Well, we are home for a while now - at least some of us are, anyway!

Katie is much improved - she's still a little congested in the mornings but her eyes have completely cleared up. Of course, she managed to give her little bug to my mother (who sounded awful last time we spoke to her) and to me - I stayed home the last couple of days, after the doc informed me that I'm contagious (nothing irked me more than fellow employees who showed up sick and contagious - especially management. It was like they were sending the message that work was more important than getting better!). The drugs and rest seem to be helping I am happy to say.

Skip is off to Houston this weekend with a work buddy, Rajiv - Rajiv is a HUGE Colts fan, and that's who the Texans take on this weekend (before you laugh hysterically thinking the Texans don't stand a chance, the Texans DID beat the ultimate Super Bowl champs last year!!). Skip is looking forward to it, and I'm looking forward to what will hopefully be a quiet weekend at home.

Last weekend was KC for Josh's 3rd birthday, and Skip and Mack went to the USC-NU game. Josh got a lot of cool stuff for his birthday, and Skip and Mack had a good time in Lincoln even if the Huskers forgot how to run the ball or how to defend the run. Joleyne, Josh, Katie and I spent Saturday afternoon at a chocolate convention in Overland Park - how much more perfect could you get?? I started getting this crud Saturday night, so crashed early - we didn't do a whole lot on Sunday other than to hang out, watch some football and return to DFW.

Well, that's all for now - brief and kind of boring. Which is actually a refreshing change from what we've been doing!!

Well, Skip made it back from Nebraska OK on Wednesday night. It was a little tricky being a single-car family for two days but we did manage. Friday night we loaded up and flew out to Omaha - the trip was originally planned so I could catch up with my mom and my grandmother, but now it served the extra purpose of getting our car back from NE to TX!

Skip did get a call from Janson's on Friday afternoon - the RIGHT part had arrived and had been installed and the car was ready to go ... once we ponied up our $750, of course. When we landed in Omaha, we got into our rental car, stopped off at Valentino's for some buffet (dang, it's $10 for an adult now ... ), and drove straight into Holdrege. Katie continues to be a good little traveler - she slept for most of our trip (I suspect because she wasn't feeling well ... more on that later).

Anyway, Saturday morning we drive out to Janson's and pick up the Lexus; we head back to the house to watch the Nebraska game (I trekked to Taco John's again for food ... but took the rental car just in case). We stayed through the game to give Katie a little more time with Grammy DiAnn and Angie, since our previous trip had been shortened by our car troubles and quick return to Omaha to catch the plane. After the bizarre finish to the game, I loaded Katie up in the rented Liberty, we got all of our junk into the Lexus, and headed for Omaha.

I'm not even out of Holdrege and Skip calls me - the Lexus had started, but it started REALLY SLOW, like the battery was going kaput. Oh great. It did start, just took a while to get going - maybe because Janson's had it all ripped apart all week, it jacked with the battery? Anyway - Skip tells me he's not stopping until we get to Omaha, just in case the car stops and won't start again.

So off to Omaha, with me a mile or so ahead of Skip the whole way. We get over the Platte River (between Lincoln and Omaha - we're almost there) and Skip calls. The radio had made a loud POP sound, like there was some sort of interference. Then it did it again - and the gages all went dead momentarily. LOVELY. So we're going straight to the dealership once we get into town.

The traffic gods were kind to us - no stoplights the whole way to the dealership. Of course, the service dept is closed by this time and it's only sales doofi working. (That's plural for doofus, in case you wondered.) Skip leaves a detailed description of what had happened for the service manager, we load up in the Jeep and go onto the nursing home where my grandmother and Aunt Carolyn live.

We get there and everyone is sitting outside, so we visit for a little bit (the weather in Omaha that night was really nice). We get checked into the Hospitality House (an old hotel on the Immanuel hospital property that provides cheap rooms for guests of nursing home residents) and then off to Famous Dave's for some BBQ.

Sunday is a little more family time - there's an ice cream social at the nursing home in honor of grandparents day. At this point, Katie is sneezing a lot and her eyes are really watering. We head out to Godfather's for some pizza with Grandma Sandy and then back to the room to crash.

Monday morning arrives and the guys at the dealership are hot on the case of the flukey Lexus. Turns out it wouldn't even start up that morning - dead battery. They replace that, do some additional diagnostics just to be sure there is nothing else wrong with the car (nothing is, thank goodness) - and the car is ready to go at about noon. Skip loads up and takes off - we figure it's roughly 11 hours from Omaha to DFW.

