Baby on a Plane (and more)

On Tuesday, Bertie and I flew out to Virginia to visit family.  I was a little nervous, since it was just him and I.  Aaron dropped us off at the Airport.  Bertie and I went through the Family Security line, which was much shorter.  There was only a metal detector there, no scanner.  (I was wearing Bertie in the Moby).  Aaron joked before dropping me off that they'd need to make sure Bertie wasn't a bomb.  But they actually do!  Anyone who walked through with a child in arms got a hand swab for excelerant.  And they tested the breast milk I brought in a bottle too.  But we had no issues there, I repacked our backpack, and we wandered off.  We had some time before the flight, so we walked around a little.

I was really surprised that people traveling with small kids don't get to board first.  They used to... We we boarded last.  I think we may have actually been the last people on the plane.  We sat in the last row, and the middle seat was open!  We were able to stretch out a bit.  Bertie did well, he fussed a little on take off, but was good the rest of the time.  The flight attendant get him a set of wings (pin), just like in the old days.  The main problem with that flight was there were no changing tables!  I had to try to balance him on the toilet lid, it wasn't easy.

When we got to Chicago we had about two hours.  We did a lot of walking.  I talked to him a lot, telling him all the things around us.  I bought a very expensive, very soggy sandwich.  Then our flight was delayed, so we walked some more.  When we got back from our walk it was time to board.  Bertie was fussy for the whole flight.  We nursed a lot, but it didn't help much.  That flight had a changing table, but we didn't need to use it.

There were a lot of times I could have used an extra set of hands, but I managed.  I even got to play with my phone and read a bit.  

We were met at the airport by mom, Rebecca, and Glenn.  My mom was able to borrow all the baby things we needed; I didn't need to haul the car seat or stroller.

Today was a hard day.  Bertie didn't really nap at all.  So he was very fussy, and bedtime was a nightmare.  I think it was all my fault really.  I had way too much diet coke today.  He was so tired, and fell asleep briefly a couple of times.  I put him to bed, and he immediately started to wail.  I let him cry for 20 minutes, and then went in.  Soothed him, and put his back to bed.  He cried again.  I left him for 15 minutes.  I went in again, we walked, we rocked, we sang.  I spent 20 minutes with him, he was calm, he was sleepy, I put him back down, and once again he screamed.  I texted my mom (she was at the other house, next door) and said I didn't know what to do.  She came over, and rocked, and talked, and soothed.  And still he cried.  So we three got in the car at 10:20pm at drove to the store.  We got baby Tylenol and Gripe Water, and a teething ring.  After having the meds, he was settling down, so we tried again to put him down.  Success!  He was still awake for another 10 or 15 minutes, but he was quiet and smiley.

Originally, I'd planned to spend the night at my sister's apartment tomorrow night, so we could binge watch Orange is the New Black.  But after tonight, I'm not sure I want to risk it.