oliver's first journey

oliver and i made it back to milwaukee last night, safe and sound, if not a little worse for the wear. while i will never travel alone with a 3 month old baby again (or, at least not on the return trip through a large airport when he has had it with the travel), overall he was such a little angel. the trip itself was fun.

we made it to the airport super early saturday morning. getting through security wasn't too bad (the airport is so small), though it was pretty funny how much stuff we had to shuttle through. oliver did fantastic on the plane ride, which was a major concern for me - he ate on the take off, smiled and giggled and took in the new sights through the flight (and flirted not a bit with our surrounding passengers - what a charmer!), and fell asleep as we were landing. as we had flown in on a little carrier jet, we de-planed on the tarmac in the sunny 70 degree weather. it was a little disconcerting getting off the plane into warmth - i had forgotten that weather could be so beautiful! oliver had never truly been exposed to actual weather, so was kind of taken aback by the sun and warm breeze. we managed to locate all of our luggage, bryan got our rental car (a prius), and we were off.

we picked up hannah, who was so excited to see her baby brother, and headed to ru-san's for a late sushi lunch. we've found sushi in milwaukee though nothing quite like ru-san's (and we haven't had the chance to explore much either), plus hannah loves going, so we knew we had to hit it up. we all chowed down while ollie looked on in wonder, made a brief stop at target for diapers and baby gifts (i wanted to buy ALL the little girl outfits for brent & jess's baby emma, due to arrive monday, but bryan made me pick just one) then drove out to stone mountain to settle into the house. we were fortunate enough to have use of the in law's house, which made baby wrangling away from home a little easier. hannah was craving steak for dinner, so that night we went to longhorn's, which was pretty much as bad as i thought it would be. hannah scarfed down her whole kid's size sirloin, though, and bryan didn't mind his giant porterhouse. that place just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, though. something about it just rubs me the wrong way. we stopped at bruster's on the way home so hannah and bryan could enjoy some dessert. bryan had some caramel apple thing, which was an actual baked apple wrapped in puff pastry with ice cream and caramel - sounded sooooooo good!

sunday, we were up bright and early, so headed to the farmer's market for some coffee/tea and light shopping. we had a short list of things we haven't been able to find in milwaukee (and to be fair, we have not had a chance to explore and find all the good shopping spots), and while we weren't able to get everything, it was good to be back. i miss that place! we moseyed on over to thomas and michelle's house for brunch with them and daniel and ronnie. it was great to see them all again! we hung out and caught up for a bit, and of course showed off the baby, and then were off again. we ended up heading back to the house to let oliver take a nice, long nap (and i got one in myself). we ventured out in the rain (it wasn't cold and it wasn't snow!) to meet pavan at caribou coffee. it was really nice to see him again.

that evening, we met up with adam and sara for dinner. our initial plans were to try depeaux, a newish cajun restaurant built in the old historic train depot in decatur (get it? depeaux?). ugh ugh ugh what a horrible experience. we arrived between 6:30 and 7pm, and were seated immediately, next to the hostess podium. there were 4 other occupied tables in the place, and 2 or 3 waiters on staff. we were there for about 20 minutes, and never even got water, much less our order taken. our waiter NEVER came by the table, and successfully never even made eye contact... even though he was not actually doing anything other than walking around. the hostess, while she did hassle the waiter to come to our table, never came by and offered to bring us drink or to apologize. truly the worst service i have ever received anywhere. our only guess was that they were hoping we'd walk out so they could close early. which was a shame, since the menu looked good (and based on reviews i've read today, is totally hit or miss). we ended up walking out. unfortunately for them, it was such an incredibly bad experience, none of us will ever be back, and we'll be sure to tell all our friends how horrid it was. i emailed their management, who has offered us a free meal, which is a nice show of faith (or a desperate attempt to get customers).

instead, we walked down the block to carpe diem and enjoyed a lovely dinner. hannah, who was in a french fry mood all weekend, ordered the Pommes Allumettes (french fries with garlic-parsley sour cream) and Calamari (Lightly breaded tender calamari with jalapeno tarter sauce, crushed red chili ponzu and asiago cheese). she managed to scarf down her entire plate of fries. bryan ordered the Bison Strip Steak (Wood grilled with balsamic glaze and blue cheese crust), which he said was outstanding. i had the moroccan spiced salmon, which was served on a bed of israeli couscous. the salmon was a little overdone, but it was still a tasty dish. sara very much enjoyed her croque monsieur, which is one of my favorites as well (a grilled cheese sandwich with mayo and cream sauce? no contest!). then it was home to bed.

