Hello from the East Coast

On Thursday 4/30, Kylie and I got up at 3:00am and got ready for our day of travel. We flew from Portland to Atlanta, GA and then on to Knoxville, TN. All in all, Kylie was an angel. She watched a video on my Iphone while eating breakfast and waiting to board the first and longest flight. She was great for take-off and landings. I laughed and told the lady sitting next to us that Mommy's driving was worse than turbulence.

She watched a new Elmo video on our portable DVD player but then she was through watching movies. So I was glad that I had packed a few brand new toys. I wrapped them so that Kylie could unwrap them on the plane. The best toys I got were a few neon bracelets; you know the glow-in-the-dark kind that you find at the circus. Kylie treated them like drumsticks, drumming on every surface she could reach. We read books and colored. We had lots of snacks. But she got fussy when there was about an 1.5 hours left on the trip. Each minute seemed like an eternity. She squirmed in the seat, squirmed in my arms, pushed and kicked and cried. But finally, after expelling that last bit of energy, she fell asleep in my arms. Unfortunately she only slept around 15 minutes before she woke back up.

The hardest part of the trip was the long walks down the Atlanta concourses and the fact that our Knoxville flight was delayed. I was dripping with sweat from hefting our carry-on luggage and Kylie. She would want to walk a few feet and then be carried. And back down and up and so forth. But she played like such a good girl at the gate. I was so afraid she would want to bolt away from me in the airports but she was content to play beside me, thank goodness! On the Knoxville flight, I kept Kylie entertained by playing umpteen versions of "this little piggy" on her bare feet. But by the time we landed and got our luggage, Kylie and I were toast.

Friday, Kylie got to play with my Mom and Dad all day. Kylie loved throwing sticks and rocks into the creek on Mom's property. Her Granna and Grandpa showered her with love and attention all day.


And on Saturday, we had a family birthday party for Kylie with presents and an awesome cake.

I wasn't able to take my wonderful Nikon camera (my other baby) with me on the trip so these pictures were taken with my little Sony point and shoot. And right when Kylie was ready to blow out her candles, I ran out of disk space. So we'll have to wait until I get copies of pictures from my folks to see Kylie eating her second birthday cake.

On Sunday, we went to Karen's parent's house (also in East TN). And Kylie got to spend some time with her cousins and grandparents. And here's the shocker. On Monday, Karen and I flew to Orlando, Florida WITHOUT OUR BABY! Karen's Mom is going to babysit for us for a few days. Karen had to come to Orlando for business and I came with her. We are going to enjoy a few vacation days together after her business is done.

I have to tell you I cried hard when I said goodnight (and good bye) to Kylie. And I've worried about how she's doing without us a WHOLE lot. Karen's sister Amy loves Kylie and went to visit her first thing Monday morning. She took this picture with her camera phone.

As you can see, Kylie is simply miserable without her Mommies.

So here I am in Florida. On Vacation. At a beautiful resort. With nothing to do but put on sunscreen and sit by the pool. I miss my baby girl so much but other than that, I'm in HEAVEN.