Airplane/Airport Excitement

UPDATE:

Here are the pictures of the towels stuffed into the air vents as promised:


ORIGINAL POST:

We left for New Jersey yesterday morning and got to the airport in plenty of time. So much time in fact that my father-in-law would be proud and Ben made fun of me. Nothing exciting about the airport ventures in Atlanta, but we had no idea what was yet to come.

As we are waiting to board, the gate agent comes on the speaker and says "We'll be boarding in about 5-10 minutes because the air conditioning was leaking on the plane and several seats are wet. We'll be turning on the heat for 5-10 minutes to dry it out". Oh fantastic!!! A steaming hot airplane for 2 hours with Max sitting on my lap. I can't freakin' wait. Alexis, Mom, and Ben boarded the plane and Max and I waited until the whole plane was boarded just to avoid some unnecessary screaming. Max was ever so tired because of the lack of naps yesterday. Fast forward to us sitting on the runway waiting to be cleared for takeoff......I start feeling a little mist. Yup, just over our heads coming out of the airvents was a little sprinkle. The flight attendant brought us a very high tech solution - paper towels to stuff into the vent. Slowly but surely, all up and down the plane, paper towels began to line the vents. I took a picture, but I'll have to add it later because I don't know how to do it on Scott's computer. Shortly before takeoff, Max decided to be pissed off that he couldn't walk around so he held his breath and passed out. Perfect! A whole plane full of people got to witness me bizarre child. At least he slept through take off. Max was quite annoying through the whole flight squirming around and whining just about the whole time. But just in time for landing, he got pissed off enough again to pass out again. PLANE PASS OUT COUNT = 2

Once we got off the plane and got to baggage our three suitcases were there, but no car seats. Hmmm....must be in oversize baggage they say. So we trek over to oversize baggage only to find that it's locked. After waiting for someone to unlock it, we retrieve the carseats. Now we have two carseats, three suitcases, three carryons, a stroller, and two kids to carry back upstairs to the Air Train. Since we all don't fit in the elevator, my mom, Alexis, and me (with Max strapped to my chest) get in first. The doors open at the top, and the screams begin. Unaware at first what happened, I look down to see why Alexis is screaming bloody murder and her entire hand is smushed in between the elevator door and the frame. And IT WON'T COME OUT. I start freaking out thinking that we are going straight from Newark to the hospital because all of her fingers will be broken. The guy who worked there called the police because he thought if we pulled her hand too hard, her skin would rip off. All these people begin to gather around and start pushing on the doors. Finally, someone pushed the door in and someone pulled it out, and her fingers became dislodged. After many tears and convincing her to try to calm down enough to see if she could move her fingers, we realized that she was actually okay with nothing broken. Although, they did have to interview me for an incident report stating that we refused medical attention. We finally made it to the rental car place and got our car and drove away from the hellish airport.

I'm sure more trip adventures will occur before we leave so I'll save those for a later post!

Happy Days!!!!

My Nephew

I surprised my brother this weekend with a trip up to NJ for my nephew's bris. I was really hoping to be there since we need to relish every happy occasion there is. He is very cute! He got his name on Sunday, Dovid Yaakov. This was my dad's Hebrew name so hopefully he will embody everything my dad was. Hadassah was also quite hilarious over the course of the weekend. Here is just one example of the funny conversations we had.

Hadassah: I want ices.

Okay, come get one.

Hadassah: I want purple ices.

There isn't any more purple ices so let's pick a different color.

Hadassah: Okay, I want blue.

Great! Here's a blue.

(Hadassah messily eating her ices).

Hey, Das, how about you go put your purple bib on so we don't make a huge mess.

Hadassah: No, I can't because my purple bib doesn't match my blue ices.

She had me there! Needless to say, she ate her ices without her bib on. I wonder if she really had purple ices if she would have put it on or if it was just a good excuse. She wasn't used to having me to herself without Alexis and Max so she took full advantage and became my little shadow for a couple days. Super cute!!! When we left for the airport, my mom got in the backseat with her and Hadassah says, "No, grandma. Michelle is sitting next to me."
Here are a few extra pics just for fun!!! Personally, I love the one with milk dribbling out of his mouth!!!

Not My Child Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday!, but if you notice the logo this week, it is a little different. That's right! This week, join me as we say, "Not my child!" and share the horrendous, embarassing or regrettable things that there is no way our precious children were caught doing! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else's children have NOT been doing this week.


Little Maxwell did not gain two pounds since his 12 month check-up to now weigh over 19 pounds. What a little chunk...or not!


Alexis was not playing with a bubble blower and pretending it was a hair dryer only to get the bubble blower caught in her hair which got wrapped up around the little fan requiring her hair to be cut out of it. And she is certainly smart enough not to do it TWICE.