monday, bryan was off to work, so hannah, oliver, and i were left to amuse ourselves. after a very lovely morning, wherein oliver complied with our desired schedule and hannah was a gigantic help in getting ollie ready, we jumped in the caddy to meet up with people from earthlink. driving my father in law's old cadillac is kind of like driving a boat. as hannah said, it really grows on ya (she became very fond of the car by the end of the day :), so we had fun rolling in that. cat brought her kids along, so hannah and madison got to catch up a bit. we walked around the building for awhile with chris to visit and show off the baby, then met up with bobby and headed to papi's for lunch. unfortunately, they were doing some painting, and were thusly closed. we crossed the street for a lovely southern lunch at mary mac's tea room instead. this is not high class dining, but it is fill your belly good. i surprised myself by ordering the collard greens with my meatloaf - apparently bryan has converted me with his new year's day greens. they weren't as good as bry's, but i didn't hate them. he is slowly ruining me. ;) we all went back to earthlink, and let the kids annoy everyone in the game room while cat and i chatted and cooed at the baby.

while we were at earthlink, we received the word that brent and jessica had had their baby girl, emma! so hannah and i zipped back to the house to pick up her things quick, then went to pick up bryan so we could all head to the hospital together. oh my, what a beautiful girl. and so tiny - barely 7 pounds! ollie was ~7 1/2 but i can barely remember him being so small. she weighed practically nothing! she looks so much like her mom AND dad; i could see both their facial expressions while watching her sleep. mom and dad were happy but tired, so after a quick visit we left them to rest.

we walked around the mall for a little bit to kill some time before dinner, then went in search of somewhere good sounding to eat. we chose one of the places at the mall, but it turned out to be on the other side of the mall, outside, so in lieu of walking all the way over there or paying $30 a piece for steaks at the one that was close by, we opted to jump in the car and head down the block to fuddrucker's instead, for an easy meal. oliver had a quick snack as well, and passed out pretty good. the constant travel and attention was beginning to wear on him, though he was a trooper and rarely showed any ill humour (except when alone in the car with us). we dropped hannah off, then headed right home, where we all promptly passed out.

tuesday morning started off splendidly, as we got everything together and got out the door without any hassles. oliver and i were taking bryan into work that morning so that we would end up with only one car at the end of the day. on our way, bryan realized he had forgotten his cell phone, so i gave him mine to use for the day. as we were getting caught in traffic, oliver decided he was going to die from starvation, and began to scream as such (that is the only explanation for such screaming). he could not be consoled by a nuk, finger, or anything. he worked himself into such a frenzy that he spit up ALL over himself. all this, and he had eaten a 5 oz bottle before we left the house (i am starting to wonder if it isn't ready to move on to rice cereal - there have been a few times now when he seems to eat enough to fill his belly but as soon as there is a little room he is starving again)!! as soon as we reached bryan's office, bryan ran inside to his meeting and i parked in the parking deck to feed the baby. he ate for a good 20 minutes and was in much better spirits. i went to start the car (which, on the prius is a push button - there is no ignition) and nothing happened. except a new blinking light to indicate that the key was not in the car. AWESOME. so i unloaded the boy and we went inside to locate bryan and the car key. i asked the security officer at the front desk to call his cell phone, as he doesn't have a desk AND they were all in a meeting somewhere. well, they can't dial non-local numbers so could not call my cell (if it had been HIS cell, we could have reached him - his desk number was forwarding there). eventually, we were able to find the room he was in and got the key. :)

ollie was once again the perfect baby, and slept all the way home and continued to sleep once we arrived, which allowed me to pack up the suitcases and load up the car. i got smiley happy baby fed, changed, and ready (i love smiley happy baby), then it was back in the car to find some lunch. in the car, he decided once again he was hungry or perhaps just not happy (i'm pretty sure he was TOTALLY over being strapped into his car seat every other hour), but eventually fell asleep. so i drove around a bit and let him enjoy that before stopping at alon's (they opened one across from perimeter mall) to grab a sandwich. oliver was awake but quiet, so rather than test my luck and eat there in the loud dining area, we just headed to the hospital to visit jessica and the new family and to catch up a bit. though, there wasn't much to catch up on with me: i'm pretty boring now and my entire life revolves around being a mom. :)

oliver was fussy, though quiet; he was over tired but fighting it; i'm pretty sure he was at the end of his rope with all the disquiet and disruption; too many unfamiliar surroundings and people. i gave up trying to get him to not be distracted and decided to drive him around for a bit instead. he fell asleep almost immediately, so when we arrived at bryan's office earlier than expected, i texted him to let him know i would NOT be disrupting the baby, and that we would wait in the car instead. we had a good half an hour, which gave me some time to eat my lunch (smoked peppered turkey sandwich, and salt and vinegar potato chips). then it was off to the airport, which i was nervous about.

