It's Okay, 'Cause I was Adopted

A full flight. 

A very full flight on a plan that made scary foriegn noises........I looked to the woman sitting next to me, "Have you ever heard that noise on a plane before?"

"No." She looked to her grown son sitting next to her left, "Have you?"

"No. I was trying to ignore it," he replied.

Awesome.

I said a thankful prayer that we actually made it on the flight and had an isle seat next to a very nice mother son duo. Then I said another, much longer prayer, asking for a safe landing,  Dillon's cooperation, knowledge to best assist him, and patience of the people around me. 

Then I called Patrick to put his mind at ease. I'd never witnessed more children on a single plane in my entire life and I expected things to get very interesting.

When the flight attendants did their special safety instructions/demonstrations, my mind started to wonder off, thinking of all the terrible things on the news lately with flights gone horribly wrong and I started to tear up, just thinking about possibly subjecting Dillon to such evil.......maybe my hormones are still not as back to normal as I thought they were. 

I quickly decided to distract myself by setting up Dillon's SNS feeding and was able to hold him off with a pacifier until just before ascending into the air. Ready, set, latch!! Perfection. 

We enjoyed the people watching together. I fed him at the breast, gave him an extra bottle, played a little, and a nap later we were back on land! Halaylulah, we survived our first flight, and besides one squealing child, it actually wasn't as event a flight as I thought it would be. 

Over the course of our day Dillon got tons of "awww"'s, "how cute"'s, "isn't he precious"'s, gaping stares, and luckily no evil looks.....come to think of it, the gaping stares were mostly just for me, since I couldn't possible fit another bag anywhere near my body. I actually got more pity help from strangers than I did when I was 10 months pregnant.

That's when Lindsey came to pick me up, and I embarked on 4 full days of single motherhood. But it's okay, because I was quickly adopted by her family.

 It was actually a pretty smooth transition, considering the Wayne family is extremely similar to my own when it come to level of loudness and chaos. 

Dillon even survived his very first traumatic accident, when Teddy the fox dog tried to jump over him and ended up scratching his arm/leg, leaving behind a few red marks and an exhausted screaming baby.

I somehow survived until Patrick's arrival, and in the mean time took Dillon to a girl's day (where, probably out of boredom, he discovered his toes can do some pretty cool things), visited and had lunch/beer at the Dillon Dam Brewery in Dillon (after he survived his longest car ride to date), went for a couple of walks in Silverthorne overlooking the Dillon lake, stayed at an extremely nice mountain mansion (with a stuffed animal moose mount in the dining room and a hot tub with a beautiful view) with a house full of new people (including a 6 month old sweetheart that was the same size as Dillon), attended a wedding rehearsal/dinner, and did a whole lot of dishes on my own.  

But I must say, although single motherhood was do-able, with a network of help, I'd rather have my husband around to share the endless chores with! 

Wholly Guacamole THAT Was a Close One!!

Wouldn't you know that turd son of mine would be on a great predictable morning schedule all week until the morning of our flight to Denver. Just mom and baby. The duo doing Denver. 

He ate every hour and wanted to play or fuss to pass the time in-between. Once he even managed to pee all over the changing table and himself......so he got a bath. 

After getting fresh and clean and in his traveling attire, he was screaming for a bottle and I cracked under pressure, forgetting to put the rest of the bottle parts together before trying to feed him, which resulted in his brand new white outfit being completely saturated with a discolored off white stain. Sigh. It was now only one hour until we had to head to the airport. Becoming desperate to get myself dressed and finish a little, but very important last minute packing, I sent Patrick a text. "Help! Can you come home now?!?!" Dillon-2. Mommy-0. 

I ended up getting ready and packed in a whirlwind of half a hour. Whew! Time to go!

On the way to the airport we somehow miss a turn. Great. 

We redirect, find our terminal exit, and bam! We are stuck in horrific construction traffic. Then a sign misdirects us into the wrong parking lot. Just what we needed.

When we finally make it to the correct gate parking, where we find ourselves in a completely stand still car parking line with a crying baby in the backseat. Tension was running high. 

A parking attendant tells us we can pull to the side out of the line so Patrick can bring me in. We just have to take a lot of stairs. Cool!

When we reach the place where the terminal should be, all we see is construction fences and a sign redirecting us to walk back to the first place we accidentally exited when we thought it was the wrong area!!! If it sounds like none of this makes sense, it's because it doesn't. 

We walk and walk some more, get inside, turn around, and walk all the way back down to where Spirit should have been on the outside. What a mess. 

An even bigger mess? The line to check in!! We had to wait in the hot mess of a Full Service line since Dillon couldn't be checked in online and the combination of clueless attendants behind the counter and cheap passengers checking in with entire families of children made for a very long wait. It was now 3:50pm and boarding time for my 4:50 flight was suppose to start in 10 minutes. 

When we finally made it to the front of the line, the person behind the counter (who may I had, had absolutely zero sense of urgency) couldn't figure out how to add Dillon to our ticket and instead of immediately asking for help, stood there and starred at her screen for countless minutes before choosing to be productive.

We ran to security, I gave Patrick a way faster goodbye than I wanted, and then stepped through the roped maze (the very special one reserved for people with disabilities, or children).

