Why I Will Never Choose to Fly on American Airlines

When my husband told me we were going to be flying to Ohio, I remember the excitement. When he said we were going to fly with American Airlines, I knew there would be trouble.

Owen booked our flight about 2 months prior. He knew he was going to have to go to Dallas for a business trip and scheduled our flight so that we could all fly together (at least up to Dallas). There are no direct flights from Orange County to Dayton, Ohio. So the best choice was American Airlines at 7:30 in the morning.

A week before our flight, American Airlines changed my husband's seat and put him in a center seat on a different flight. What?! He was livid.

After a long conversation with customer service from American Airlines, my husband managed to get the whole family on the flight in first class. So the flight to Dallas went great.

From Dallas, we were to get on a smaller plane to fly to Dayton. We got into the plane on time, but just as we were about to take off, an announcement was made saying there was something wrong with one of the plane's lights. No other explanation but that. To make the story short, we ended up waiting a good 2 and half hours inside the plane with Oli on my lap the whole time. Of course we didn't get the privilege of a first class seat so it was quite cramped and miserable.

Yes, it WAS miserable with a cranky toddler who just can't understand why he has to sit still for over 4 hours.

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Mommy's Got the Bug

Oh my goodness! I could only imagine how my little baby felt. How Owen felt. This is the most horrible flu I think I've had. I can't even begin to explain it at all. The discomfort, the achy feeling, the uneasy stomach, augh! It's horrible!

Sorry, can't write much except that this is absolutely terrible.

I had thought that maybe it was Weetabix or even the biscuits that Owen's mom sent us from England as they were the only 2 that Owen and Oli had eaten that I didn't really eat. Then now I've got them!

Today was absolute misery. Right now, I feel as though I'm a little bit better, but I have the worst headache ever and I feel like I can't sit straight at all because looking at this screen is making me feel like I'm about to throw up on it.

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Daddy's Got the Bug

I think I just saw my life in forward mode. Owen came home early as he said he was feeling a bit ill. As soon as he came into the house, he said "hello," took off his clothes, and jumped straight into bed.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, my stomach is not feeling too good right now. I think I'm really sick."

He went right to sleep and after about an hour, I heard some horrible noise coming from our bathroom. I thought he had been exaggerating his vomit noise a bit or even trying to be funny, but I thought I'd just check anyway.

I held Oli in my arms and walked over to see what was happening.

Owen was lying in the corner of the bathroom with his eyes rolled all the way back so that I could only see the white part of his eyeballs and vomit all over his mouth.

"Babe!" I yelled.

No response.

"Babe!" I started to freak out.

A small mumble, but not much of a reply.

"I'm calling the ambulance!" I ran into the living room and strapped Oli into his high chair so that he wouldn't try to follow me. Then I ran into the front room to grab the phone and ran back to Owen.

"Babe!" I cried again and this time he slowly responded, "what? what's happening?"

"Babe, are you ok? Please let me know what you're feeling. Do I need to call the ambulance? We need to go to the doctor."

"What? Why are you yelling? What's happening?"

"You're really sick. You fell over. Come on let's get up."

I felt as though I had just seen Owen as a senior citizen, unable to move with vomit all over him. Oh my gosh! What would I do if something happened to him? He is so much of my life. I can't be without him. I just felt like my life flashed before my eyes! I love this man to death! I cannot even imagine losing him and that sight just scared me to death! Oh my gosh! I feel freaked out just writing this!

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Toddler Has the Stomach Flu

Oli's stomach flu seems to have gotten a lot better. Well, he's got some runny diarrhea, but I think it's part of the process. At least that's what nurse Lydia said yesterday. He seems to be much better as he had been playing, running around, and eating a bit. Yes, he seemed so hungry. He ate a small bowl of rice and an egg. Owen insists that I shouldn't really feed him anything but I just feel like he's starving. He keeps pointing to the cabinet where his snacks are and I just can't be giving him junk. So egg and rice I think are quite good.

It's just such a horrible thing when your baby is sick.

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A Vomiting Toddler

It's really sad when your baby is sick. I feel like my mind runs a thousand miles an hour. How did he get sick? I just replay the events of the day over and over and can't understand.

Oli woke up from his nap, crying. I usually just let him cry for a while after his nap to let him wind down. After about 5 minutes, I went into the room to peek inside. His crib was filled with vomit! Oh! It was so sad! He had it all over his hands, his arms, his face, and it looked like everything he ate for the last 2 days! It was so awful! My poor baby. I just hate when he's sick.

I quickly gave him a bath, hoping it would freshen him up. Nope. After his bath he threw up all over again. Cleaned him up again and after another 10 minutes he threw up again! So I just held him for about half an hour and stroked his head. Hopefully he'll fall asleep, I thought.

Nope! He threw up all over our bed. So I got rid of the pillow and the blanket he'd thrown up on. Then after calming down some more, he threw up again.