Max most definitely doesn't hold his breath and pass out every time he gets mad or gets hurt. So this week as he's trying to walk and explore more, he did NOT pass out when he smashed his sweet little face on the wallunit or close his fingers in a drawer. I wish I could say that he does NOT pass out at least once or twice a day, but that would actually really be a lie.

Alexis surely did not stay up well past her bedtime two nights in a row which totally did NOT make her a complete and utter disaster on Saturday requiring her to nap at 12:20pm.

Max does not scream "HI" at the top of his lungs in any store or restaurant because he thinks that anyone who passes by should absolutely say hello to him or acknowledge him in some way. The echo in Target is really good by the way!

Alexis completely did NOT throw the biggest fit ever when I got out of the car on Saturday at the airport to leave for the weekend for the first time ever! It was totally not embarrassing either. And I definitely didn't want to cry either.

Alexis did not fall down the basement stairs and get a rug burn under her nose that looks like a red snot glob. Who was supposed to be watching her anyway?

It is amusing to me that the kids "not me" lists are longer than mine!!!!

Max the Man

Max has severely been lacking in updates lately so I thought that I would devote a whole post just to Maxwell. Especially since Alexis gets so many funny comment posts, Max really needs some attention here. My baby is starting to walk and I just think it is the cutest thing ever. I really also like the fact that every time he falls he doesn't burst into tears like Alexis. Here are a couple of his very first steps:


Max is quite the character that is always making us laugh. One day, he found Riley's bed quite entertaining. So lovely all that dog hair that covered him afterwards, but, hey, at least he was on the ground and not attached to my hip for a little while.


I would really love to know what was so fun about playing in a dog bed because Alexis did the same exact thing at the same exact age:


Two scary things I've noted: 1) The striking resemblance between them both. 2) Alexis still wears that skirt.

There are so many more funny pictures of Max doing crazy things. I think I'll save those to entertain you tomorrow. It is so fun having two kids with great sense of humors. At least they think it's funny when we make them do silly stuff. Even Riley lets us do crazy things to her.


Please note the clip-on earrings and gorgeous necklace. If only my grandmother knew what we did with her jewelry now!!!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. Here goes my week....

I definitely did not hear my three year old daughter scream "DAMN" after she stubbed her toe and laugh hysterically (not in front of her....and her daddy got to scold her!).

I also didn't cry when my brother had his new baby boy on Saturday night (who is this sappy lady?).

And when someone called to say they were coming by to look at our house, I did not do a little happy dance and pray for them to buy it.

I did not let Alexis walk around outside in the driveway without shoes on during our garage sale and think to myself "it's okay, we're going to the pool later".

I did not stay up until after midnight making new hairbows for my online store because I couldn't sleep. And it is therapeutic!

Glad you could stay tuned for all the things that did NOT happen to me this week. Hope everyone has a super fabulous week.

I have a Nephew

I added a nephew to my collection of nieces today!!! My brother and Devorah had a boy this evening around 9:30ish (I think). And he was quite small considering how big sister, Hadassah was. I don't have a lot of details because clearly Scott was busier than sharing trivial stuff like height, weight, etc. with me on the phone. I'm sure I'll get more from my mom tomorrow. I'm very excited for Max though because he won't be the only boy anymore. He and his new cousin can play with boy stuff and throw their sisters' princesses and purses out the window. Although Max does have a special affinity for pink light up wands. Hopefully, I'll get a picture soon and can put one up here.

In other less important news, Alexis tried out a new vocabulary word tonight. We went to the pool and after we got back, she was running around naked because she didn't want a bath. In true typical Alexis fashion, whenever she is not listening, she usually ends up getting hurt. As she was running through the bathroom, she stubbed her toe against the door and yells, "DAMN!". Glad I was actually using the bathroom when this happened and Ben had to deal with it. She clearly has heard that somewhere before, but I just can't really imagine where.

We also had a very successful garage sale today at Mark and Stephanie's house. They have a prime location for garage sales and I think overall we made about $300. Most of our share was grandma's stuff though. So we only pocketed about $50. But it was $50 more than we had before.

Interesting Articles on Autism

Being a speech-pathologist and all (and a dork who is into research), I came across two amazingly similar articles in two days. I thought they were incredibly interesting especially since I see these kids so often at work and their parents are always looking for a cause or the answer to the "why" question. I also like research and how things can be analyzed (hmm...type A personality?). I used to think it would be neat to go back to school and get my doctorate just so I could do cool research on speech and language issues and development. Although now I do my own research daily with my own kids. Anyway......check out this article from Mom Logic and a similar article in Psychology Today from the May issue regarding research on causes of Autism. Basically the articles were talking about how the action-packed days a baby spends in utero influence her emotional and physical makeup for years to come. And how things you do as a mom (i.e., stress out, eating habits, etc.) can affect your baby while in the womb. Makes you want to be all "zen" all the time. The most interesting thing I also found was that 12 to 15 percent of Autism cases may occur because maternal autoantibodies—antibodies that a person makes against something in themselves—interfere with proteins in the fetal brain. So when they tell you not to eat high mercury content fish, there are all these things out there that can affect your baby and there is nothing you can do about it. Crazy!!!! All you can do it take the best care of yourself and your children and put it in the hands of fate.

