Our Journey to Paradise

Richard and I have been planning an "us" getaway since before Walker was born. Once we decided that we wanted to go somewhere where we had to do absolutely NOTHING, we found a wonderful resort in Nassau, Bahama. About 72 hours before we left, if you were to have asked me if I was excited about our trip I might have replied "well, if we are going." Here is how everything went down.

PART I : CAUSE FOR CONCERN?

Our flight to Nassau was booked for Wednesday morning, flying out of Montgomery. Since it was early, the plan was to drive to Montgomery on Tuesday with Walker and let him begin to get adjusted to Boo and Papa's house before we left. Well, Monday when I called my Mom she sounded AWFUL! She had developed a TERRIBLE chest cold. She could barely talk, was coughing up a lung and felt pretty terrible. Well, this made me nervous because 1) Walker is 13 months old. While he is a very happy baby, he is also very busy and in to everything!! 2) Mom felt terrible and trying to keep up with Walker would be very, very hard 3) Walker has just gotten over a tummy bug and cold himself and I was nervous that he would get sick while we were away.

Richard and I decided to wait it out before we made any decisions. On Monday, Richard had to drive to Florence, AL for an overnight work trip.

PART II: THE PREGNANT BLONDE AND THE VIRUS

Tuesday rolls around. Mom still sounds sick but is going to the doctor. Richard is still out of town. He calls the resort to see what options we have as far as rescheduling but we quickly realize that we have no other time to go before little Lucy comes along.

I needed to go to Montgomery that day to do some work, so I decided to go ahead and pack up the car and figure out what to do as I drove. Once Walker woke up from his morning nap I grabbed the last few things and put them in the car with Walker and Gatsy. I realized that I had forgotten something on the kitchen table. I decided to leave the car running and dash inside to get it. Well, when I run back outside I see Gatsy wagging her tail in excitement while looking out of the driver door window. I go to open the door and it is LOCKED! Yes, Gatsy had LOCKED the car WITH my SON IN IT....not to mention my cell phone, wallet etc...

PANIC mode set in! What was I to do?!?! Richard was out of town, my phone was in the car, and my neighbors were not home! I began to panic. THANKFULLY, just then, our mail man drove up! I ran up to him and asked/begged to use his cell phone. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "sure." I then told him "MY SON IS LOCKED IN MY CAR" He immediately jumped out of the mail truck and ran over to the car and told me to get a wrench and rag while he started unscrewing the antenna. Thankfully, within 5 minutes he had unlocked the car! Praise the Lord!

I think my problem in this situation was that at this time I was driving Richard's Tahoe. I have run in very quickly a couple of times before when driving my car. In my car, you do not need to put the key in the ignition for it to start, it has a smart button, so whenever I would run inside in the past I would always have my keys with me and the car would still be running. I guess between my pregnancy brain and trying to get out of town I just was not thinking. I'm so thankful for our mailman, that the car was on and that Walker was ok (and I guess I am thankful that Gatsy was ok as well..even though she had gotten overly excited in this whole situation and piddled all over the front two seats of the car...so I was one UNHAPPY camper with my puppy).

So, we finally are on our way to Montgomery. In the meantime Mom goes to the doctor. The doctor says that she has a virus that has been going around and it is very contagious. Great. She gets a shot and some antibiotics, but you know with a virus not too much helps. What do we do?? Thankfully, I have a wonderful sister that lives about 10 minutes away from my parents who offered to keep Walker while mom recovered some! Let me tell you, from the sounds of it Walker was spoiled rotten by my Lyndsey, Russell, Claire, MA as well as my Mom and Dad! Another problem averted! I'm so thankful for wonderful family!

PART III: PLANES, TRAINS AND CURBS

Wednesday morning FINALLY rolls around and Richard and I wake up to a pretty nasty thunderstorm. We don't think too much of it and drive to the airport and check in. As we are waiting I realize we only have about 15 minutes until we are supposed to take off. I ask Richard "is our plane here yet?" No. It was not. We didn't have a very long lay over in ATL and our flight to Nassau was the last one out of ATL that day, so to say the least I start to get tickled from all of these things that have happened over the past several days. At the time our plane was supposed to take off we hear that our plane has not even left ATL yet due to weather. Oh my stars. I really did not think we would ever get to the Bahamas. Luckily we did. Our plane finally came and once we landed we RAN to our gate and made our flight! YAY! We were finally on our way!!! Smooth sailing from here....right?!?!

Wrong! After landing in the Bahamas and getting our luggage we finally hooked up with our transportation to the hotel. As SOON as we walk out of the airport, this clumsy, pregnant lady TRIPS on a curb and falls! It doesn't sound that bad, but let me tell you it HURT! By the time we got to the resort I could barely walk on my foot and by that night I could not put any weight on my foot at all. By this time I was just laughing, despite the fact that I did not sleep a wink that night due to throbbing pain in my foot and being on crutches. Thankfully, we were FINALLY on vacation! No where to be, nothing to do and no 13 month to chase after.

PART IV: A PERFECT ENDING.

We left Sunday. And our vacation was absolutely PERFECT. We rested and relaxed, slept without a baby monitor, we read, talked with no interruptions, ate some yummy food, visited downtown Nassau and Atlantis, went snorkeling and just loved every minute. It was so wonderful to just be "us" again. For those of you who have children you understand, and for those of you who are about to have kiddos, you will understand soon. Even though "us" time was WONDERFUL by Sunday I was READY to see my sweet baby boy. I was so ready that I begged Richard to rent a car in ATL so we could get back to Montgomery before Walker went to bed. It was so nice to shower my baby with hugs and kisses on Sunday night. I missed that sweet boy!Thanks Mom, Dad, Lyndsey and Russell for taking such good care of my precious baby while we were gone!!