Olivia's World: Florida

We made it. After much stress on both of our parts (the stress was long lived, even before the trip started) we landed safely at FLL and were able to finally relax, a little. The drive to the airport was nice, Olivia was a very good girl and gave us no problems, though she was a little weird that morning. She started out temperamental, which I guess is normal for her, but she was just a little more so than usual. I dropped Brooke and Olivia off at the terminal with a few bags and proceeded to the parking lot to park and bring the big bags and the car seat back. I now truly know my place in life. It is as Olivia's Sherpa. I had the car seat slung over my shoulder and totted the two large check on bags in either hand. It worked well actually.
Brooke was already in line when I got to the terminal and Olivia had been sitting a while in her stroller and was getting anxious (she already had sat for an hour in the car seat for the drive there.) There was a little crying in line but she was still interested in all the people around her and kept it to a minimum. By the time we actually got the bags checked and got our boarding passes, she was well over it, so we quickly headed up to security. This is where she fell apart. The meltdown in the security line was like no other. Normally we can just ignore her when she gets in those moods, but trying to get our shoes off, bags and electronics in the bins, Livi through the scanner etc etc all while she is screaming her head off was not fun. I had half a mind to call the whole trip off and leave with my tail between my legs by that point. Who was this kid??
After we got all settled and her strapped in her stroller we got on the elevator, got upstairs, then let her out of the stroller to run, the smile immediately appeared. She got her way (which if she had just relaxed she would have gotten anyway.) It is amazing to me how fast she can snap in and out of that mood. All smiles running around the terminal, talking to people, laughing at kids etc.
We boarded the plane pretty much dead last, giving Livi plenty of time before being confined. We got seated and from then on Olivia was perfect. No fits or anything. She started stirring 30 minutes into the flight and we started the Beverly Hills Chihuahua DVD and she loved it. Near landing, the woman sitting catycorner to us pulled a dog out of her little dog holder she had on her lap, put a dog pee-pee pad on the tray table, and her dog proceeded to pee on it. It was kind of bizarre, but Livi caught sight of it and wanted to hold it. We made it to landing and got off the plane and she started getting restless again, but it was pretty smooth the rest of the way.
We had a good drive to the house and got unpacked and relaxed a bit until Kirsten and the rest of the family showed up. When they arrived, we let everyone walk outside with Oliva to greet Kirsten et all and see what she would say. Kirsten looked confused that there was another kid there but didn't recognizer her until I walked thorough the door then she realized what was going on. It was a great surprise. I can't believe that we were able to keep the surprise a surprise for two months. It was great!!
The rest of the night was spent catching up and playing with Olivia. Once Olivia went to bed, we all relaxed and spent time together. It was a stressful day but ended well.
Sorry this is kind of an erratic post, but my time is limited and my mind is all over the place!! I will calm down over the next few days I hope.

Here is a picture of the doll that Grandpa got for Livi.