Nate's "Big Gross!"

I'm falling way behind on all of my blogging but I wanted to get this story recorded before I forgot. I still need to do my massive Houston post, but I am living with my mom and dad and their Internet isn't as fast as ours used to be so I'm going to have to wait on doing that one. However, I do have a great story about our flight home. I should warn, though, this is not a story for those with a weak stomach.

On our flight home from Houston, Nate, Robert and I were seated in the very last row of the airplane. I hate the very back because it takes forever to de-board and your seats don't recline. During the flight Robert and I had an understanding that halfway through the flight we'd switch chairs so neither of us had to sit next to Nate the whole flight because he can really wear you out. He loves the window seat so I sat next to him with Robert next to the aisle. During the flight we gave Nate rainbow colored goldfish and apple juice to snack on. Nate's been flying since he was 3 months old so he does really well. He loves to fly and see the big planes. Near the end of the flight I had to get up to use the restroom and that's when Robert and I decided to switch seats. I came back and not 5 minutes later we began our descent. I was thinking about how great the flight has been when Nate starts screaming, "I hurt! I hurt, Mommy!"

I look over and ask him, "Where do you hurt?" It was so out of the blue and he'd just been sitting there happily playing.

Nate looks at his dad and me and the next thing we know he's projectile vomited all over himself, the seat in front of him, and down on the floor all over our bags under our seats. Robert reflexively reached out and tried to catch the mess on it's way out so his hands and arms were covered. He yells for me to grab a vomit bag but it's too late at this point. Because we are descending no one can get out of their seats. The people around us are looking over and looking a bit sick themselves. All we can see is rainbow goldfish and all we can smell is stomach bile and old apple juice. Everyone has their hands over their noses and giving us sideways glances. Because we were in the back of the plane I looked around at the stewardess and asked for help. She said that she couldn't do anything because we were in the middle of the descent. I told her what happened and she got us napkins and a garbage bag. We start cleaning up but there's a huge mess and it's slow going. Meanwhile, Nate is yelling that he's cold and he's shivering from being wet for so long. He looks up at me and says, "I made a big gross. I made a big gross!" He looks so worn out and sad. I felt so bad for him when I told him we had to wait to land before I could really help him.

After what seemed like forever we finally landed. We had carried on all of our baggage so I pulled a clean outfit out for Nate and we stripped the yucky clothes off and threw them in the garbage bag. We managed to clean things the best we could all to the soundtrack of, "I'm sorry, I made a big gross!" Followed by a full reenactment of the mess sparing no sound effects. Poor kid was really traumatized. The stewardess was so nice and told us not to worry about cleaning it too much because the mess was so big they would just replace the entire seat! The good news was that the plane was headed to the hanger so there wasn't another flight after we got off. I was thinking about the poor person who had to sit in that seat, not to mention all the people around him.

So we deplaned and I took Nate to the bathroom to wash his face and hands the best I could. On our way out of the bathroom I'm feeling a little sick and I know Robert is feeling a little green when I see his face as Nate and I meet him outside of the bathroom. That's when Nate looks up and me and says, "Mommy, I'm hungry."

Are you kidding??? No way! I thought I was going to be sick now. Anyway, long story short, we got everyone fed and made it home safely. Now Nate tells his "Big Gross" story all the time with all the sounds effects. All our family thinks it's hilarious and I admit that now I look back on it and think we handled it pretty well but this is one of those parenting moments I could have done without.