Something That We Do: Visiting Florida

We traveled to Florida for Christmas, and as usual, Luke was a champ. We flew out of LAX (a 6-ish hour drive from our home) and Luke did great. I am seriously impressed with his go-with-the-flow attitude. He slept a good portion in the car, and when he was awake, he was happy. We arrived in LA and hung out at some friends' apartment before they drove us to the airport (and kept our car for us). Did I mention we also had our dogs with us? So let's get this straight...two adults, one teenager, one infant, and two dogs. Yep, we were the crazy ones you were really hoping didn't sit near you on the plane! Haha! That being said, Luke didn't cry on the (red-eye) flight at all! He did GREAT. And so did the dogs! When we arrived at our friends' apartment, we let Luke sprawl out on the floor since he would be in our arms for the next several hours. After a couple of hours, we drove about 40 minutes to the airport. Once we were all checked in, we found a little area to set our stuff down and take a load off. Our area was small, because we were in LAX at Christmas time. Not the slowest time of year, ya know...I laid a blanket on the floor for Luke to sprawl out on (once again, since he would be in our arms for hours) and I got the dogs some food and water. Our plane was going to be boarding in about 20 minutes, but we needed a little down time. Carl was on food duty, I was on watching-our-things-feed-the-dogs-and-let-the-baby-sprawl-out-duty and Austin insisted on finding an outlet to charge his cell phone (because apparently when you text for six hours straight, it drains the battery...)

Carl brought us food, and I had the dogs in their kennels surrounding Luke. I was carefully unzipping them (leaning over Luke to do so) and offering them water and kibbles. I'm trying to paint this picture for you so you can understand the hustle and bustle in the airport, while we are trying to be calm and organized, and allow our baby to stretch, allow our dogs to drink and eat.....because here's what happened. As I was leaning over Luke holding food for Belle, she started reverse sneezing. If you don't know what that is, it's something small dogs often do, and it can freak them out a little bit. Imagine sneezing a ton and you can't catch your breath. You know eventually you'll be able to, but while you're uncontrollably sneezing, it can be a little stressful trying to breathe. So, that's basically what was happening to Belle (except they were reverse sneezes). The remedy for this is to get the dog to breathe through her mouth. How do you do that? By plugging her nose. Sounds weird, I know. But Belle will seek me out if she's reverse sneezing and can't stop on her own. She needs a little help sometimes. SO.... I'm leaning over Luke, offering Belle food, and her head pokes out of the crate. And she starts reverse sneezing. (While I'm trying to not sound judgemental, you just have to picture this...) A hippie girl (with dreadlocks, wearing a Berkeley shirt, and her sweatpants around her hips while her underwear show) sees Belle and gets SUPER excited. "CAN I COME VISIT????" she hollered across the way, sounding overly eager. Normally, I'm not one to turn down a friendly visitor. HOWEVER. I was a little stressed at this moment because our plane would be momentarily boarding and we haven't eaten and the dogs haven't eaten or drank anything, and I still need to change Luke's diaper, and go to the bahtroom, and our food is sitting here getting cold....and we're in a busy airport with two dogs, a baby, and a teenager. AND Belle is now reverse sneezing. WHEW. So, what did I say? "No."

Hoping she would understand that I was a wee bit stressed (isn't everyone at least slightly stressed while traveling?!), I politely said "No" with a smile. Instead, she raised one eyebrow, drew her neck back and poked out her chest as she questioned, "NO?!" like she was deeply offended. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking "I don't owe her a visit with my dogs...." while also thinking "Is this being rude? I thought I was polite..." So, I attempted to explain myself. "No. She can't breathe." (Remember, she's reverse sneezing.) CUE EVERYONE'S HEAD IN THE AIRPORT TO TURN AND LOOK MY WAY. I glanced up at Carl and Austin who were both turning red and telling me everyone was looking. (Great, it wasn't just my imagination.) Carl pointed out that here I am hovering over a baby saying "She can't breathe." Realizing how awful that sounded, I clarified, "She does this sometimes, she'll be okay!" And the girl from Berkeley adjusted herself in her seat so that she was no longer facing me. She probably thought I was rude, but.....oh well. A momma's gotta do what a momma's gotta do.

My dad was at the airport when we landed. He drove us up to Alachua. Luke was asleep when I put him in the car and he slept most of the way home. But when he got hungry, we stopped and I brought him to the front seat. Luke was surprised to look to the side and see his Poppa!

He remembered my dad and went right to him, smiling a ton!

After all that traveling, Luke was pooped!

When he woke up, we went to Carl's parents house where Luke met his Aunt Katy! (Carl's sister)

By the way, here's a fully body shot of Luke's outfit....

While we were in Florida, Luke sat up by himself for the first time! Just in time for his 6 month photos!

He cracked me up when we were taking these shots. Right before the camera flashed, it would beep three times. After taking a handful of photos, he heard the beeps and would smile and close his eyes! It was hilarious!

After pictures, we came home and Luke passed out.... So cozy with Momau!

Although the holidays are a busy time, we tried to stay very low-key and just enjoy family time. We avoided the hustle-and-bustle as much as possible....so, we got to see cute little things like this:

Luke was hanging out on the floor. He found "the baby in the mirror" that he loves so much...except this time, the baby was in the dishwasher.....

One late afternoon, Luke fell asleep so I laid him down for a nap. I went to the other room, and when I came back, I had to call my mom in to see this. Luke's dog cuddled up and slept next to him. How precious are they?

On the other side of Luke, you see a green polka dotted elephant, named Elwood (because my mom had an Uncle Elwood and we like to keep names in the family)...Elwood, the elephant... we like alliteration too! ;) Luke LOVES Elwood (from his Aunt Donna and Uncle Scott).... he loves cuddling with him and chewing on Elwood's tail made of ribbon.

One evening, my mom took these shots when we were laying on the floor. That's Belle in between Luke and I!

We spent many evenings playing cards with Carl's family. Luke even joined in on the action!

One evening, we met Carl's grandparents (so Luke's GREAT grandparents) in Palatka for supper. Luke's great-grandma could not get enough of the newest addition to the family. She adored him!

Here's Luke at the restaurant, "I'm ready to go now, momma..." (with Elwood again!)

Earlier that day, we went to visit my Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Janet (and Aunt Janet's mom, Maggie, and their dog....also, Maggie). When I opened the door to get Luke out of the car, this is the look he was giving me.

"We're going visiting, again, momma?"

Of course, he was happy once we got inside and he got to see family. Maggie the dog was so sweet with Luke... she belly-crawled over to Luke and sniffed him before kissing his face! She nudged his little hands, as well, like she was saying "Pet me!" She was so sweet with him!

Before we left, Uncle Jimmy put Papau's (my grandpa's) hat on Luke and took a picture by the tree.

After a long day of visiting, Luke and I crashed in bed. Carl had to work on servers this particular night, so he didn't get home till well past midnight.

Our return flight from Florida was wonderful, as well. It always breaks my heart having to leave my family....but here we are after boarding the plane.