorable.

Posted by Molly at 12:06 AM EDT

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To add to to my list of first world problems. This one is actually a small thing in actuality but emotionally, it really sucks and it makes me quite angry.

My insurance is pretty good. It's one of the "golden handcuffs" of my job. Cost me $250 to have Patrick. (If I manage to have another child before July 2012, it will cost $750 and who knows after that, so I'm rapidly losing goodwill for this insurance but whatever.) $20 for a regular office copay. Maternity coverage is such that you pay a $20 copay for your first visit to confirm pregnancy, then everything else is covered at 100% until you get to the hospital. So, yay. Last November, you'll recall, I got a positive pregnancy test, went to Ireland, then scheduled an appointment for Dec. 14, when I'd be about nine weeks pregnant. I went, paid my copay, and then expected that would be it until sometime in July.

My next appointment was delayed due to snow, and eventually came about on Jan. 20. I did NOT pay a copay, as I was on the maternity rider. Except, of course, as I found out at that appointment, I wasn't pregnant anymore. So for my two follow-up appointments over the next two weeks, I had to pay my copay. Which I thought was in poor taste, really, as it was still pregnancy-related, certainly, but I wasn't going to quibble about it. Anyway, eventually that all got sorted out and I went on my merry way.

In July, instead of getting a baby, I got a bill from my doctor's office. It seems that they had decided to adjust my insurance claims. The claims, which had been paid under the maternity coverage, were now re-coded to regular office visits. What this meant was that I would be expected to pay a copay for the Jan. 20 appointment. I think that's a really shitty thing to do to someone who's had a miscarriage, but I don't know who decided to re-code it, and I guess they all have to make their money somehow. So, not THAT big a deal. Except, in their recoding, the doctor's office screwed up and was trying now to charge me for two entire appointments, despite the fact that they had ALREADY BEEN PAID by my insurance company.

I called them up and very politely explained that I had an explanation of benefits from my insurance company that said they could only charge me $20, so I'd appreciate it if they stopped sending me bills for $451.00. The nice lady said, "Oh, I see what's happened, I'll fix it." I then expected to receive a bill for $20 this month. So last week, when I was already quite a fragile flower over Aunt Flo's unwanted arrival, I was not amused to find a bill for $283.00.

It seemed that the nice lady had only fixed one of the appointments. I cried. I am upset that I am not pregnant again yet and money issues ALWAYS upset me, and I do not want to be dealing with this STILL. 

I was all set to call them this morning but I checked my account balance online and they have two outstanding $20 copays. So I'm not sure what the issue is with the billing folks. I guess everything's set but they're still trying to charge me a $20 copay for my very first appointment which I ALREADY PAID. I don't think I feel like pursuing it, but it's ANNOYING.

I'll try to stop bitching soon. I actually want to write a post on religion. Ha. if that isn't something to look forward to, I don't know what is.

Posted by Molly at 11:43 AM EDT

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Last week was not one of my best.

Monday - I went to the bank, to deposit, among other things, a check for $1.11. A "partial refund" from our beach week payment because, in the time between paying our first installmant and second installment (I guess?) the sales tax rate that the rental company is allowed to charge us went from 5.75% to 4.75%. They sent a nice letter explaining that they had known this was going to happen, but you see they couldn't DO anything about it, and so they had to accept our whole entire payment but now! Now we get a refund! "This will cost more in gas to get to the bank than it's worth," I grumbled to James. Then, in the parking lot of the bank, I had a fender-bender. The cop said it was a no-fault thing, and the other driver spoke no English and had no driver's license (but not to worry, Other Driver, that's okay if you're on private property!), but no doubt my insurance company will find a way to raise my rates. I wasn't going to even report it, there's not that much damage, and on a Jeep, it makes it look authentic (heh) but apparently the other (UNLICENSED) driver wants my insurance to pay for the damage to her car. I mean, I don't know, if you don't have a license so you follow the law and don't drive, then you wouldn't be involved in fender benders. JUST SAYING. Now I have to deal with insurance and I really don't want to be bothered.