Katie and I go and get a bite to eat, then back to the nursing home for some more time with Grandma Sandy, Great-Grandma June and Aunt Carolyn. At this point Katie's nose is running and she's got eye boogies the size of small boulders, and her eyes are really looking red and puffy (at one point it looked like she had two really good shiners going). GREAT - airplane ride with a sick baby! But through all of this Katie really remains a pretty cheerful little girl.

Grandma Sandy accompanies me and Katie to the Omaha airport - of course she can't get a pass to help me past security. So we hang out in a little cafeteria and drink some cokes - and of course my flight is delayed by an hour (departing now at 6:55) because of pretty heavy rains here in Dallas. So that gives Katie more cuddle time with her grandma, which was nice. We pack up at 6:00 and head through security - and I'm happy to say I have figured out the trick to getting through there! It's to load up all of the bins with shoes, cell phone, liquids, etc., push those up to the XRay machine while pushing Katie in the stroller. (We bought a smaller, just snap-the-car-seat-into-a-stroller-frame kind of stroller which worked really well.) Once at XRay, push the bins thru, get Katie's car seat (with Katie in it) out of the stroller and up onto the table, fold the stroller & get it on the belt, get Katie out of the seat and get the seat onto the belt, then go thru the scanner thingies. It worked pretty well - and I had the luxury of not having anyone behind me, which was nice!

Well, I'm thinking I have time to get a snack, get Katie's diaper changed (she was doing the poopie grunts through security) ... but as I'm exiting security, they announce that they're boarding my flight!! WHAT!! It's only a little after six, and the plane doesn't leave for almost an hour ... UGH. SO - detour down the jetway, leave the stroller, get the car seat strapped into the base, get the diaper bag and onto the plane - the tricky part is trying to get to our seats without bonking everyone on the head with the car seat (no small task, trust me). We get there and there is a nice, older man (he looks like a thin Santa Claus) in the aisle seat (the seat that would've been Skip's, had he flown with us). VERY VERY nice man - he hangs onto Katie's car seat while I get the base strapped in, and he makes goo goo eyes at her and keeps her entertained while I'm doing that. We sit down and now I can SMELL the poopie grunt ... great. I'm thinking that means I only have a few minutes until Katie goes into Hissy Fit mode. Get this bird in the air so I can get in the back to get her changed! We wait a while - and Katie does get a little fussy - but she falls asleep, and stays asleep as we take off (thankfully). She starts to stir a little after the beverage cart goes down, so I load up diaper / wipes / changing pad and off we go (Skip was right - it IS easy to change a baby on the plane - it's actually easier to change the baby than to try to use that itty bitty closet as an adult!). We return, Katie gets fussy so we eat (had to get H2O from the flight attendant). After she eats, I notice my seat belt has come undone but Katie is still a little fussy - the man next to me offers to hold her while I get settled and Katie squawks a little but then she's just as happy as can be up on his shoulder. Turns out he has 6 kids and 9 grandkids, some of whom live in TX but some in Omaha and elsewhere. He really enjoyed his "Poppa time" and I wasn't going to disrupt a good thing - Katie was content so I let her go! He was SO nice and that was such a blessing - I had really worried that I'd end up with some crank next to me.

We get off the plane and the terminal is PACKED - a quick glance at the monitors and it's easy to see that nearly every flight out has been delayed or canceled. Looks like we were lucky! Get our one checked bag, head downstairs for the shuttle bus and I get downstairs just as it shows up - perfect timing.

Katie and I got home at about 9:30 ... Skip rolled in at about 11:00.

Katie did go to the doctor's office today - her usual doctor is off on Tuesdays so we saw a PA, who diagnosed a slight ear infection in both ears, a viral infection causing her runny nose / congestion, and a bacterial infection in her eyes (she was looking like a prize fighter again this morning). Got an Rx for eye drops - and no, it is not easy giving eye drops to an infant. I've done it twice now and I think I got one drop in one eye - the rest just got in the general vicinity. I'm hoping that some of the medicine rolled into her eyes where it will help! Of course Skip can help me with them tonight - might be easier with the two of us.

Well, that's the big long honkin' story. This weekend it's KC - our godson Josh turns three and Skip and his friend Mack are going to the NU-USC game. I hope Joleyne and I and the kids are just laying low at the house on Saturday ... and that there are no more chapters in our travel saga!

