I Survived

Well, I officially survived my first business trip but not without a few casualties.  I was a HOT mess saying good bye on Wednesday morning, I started bawling when Riley said she wanted to come with me and then saying good bye to Jacob was awful.  Then he started crying when I started crying.  I was a mess, Marc was so worried about me that he followed me out to my car to make sure I was ok.  I was fine once I got on the plane even though I really did not want to go.  We got to Chicago around 3:40PM but the guy I was traveling with went standby on my flight and they lost his bag so we didn't get to downtown until like 5:30ish.  I pumped quickly and then went and did a little retail therapy, we were staying on Michigan Ave so how could I not?  This was the view of Michigan Ave. from my room, not too shaby!

I did a little shopping, picked up some dinner and ate in my room.  I have to admit, it was sort of lovely laying in bed at 8:15 and reading a magazine, in fact I read 4 magazines on that trip (I still have like 4 more in order to just catch up to my current magazines).  I also Skyped with the kids, well Riley, Jacob was a hot mess so after a few minutes Marc took him upstairs to bed but Riley and I chatted over Skype for about an hour, it was really fun, I felt like I was there with her eating dinner.   And it was awesome to have a real conversation with her, she told me who she played with, what she learned in phonics, she told on daddy for picking them up late and that Jacob was the last baby in the room.  It made it much easier to be away from her because I felt like we could catch up plus we got to interact through Skype.  Thank you technology!  Thursday Marc took Riley with him to work and then his group went to the San Jose Giants game with a bunch of their kids so Riley was super excited and she had a blast!

I came home Thursday and my flight wasn't until 8:10PM so I planned on pumping at the airport and then grabbing dinner before the flight.  Well let's see the first casualty was my suitcase which broke while going through security but ironically they didn't even look at the pumped milk (about 20oz) that I had with me at security, I don't know if I'm relieved or a little worried.  Then I went to pump in a bathroom (because airports have no mother rooms) and the battery pack didn't work.  Awesome, not panicking because I could still try to find an outlet.  Talk to some gate agents who tell me the companion bathroom is probably my best bet so I go in there, plug in, and try to pump, NOTHING!  Now panicking, I still have at least 8 hours until I am home!!!  Call Marc who runs to Babies R Us and gets me a manual pump while I sweat it (literally) out on the plane.  Fortunately my flight got in a little early and I raced home, Marc was able to fix my pump (which Medela claims has a bad power cord but I'm not convinced since the battery pack didn't work either) and all was good, hopefully this pump will last a few more months!  I finally went to bed at midnight and  the kids were up bright and early at 6AM so I am exhausted but we all survived and the smiles and hugs I got were awesome!

Mommy Goes on a Business Trip...

And all I get is a Tony the Tiger stuffed animal!  He's G-r-r-r-eat!

We (well I, since I travel more than Marc) have gotten into a bad habit of bringing Riley back presents from trips.  Mine are a lot lamer than Marc's because Marc goes to Singapore and Japan and I go to Omaha, Naperville, and now Battle Creek, MI.  And really, how can anything from Battle Creek compete with Japan Mickey???  They didn't have much at our company store so I ordered Tony the Tiger on-line and then also ordered her a Dolphin Pillow Pet from Amazon (so that I could get free shipping on a book that I wanted), at the airport I got her a toy airplane and an Elmo coloring book and crayons.  Yep, bad habits but it makes our time apart a little easier.  They told me at day care today that they could tell I was home because Riley was in a much better mood, last week she was pretty grumpy.  They also said that last week every time they played outside, Riley would point to the sky and say "Mommy on airplane!"  How stinkin' cute is that girl???

Nothing Says Welcome Home...

Like a black eye!  I came home Thursday night and Marc warned me that Riley had a black eye, apparently she fell at day care on Thursday and hit her eye somehow, sure enough Friday morning when I went to get her out of her crib she had a big shiner. 

In my opinion, this picture is classic, I think she has her daddy's look here! :)