Truly Thanksgiving

Last year, at the Thanksgiving table, I was feeling all sorts of little twinges. 2 days earlier, I'd had 2 little embryos placed in me, so I wondered what was percolating down there, hoping at least one hunkered down for the long haul. What a difference a year makes :) This Thanksgiving we made a pilgrimage of sorts back to Portland aka the scene of the crime. The day we stepped off the plane made exactly one year to the day the little embryo that became Sam was transferred to me. It was pretty dang cool to go back with our beautiful boy to show for all our efforts. Sam is thriving. He's strong and we are so in love with him.

The trip up couldn't have been more smooth. We popped into my office so some of my peeps there could meet Sam, then we were off through security. We breezed through the employee checkpoint and were headed up the escalator when I screamed out, "MY PURSE!!!" I ran down the up escalator and my purse was nowhere to be found. I realized I had left it in my office. The TSA folks were kind enough to let me use their phone to call a colleague to bring it down. Way to go, Stace! Anyhoo! Here's Sam on the plane. Doesn't he look comfy? LOL!

From Sam I Am

We boarded the plane with plans to give Sam a bottle on the ascent to help equalize his ears. Well, he started the bottle and was almost finished before we took off. That worked out well :-/ Then he fell asleep and didn't stir on the way up and it was all good. Midway through the flight, he decided he wanted to party, so we played for a bit. As we began our descent into Portland, he fell asleep again. We stayed put while everyone else disembarked. People walking by complimented us on our child and said they couldn't believe they didn't even realize there was a baby on the plane. We puffed up with pride :) Ann picked us up and we were off to enjoy our visit!

We started off our visit much like the previous year's - babysitting Nat and E while Ann and Mike went to Parent/Teacher conferences. Later, I ran a few errands with Ann and my boot decided to fall apart. Yes, you read correctly. The sole of my boot came off in the New Seasons parking lot and I was walking around like a lopsided doofus in the store. On the way back to the car, the rainwater soaked through the bottom to my socks. When I looked more closely, the sole of the other boot was close to coming off too. I hadn't worn these boots in ages and pulled them out thinking they'd be perfect for the trip. How did I not notice they were pieces of crap?? I said, "Um, ANN!!! I need shoes!" We went into Walgreens to try to find something cheap. No dice, so Ann took me to a trendy neighborhood shoe store where I purchased some fabulous, waterproof boots perfect for Portland and a pair of socks. $12 socks. On sale. They were the only socks available so I was SOL. Ann and I could not stop giggling about my ghetto boots whose remains were recycled at the shoe store. Hey, at least my boots didn't fall apart in the airport! That could have been disastrous and even more embarassing! I can't believe I'm about to show you this, but here it goes:

From Sam I Am

That evening, we had the great pleasure of driving a bit outside Portland to have dinner with our dear friends, The Gatlins and our new friend and Sam's maker, Dr. John Hesla of Oregon Reproductive Medicine. Getting there was dicey. I was driving a stick for the first time in years. I managed to get down the long driveway slooooowly. After a few blocks, I was driving like a pro and managed to not burn out the clutch. Woo hoo! Oh yeah, it was POURING (worst rain all year, we were told. Awesome) and I didn't know where I was going. I was terrified I was going to wreck the Kollrack's car. Side note... If you're on the freeway on your way to Warren, OR and see a bustling place called The Tavern and think it might be a good place to stop for a beer..Well, I guess it is a good place, if you want a lap dance to go with said beer. Keep drivin'! Anyway, I digress....We made it to Manny and Marna's and had so much fun! Marna couldn't wait to get her mitts on Sam. We chowed down on her kick ass chicken piccata (served with the most buttery mashed potatoes I've ever had) and shared some fantastic wine. It was such a joy to see Dr. H. What a lovely, sweet man. And there was something very special in seeing him hold Sam (picture above). It just felt like we'd come full circle. Lots o' love in the room. I am always amazed that just when I think we couldn't possibly be more blessed in the friend department, The Gatlins and Heslas of the world come along. Man, we are so, so lucky. It was pretty late when we headed back. The rain had mercifully halted for the time being. We got Sam to sleep in the co-sleeper Ann snagged from a friend and he slept through the night like the rock star baby he is.

We had a blast hangin' with our Portland family. The girls adored Sam and got plenty of cuddles in. For the most part, we did our usual things, which included eating (alot), drinking (eh, alot?), playing games with the girls (Life was the featured game this year) and many grown up games of slightly buzzed Boggle. Ann, being the consummate bartender, fixed me my first martini since my pre-pregnancy days, "Hello, lover. You're delicious and I've missed you.", I said to my cocktail.

From Sam I Am

No one mixes a drink like Annie PK. We also felt it our duty to help Ann and Mike make a dent in the huge ass bottle of scotch Mike had gotten his wife for her birfday. I'm happy and ashamed to say, we met our goal! A good time was had by all.

We enjoyed cooking our Thanksgiving dinner together and being thankful for good friends and an awesome baby. The only downer of the week was Florida losing, Oregon won (keeping Stanford out of the PAC 12 Championship), the Niners lost and my fantasy team lost! Not a good sports week for Team Martz!

The flight back wasn't quite as smooth. Sam didn't to sleep at first and was a bit screamy on the flight. Well, except for when he was mesmerized by the movie playing on the iPad belonging to the guy next to us. He wasn't screamy like crying. It was more like wondering what the heck was going on with his ears. He finally got worn out from all the walking he was doing on our laps and fell asleep shortly before we arrived at SFO. All in all, he did fantastically well. We can only hope future travel will be as easy.We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots to celebrate.

Let the holiday season begin! We got a tree last week and have yet to decorate it, so that's our goal for the weekend. Our house smells great, but without it being decorated, it just doesn't feel like Christmas is coming, you know? We will be on it this weekend! I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs, Harry Connick's rendition of This Christmas. Enjoy!