Well, good news first. Katie is a very healthy 4 month old! She is 25 inches long now and weighs 14 lbs, 15 ounces - so she's just shy of a 15 pounder. Both put her in the 75th percentile for height and weight ,which means (a) she's definitely going to be tall (gee that's a surprise there, eh) and (b) she's nicely proportioned, which we already knew! Katie also got 4 more shots today - she did SO well! She got two shots in each leg (one nurse takes each leg and they both hit her at the same time) and she did cry, but as soon as I picked her up she was happy and OK! She played some tonight but she did get sort of fussy - she's now napping in her swing.

Bad news on the car front ... Janson's identified the problem as some sort of intake valve (I might be getting that wrong ...) They tried to clean it but that didn't quite fix the problem, so they ordered a part from Omaha. Skip called and checked in with our mechanic here at home (a shop that does nothing but Lexus repairs) and our mechanic said it sounded like they were on the right track. Whew, right? Well ... unless Janson orders the wrong part OR Omaha ships the wrong part. ARRRRGGGGGHHH!! SO - it will be Friday at the earliest before the part comes in, so we're not sure if the car will be ready Friday, Saturday, or possibly even next Monday. Skip is on a flight as I type this back from Nebraska - he felt he really needed to be back in the office tomorrow and Friday. We already had plans to fly to Omaha this weekend anyway, so now we'll just figure out how to get back to Holdrege to retrieve our car; it's likely that Katie and I will fly back solo and Skip will drive the car back to TX.

That's where we stand for now ... I'm going to go wash my face and put shoes on before going to the airport, and I need to get some laundry out of the dryer and load up Katie before we go, too. More to follow as events warrant!!

Well, it's Labor Day weekend ... and I am sitting at home with Katie. Skip remains back in Nebraska ...

We left for Holdrege on Thursday night, staying over in Oklahoma City that night. Left OKC at a decent time Friday - not too early. Made good time into Nebraska and Katie did really well for the long trip. We got into Holdrege at about 8 or 8:30 and went straight to DiAnn's house where we took a few things into the house (including Katie) and then Skip and I headed off to Taco John's to get a bite to eat (no Taco John's in TX ...) Get our food, get back to the car, start it up ... and it dies. Huh. Try again - same thing; as soon as I let my foot off of the gas, the engine stops. GREAT.

We decide to eat there in the parking lot in hopes that whatever has happened to our ol' Lexus will clear itself up. Try starting the car again ... it dies. Try several more times, and the car only runs as long as it's getting some gas, but as soon as I let up on the gas pedal the engine dies.

So ... put in a call to AAA, who dispatches a tow truck. Likewise call back to the house - Angie and DiAnn have gotten Katie to sleep in her porta crib back at the house (by this time it's after 10 p.m.) Tow truck driver from Holdrege finally shows up and says there's no one in Holdrege or Kearney who will touch a Lexus - our best bet is the dealership in Lincoln (150 miles to the east), but maybe the Toyota dealership in Grand Island (only about 90 miles away) would take it. Ugh - we are supposed to go to the football game tomorrow, and the prospect of having the car towed at $3 per mile after our freebie 10 miles isn't exactly thrilling.

The driver calls a bunch of his mechanic buddies around town, finally hooking up with the service manager at Janson Chevrolet there in Holdrege, who says he's pretty booked on Saturday but he will at least look at it. Good deal. So we get the car towed out to the dealership, Angie comes and gets us (and most of the rest of our stuff that's still in the car) and we go back to the house.

Saturday morning, Skip heads out to the dealership - the service manager out there says he's worked on Mercedes and BMWs before, and with the internet, nothing is too tough to fix these days. Says he'll call Skip at some point during the day with an update. So we load up DiAnn's van and head to Lincoln for the game.

Skip and I had a great time in Lincoln - I got good and sunburned and the Huskers won, 52-10. Of course, this whole time, NO phone call from the mechanic - so we have no idea what's going on with the car. DiAnn even calls the guy at home but he doesn't answer. We head back to Holdrege after a stop at Misty's for some good corn fed beef - and once in Holdrege, drive by Janson's to see if we can see the car - we can't, it must be in a garage somewhere (we hope!). So back out onto 4th Avenue (Highway 6) to get back home ... and as I pass a gas station, a city policeman pulls out behind me. He follows me until I turn onto Lincoln Street, where he promptly turns on the lights. GREAT. Turns out the tags on the van had expired ... August 31. It was September 1. Jeez. Got a "fix it" ticket that can be written off once the tags come in ... but it doesn't seem like we are having very good luck on this trip!!

