Still recovering

We got back from our trip to California on Tuesday, but I am still recovering. Matthew and Ellie are still suffering from a change in their schedules, and we still haven't fully unpacked everything yet. Here are some lowlights from our trip:

• I came up with the "brilliant" plan of bringing Ellie's carseat on the flight to California so she could sleep in it and we wouldn't have to hold her. What ended up happening was that we had to carry her carseat everywhere (along with the double stroller, DVD player, diaper bag, Peter's backpack, Ellie's princess suitcase, and Ellie's backpack), and she wouldn't sleep in it anyway. Boo that idea.
• There was no crib in our hotel room the first night. We all slept in a king-size bed together, and Matthew woke up about 4 times from 12:30 (when we arrived) to 6:00, at which time he decided to wake up for the day. I also got a lecture from the hotel guy about not calling and requesting a crib in advance.
• Ellie decided not to nap during most of the trip, but go to bed at 8 (10 Houston time) and wake up at 9 (11 Houston time).
• Matthew got sick and feverish Saturday night, waking up at 4 am (Sunday morning, I guess) burning up. He was cranky and clingy the rest of the weekend and just broke his fever this morning. He also at his first full meal at dinner tonight. It took him three days to eat a little container of applesauce.
• Despite having a crib the other nights, Matthew continued to wake up at least twice every night due to someone having the nerve to move in their sleep and make any sort of noise.
• Friday night we went out to dinner for my mom's birthday. Ellie came along and didn't fall asleep until 11:30 California time (she HAD napped that day, but still).
• A rambunctious toddler decided to repeatedly squish Matthew in this gated play area thing at Abby's party while his parents and their friends sat and watched. I rescued him twice, waiting for the toddler's parents to take action so as not to rebuke a strange child. No action was ever taken. Boo passive parents.
• Matthew slept 40 minutes on the plane ride back, then crankily wanted to move around the entire remainder of the flight (about 3 hours). Ellie fell asleep 5 minutes before we landed, making it even HARDER to tote all our things around once we were on the ground.

Not that the trip was all bad. In fact, there was definitely more positive than negative. Here are some highlights.

• Grandma and Grandpa were in the hotel room next door, so Matthew got dropped off at 6am while Mommy and Daddy slept. It was also particularly helpful during naptime.
• Abby had a good time with most of us (still unaware of Matthew). She was really friendly and warmed up to us quickly.
• The weather was insanely gorgeous as was the landscaping everywhere. Stanford Mall, especially, was ridiculously beautiful. If only all malls were...
• Ellie had a blast hanging out with family. She didn't even mind not having other kid friends to play with besides Matthew and Abby. She LOVES her cousin!
• Matthew still smiled at everyone, despite his sickness. If anyone was ever in the elevator with us, he'd grin at them until they looked at him. If they didn't look at him, he'd yell out grunts until they did, then beam at them for paying attention to him.
• Peter got his California fixes (eating by the water, In-N-Out, soontubu, sushi).
• We finally met Gloria's skateboarding lawyer fiance Dave and liked him a lot. Peter was excited to learn that Dave had met Tony Hawk, and from this point on will identify him as Dave, Gloria's fiance, who's friends with Tony Hawk.
• Karaoke Revolution.
• We took the kids to the zoo and enjoyed the weather and fun facilities. Although the zoo itself was pretty lame, the rest of it was great. If we lived there, we'd be at Happy Hollow at least once a month, I'm sure.
• I won several rounds of 4 player Dr. Mario (although only on slow speed)! Not bad for being incapable of clearing horizontally.

It's always good to see old friends and family. And nice weather. And flowers on steroids. Sigh. I usually leave California all bitter and resentful. This case included.

Whenever we go, though, I always wonder to myself where I would be had I never left. An interesting discussion I had with Danny and Jieun was regarding the fact that I was "normal." Uh, whatever THAT means. I always thought I was kinda weird, but I think I have normalized somewhat. Probably more so since I became a mom.

More than anything, I'd like to think that I'm comfortable. Meaning, it's easy for people to feel comfortable around me. Like, our house is very comfortable. I guess people would say it's a nice house because it's rather large and spacious, but there's nothing in here that is of any value, hardly any type of decorating other than photos has been attempted, and none of our entertainment appliances are super high tech. It's always a little dirty, usually pretty messy. But it's a comfortable place to hang out. Kinda like me, I think. Yes? No?

Anyway, I think Texas "normalized" me to some extent. Maybe not Texas. Maybe Peter. The fact that he's so weird has forced me to become more normal. Also, being with him exposed me to social groups I'd NEVER have been friends with (rich white people and their parents) and am now comfortable with. I think that played a big part. I'm fairly certain if I'd stayed in California I'd only have Asian, primarily Korean, friends. I don't think I'd have two kids, and I'm almost positive I wouldn't be a stay-at-home mom. Probably married, probably still working, probably tanner from being outdoors.

I have no conclusion to this entry, but I'm one of those who needs at least a conclusive sentence. So... the end.