We came home for Christmas this year and it was a fantastic
trip. It was great to introduce
Benton to so many people that love us and now him. Leaving for the trip did not go exactly as planned. The day we were scheduled to leave Matt
had school. He was at work and I
was working on packing at home. I
had nearly everything laid out to pack but was waiting on Matt’s shoe decision
before I began putting stuff into bags. The driver was going to pick us up at
4:00pm which would put us at the airport 3 hours early because we wanted to
make sure we got the bulkhead seat that had a bassinet and we wanted to make
sure we had plenty of time for error having not traveled with a baby
before.
Matt text me around 10 and said that our flight was delayed
2 hours which meant that we would miss our connecting flight in LA and we would
have to stay the night there. I
was so sad. This meant that we
would miss nearly a whole day at home.
Matt got on the phone with United and after getting cut off their Skype
connection more than once he THOUGHT we could get on a 1:30 flight. This was great news…. Only it was now
11:45 and we live an hour from the airport.
Now picture the scene from Home Alone when they are late for
the airport. That was us. Run run Rudolf should be playing in
your head right now.
We packed stuff in 15 minutes. After about 10 minutes of us running around like crazy
people Xiao Ma said “you leave now?
You leave 4:00?” When
we said that we leave now she laughed at us and helped us get our stuff. She had to come with us to the airports
so she could bring the carseat back to the apartment.
We weren’t able
to get the driver on such short notice so we had to get a cab. We had 2 large checked bags, 3 maximum
sized carry-on bags, 2 personal bags, a stroller, a baby, an Ayi, two adults,
and a partridge in a pear tree.
Matt didn’t think it would all fit and I kept insisting. Finally, Xiao Ma and I rode the hour to
the airport with the stroller on our laps. Who needed to see out anyway?
When we arrived at the airport Matt ran in to try and get
our seats. The cab driver pulled up
to the curb in the nearest lane, which was three lanes away. The inner two lanes cleared while we
were getting organized so me and my 55 year old Ayi were dragging 50lb. bags
from the middle of the street to the curb, meanwhile Xiao Ma is yelling. “get
the baby inside, it is too cold” (it is 48 degrees) This all wouldn’t be such a
problem with roller bags but Matt insists on using duffle bags for maximum
packability. ‘It won’t be a
problem Bri, I will carry them’ he says.
I digress. Matt reappears just in time to push the airport cart into the
airport. I had just enough time to strap Benton in his Ergo baby carrier. “I think we are going to make it” Matt
says. We are rushed to the front
of the line and our bags are checked.
We then have to go through immigration and security and our flight was
boarding. Matt, Xiao Ma and I are
running through the airport. We
paused outside of customs to tell Xiao Ma she couldn’t come with us any
farther. She kissed Benton’s head and
says “I love you baby boy”. I
think she wasn’t sure if we would survive the trip.
We made it on the plane but we didn’t have seats
together. Benton was starting to
share his general displeasure of the situation loudly as I found my seat. When I wiggled my way to the window
seat I unstrapped the carrier and what I found was no surprise. My entire midsection and Benton’s whole
lower half were covered in poop.
Matt had the diaper bag. We
resolved that situation while I profusely apologized to the man sitting next to
me.
Matt lost his ticket stub and was sure I had it. While I had a naked baby on my lap the
flight attendant was on the intercom saying ‘there is a red bag and brown North
Face jacket placed in an incorrect seat, please come collect your items or they
will be removed from the aircraft’
Those are Matt’s things I think.
Matt is trying to make his way against all of the passengers trying to
find their seats. He is telling me
to look for his ticket because he doesn’t know where to sit. The man next to me offers help and he
digs through my purse to find Matt’s ticket stub. No luck.
Eventually they figure out where he should be. (Matt finds his ticket in his pocket later)
Matt switches seats so we are able to sit next to each other
for most of the flight.
Benton did amazing.
It was as if he understood that it was just temporary. I used my nursing pillow on my
lap to hold him. He slept fairly
well. When we arrived in LA Matt
tried to get coffee for both of us and I was going to hang out by the
gate. Benton woke up from his nap
and was hungry NOW. I was
struggling to get the nursing cover from the bag below the stroller with a
screaming baby. I finally got it
out and was nursing when Matt came back with his pants speckled in coffee. He
saw the stressed look on my face and we both decided not to leave each other
again while traveling. He had
dropped his coffee all over himself and it was time to board. I interrupted nursing to get in line and
when we got to the front there was a problem. Matt was shuffled between two counters trying to get the
ticket situation figured out. Finally, 15 minutes later I was burping Benton
and Matt noticed white stuff on the carpet, then there was more. His eyes made their way up and I had
spit up all down my back. Matt
later said that he couldn’t believe that we were ‘those parents’ that just
can’t get themselves together. We
finally made it to Denver where we were greeted by my Dad and Jackie. We made it to Denver 6 hours earlier
than our scheduled arrival. It was
worth the craziness for an extra half-day at home.
Our trip back was much less eventful with the exception of a
man’s pills landing on Benton from the overhead compartment resulting in a 30
minute melt down. I hope the
flight this summer is uneventful J
