Shout Out

Congratulations to Ken & Carla on the birth of their daughter Abigail. Check out Ken's blog for pictures and story!

Also, stay tuned for my post on our first night away from Little Man. We had a wonderful time and stayed in a sweet suite!

Shout out!

Congratulations to Jon and Meera on the birth of their baby boy Nathan. He was born on March 10, 2009 at 2:50 pm. He is 20.5" long and has a full head head of hair!

The Irony

I just clicked on the blog and lo and behold in the upper right hand corner was an advertisement for AirTran Airways having a sale. I find it funny that they decide to advertise on the blog after I ripped them a new you-know-what. Again, I repeat, DO NOT FLY AIRTRAN, EVER! I guess some companies will take bad publicity over no publicity!

Holiday Road

Okay, now that I have decompressed from our Florida vacation a bit I can tell you why I hate AirTran airways and why all our vacation was missing was a Family Truckster.

We set out at 4:30 a.m. last Thursday for our Florida getaway. AirTran has a policy you arrive for your flight 40 minutes before take off. Well, we arrived 45 minutes before take off and the AirTran (ATA) customer service representative proceeded to tell us we needed to arrive 40 minutes before take-off so that our bags would be on the plane. When I kindly told him it was 45 minutes before take-off he basically said too bad. So without letting us know if the bag would be on the plane, what flight the bag would be on if it wasn't on the plane or what to do he shuffled us off to security.

Of course the bag wasn't on the plane and no one at ATA knew where it was. Long story short it wasn't until 7 a.m. the next morning that they located the bag and told us to come pick it up. That was after spending $150 at Target buying the shorts, t-shirts, suits and the toiletries we needed to actually start our vacation without our luggage.

Things were going beautifully until Friday night when my poor baby boy got the flu. He spent the entire night with his little head in a sand bucket throwing up every hour until about 3 a.m. He recovered beautifully and off to the beach we went on Sat. I did forget my camera but am hoping to get pictures from someone who didn't.

Sunday rolls around and we are going to meet our college friend Greg and his wife, who we haven't seen in 7 years. Guess who gets the flu! I spend the day throwing up. I do make it to lunch but gave Cafe Boulud bathroom a work-out.

Finally, Monday we're supposed to leave. As you all know, the East Coast gets slammed with storms and since ATA sucks our plane coming from White Plains, New York, is delayed 5 hours. After speaking with 3 different ATA people, telling me 3 different things, I finally get a supervisor on the phone who informs me, I'm supposed to be at the airport for the last 7 hours. When I proceed to ask him why, he tells me that if we're not at the airport an hour before our ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED DEPARTURE, not the delayed departure, they can give up our seats. I kindly explained to him that I'm not going to sit at the airport with a 13 month-old for 7 hours, and then asked him why they tell you to check the status of your flight before leaving the house. He explained that it is for the convenience of the people picking you up and not for the passengers. I again KINDLY told him if he saw the irony in making it more convenient for people who pick you up than the actual paying customers. He didn't find it funny.

To make an even longer story short, we rush to the airport and they end up bumping us off our flight and want us to sit stand-by with a 13 month-old in Atlanta. If we don't get on OUR flight, the one we PAID to be on, the next flight doesn't leave Atlanta for 10 hours. Of course ATA will not pay for a hotel since it is weather related. So as you all know, you can't really sit in an airport for 10 hours with a 13 month old so we opt for the next flight which isn't until WEDNESDAY. Yes, Wednesday. They could get us on a flight on Tues. but we would miss the last connection in Atlanta and have to spend the night there. Wow, thanks, that helps.

We opted for the Wednesday flight. Unfortunately the weather in Florida did not cooperate and it was about as warm there as it is today in Chicago. However, Brad, Elias and I had a nice day shopping in Palm Beach.

After all that we're home and yesterday night Brad got the flu! You gotta love traveling.

Doggate

So silly me. I really want to get Elias a puppy. I was scouring adoption sights, filling out applications and making contacts. A beautiful chocolate lab puppy caught our eye in Indiana. We filled out an application and was in strong consideration. That's when I realized, "Oh My God" I don't think I can handle a puppy and two kids under two. I think when the realization of actually getting the dog hit me, I freaked. Believe me I really want the boys to grow up with a dog, and they will, but I don't think I can handle it right now. A newborn keeping us up all night, a puppy waking up the other hours, chasing after Elias, chasing after the puppy, my head is already spinning.

Brad and I talked it over and decided we're going to look into adopting a puppy next spring or summer. That way Elias will be 2 1/2 and the New Nolan will be about a year. I'm sure things will still be crazy, I have a feeling they are going to be around here for a while, but at least a bit more manageable.

However, if anyone is looking for an adorable chocolate lab puppy, or any dog, check out Petfinder and Sklyer. My heart breaks every time I look at him but I know that we can not provide enough time and love for him at this time.

Welcome Number 2

So it's official. Brad and I are expecting our second boy. I always envisioned myself surrounded by my boys. Brad and I in the backyard playing football and soccer with the boys. Sounds like a dream to me. Plus bunk beds! I always wanted bunk beds and now I can get them for the boys. So here's a preview of Mr. Nolan.

Also, we're have a name debate and we want to know what you think! The middle name will be Dele (pronounced Dell)for my Grandmother Adele, but we want to know your opinion on the first.

What should we name boy #2
	Silus
	Oliver
	Everett
	Other
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Horrible Mother

Okay so I'm a horrible mother. I never did a birthday post. Well between planning the party, picking up the food, running around, then taking a weekend for us, I just didn't have time. So here's my birthday post a few days late.

The party was fantastic. Elias had lots of friends come over including Carla, Ken, Liza and her parents, Alex, Auntie Erin and Mike, all the Grandparents and more.

At one-year-old Elias can say, Dad, Mom, duck, all done, nite, and red. He's almost walking and actually brings me things on command. When he picks up things off the carpet I tell him, "bring them to mommy" and he actually does. He can also give himself a round of applause (clap), raise the roof (so big), dance (he's got major rhythm). He likes to sort things on his shelves at Gramma Sonny's and our house and like Gramma Bette he loves coasters.

Elias eats almost everything. Tonight he had pasta and spinach with Mommy for dinner. He also loves Gramma Sonny's beef stew, pizza, bagels and a whole slew of other things. He took to whole milk like a champ and loves his water during the day and snacks.

After dinner tonight Elias and I danced. He boogied to Lauryn Hill and Mark Knopfler. Like his Grandpa Bill he's got great taste in music (except country music, still yuck).

So here's some pictures from the party and Little Man having his first taste of sugar. Surprisingly he liked it but didn't go crazy. I'm proud of him for that. I'd love to keep him off sugar as long as possible.

Finally, I apologize for the late post. Our laptop is finally back up and running so it's much easier to post when Little Man is sleeping. Hopefully I'll be updating more. See you soon!