Thursday - I got my period. We'd timed everything properly, during, say, the first week of August, and of course there was no particular reason this cycle should work, but there was no particular reason it shouldn't. I cried. Yet more announcements have been made on Facebook. People who have children that are more than a full year YOUNGER than Patrick have already HAD their second. I have two friends who are baking a third. I am TRYING not to be all "woe is me, pity party, boo hoo" but I had really HOPED to be pregnant by my original due date. Of course I hope everything goes smoothly for all my pregnant (and trying) friends, but you start to get these uncharitable jealous feelings. Why her and not me? Etc.

Undated - This is wholly my own doing, but I have Gained Weight. Not a significant amount, really. I had Lost Weight the first half of 2010. Last June, I was 10 pounds LESS than when I met James and about 25 pounds less than I weighed at our wedding. I was probably still 10 pounds over what I was when I was single and actually worked out regularly, but still. It was a Victory. I gained about five pounds over the winter; we went to Ireland and ate a lot, and I was briefly pregnant. In February, I vowed to lose those five pounds again, started doing Zumba, liked it, felt generally hopeful. HOWEVER. I have gained at least six pounds since then. I have been eating my feelings. Which are depressed, and cake and frosting and cookies and brownies all taste so good, when you're depressed. (Pity party!)

Undated, but dating probably to, say, April 2006 - My dad says the only thing worse than having to go to work is not having work to go to. He's right. 

At least there's Patrick. :)

Posted by Molly at 11:56 AM EDT

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We got a lot of blankets as gifts when I was pregnant with Patrick, and when he was born. Some crafty people we knew knitted/crocheted/sewed blankets, some other people bought some, and I found some that I liked and bought them. He doesn't have a shortage of blankets, in other words. When he was maybe a year old, I found one on the 75 percent off clearance shelf at Target. It was a Dwell Studio one, and it was super cute, blue on one side and brown on the other with little rockets appliqued on it. REALLY soft. It was probably MY favorite blanket, because it was $4 and did I mention SOFT. Patrick seemed to like it just fine, but blankets, to him, were sort of interchangeable. He never cared when I would throw one in the wash; he could just pick another one out of the linen closet.

But then, a few months ago, he started preferring a blankie (which he pronounces 'dinky' and it drives. me. nuts.), bringing it downstairs with him when he got up in the morning and asking for it when he went to bed. It was the rocket blanket and I was of course quite pleased that he liked my favorite blanket best too. (Heh.) We made sure to have the rocket ship blankie when we went out to the mountains over the 4th of July (not that it helped with bedtime), and I made sure to pack it it the suitcase a few weeks back when James and Patrick went up to New York to visit Patrick's cousins and assorted relatives.

They had a better weekend than me, but I'm not sure that's saying very much. They returned to North Carolina a day before me, and I got a call at the wedding dinner from a very harried James.

PATRICK'S BLANKET HAD BEEN LEFT BEHIND.

"I managed to calm him down," said James. "I told him you would bring it back when you got off the airplane. But don't worry, I'm sure he'll forget about it, and anyway he's sleeping now so the worst is over."

The next day, I got out of my car, happy to see my boys after my travel hell, and Patrick greeted me with: "MOMMY! Where's my blankie?"

Earlier this year, in a Zulily shopping spree, I had bought a couple of stroller blankets from the Life Is Good brand. I hope that I can use the girl one some day for a little girl, but if not, I figured it would be a good shower gift for somebody. And it was a good deal, and I can't resist a good deal, so I bought a gender neutral/leaning toward boy blanket too. Good thing, as I sidestepped Patrick's queries about his blankie by producing a new! blankie!

This ... sort of worked. Patrick liked his new blankie but he really wanted his other blankie. We told him it was on the airplane. "Way up in the sky?" he asked. He seemed to accept it. Bedtime was, well, no worse than usual. I checked Target for similar blankets; I thought maybe they would have the same one in a different style. No such luck. (BUT! I found some OTHER Dwell Studio blankets on the 75 percent clearance shelf so I picked them up. You know, for shower gifts. Someday. ...) I checked ebay. Success! Well, sort of. It turns out these things are popular (I guess?) because they are, by and large, EXPENSIVE. I found two listings for THE blankie. One was 16.99 (which I think was the original retail price). One was ... $77.98. WTF? For $77.98, it was going to be sorry, Patrick, but I figured I would try to get the 16.99 one. Someone had bid on it, but I guess they weren't too interested, because I got it for $17.49.

Everyone I mentioned this too was skeptical. He would know, they said.

