Day 185

March 30, 2011

Travel day. Sad. Waiting around to leave. Thankfully we didn't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn but that meant that we'd be traveling late. Jacob fell asleep for 10 minutes on the way to the airport which I hoped would hold him until our second flight from Chicago to Portland. We had a slightly tearful goodbye at security with Grammy and then, were off on our own again. 

This was the first time I was going to be coming "home" to someplace other than Boulder, and it was an odd feeling. I'd think about going home and say something to Jacob like, "How are we going to get this back to Colorado?" only to realize afterwards what I was saying. 

Got to Chicago with no problems and was able to hang out with my old college forensics friend, Dave. Dave "the laugh", as he is known in my family. A nickname that came about after a visit with my family that involved a "triathlon" of sorts in which the prize was my Dad's 6 string guitar. Sadly, I didn't win the entire thing and so, still do not have that guitar. It was great to see Dave, though. I don't remember the last time we've hung out and even though it was just 45 minutes, it was better than nothing. I miss having people like him in my life who are so full of energy and musically inclined and just out to have random, crazy fun. Even though visits are few and far between, it's good to have him in my life still. 

We got on our second airplane and I thought surely the boy could pass out after an hour or so. The whole flight was 4 hours. He was sleepy, oh yes. His eyes were heavy. But would he go to sleep? Oh no. "Ga-cob not go to sleep." I'd try to sing him his bedtime songs and he'd call me out on it, "No Mommy sing bedtime song. No Ga-cob go sleep." Sigh. Okay. He was amazing, though. Not one fuss on that whole trip. He played with the headphones, looked out the window, read books, did stickers, played with his sponge puppets, ate some food. I was impressed. 

As soon as we got off the plane, he says, "Daddy?" I was glad he was thinking of Daddy in a positive light. When we did get to Daddy, Jacob was all smiles, giving Fraser a big, long cuddly hug. Very adorable. I was glad to see him too.

Definitely weird to come home to Portland. More so when I got off the plane and didn't recognize the familiarity of it like I do with Denver and with the drive home where I had to idea, except generally, where we were going. But a balmy 57 degrees here which felt good after the mid 30s we'd had in Michigan. 

Jacob was out in the back seat within five minutes of the drive home. Didn't budge when I moved him to his bed. Poor little dude was exhausted. What stamina. I was not far behind!