The Trip, Briefly

I just flew home from Chicago, and boy, are my arms tired!

No, really. Had to carry either Alex or our luggage all the way through two airports (including parking lots). The luggage weighed somewhat more than the baby, but did not squirm, so I'm thinking that was pretty much a draw. Also, Alex insisted on only Mommy holding him on the plane, so he fell asleep on my lap and cut off circulation to my left arm for about half an hour.

We had a nice trip, no major disasters, and only the small annoyances and embarrassments that are bound to happen when sharing living space with someone else whose habits differ significantly from one's own. And one emergency call to Penny's endocrinologist when we realized we'd completely forgotten her bedtime shot of 24-hour insulin.

Issues aside, the kids had a great time (snow! presents! dogs! more presents! junk food! still more presents!), Alex was a better traveler than I'd feared he would be, and I think I managed to rein in the stress and boredom eating enough to keep the weight gain to less than five pounds. (At least, I still fit in my jeans. I haven't had the nerve to actually do something as rash as step on the scale.) Alex had a nice birthday (and despite the fact that he wouldn't have noticed, almost everyone gave him separate birthday and Christmas gifts) and the rest of us had a fairly merry Christmas.

But boy is it good to be home...