There's No Place Like Home

Sera and me in Atlanta.

Taken by our travelmate, Shana. I have a great picture including Shana and her daughter, Hattie, but didn't want to post it without permission.

I was very nervous about going on vacation.

Sera had only slept in her crib since we got home from China on 4/12. I wasn't sure how she was going to handle long hours in the car, or sleeping in a Pack N Play, or sleeping in the same room as me, or not seeing her daddy, having her routine thrown out the window, meeting lots of new faces who already loved her, and eating different foods.

She was a champ. There were some challenges. The little girl who had been napping so beautifully in the car found it far too interesting to sleep now that her seat was turned around. We changed her carseat to forward facing. She met the guidelines, but we probably wouldn't have turned her if not for this trip. With it being just the two of us in the car, it was easier to see her face, engage her in talking or singing, hand her a sippy, etc... if her seat was forward facing. She'd barely napped and it was hours past her bedtime when we arrived in Atlanta that first night. She was so wired when we arrived that she was up for hours more. Adjusting to the Pack N Play was difficult that night, too, but she finally fell asleep. I never had another problem putting her to sleep for naps or the night during the rest of the trip. It was amazing.

Over the next week and a half, she met three grandparents, three aunts, two uncles, six cousins, and many old friends. She went into Mobile Bay and a swimming pool. She spent hours and hours in a car. She went shopping at the outlet mall, multiple times. She played with cousins for hours on end. She even reached out for Granddaddy to hold her. This is big. She's only reached for Jim or me in the past.

It's been interesting being home, though. On Friday, she seemed fine. She just jumped right back into her home routine. On Saturday, she was definitely sick. The clammy sweating when she broke the fever that the thermometer (since replaced) claimed she didn't have broke, plus the multiple special diapers confirmed she wasn't just extra sleepy that day. On Sunday, Jim took her to our local zoo. She was acting completely better than the day before, but mommy was ready for a little break. Mommy was suffering from an overload of bodily fluids. Because Saturday's diapers weren't enough, Shadow decided to throw up in my lap. Yes, you read that correctly....in my lap. Now Sera loves animals so we were sure she'd love it. She didn't. She was not interested in anything there except for the koi. She liked watching them feed. On Monday, we decided to go get some Chinese food for lunch when Jim came home from work. Sera was napping, so we waited and left as soon as she woke up. Boy, was she cranky. She had a full-blown meltdown, extremely rare, because we had forgotten to restock the Puffs in the diaper bag. Jim ran to the counter and got a cookie to tide her over until her noodles arrived. Even after all that fussing for food, she barely ate. She was whiny and clingy and just plain didn't want to be there. Jim and I wondered if she wasn't still sick as she was just not acting like herself at all.

Jim finished his lunch while I held Sera. We had her noodles and my lunch packed up to go and headed home. At home, I fixed her something else for lunch. She needed to eat, and she did. She then got on the floor and ran around and played happily. You would never have recognized that screaming, crying, clingy child from the restaurant.

I don't think she was sick on Monday, and I don't think she decided she didn't like animals on Sunday. I think she was trying to tell us that she was tired of new experiences right now becaue there's no place like home.