We did it! We survived. Although, truthfully, I wasn't sure we would make it.
The moment we booked our Continental tickets to fly up to the little town of Hainesport, New Jersey, to visit Jimmy's extended family, I got nervous. Flying with a five month old who was slowly recovering from a nasty virus would be no easy feat. In all the chaos of packing, packing and more packing, I completely neglected to think about what may happen if I didn't start resting. The night before the flight I started feeling achy and stressed, blaming it mostly on nerves and the fear of our little guy disrupting an entire flight of people. I hardly slept that night, and when I did, all I did was dream about getting sick. That morning, the achy feeling escalated and I had the chills.
Hellllllloooo, Advil. I popped Advil every few hours to get me through the flight, which by the way, baby Jimmy did wonderful on. He slept during take off, played for an hour while we were in the air, and slept again when we landed. Did I mention he SLEPT? I guess the adrenaline from the day's events wore off the moment we landed because that's when I started to feel even worse. Chills. Achy. Sore muscles. Headache. Just the perfect combination to make me feel miserable.
But it was endearing to see Jimmy's eighty-something grandfather, affectionately referred to as Pop Pop, light up like a little kid at the sight of our little boy. For a brief moment, all of my pains went away and I thought how worth it the whole trip was. We headed back to the house where I crashed on the bed and suffered bouts of chills and fever all night long. It wasn't until after lunch the next day that I had the strength to jump in the shower and prepare to head to Pennsylvania to visit more relatives. Looking back, I'm so glad I mustered the strength to go because we had such a wonderful time. We swam, sat on the back porch enjoying air with no humidity, and relaxed. I needed that day more than I can even express.
The rest of the vacation was spent visiting more family and showing little Jimmy off, basically, to the entire town. He took it in strides and worked crowds where ever we went, smiling and laughing up a storm. This kid knows exactly what he's doing, and he was so well behaved. I could tell by the last day, when we headed to the infamous Jersey shore, that he had been almost stretched to his breaking point.
I was excited to let him experience new sounds, touch the sand and enjoy the fresh breeze from the ocean. The water temperature was in the high 60s, a tad chilly, but bearable. I stuck his toes in the sand and let him feel the rush of the crashing waves on the tops of his feet. He seemed to love everything except the bright sun beating down on him, so I promptly took him back up to the tent we had fixed for him on the beach where he proceeded to nap the rest of the day.
The plane ride home, although dreadfully early in the morning, mirrored the one on the way up. It took the entire trip and the first day home for me to fully recoup my strength, but I was glad I could put it aside to experience all those great memories with my family. I was one tired Mommy when I got home, and slightly upset when I realized how incredibly sick and pale I was in every single picture, but look forward to our future ventures with our little boy.
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