Well, I don't have much vacation left given that I took a lot of time earlier this year to have Katie - so the idea of burning two days to come back to TX wasn't appealing. Skip got on the internet and found I could fly back to TX from Omaha for about $240 - not too bad for a last minute ticket. We went to Skip's grandparents - Ed & Bernie's - as Skip's step mother Betty Jo and her husband Jim were there for a visit. Turns out ... Betty Jo and Jim are on the same flight we'd just booked! They offer to take me and Katie with them to Lincoln - they were staying in a two bedroom apartment - and then onto the Omaha airport this morning. So I quickly turned around, went back to DiAnn's house, loaded up our stuff (as little of it as we needed, since we'd be flying) and off we went! It was sad to have to leave DiAnn and Angie so quickly - Katie had SUCH a good time with them both during the game on Saturday, she just giggled and giggled. But it was nice to get the ride into Omaha / Lincoln with Betty Jo and Jim - it saved Skip from having to make the trip with us, have all of us stay over in a hotel Sunday night, and then Skip would have to drive back to Holdrege Monday after getting us to the airport.

The apartment worked out really well - Betty Jo rigged up a sleeping area for Katie on the sofa (had to use some of the cushions to block her in - Katie now rolls over to her side or her tummy as soon as she's laid down for bed) that worked really well. And of course, after I brag on Katie all weekend about how she's such a good baby, sleeping through the night ... she wakes up hungry at 3:30! I had a hard time getting back to sleep after she ate, worrying about getting up again soon so we could leave for Omaha by 6. We made it, no problems. It was nice having Betty Jo and Jim along to help - I didn't have the stroller (it's in the back of the Lexus, wherever THAT is), just the car seat, a diaper bag, and one duffel bag. I would've carried the duffel on except that since the flight was last minute, I didn't have everything in small 3 oz bottles so had to check the duffel. Getting through security in Omaha wasn't too bad - I left the car seat snapped into the base and was able to get my stuff all onto the belt while holding Katie (having Betty Jo's extra hands was a big help), and on the other end of security the TSA agent was nice enough to pick up the car seat and set it on a table for me, which made it easy to get Katie back into her seat.

I had managed to make a bottle of formula before going through security (bottles of formula = food for babies; bottles of water = terrorist weaponry) so I fed Katie, Betty Jo and Jim got me breakfast, I got Katie changed and we got onto the plane. Unfortunately the plane was pretty full, so I wasn't able to "sneak in" a seat for Katie - the car seat, if used, has to be next to the window, and all of the window seats were taken. So I gate checked the seat and the base, and we got onto the plane. Katie was pretty good - she got a little fussy at times but she also slept some. She also got hungry again at 9:30, so we ate again. We all get off at DFW - Betty Jo and Jim, too; they had to catch a connecting flight to Austin - and try to put the car seat back together (it was two pieces when I handed it off ... one base + one seat; the baggage handlers managed to pull the base into two pieces). Fortunately Dr. Jim got it pieced together, Katie and I headed off to the baggage carousel to get our duffel bag. My friend Debbie came to get us - fortunately she wasn't in Fredericksburg (her hometown) for the long weekend. Aunt Debbie dropped us off and stayed a while - she even watched Katie for a bit while I went to the store, which was REALLY nice. After that, Katie and I caught a few z's and Katie ate even MORE (she's unusually hungry today - I suspect the dry air on the plane but who knows).

So, it's single momdom for me for a few days ... we'll see how it goes. Skip plans to head out to the dealership bright and early tomorrow to try to get a status on the Lexus, let's hope it's nothing that requires a tow into Lincoln. We had just been commenting about what a good car that has been - it's 7 years old and has over 115K miles on it, and other than routine maintenance we haven't done a thing to it. Guess our luck was bound to run out eventually, eh?

It's taken me a while to get this posted, between Katie feedings, diaper changes, a bath and some naps. Katie's now in bed and I have the house mostly picked up and bottles ready for school tomorrow. Not sure if I'll get another chance to update this week - Katie's 4 month appointment at the doctor is this Wednesday (more shots, yucky - but we'll finally be able to answer the hot question of how much Katie weighs these days). Then we're off to Omaha (yep - again!) to see Grandma Sandy and Great Grandma June and hopefully some other friends and family back in Omaha. Who knows ... if it takes all week to fix the Lexus, Skip may end up meeting us in Omaha and we may all drive back to Texas!

That's all for now ... stay tuned.

Special P.S. to Daddy: Katie misses you THIS BIG.