Cruise Part 1

Not sure how far I will get as I am nauseous and the world is spinning. In case you all can't tell we went on a cruise to the Bahamas lol. I was so excited for this trip because it was my first cruise and a lot of firsts for Maddy, as well as her second birthday. I stayed up all night Wednesday night trying to cram in school and make sure we had everything packed. I ended up spending all my time on school and still did not get everything finished. I worked 4 a.m. till 8:00 a.m. and then finished getting everything together. I was supposed to check Maddy's suitcase again but never did. You will understand why that is important later. Finally right around noon we were all ready to jump in the truck and take off on a 2 hour drive to Atlanta, GA to catch our flight at 5:13 p.m. It was perfect timing because Maddy was ready for her nap and I was also ready for some much needed sleep. We had to stop at a couple of stores to get last minute items and get some food as well. We stopped at Sonic and chowed down on some good food. Maddy stayed asleep until right as we got into Atlanta. I love looking at Atlanta because it is so pretty at night with the lights on the building. Maddy was eating her lunch finally and she looked like she was choking. We had a minor panic attack because she has never been choked and I felt like I couldn't get to her fast enough. She was breathing but she just seemed funny. She spit out her fry...or so I thought and then stuff just kept coming out in waves. After it was in my hand I realized she was throwing up. I was so worried that she was coming down with a bug. I decided to see how she acted at the hotel before I made any decisions at all. So we make it to the airport and man can we pile on some luggage. Between the 3 of us we had 5 suitcases to check in and then I had my backpack which was as full as possible, Maddy's so called diaper bag, and then Maddy's backpack. My mom had her backpack and a duffel bag and then my stepdad had no carry on luggage. With only 2 adults, because I had to push Maddy in her stroller, it was a bit rough getting it all in. We did put the checked luggage on a rolling cart, but my back was about to break lol. Airport security was a bit intense. They are so serious and try to rush people through and that is super hard when you have a toddler on top of all this luggage you have to take care of. I agree with airport security, but I think they need to have a line solely for parents traveling with children and have friendlier TSA's who understand it may take the parent a little longer to get everything. Once we got through security I felt as if I had run a marathon and we were just getting started. The air apparently wasn't working or was turned off because it was so hot in there we were all sweating quite a bit. We walked quite a bit on the people movers to get to our gate to board flight 75 to Fort Lauderdale, FL :) Our plane was on time and I was a bit nervous over Maddy getting sick while on the plane as well as would she enjoy the ride or would it scare her. Here she is on the plane:

I felt bad because I only brought one blanket and unfortunately it was on her lap when she got sick. I decided to use my jacket as a blanket in case she needed some comfort. Maddy seemed to enjoy the plane ride. We said, "weeeee" all the way down the runway. We had lots of bumps and a few drops here and there from the clouds that were around. I'm not sure what happened because I never get sick on planes but I almost did not make it through that flight without getting sick. I tried to stay strong and smile and laugh with Maddy, but I felt like I was not going to make it. We landed and all was well with both mommy and Maddy. Here is our view from the window once we landed

Once we stepped outside of the airport in Florida, we were instantly hit with extremely high humidity. It was so hot and muggy and the air was so thick that it was just miserable. We waited for our shuttle to take us to the Comfort Inn and Suites. The driver drove a little crazy and I was beginning to wonder if he was trustworthy lol. We made it and stood in the lobby for quite some time with absolutely no air conditioning. Oh man it was not fun. Once we got checked into our rooms we headed over to Taco Bell for some much needed food. The three adults all got nachos bellgrande and Maddy got the bacon chicken flatbread. The worker was so enthralled with Maddy and how beautiful she was. She just kept saying over and over oh she is so pretty! Once it was my turn to order she was like she looks like a porcelain doll and is just beautiful! I was beaming of coarse but started laughing as well because ever since she was born people have always said she looks just like a doll. She told me she needed to model and then decided I should stick her on Toddlers & Tiaras and she said she would win for sure. I was polite and smiled and said thank you, but in my head I was saying umm....I don't think so lady lol. I strongly disagree with Toddlers & Tiaras. I want to teach Maddy what real beauty is and I want her to know she is beautiful without all the "fake" stuff. By the time we got back to the hotel I think it was around 11 p.m. and me and Maddy snuggled up for night night. I am going to stop here for now to give you all and myself a break lol. I will try to post tomorrow night to talk about our first day on the ship :)