Homeward Bound, Part II

I wish you all could have seen me schlepping Miss Gracie and all her accoutraments through the airport on my own yesterday. Judging by the looks of pity I got from passengers of all ages, it must have a sight to behold!

I have been worrying about it for weeks--how to get baby, diaper bag, and car seat from the car to the airplane successfully (keep in mind that Gracie is now half my height and about 1/5 my body weight), and finally came up with a plan. First, I strapped Gracie's baby pack on and carried her facing the outside world (for her entertainment) with her back to my tummy. I packed all her stuff--food, diapers, etc.--into a backpack and slung that over my back, then carried the car seat around switching from hand to hand. When Steve saw me entering baggage claim on the other end of the flight, he started laughing. Hard. :)

As always, Gracie was a little dolly and total angel baby. She is certainly spoiling us, being so good, and we are thankful for it! We had a little impromptu photo shoot once we were successfully settled in.

Gracie is a big, big fan of rice cakes, and we are big, big fans of how long they keep her entertained!

She was really digging the camera. :)

We had a little bit of a rough start getting on the plane. They moved our gate, and I had to figure that out for myself. When I found the new gate I went up to the desk to double-check, and the U.S. Airways flight attendants would NOT make eye contact with me. So I was just standing there right in front of them holding baby, back pack, and car seat, and they just kept doodling around. Finally I said "Excuse me?" to one of them and she looked at me, said "It's going to be a few minutes," and walked away. So then this other one came over, and she wouldn't look at me either. When I politely demanded her attention and asked if this was the right gate, she simply pointed at the flight number and looked at me like I was a moron--she didn't even say anything! So I almost started crying, but decided that would be lame, so I just called Steve to vent instead. Boo, U.S. Airways. Boo.

Then we got on the plane, finally met one nice flight attendant, and she had us settled in and was very nice. Then our row-mate--a guy about my dad's age--sat down, took one look at Grace, and asked to be moved. Which actually ended up pretty well, because we got a whole row to ourselves.

Then, about halfway through the flight, there was a poomergency. So poor Grace. I had to wrangle her, strip her down (it was a bad one requiring clothes changing) and change her right there on my lap. Then I had to keep her entertained and at bay as I wiped up the unfortunate incident in her car seat with baby wipes. Those things are amazing. As this was our second poomergency of the day (we started the morning with one as well) I opted to leave her clothing free so she would have something left to wear when we saw her daddy for the first time in a week. She was very happy to be almost naked, and I was very proud of myself for handling the poomergency, so we celebrate with some play time and another photo shoot.

Grace was still really digging the camera.

I'm happy to say we landed without further incident--in fact, she even took two naps and slept right through the landing (must be because the pilot was such a good lander, this being the birthplace of flight and all). But she met Steve in a weird mishmash of clothes because I forgot to pack her a full extra outfit. We haven't had a poo incident like this since she was teeny! Steve and Gracie were joyfully reuinited, and he had her squealing with laughter in the baggage claim. It was so cute. And it was SO good to hug him again. Oh I missed him!

Now we're here in our cute little new home with Gracie sleeping, and Steve's dad and brother Eric hanging out. The boys are online or reading books, and we're happy not to have to be all on our own quite yet. We love our home, our baby girl is adjusting well to the time change (can't say the same for myself, though), and we're excited for what is to come. I'll try to post some more pictures tomorrow. :)