If you've ever had the pleasure of staying in a hotel room for five days with a six-month-old, you may be able to relate to my tale, although, it's not the washing bottles in the sink, homeless dirty diapers, or cry-hushing that I'm talking about. It's the lemon of a room, Room 416, and its friend, Room 412, that this story's about, and if you've ever stayed in a hotel room, period, than this story is for you.
After staying a night in Montgomery, AL, where I swear a 300 lb man was playing Wii in the room above us all night, we arrived in downtown New Orleans mid-afternoon on Saturday. We quickly checked into our hotel, which was very nice and in a wonderful location. Upon entering our room, Donald and I immediately started unloading the mountain of luggage and baby supplies that we had wheeled to the fourth floor. We nestled Charley's pack-n-play in a corner of the room, set up her booster seat, assembled her Exersaucer, and the list goes on. We wouldn't ordinarily pack our entire house for such an occasion, but we were extra prepared because Charley and I were going to be spending a lot of time by ourselves in the room, and God forbid we only have the grody floor or fall-friendly bed to play on. "Fall" as in "fall to the ground" not "fall colors, pumpkins and pretty leaves."
While setting up camp, I noticed something on the wall. Get ready CSI lovers... it was blood. On the wall in two places, on the curtains, and on the curtain rod. I shutter as I write this. Eww. So it had been a long day, and we were finally in our room, and finally settled, so the thought of mentioning it to the management, which put us at risk of getting moved to another room, left me feeling exhausted, but with little debate, Donald called the front desk who immediately sent someone to check it out. Calvin, as we now know him, was very apologetic, and quickly cleaned the spots, took down the curtains, and started dishing out options to repay us for the "inconvenience." He didn't use that word, but something similar, and I later realized that it was basically payment to keep our mouths shut. I felt really guilty because we didn't bring it up in order to get anything free, but I wasn't going to argue when they gave us two nights free for future use and complimentary breakfast, which normally cost $11, which cheapskate me would not have paid, so I was very grateful for being able to eat. Some of you are probably appalled that this was "all they gave us" and you would probably own the hotel by now, but again, they were very gracious and we felt it was generous, so we'll leave it at that.
So...then we became "the Spanns in 416 who had the blood all over the place" and all of the hotel staff were very friendly and accommodating, for they wanted to keep their jobs. We tried to let them know that we weren't the type of people who would raise a stink by not raising a stink, but they didn't buy it, and continued to treat us like royalty. So then, we realized the Internet in our room did not work, and not wanting to raise a stink, we dealt with it until D absolutely needed it for work. So I mentioned it to the woman at the front desk, who then sent our man, Calvin, to visit us...He spent 20 minutes trying to fix it, and then gave up, saying that he would have to get a new Internet box and fix it later. He again was very apologetic, and again, we were like, "It's not a big deal....Relax" So, Calvin leaves, only to return a few minutes later informing us that he was going to move us to a new room.... what he wanted to do after the blood incident, but couldn't b/c there wasn't an empty room in the house. Well, apparently, the king of somewhere checked out of a suite, and Calvin hooked us up and moved us in there. It took us about 10 trips down the hall to move all of our junk, but we have been settled nicely here in very-large Room 412 for a couple of days now. However, we quickly realized upon moving in that the Internet didn't work in this room either and that the sink was slow draining, etc., but we were not about to complain. Slow draining sinks in hotel rooms, or anywhere for that matter, are pretty nasty to me, but I didn't want to become "the Spanns in 416 who had the blood all over the place, the Internet that didn't work, who got moved to room 412 with the slow draining sink."
So, back to the crime lab, not sure what the blood was about, but it did cause me to be a bit nervous when I saw a man with like 20 big, black garbage bags in his Explorer a few days later down in the parking garage. I wasn't worried, however, considering he couldn't "get me" b/c I wouldn't have fit amongst the bags in his truck. Donald thinks that me and my imagination are ridiculous, and he would like me to inform you that overall, we had a great time at this hotel, and by the end of it, the entire staff felt like old friends. And, P.S., the Internet started working the night before we left, and therefore, I was able to write this blog. The End.
We spent the week of Christmas in Charleston, seeing as many people as humanly possible. Charley was a trooper, getting hauled around and put to bed in different places. Not to mention this is the Christmas that will be remembered as the "hot Christmas." It was 78 on Christmas day, and we were all sweating in homes where the heat was on just days prior. Charley's fleece Christmas jammies didn't last very long, needless to say.
As for a Charley update... She's so big! She seems heavy even to her own mother, and good gracious, hauling her in the carseat is nearly impossible. She now waves "hi" and "bye." If you see her, you may get a wave, or maybe she'll just stare at you like you're an idiot. That's pretty much the norm. Charley is not a snuggler, unfortunately. Sitting in our lap is way too boring I guess, because she squirms the entire time. Reading to her has even proved to be challenging. My mom says I was never much a cuddler either, so I guess she gets that from me. Dang it! She clams up in public, but at home is quite the chatterbox. Her favorite "words" are "daaadaaa" when she's happy and playing and "mummumuumm" when she's mad or frustrated. Hmm... go figure. No crawling yet. We are at the "sits in one place and plays with toys" stage. It's wonderful. Pretty soon that will be history, I know. The way they grow and change is such a miracle.
That's it for now. See ya in the new year.
Charley's inaugural Carolina game was last night, and I'm so happy that it was a shut out! (USC 34 NC State 0). I'm pretty sure she likes being a Gamecock! (don't worry all you haters...we have her Clemson gear ready for Saturday).