Somehow I made it through security with little trouble (minus the guard that tried to tell me I couldn't take my carseat/base/bag through security and had to take it back to the luggage check-in, but then another guard saw I was about to cry and helped me by taking everything apart and putting it piece by piece through the xray conveyer belt machine). A couple of kind souls had mercy on my full hands and assisted me, while others, I'm sure, were rolling their eyes behind my back. It's not easy to get cowgirl boots on and off with all I had in tow, but there was no way they were fitting in my suitcase with everything I had packed in there! 

I wasn't surprise to get my hands swabbed for drugs, but I was surprised I didn't get any grief for having powdered formula in a baggie and water in a couple of bottles. 

After that victory, I had single digit minutes to get to the boarding gate, and boy was it a trek carrying a baby, a diaper bag, a pumping bag (both packed tight), and a carseat/base! I'm considering this my very first workout post baby, as I would have been cleared for physical activity had I not had to reschedule my appointment due to the trip. 

Two escalators up and down, two moving walkways, and a jog later, I made it to E25, sweating profusely, and just in time for boarding! I kneeled down, passed out changed Dillon's diaper on the floor (Petunia Pickle Botton pulled through once more), and stood up in time to walk onto the plane. 

THAT was a close one!

Behind the Scenes: Newborn Pictures

I could finally see the bones in my feet again the day before our newborn photo session (post D-day 12), so I got brave enough to try on my wedding rings again, and alas, they finally fit!! They were a little more snug than normal, but getting them over my knuckle, in general, was a giant step in the right direction.

Before this experience, I'd never looked down and thought, "Damn, my legs look skinny." But this day was different; I couldn't take my eyes off of my newly "slender" extremities. It's crazy what we take for granted about our bodies before we know different. 

The morning of our pictures started out a little rough.

I woke up 2 hours early (not that you could tell by the way my hair looked after the wind shredded my curls), and still barely had time to get dressed, since Dillon decided this was the day he'd start being extra hungry with the sunrise.......thank goodness I planned ahead and took a shower the night before!

Not wanting to venture too far from home, we took Leisha (our photographer with Unbridled Dreams Photography whom all these photo credits go to) to the nearest Nature Preserve to work her magic. 

Contrary to what most of our pictures portray, Dillon was wide awake and ready to rumble.

He'd already pooped twice before we left the house, peed on me after I stripped him down to put him in the first prop (thank goodness I was wearing black), and then pooped twice on the blanket of the first prop while spending the remainder of his time trying to crawl out of it. 

Still wide awake, we gave up and I walked him around in the sling (which usually puts him right to sleep), before putting him the in the next prop where he'd be determined to eat the furry blanket.

 I fed him two more times before we were able to get him in a semi sleepy state (I think being naked in the wind kept him pretty frisky). 

3 hours later, we were done! Patrick was dying of a heat stroke and dehydration, I couldn't go another minute without food, and Dillon was finally a limp noodle (although he still refused to let us position his extremities the way we wanted.....that boy has had a mind of his own since conception).

All of that, and Leisha said he was the best cooperating baby she'd ever taken picture of. 

 I don't know about that, but I do know Leisha did an amazing job at capturing some great images for our family to cherish forever while staying very patient and upbeat during the process!

 On a side note, lots of people have asked where Dillon Allen's name came from, and the answer is pretty simple.

Since "Patrick" was a traditional irish name, when we finally agreed on a boy name, we decided to use the traditional irish spelling for it, "Dillon", which nobly stands for "loyal and true".  His middle name, "Allen", is not only Patrick's middle name, but Patrick's grandfather's middle name, so we decided to keep it in the family.

And I think we all know where "Carruth" comes from.......not to be confused with the very wealthy "Caruth's" of Dallas. Unfortunately, the extra "R" does not imply extra money in this case, but what we lack in riches, we make up for with overflowing amounts of love. 

#dillonaday Weekly Roundup 8

#1 The wedding is over. Get this effin' suit off me!! - August 3

#2 So......why is it, exactly, you adult people rave about this hammock contraption??? Being held is way better. - August 4

#3 I went to my first Block Party today. Can't wait to taste the Breck Brewery BBQ that mom ate while we were there! - August 5

#4 Mom and Dad took me to Red Rocks so they could sing to me on stage, but Foster the People beat us there, so we walked some trails and caught some rays instead. - August 6

#5 Me and Mom are mostly resting today to recover from our trip, but that's no excuse to compromise style. - August 7

#6 Mom caught me farting on camera. This woman knows no boundaries! - August 8

#7 I've decided my bouncy chair is way more fun than my swing!! - August 9

 

#dillonaday Weekly Roundup 7

#1 Sigh. Mom and Dad are so boring on Sundays. All they cared about today was stupid stuff like cooking food I can't eat, getting hair cut (what's that?), and packing. - July 27

#2 Shhhhh......Mom told me I'm her MCM, but I don't want Dad to be jealous. Fist pump! - July 28

#3 I'm 6 weeks old today!! - July 29

#4 We had our hiccups along the way, but Mom actually got us to Denver safe and sound! I'm sure she'll blog all about it later.....but right now, it's time for some zzzzzzzzz's. - July 30

#5 Sigh. Doing all this girly prewedding stuff is soooo boring. - July 31 

#6 I officially survived my longest car ride and learned that its fun to watch the window! Now I know why they named the town Dillon.....cause it's pretty cool, just like me. - August 1

#7 Ahhhhhhh, this is the life. This napping weather is so good I don't even care that a stranger is holding me! - August 2