Welcome Home

Yesterday was a day from hell. Of course, maladies make for better blogging anyway. Our day went smoothly enough, beginning with an interview at MD Anderson, followed by a riotous game of croquet. Sadly, we then left Texas to go back to Arizona. Ally did OK on the plane, despite the fact that she has a cold and desperately needed a nap. (The stewardess came over and gave her some things to play with because she was crying. Then I felt bad because we were one of those people who can't get their kids to behave on the plane). When we arrived in Phoenix, the pilot announced that there was an unscheduled plane change, that instead of staying put we needed to gather up all our crap, put our shoes back on, wait for the stroller to come back off the gate check, wait with a crying baby in the terminal before loading onto a different plane. Luckily, there were only a handful of people going the rest of the way to Tucson, so we got to spread out on the plane and didn't have to worry about Ally kicking the seat in front of us. We arrived in Tucson at 11:30 PM and waited for our luggage at the courosel. And waited. And waited. Now, luggage gets misplaced all of the time. But at midnight with an ornery child it seems worse than it is. Not to mention the fact that the entire plane was in the same situation, so we had to stand in a longer than usual line to report our luggage and get a loner booster seat so we could legally drive Ally home.
Next we trudged outside in the cold and waited for the shuttle. And waited. And waited. Finally, we called and they sent over one shuttle. One. Shuttle. For about 30+ people waiting in the cold. We didn't make it on the first bus. We decided that one of us should go back inside the airport with the baby and the other wait for the shuttle, get the truck, and come back for the other one. So I walked Ally back to the airport. She played with my phone while we waited. And waited. And waited. I called Matt. He said that he was taking so long because he was the last person let off of the shuttle. Well, second to last if you count the guy who got all the way to his car and realized that his wife (whom he left at the airport) had the keys. At least we weren't that guy. By the time he got there, it was 1:30 in the morning. Not bad for us, but horrible for a 1 1/2 year old with a cold and no nap. (The picture below is me trying to keep her happy by playing with my camera phone at the airport at 1 am).
When we got home, the cats had gotten into the toilet paper and cotton balls and there was white crap all over the floor. The backyard light was on, blaring into our neighbors bedroom window, which I'm sure he didn't appreciate, and the kid we paid to take care of our animals had left the backdoor unlocked and partially open.
I don't know if it was the cold, the cough, the change of location, or maybe just the fact that she was tired beyond all reason, but poor Ally was up crying until 4 am. And then she woke up at 8:30 and cried even more. She was exhausted, but didn't want to sleep, she just wanted to be held and rocked. She finally fell back to sleep at 9:45, so we called and had to reschedule her doctor's appointment at 10:15. And so, after a night with very little sleep, I had to go to work without any makeup on because our luggage still hadn't arrived, and of course, you can't take makeup on the plane because your mascara might blow up. Oh yeah, and this morning our landlady called and informed us that she didn't want to go month-to-month like we talked about last month, so coming February we either needed to sign a 7 month lease or find somewhere else to live. So, depending on the job situation, we may be homeless come February. What a welcome home.