AffordaBOW's Everchanging Inventory

Just a reminder that the inventory at AffordaBOW is constantly changing since each bow is handmade. I get new ideas all the time! And new inspiration from others who want specific color combos and designs to match a specific outfit. Check back to the site often so you can see the wide range of possibilities with your special little girl in mind!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. This is my first attempt at a "not me" Monday post. So here goes....

First, let me say that I am NOT up at 2am writing this post. Therefore, the date on this post is NOT going to be Tuesday instead of Monday.

I did NOT take the kids to see fireworks on July 3rd and keep them up until 10:30pm.

And I definitely did NOT forget my running shoes at home when we were going to spend the night at my mom's house because we were running the Peachtree the next morning.

So, as a result, after those fireworks that we didn't see, at 10:00pm, we did NOT have to drive back to our house to get those running shoes.

I surely did NOT drive Alexis to camp this morning and forget her camp bag at home only to be halfway to camp and have to turn back around to get it. This did NOT make us 10 minutes late to camp. And, I do NOT hate being late to anything.

I also did NOT sit around work today waiting for my 12:15 client to show up, and then did NOT realize at 12:10 that she called Friday to cancel.

AffordaBOW

Well, if you read my earlier post about making bows as a hobby, I have been persuaded by my adventurous husband and business savvy brother-in-law to morph into an online store. You can check it out at www.affordaBOW.com. The premise is awesome bows at better prices. Hair bows can get so expensive when you spend $7 on an adorable bow only to find that after wearing it one time, it is lost. Hair bows at our house are sort of like socks in the dryer. They just vanish into thin air. But if you only spent $1.50 on the bow, it wouldn't be so bad if you lose it and have to buy another one. In fact, as a new business woman, it would be awesome for me if people lost many bows and had to buy more. I'm really not a business woman though. Ben is really my partner, website designer, and marketing director. And Josh is my motivational man. We'll see what happens. Check out the website!!!!

THE MOVE

I should preface this post with the statement that I love my grandma. She's always been a fabulously loving grandma, and I would and have done anything for her just as she has for me, but I have to rant, therefore, my blog is the medium.

Moving is such a simple word, yet I hate its guts. Moving sucks. And we weren't even the ones moving!!! My grandma finally agreed to go to the Jewish Tower about six months ago. After turning down an apartment in January (damn!), she finally accepted the offer last month and the big move was yesterday. However, packing began a month ago. From a two bedroom rather spacious apartment to a one bedroom rather minuscule apartment (it's so small, I'm not even sure apartment is the right term). Clearly, things were going to have to be prioritized and the B, C, and D-listers needed to be left behind. It was sort of like telling a three year that she/he can't bring ALL their toys in the car, but just pick a few. Then you get the whining response from them, "But I want them!" Sort of the same response from an 80 year old woman when told she doesn't need five (no lie, no exaggeration) sets (yes, complete sets!) of dishes for a one-person household. I mean do you really need to have every mug you have ever set your lips to in your three cabinet mini kitchen. Not to mention all the hideous knick knacks that are going from four display cases into two. Oh, sure, just cram it in, but when the shelves fall, don't call me. (FYI, not all the knick knacks are fugly, so keep the nice ones and get rid of the fugly ones). Why exactly a mini kitchen table is needed in the literally four foot square kitchen when the large, nice dining room table is two feet away, I'll also never understand. Oh, and I can't forget about the two completely full racks of shoes (probably 30 pairs) that she still "needs" especially since I've only seen her wear two pairs of shoes in the last 3 years. But, you know, she still needed those white heels (ummm....wait.....she can't even walk well in flat, sneakers), "in case [she] needs white shoes when [she] gets dressed up". Dressed up??? Where, the hell are you going? The rockin' sock hop in the cafeteria???? She finally came to the realization that some of her things weren't fitting as we were hopping over boxes and hurdling furniture to get around last night, so of course, Ben had to drive back today to gather some of these up for the garage sale. It would have been too much to ask to have figured this out BEFORE we packed and unpacked and then repacked it again.

Well, before my rant gets too unbearably long, I should say that I do love my grandmother dearly and she truly cherishes all her belongings. I'm not an unsentimental person, but I'm also a realist. I am actually very sentimental and keep just about everything (old movie stubs, every card I've ever gotten, etc.), but when I have to move and downsize, I give my kids permission to get rid of them. The nice part is that she has told us all the stories to go along with many items and possessions so it's nice to know their history, but some things don't have a history or an attachment other than parting with something that you once owned. I was actually more compassionate with her, but since she doesn't own a computer, I figured this was a good place to release!