"I never had a security blanket," said my brother, smugly.
"But what about [your stuffed elephants] Brownie and [back-ups/replacements] Pinky and Purplish?" I asked.
"I HATED Pinky and Purplish," spat my brother, who clearly was creative with names in his youth.  

I thought I might be able to get away with it. Since it had only been a favorite for a month or so, it hadn't had time to get worn out in any specific spots. It also washes well. The new blanket arrived on a Saturday morning. We opened it up.

"MY BLANKIE!" yelled Patrick, reaching for it.

(We told him the people on the airplane found it and mailed it to him.)

He hasn't let it out of his reach since. :)

Posted by Molly at 10:26 PM EDT

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Preface: I got there and back, safely, so Yay and all that. If this really is the worst travel weekend ever, I'll take it. But it still sucked.

I was headed to Des Moines. For Sarah's (and Harold's but you know) wedding. As I was waiting and waiting until the last minute to book my tickets to see if the price would drop (it did not), I asked Sarah repeatedly why she couldn't have a destination wedding, to some place someone would actually WANT to go. Ultimately I pricelined a trip and got it $100 cheaper than the going rate, on Delta through Atlanta on the way and Detroit on the way back. My layover in ATL was just 35 minutes, and I was a bit concerned about that, busiest airport and all, lots of terminals. My brother reassured me that I'd be fine, that the volume delays happened once you hit ATL, not before. He took me to the airport (since James had jetted off to Rochester earlier that morning -- a story for another day) and, since he has security clearance, we had lunch together and he delivered me to my gate. We boarded the plane on time, taxied away from the gate, and then the fun began.

We were sitting on the runway (or probably not the official runway, I don't know how these things work, the feeder? whatever) and at first nothing was amiss, even at RDU sometimes there are lines to leave, but then the minutes started creeping by. Eventually the pilot announced that there had been a medical issue, but it was resolved now, and we were back in line for takeoff. And we moved about five feet. Then the pilot announced that there was a thunderstorm just outside Atlanta, so the FAA had issued a groundstop. "We're going to take you back to a gate, but we're just going to park there until we get an update in 45 minutes. No one's getting off." Yaaay. I texted Kevin. He replied that flight tracker was showing we were halfway to Atlanta. No such luck. He checked my connecting flight and luckily it was also delayed. Still hope! The pilot came back on and said that there was still no update, and they were going to let people get off the plane if they wanted BUT STAY IN THE GATE AREA. Some people had already determined they were going to miss their connection, so they got off to rebook or whatever. About five minutes after they let people off the plane, when it was starting to get quite uncomfortably hot just sitting there, the pilot announced that the groundstop had been lifted and we were going to leave momentarily, so everyone had to get back on. We left Raleigh about an hour late.

We touched down in Atlanta about 4 pm -- 25 minutes after my flight to Des Moines was supposed to leave originally. Kevin was on hand to text me, however, and let me know that it was now delayed until 5 pm "so you should be fine." But ALAS. We had landed but were now sitting on the runway going nowhere AGAIN. After a while, the pilot announced: "Folks, I'm sorry for the delay but someone on a plane up ahead of us got up to use the bathroom when they weren't supposed to." Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Finally we started moving. About 4:20 we rolled up to our gate.

It was closed.

"As you may have noticed, there's lightning in the area," said our helpful pilot. "But the whole airport is experiencing this, so you may still be able to make your connections." My brother opined: "They never close the ramp for US when it storms."

Another 15 minutes elapsed. Finally the ramp opened and we de-planed. We were told to try to make our connecting flights. We had landed at B3. My connection to DSM, Kevin had informed me, was leaving from, I believe, C27. Of course this was a whole terminal away, AT THE OTHER END OF THE TERMINAL. I should mention, here, that I had worked in the morning, and I wanted to look decent when I arrived in DSM, so I was wearing a skirt and platform heels.

As I was racing past the giant TV screens of arrivals and departures, I noticed that my flight was boarding. Things appeared to be going my way -- I made the inter-terminal train, and a nice guy helped me get my bag up the giant escalator. As I got to the mid-point of Terminal C, however, I noticed that the departures board was now showing my flight CLOSED. I thought it was a bit odd that they hadn't, you know, paged me or something, since they knew I was at the airport, on their own stupid Delta flight from RDU. Nonetheless, I continued to my gate. I arrived at 4:54. The plane was still there. (Kevin told me later it didn't actually push back from the gate until 5:08.) I went to the next gate, where there was actually a gate agent.