I was definitely not going to just let this pass. I knew people get judgmental and probably say I freak out way too easily but I don't care. When it comes to him, I will do whatever it takes to make him feel better.

I packed him up and quickly took off in my car and on the way to the doctor.

Nurse Lydia saw him at the Seaview Pediatrics in Aliso Viejo. She said to keep an eye on his fluids and check to see if he has tears when he cries, pees in between 6 to 8 hours, and can take down even small amounts of water. If he hasn't had any water in 48 hours then he would have to have an IV.

Last week, I purchased 2 gallons of water from Ralphs (also the Ralphs spring water brand) and today I noticed it say that the expiration date was August 9th. Oh my gosh! What if this water is what's making him sick? I can't think of what else it could really be. When he woke up, he was fine and had some milk, which is Earth's best formula mixed with water and milk. No, the milk wasn't expired. Then at about 9:30 am he had some weetabix with a banana and milk. He also had a biscuit in between. So what could it possibly be?

At home, he is laying perfectly still in bed. He's never been that way. He's never just laid in bed without fussing. If he's not fussing it's usually because he's asleep. My poor sweet baby.

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A Funeral, A Reunion, and Time with Mom and Dad

Today felt like it was two days in one. I can't believe the amount of events that took place today. After a long drive, well, actually it was for Owen, because I slept most of the way, we arrived at my parents' house at 2 am from Beverly Hills. I was sooooo drunk that I felt like I was seeing everything crossed eyed. Yes, I'm a bit of a light weight given that rarely ever drink, because I'm so tired most of the time. Alcohol, I know would just really make me crazy. The worst part about drinking more than your body can handle is that you can't sleep no matter how tired you are. You just toss and turn because you're so uncomfortable.

When we got to my parents' house, my mom said she was leaving to go to a funeral really early. My grandma's cousin (Aunty Esther) just died. At 6:00 am Oli wakes Owen and I up and starts screaming. I think the unfamiliar room just scared him. So I get up and fix a bottle of milk for him. He finally calms down after laying down in between Owen and I with his bottle. After a few minutes, I go upstairs to wake up my mom and ask her if she could take Oli with her to the funeral.

"No," my mom says, "you should come with us."

"No, I don't want to go to a funeral," I reply but then realize that I didn't want to stay locked up in the house all day either. Owen was going to watch his motocross race and I wasn't going to have access to a car. So I said, "fine."

Long story short, it was hot and a miserable day at the funeral. I did, however, see a lot of people I had not seen in such a long time. Relatives that I thought didn't like us too much, because of my crazy cousin Mary Jane and all her crazy antics (I could go into that later). Anyway, it turned out quite nice because everyone was happy to see each other. There were no weird vibes or tensions. Everyone laughed and just expressed their happiness towards each other. It was actually all quite sweet.

Owen came back from the races (back to my parents' house) and endured the couple of hours with my dad that he had to spend alone with him. Him and my dad had never actually spent alone time together.  Since they both had to wait for us to get home and had no choice, they just sat and had some pizza and beers. It was quite nice.

When my mom and I got to my parents' house, both Owen and my dad were just watching TV, having beers, and pizza. Then we all just sat around, chatted, and spent some quality time together. This was such a nice time. It is so rare for my parents to just sit and chat and spend time with us. It was a really nice feeling.

What was Oli doing?

Then my mom gave Oli and quick rinse and then took a nap with him:

Meanwhile, Owen and I snuck away and took a nap in the downstairs bedroom.  My dad was really sweet too as he went in the bedroom and plugged in the fan for us so we could be a bit cooler while we slept.

After a really refreshing nap, I went upstairs to see what everyone was doing and saw this:

Priceless!

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An Evening at the Beverly Hills Hotel

Owen and I went to visit his former colleague, Carol, from England. We met her and her boyfriend and her parents at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where we also spent about 4 hours drinking, having dinner, and just having a great time.

Carol, spends a lot of time around the Beverly Hills area and also the beach cities around Los Angeles. She really loves the sun and wanted to share it with her parents, who are now in their 80s. So she decided to take them on a vacation for about 2 weeks.

Frank, Carol's dad said, "of the 80 odd years I've lived, this vacation tops any other I've ever had in my life." Her parents were wonderful. They are so lively, especially for their age and just absolutely lovely people. They are so appreciative of everything, they love to laugh, and of course have a good time. It felt as though you were out partying with some younger folks

Carol appears to have such an awesome relationship with her parents. They seemed to be extremely close and it makes you really understand where her all around beauty comes from.With that, she has also taken them to the vacation of a lifetime. A week in a beautiful beach front home in Malibu then a week at the Beverly Hills Hotel. This is a true example of a child's appreciation and love of her parents.

