Rest assured: All fighting participants were closely supervised.

It started when we woke up around 5 am. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, which was nice and relaxing. Nora was doing just fine, crawling around on the floor at the gate. I know, I know, I can’t believe I was okay with it either. But it really is true.

Poor Nora’s had a bit of a cold and I think she was just worn out from all the festivities, but we were hopeful she’d do okay on the plane. (It was a morning flight after all- yippee!) I didn’t realize how exhausted she was. Just after take off, she burrowed herself between my arm and sweater and passed out in seconds. Josh and I stared at each other with hope. (This so did not happen on the last flight back to Seattle.) She slept for 40 minutes! It was a New Year’s Eve miracle!

After she woke up, I thought, “Great, she got a nap time in. She probably won’t fall asleep the rest of the flight.” Oh, me of little faith. My girl took another quick nap about an hour later. Then, in the middle of flipping through one of her books, she just leaned back onto me and closed her eyes. And took her third nap- she slept for an entire hour! I even got to sleep.

So yay for another good flight! She did get a little fussy towards the last hour, but not enough to draw too much attention. Oh, and I should mention that on both this flight and the one into Atlanta, we recognized a flight attendant from our Oh-No-We-Are-The-Parents-of-The-Screaming-Baby-on-the-Plane flight. And both said, “Oh yes, I do remember you guys.” They were nice about it, but still. Oh dears.

Thanks so much for everyone who prayed for our trip. We really appreciate it and are so thankful that the last two flights went so much better. Praise the Lord for the small things that make such a difference.

We landed around 11 am Seattle time. It was the weirdest feeling to drive home from the airport feeling like we had so much of the day ahead. Our day had started 7 hours ago. We woke up in Marietta and were in our Kirkland apartment by lunch time. (Local time, anyway.) The wonders of modern travel. I mean, we crossed the country in one morning. It took the pioneers on the Oregon Trail, what, six months to do that?

Nora was downright giddy when we walked down the hallway to our door. Remy wasn’t there; he was still at our AWESOME FRIENDS, THE SMITHS’ (YOU GUYS ARE WAY TOO GOOD TO US!!) house. So while there was no Remy to greet us, guess what was waiting for our arrival? The saddest, Charlie Brownest tree you ever did see. Aww…

And guess what else was waiting for us? Lots and lots of Christmas cards! Most people were still sending them out when we left. Opening them felt like a 2nd Christmas. I love this tradition. The Christmas cards will be displayed for awhile. The tree has got to go before it just keels over.

Then we had an afternoon that we didn’t really know how to fill. We ended up ordering pizza, getting some things unpacked, waiting on said pizza, catching up on Tivoed shows and taking turns holding Nora who was just about done.

Okay, fine, the truth is that I bent over to pick up my bag when I was standing next to the opened door of the taxi while I was holding Nora and when I stood back up, I didn’t realize how close the door was and she bumped her head and it was all my fault and she’d been doing so well and suddenly she was a train wreck and I felt sick about it. I admit it.
So while she was probably just tired and recovering from the busy day, she was pitiful, cranky, and not at all herself. I spent the afternoon reassuring myself that there was very little chance she had a concussion.

Josh went to pick up Remy around 5. When he made his grand entrance, Nora was absolutely thrilled. Her eyes lit up and she was so happy, she couldn’t do anything but sit, stare, and yell with pure delight. If we’d known she would be so excited, we would have documented it.

Nora was ready for bed around 6. Josh made it until about 6:15. He didn’t even make it to a bed, he just slept on the couch. I caught up on some Glee episodes- reruns I hadn’t seen yet, yay – and read until I could no longer form coherent thoughts. I fell asleep around 10.

However. I was awake at the stroke of midnight. I probably could have slept through the nearby fireworks, but Remy could not. It turns out that along with my phone’s low battery warning, Remy is terrified of the sound of small, planned explosions. He paced nervously around the bed and breathed on my face until I woke up to reassure him. So I did get to hear fireworks and the clock said it was exactly midnight. I didn’t miss New Year’s after all.

Hope you all had a great New Year’s celebration! Or at least that you were awake for it. =)

He’s a great, great “baby dog.” Very gentle, allows Nora to pull out clumps of fur, and doesn’t seem to be all that jealous. If anything, he’s happy for the new playmate. He doesn’t seem to grasp her abilities though. He continues to drop his tennis ball at her feet and has not given up that one of these times she’ll pick it up and throw it for him. Any day now.

Here’s a random story from this past week that I hope you enjoy.

A few nights ago, I woke up and felt the bed shaking. My first thought is that we were having another earthquake. That didn’t seem to pan out since nothing else seemed to be moving. My second thought was that Josh was moving around in his quasi-awake state. (It’s been known to happen. Remember the air guitar incident?) But no, he was fast asleep. I rolled over to check on my other side and there was a brown face locked on mine.

Of course, I gasped even as I identified that it was Remy. He was staring at me with his front paws shaking on the bed. And right then, I knew exactly what was going on. I dragged myself out of the bed, stumbled into the living room, found my purse, dug around for my cell phone, crawled under the desk to get the phone charger, plugged it in, and dove back into bed.

Because Remy’s greatest terror on this earth is the sound my phone makes when it’s dying. This is the fourth or fifth time he has done this. The alert scares him so much, he comes into our room, walks around to my side, and just waits for me to wake up. He doesn’t bark, he doesn’t paw at me, he simply trembles with an agonizing fear until I realize he’s there.

The very first time this happened, our door was shut. He jumped against it, ran his nails down it, and leaned against it until we finally let him in. He circled the bed a few times, antsy and anxious. We had watched a suspenseful movie that night, and I naively assumed that he sensed I was still tense and was eager to comfort me. He had no idea what caused the sound he found so terrifying and had no way of knowing how to make it stop.

We have both become wiser.

I’m still trying to decide if this story shows how intelligent he is, or if it reveals that he’s a little nonsensical. On one hand, he shows some problem solving that he knows how to make the noise stop. On the other hand—why on earth is he so petrified of the sound of a phone battery dying?

Here’s a little video from the day… more on the massage later. That video is still needing some crafting…