"Did the flight to Des Moines already leave?" I, Captain Obvious, asked. Sweat trickled down my back.

"Yep, it's gone," said the surly gate agent. She did however take my boarding pass and look me up in the computer. Things did not improve. "You need to go to customer service," she said. "They had re-booked you through Minneapolis, but that flight left at 4:48."

DELTA IS STUPID.

Before making my way to customer service, I got my flip flops out of my bag. At least I was prepared. And I no longer cared about looking cute. At customer service, the supremely bored customer service agent explained that they hadn't held the plane for me (or the three other passengers that were trying to make the same connection) because they'd re-booked me (us) without having bothered to, I don't know, MENTION THAT FACT. The customer service agent made some calls. "I can get you on a flight to Memphis, connecting to Des Moines. But they're overbooked, so I don't know if you'll make it on, and there's weather in Memphis." Why, YES, that sounds like a good plan. Also, MEMPHIS IS STUPID. There was a direct flight to Des Moines leaving at 9. It would get me in only an hour later than the connection through Memphis. I asked if she could put me on it. She did.

I got dinner. I finished my book that was supposed to last me the whole trip, and that I had just started on the flight from RDU. The airport was FULL of people who were dealing with their own hellish travel delays. There was nowhere to sit. We'd had a gate assigned to our flight since about 6pm, back in Terminal B, but the previous flight leaving from that gate (to Tallahassee) was delayed. So around 8:30 they announced a gate change. To Terminal A. All of us who had been sitting there for HOURS raced to Terminal A since we were supposed to be boarding at this point. We got to the gate. And that's when they put up the "delayed" sign on the board at the gate.

Luckily (?) we were only delayed about a half-hour at that point and made it to Des Moines at 10:50 local time. I think Sarah should have just eloped. But the wedding (ceremony) was nice.

On the way back, I got up at 4:45am. I had just gone to bed at 1:45ish. My flight was supposed to leave at 6:28, and was on time when I checked in at 5:30. (Imagine my surprise that there was a LINE at security in DES MOINES at the CRACK OF DAWN.) When I got to my gate (one of eight in the whole airport), I noticed that the flight was still showing "on time" but suddenly "on time" was 7:10 am.

"Mechanical issues," announced the gate agent, rebooking me on United to Chicago at 8:05 and then American from Chicago to RDU. Mechanical issues, at least, get you a meal voucher ($6) and since they were booking me on a different airline, I got a voucher for future travel ($50)(that'll go far...). I went over to the United gate. I stopped for a mocha and a muffin, which made me like Delta a bit more. About 7:15 a gate agent arrived over there, and promptly switched the "delayed" sign on.

"Weather in Chicago," he said. "It'll be about an hour. You'll definitely miss your connection to RDU, and then the next flight out isn't until 10pm. You might want to go back to Delta and see if they can help you."

I trotted back over to Delta. The sign was now showing an "on-time" departure of 8:15. There was still a massive line. I called customer care. She booked me on the next flight to Detroit (my original connection) leaving at 10:05am, then a flight to RDU at 2. I still had to go up to the gate to get my boarding passes printed, since they don't have kiosks at DSM. At the gate, one agent said to the other, "Just put her back on the original flight, it's going to go soon." They did that. I went to buy James and Patrick some cow tipping t-shirts and settled in at the gate. Just in time for the next announcement: "Well, folks, they're telling us it's a minor mechanical issue, it'll take about 10 minutes to fix. ... But that's what they've been saying all morning. So we'll change the departure time to 9 and try for that." (Still showing "on-time.")

At 9, an automated announcement came over the loudspeaker. It informed us that our flight had been delayed. THANKS, DELTA. I went BACK up to the gate, and asked if I could get a seat on the 10:05, as people were arriving for that and it was all set to go. (I would never have thought to do this, but I heard the gate agent doing it for people.) She gave me the last seat on the 10:05 and assured me that I would be on whichever flight left first.

Which was the 10:05 flight, at 10:05. The 6:28 flight was still delayed, and I have no idea if/when they took off. The rest of my trip was uneventful. Haaaaa.

Posted by Molly at 5:00 PM EDT

Updated: Fri 08/05/2011 11:05 AM EDT

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