bryan got us checked in, and we meandered over to the security checkpoint. jessica's dad had flown out that morning, and the wait time in the first class security line was an hour. i was NOT looking forward to waiting in the coach line with the baby. he was sleeping, but i knew that if we were in line for any length of time he would wake up and be HUNGRY. luckily, as i was standing there contemplating my impending doom, one of the security authorities whisked me off into a "special needs" line. what a lifesaver - i was in line less than 5 minutes total. i even managed to get myself, oliver, the car seat, stroller, diaper bag, and accoutrements (such as ollie's *3* blankets) through security without a hitch. the very nice woman behind me took the stroller off the x-ray conveyor for me so that i could get the baby settled. being pulled out of his quiet, dark stroller cave and into the very loud, bright security station woke him up without much finesse, so we immediately went to a bench to sit quietly and eat a bit before getting on the train.

he still wasn't all that thrilled with life, and i knew i had to get him out of his seat soon. luckily, we were the second stop on the train so we didn't have far to go. unfortunately, everyone at the train station were jerks, and although i was first in line to get on the train, about 10 people shoved their way in front of me to get on first, and when we got to terminal B, the ONLY other person getting off JUMPED in front of me (i hit his ankles with the stroller) to get off before us. i had a few choice words for him. we made it to B, though, and i found a quiet gate to sit and feed oliver at. unfortunately, as we were sitting there, a plane landed and the gate filled up with loud people from new jersey. we walked up and down the concourse a bit before commandeering a family restroom for a moment of quiet, then headed to our gate, which luckily was at the very end. we were there a good hour early, so were able to enjoy some quiet before having to board the plane.

a very nice passenger with 3 young boys of his own at home helped me onto the plane, pushing the stroller and breaking it down for me (i'm pretty sure i couldn't have managed it otherwise). one of the flight attendants immediately made herself ollie's helper, and was there with pillows and tucking his blanket around his feet and such. he was so over tired and cranky, i feared the worst. but he had a small snack, we found our cuddle spot, and once they turned out the lights and began taxiing down the runway, he was a goner. he slept the entire flight, and woke up as we were getting ready to land. i fed him as we landed and he was in a better mood. crisis adverted. :) the other young children on the plane were crying but not my ollie. everyone commented on what a beautiful boy he was, and what an angel he was during the flight. duh! :)

the same nice gentleman helped me off the plane. i could tell oliver's fuse was completely burnt out and that at any moment we would have a big meltdown. as soon as we got past security and he saw nana, though, he was all smiles. we managed to get ourselves and my luggage out to the car, where oliver started his meltdown for real. i pulled over just before the exit to the parking to feed him; he ate for about 2 minutes but was more interested in screaming. mom sat with him on the car ride and that comforted him. we managed to make it home without either of us crying so much we puked, and as soon as we were inside and he saw his familiar surroundings, he was all better. i got him all changed and ready for bed while he smiled and giggled at me, he ate a big bottle, burped, and was out like a light. that boy crashed HARD. he was down before 10 and i didn't hear a peep until he got up at nearly 3.

i unloaded the car and got myself ready for today as quickly as a could, took a shower to wash the travel off, and crashed pretty hard myself. the night wasn't too bad; ollie was up around 3, ate well and went back down, then was up at 5; he ate a bottle around 5:30 and was back down until 7, which allowed me to get ready for the day. tonight i plan on keeping with our normal routine as best i can, and probably joining him for his evening nap. i'm pretty exhausted from the whole trip, especially the return leg (i even had caffeinated tea this morning!).

we definitely learned a lot about traveling with a baby (such as, don't do it alone when he's cranky!!!). i am going to look very seriously into buying a travel bottle warmer, which will even be helpful with errands and such. i think that 3 days of total unfamiliarity is definitely oliver's limit at this point. he did SO well, though; i really couldn't have asked for better behavior. having hannah around helped as usual as well; she is such an amazing big sister. it was great getting to hang out with her, and to see everyone again as well. hopefully it won't be so long between visits next time.

pictures to be posted later in the week.

on that note, i think it is time for some more caffeine and some serious work.