The hotel itself was really beautiful. The staff was so amazing. I have stayed in quite a lot of hotels in the past and the Beverly Hills Hotel just has the top of the line customer service and staff. Richard, Carol's boyfriend said he had been going to this hotel frequently for many years and what he loves about it most is that the turnover is staff is very low. He says it almost feels like a family environment because the staff is top of the line and most of them have been there for many years. I felt it as soon as we had our car picked up by the valet. Incredible. For dinner, I had 3 glasses of The Screaming Eagle wine and a beautiful plate of the plumpest pork chop I'd ever seen. It was beautiful!  The whole evening was so great. Great company, great food, great environment. It was a perfect night with friends.

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My Struggle with Weight

When I was younger, I was quite skinny. My mom, on the other hand, seemed to always be just a little heavy. I always heard people say, "daughters always end up looking like their moms when they get older." I used to always think "nope, that's not gonna happen to me." Here I am! On my way there! At 131 lbs 5'1" I KNOW I need to stop feeding the pooch that's just hangin out!

For the past 4 years, I've struggled with my weight. Well, I struggle, because I absolutely love rice. I can eat it with just about anything. In fact, sometimes when I have nothing else to eat, I'll cook up some ramen noodles, crack an egg in it, and add some rice. If I want any meat, I'll even throw in some vienna sausages. Oh gosh! I know it sounds really gross to some people, but I absolutely love it and when Oli's gone down for a nap, I'll eat this with an episode of "Friends."

Anyway, living in Laguna Beach is so challenging, especially when I can't take Oli to the park without feeling a bit insecure with the skinny and well-groomed moms all around me. This is when you can truly say that yes, where you live can really affect you.

When I used to date this model (believe it or not, he was actually into me lol), he told me he used to do a lot of modeling in France and Milan. Whilst he was there, he traveled a bit with this couple who were also models. He said they were always extremely fit and they had unbelievable bodies. Now, for him to say something like that was something I felt I had to listen to because he had an unbelievable body. So when he's actually acknowledging someone else, it makes you just want to listen.

He said he asked this couple what exercises they did and they said all they did was some yoga from this book by Richard Hittleman. It's called the 28 Day Exercise Plan. Anyway, he said he'd found a copy at a local bookstore in France and actually gave it to me. Well, you can also find it on Amazon for only about $3 or so. So I've had this book since then (about 6 years now) and I've always tried to start it, get to the 2nd or 3rd day and then stop. When I first started doing it, I just followed the pictures and didn't read it. At the time, I thought it was quite stupid, but never really understood how intense it was because I didn't read. So I guess that made ME the stupid one.

The exercise plan requires you to be committed for 28 days. After that period you will supposedly have done every yoga pose there is. The book eases you into every posture so that you don't hurt yourself, while at the same time, gaining the full benefit of each pose.

After actually reading and doing the postures correctly, I found myself taking anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to complete each session. So I always have to keep starting over because I sometimes miss it for a few days.This time, I thought that if I actually post it on my blog, it might motivate me to keep moving forward. I just completed my 3rd day and the entire process took about 50 minutes. I also had a zone bar as my first meal, one weetabix and banana for my second meal. I'm really hoping that by at least the 15th day, I can start to feel some progress. Feels like nothing right now, except that I don't feel quite as sore as I did a couple of days ago.

Worked out really well as I took Oli to the park this morning, gave him breakfast, a bath, a little playtime, a full bottle, and then a nap.

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Toddlers Love to Hide Things

Apparently, Oli isn't alone. Some of my mommy blogger friends have admitted that their toddlers love hiding things as well. Oli's really good at it too. A few months ago, Owen and I found a stash of sandals, books, and other small things behind one of our book shelves.

We have this box of fire logs that we can't seem to get rid of because we're afraid Oli would freak out. He's always putting toys and things in it. Oh, and he absolutely loves to sit or stand on it as well.

Anyway, today Owen was frantically looking for his orange watch while being about 5 minutes later than he normally leaves for work.

"I'll look for it later," Owen says as he kisses me good-bye.

While I was doing my daily yoga from Richard Hittleman's Yoga 28 Day Exercise Plan, Oli stands in front of me, holding Owen's watch and says, "heeeeee!!!"

"Oooh! That's daddy's! Can I please have it?" I ask in mid simple twist routine.

He takes off and I see him hide it behind his bench tool shop:

Here it is close up if you can't see it:

"Little Bugger!" was what Owen said when I told him.

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An Evening with Some Friends

It's always nice to meet with our friends, Rick and Alicia. Alicia just had her brand new little baby, Sydney, who's only 3 weeks old.

Here I am holding her:

Of course, it's also great that Oli and Skylar get to play and have fun together. Here is a great moment of them watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Like it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen!

Skylar gets bored, leaves, and Oli continues to watch:

Then of course, you can't go through the evening without someone screaming. We all turn around to see what's going on and it's Oli getting really pissed that he can't turn the stroller, while Sky is sitting on it!

I wonder how friendly they will be with each other later on...

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