Traveling with a baby

Did I ever tell you about them time I flew to Seattle to visit my sisters? Oh yeah, I think I have, like a million times.
But I don't think I told you about my journey of a flight getting there! Well, let me sum it up for you. It was awful.

My flight was supposed to leave at 12:15 PM. But right around that time there were terrible thunder storms in Dallas so it was delayed. Which meant I was going to miss my connecting flight in Las Vegas.
So, they rerouted me and put me on a flight to San Antonio where I would catch a flight directly to Seattle.
But the flight to San Antonio was late too. I got off the plane in San Antonio only to find out that my connecting flight had taken off only 5 minutes earlier. It was so depressing. I was in tears as I stood there at the gate counter with Cole in my left arm, my bags in my right. (My stroller that I'd gate check was no where to be found since it was supposed to be checked all the way through to Seattle.) The Southwest worker told me that the soonest flight she could get me on was in a couple hours. But the flight was to Houston, where I would get on another flight to Phoenix and THEN it would go to Seattle, scheduled to arrive at 11:40 AM their time, (That's 1:40 AM Dallas time) when I was supposed to be getting there at 6 PM Seattle time.

Obviously I made it to Seattle, but traveling with a baby is not easy!! There were many times I wished that Steve were traveling with me because it would have made things so much easier! For example, if he could have been the one sitting next to me while I nursed Cole on the plane, and not some random person, I would have been able to spread out a little more.
Oh the things people don't know about traveling with a baby. I would think this a lot. Before boarding each plane, I would have to know which side I needed to nurse Cole on so that I could make sure that that side was facing the window. Ok, I need to get a window seat on the right side of the plane this time. And  then I would hope that I wouldn't have to nurse him on the other side for the rest of the flight.
Or what about changing your baby's diaper in those teeeeny tiny bathrooms?! You moms can sympathize with me! It's nearly impossible. But I did it. Not without Cole peeing all over the place though. I think of all the other babies before him who have peed all over the same place and it's seriously a disgusting thought!!
And what about the looks you get from other passengers when your baby is being fussy?! I found myself rehearsing in my head what I would say to them if they ever put into words what their faces were saying. "You have NO idea what we've been through today so please don't give me your judging looks!" They had no idea that Cole hadn't slept barely at all that day. How could he sitting on my lap in those tiny seats? They had no idea that we had been traveling all.day.long. And that the majority of the traveling was just flying around the state of TEXAS!

Although it was not a fun flight/s, and some people didn't have very friendly faces, I thought I should mention that honestly, quite a few of the people I encountered were actually very nice to us.
I sat next to a retired midwife on one flight, and a sweet grandma on another. Both helped me to nurse and didn't mind that Cole was kicking their legs while he did. The midwife told me I was a good mom and the grandma would kiss Cole on his head :) On my last flight, I sat next to an Asian man who didn't say a word to me the whole time until we landed, when he told me in his broken English: "Such a good little boy." (The last flight was the one where I finally got Cole to fall asleep...)
The Southwest worker who rerouted my flight out of San Antonio was very sympathetic and came out from behind her counter to tell me the bad news as I tried to sniff my tears away. She didn't mind when Cole started pulling on her hair but she stroked his arm and was very sweet to him.
Another gate worker went out of his way to find my stroller for me. Thank goodness it wasn't lost!
There were a handful of people who helped me with my luggage while I pushed the stroller, who would collapse my stroller for me to put it through security or who would give up their seat for me to sit down at a crowded gate.

So, although it was a pretty miserable and tiring little adventure getting up to Seattle, I am very thankful for the good people out there who were kind and sympathetic to a young mom and her baby, someone they didn't even know.

It makes me feel like the world really ain't so bad after all :)

ps, you should check out Emma's Ice Cream Cake recipe on our blog. It's just about the yummiest, easiest recipe ever. One that I got to enjoy with my sisters while I was with them in Seattle :)