Right now I'm absolutely exhausted and am having a hard time thinking straight and keeping my eyes open. So, if there are spelling errors or ramblings in this entry, you know why.

Here's what been going on with me since my last entry...

Tuesday, November 20:

We packed, got ready, and headed to the airport. We got there at 10:30am and our flight was supposed to be at 1:30pm. What with this being Thanksgiving and all, we thought it best to get to the airport early. That really wasn't needed. Check in was a breeze and so was security. Our flight had a two hour delay and the only thing saving our sanity was the fact that there was a small kids playroom across from our gate. That helped a lot. Eventually we boarded the plane and headed to New York. The flight went well and was pretty uneventful.

We had a car pick us up at the airport so that Rob's Dad wouldn't have to make the trip. He was out of the hospital and a lot better. Apparently the problems stemmed from a rather bad virus and dehydration. Our luggage arrived, but it took a long time to get it. We were somewhat worried about the car ride to the hotel because our driver couldn't figure out how to put the parking ticket into the slot, barely spoke English, and the gas light was on and the gauge was at empty. Luckily, we did manage to get to the hotel without any incident and without running out of gas.

We got into the hotel around 8pm and just crashed. We ordered in food from a local restaurant that delivers to the hotel, watched House and some other TV, and spent the night in the hotel room. Thank god we got a suite, it would have been very difficult in a regular room with Gabriel running all over the place. Because Gabriel slept the entire flight on the plane, he didn't want to go to sleep that night. He didn't fall asleep until 2am and we didn't fall asleep until 4am.

Wednesday, November 21:

Rob's Mom and sister Ellen were at work during the day and so we slept in a bit and then chilled out around the hotel room. Gabriel fell asleep on me and we let him take a little nap before heading over to the family's house. We got there a little after 4pm. We hung out, talked a lot, opened some early Xmas presents, had dinner (my first rice ball!), and just generally had a great time. I am so happy that I married a man whose family I can get along with and that I absolutely love. Gabriel took a liking to a plastic piggy of Donna's and spent most of the time obsessing over it. A fun time was had and we headed out around 7:30pm.

When we were back at the hotel we watched America's Next Top Model and Kitchen Nightmares. I took a bath and shaved and then Gabriel got his bath. We had to do it separately, the bathtub was teeny and I barely fit in it as it was. There was nowhere Gabriel would have fit when I was in there. Later that night John, his fiancee Katie, and their daughter Molly arrived at the hotel. They stopped by our room, but Rob had to talk to them at the door because I had just gotten out of the tub and was bare assed nekkid. Once I was dressed and Gabriel's bath was done they were already asleep. Once again Gabriel didn't want to sleep and was up until around 1am. Once again we didn't get any sleep until around 4am.

We had two great Gabriel moments. He has a new obsession with saying "WHAT????". It's really cute. And when I was holding him and trying to get him to go to sleep I looked at him and said "I love you". He looked right in my eyes, took his binky out for a few seconds, and said "I lala". I started crying.

Thursday, November 22

We spent the day at the family's house. Everyone was there at one point or another. Mom-in-law, Dad-in-law, Donna, her fiance Matt, John, his fiancee Katie, their daughter Molly, Ellen (later on after getting back from her boyfriend's house), Rob, Gabriel, and myself. There was a huge spread for dinner and dinner was great. My favorite was the mashed potatoes with the gravy made from the turkey drippings. Then again, I'm a mashed potato whore. We had a lot of fun and it was great spending Thanksgiving out there. Donna told Gabriel to keep the plastic piggy. He loves that thing.

The one Thanksgiving moment that none of us will ever forget was Donna coming out of the kitchen and asking why there was a banana in the junk drawer. *smiles*

There was some badness when both of the kids started not feeling well. Gabriel got sick and vomited all over the floor. Once he was done with that he curled up on me and slept for about an hour. He seemed to be feeling much better after the nap. Molly was also very fussy and tugging at her ears. John and Katie thought she might be getting an ear infection.

All in all we had a great time and it sucked when we had to head back to the hotel. Visits always go by far too quickly and I think Rob had a few tears on the car ride back to our hotel.

When we got back to the hotel, John was outside. He and Katie were taking Molly to a local hospital to get checked out (luckily it was only an ear infection). We headed back up to our room to pack up and get ready for bed. Gabriel didn't fall asleep until a little after 2am and we had to get up at 6am. So, I'm currently running on very little sleep.

Friday, November 23

We got up at 6am today (which is actually 5am our local time). We were running on almost no sleep and exhausted. We got ready, packed up, checked out of the hotel, and met our car ride to the airport outside the hotel around 8am.

The ride to the airport went quickly and so did check in and security at the airport. We were sitting at our gate around 9am. Gabriel was super fussy in the airport, but luckily he fell asleep right before we boarded the plane. The flight was good, but I'm saying right now I am never flying again when I have my period. No way, no how.

Gabriel woke up about an hour before we landed. He was calm as long as I kept talking to him and held his hand. At one point I opened the window so he could look out. Gabriel's never been awake on a plane flight and has never been able to look out and airplane window before during the daylight. When I opened the window screen he looked shocked. He's used to looking out the car window and he had a "Mommy, do you know we're not on the ground" look on his face. It was so cute.

When we got in to the airport we got our suitcase and headed back to our neck of the woods. We made a quick stop on the way home at the grocery store for some milk and juice for Gabriel.

When we got home, there was a note from my Mom. She was at our apartment last night (here for Thanksgiving to visit my Nana and be with her brother and his family) and had decided to head home today. She was going to spend tonight here so that we could have some time with her, but she was really sick last night and just wanted to head home and curl up in bed.

I took a bit of a nap and later on Rob ran out to get foodage and bring it back home. We watched Moonlight and Rob bathed the Poopchuck. I'm completely exhausted and want to go to sleep. Unfortunately, I have to get up early again tomorrow and Gabriel is showing no signs of being ready to head to bed any time soon.

Oh, apparently we have sock gremlins in our house. When I did the laundry before our NY trip one of Gabriel's socks vanished. Today, when doing up our laundry, one of mine vanished. I know both went into the washing machine because I remember putting them both in (pink fluffy socks are fairly obvious). After getting my load out of the dryer, it wasn't there. I even checked around the washer and dryer and there's nothing. Where the hell can these socks be going???

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