Whew! That was tough (Part II) and a birthday.

We had brought 7 suitcases that we checked, 4 which were between 50-70 lbs (I believe I packed 6 of them), 3 5-point harness car seats (checked), a booster seat (checked), 1 pull-along carry-on, a stroller, and 5 over-the-shoulder carry-ons. That was tough! Not to mention that Lilly herself is a carry-on since she still isn't walking!

I have to say that the kids were very good on the airplane, although I think I saw the airplane bathroom on that one flight more than in all my previous flights combined. But that's okay, because the kids were enjoying the flight, and getting up and down like that was most likely good for my circulation, anyway. United actually got us there an hour earlier than scheduled. That was nice. And then, I don't know why exactly, but Livvy and Griffy started melting down.

Livvy locked it down pretty quickly and followed Daddy, Lilly and Alex off the plane and down the steps to the bus. Griffy refused to walk from the aft end of the plane forward, and I first tried to encourage him to go and then simply resorted to threats. But when he saw the top of the steps of the airplane (diamond deck), he was terrified, and would go no further. I had 5 bags on my shoulders already, but I had to carry him down. I talked to him on the way down and by the bottom of the steps, he was prepared to walk to the bus by himself (just barely). Unfortunately, Daddy yelled at him for holding everyone up, and the meltdown returned. He was too tired to deal with, well, anything.

His meltdown quickly escalated from about a level 1 right before boarding the bus to a level 4 (on a 10-pt scale). And when the flight attendants caught up with us at an escalator (no elevator available) while I was taking Alex and my mule bags up it to next come back down for Griffy and Livvy, they "helped" Griffy onto the escalator before I could come back down. Dave, by the way, and some helpful stranger were handcarrying Lilly IN her stroller up the steps nearby. It was a tall flight of steps, too.

Poor Griffin was scared shitless by the time he reached me at the top of the escalator. (Sorry. I usually don't use profanity but that is the appropriate word in this case.) He was trembling and got to a level 9 (10 being self-injury) on the meltdown scale. I started putting him on the floor because he was throwing back so hard, and I could barely hold him. (Everyone who knows him knows how solid he is.) But then he came down to about a 7 and repeatedly blamed me for leaving him and making him scared.

Ouch. My little buddy.

It was a long walk to the baggage claim. Long enough for Griffy to calm down and for Livvy to start her meltdown. I was ready to get to the baggage claim, and she is about 7 pounds lighter than her twin brother, so I picked her up (along with my 5 other shoulder bags, including my purse) and carried her. About 10 yards of that and I dumped 2 bags onto the stroller that Dave was pushing. He had it so easy!

Excepting the meltdowns, Alex and Griffin were very impressive. Alex maneuvered the wheeled carry-on that was almost as tall as he is. And Griffin carried a backpack that probably weighed 15 pounds for his 40. He's pretty tough! And yes, I did say meltdowns in reference to Griffy AND Alex, but I'll get to Alex's later.

In the meantime, we celebrated Lilly's first birthday today! We couldn't do much for her birthday. We are staying in the lodge and have no means of making a cake. We have no car at the moment, so we could only buy what was available at the bakery in the commissary, which was absolutely nothing for birthdays. So I got some Hostess mini muffins and we all sang happy birthday to her. Oh yes, I also didn't have a match or a lighter, so I didn't actually LIGHT the candle, either. And I'll have to owe her a present. But Lilly liked hearing the kids singing. And she took steps by herself today two times that I saw. She is such a sweetie and a happy baby!

Happy birthday, Lilly, my love.

Lilly's first birthday with mini muffins

Awwww