Flying There: Part1 of my trip

I have to admit of all the things about my trip, I expected the flying to be the most difficult. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but I think I under estimated the whole being away from home experience. The flying thing started out good. My son didn't sleep the night before, because we stayed in a hotel by the airport and it was too interesting to go to sleep. So he ended up falling asleep around 10pm I think, and we had to get up around 4:30am. So we didn't start out on the best foot. The first flight was the long leg, so I brought the car seat on. I had Lillie strapped to my chest in the Beco, and it was really difficult to get that in there without feeling like I was smashing the baby. She was screaming her head off the whole time, and of course the person sitting in the aisle seat was already on board because he was a "preferred customer." What is it about the idea of letting people who need extra time go first, that seems okay to let people that fly a lot on first? It was really frustrating. I put on a brave face though, and acted like I had it under control. Once the seat was in, it was fairly easy from there. The guy next to me got "bumped" to first class (I think the flight attendants took pity on him) so that I had an extra seat next to me to set the baby down on. Byron just watched his movies and read his books, and fell asleep about 5 min before we made our descent. SUCKY! His ears started hurting from the pressure in the cabin, and he got pissed. I tried to give him gum, or get him to drink or stick his tongue out, but he wasn't having it. Then he was so tired and cranky when we landed that I had to literally wrestle him out of the plane and back into his seat (while wearing a baby strapped to my chest and a huge backpack full of diapers and other essentials.) He was fine after that, because he could just wheel around with me in the airport in his GoGoKidz (converts car seat into a stroller). We ate lunch and he fell asleep...5 MINUTES BEFORE WE BOARDED AGAIN. This plane was too small to use the seat on, so I had to hold him in his seat (with a baby strapped to my chest)while he threw another fit. As soon as the plane started rolling he fell asleep, and slept until we got to the airport in Des Moines. He threw another tantrum all the way through the airport, and into the rental car.

To summarize this day in a nutshell....mind numbing. Once I finally got the kids to fall asleep in the hotel that night, which wasn't until 10:30 or 11pm (only 8:30-9 our time) I lay in bed and it felt like the whole bed was swaying back and forth, and my head was pounding. I needed a rum and coke. I didn't get one, because I had no one with me to leave with the kids while I snuck out to the bar taunting me across the street. Instead, I Facebooked on my Blackberry until I was tired enough to sleep.