Trip for Two: Recap - The Flight

This past week, Jude and I took the trek to North Carolina to visit my mom. My mom is from Delaware and her and my Step Dad moved there about 5 years ago to be closer to his family... and get away from the bitter cold. In addition, my mom opened up a coffee shop there. She's made a bunch of friends there and obviously raves about her grand baby up north. She really wants to show him off, so I've been trying to get back down to visit.

Since I was short of hours this past week for work, I mentioned going down to visit and of course she was thrilled. I considered driving and instead decided to fly - which was a GREAT idea! I planned to fly down Monday and drive back on Thursday with my parents - who were planning on coming to visit anyway.

We had a later flight than I would have liked. Not really thinking, when I asked Ryan what would be the best time for me to catch a flight, he told me to make it as late as possible so that he wouldn't have to leave work. Well, the flight was at about 3:40 - so he had to leave early anyway. But it ended up being perfect.

We got to the airport and I piled out of the car. Ryan couldn't come in with me, so we had a quick goodbye at the curb and we were off. I had plans to not have to check any bags, but my plan fumbled. The car seat I ordered to be delivered to my mom's house was back ordered, so I had to bring Jude's car seat (checked bag #1). Then, Ryan turned into ultra-concerned, super sweet husband-of-the-year when he saw my packed suitcase and carry on bag and told me he really thought it'd be too much for me to carry through the airport with Jude in tow. So, I now had checked bag #2 - my suitcase. Since he told me just to check the bag, I then threw a few more things (that I wanted to take, but just didn't have space for) into another carry on bag.

Luckily, I was informed before I left that US Air let's you check a car seat or stroller for free. I say luckily because apparently everything is automated and I wasn't allowed to check-in with a person. I had a baby on my front in a carrier, two carry-on bags, a stroller bag and a suitcase and I was told I had to lug it all to the automated check-in. Well, had I not been told in advance that my car seat was free, I wouldn't have been told not to pay for it at the machine... thus costing me an extra 25 bucks. So, I had to have a teller help me anyway. Once I got the car seat and my suitcase out of my hands, I felt instant relief.

Also, I needed to get an infant lap pass - which also required teller help. But I digress.

Next, I headed in the direction of security and my gate. I got to go in the 'express' line because I had a baby in tow! The security line wasn't that long, but I must say it was GREAT to be able to walk up to the front! I knew that I'd have a lot in my hands, so thought ahead when packing and getting dressed. I was sure to wear slip on shoes and put my camera pieces on top for easy unpacking. I got through security in a matter of 10 minutes (and that includes the time waiting behind a family of 6 with lots of little ones, carry on bags and strollers!).

Jude was great during our waiting time. I let him crawl (yup - on the dirty floors) to get out energy. He had people cooing at him and we took a trip to get a pretzel. AND GUESS WHO WE SAW!!! Me-Shell was there getting on a flight to Florida and also had a little taste for Auntie Anne's! By the time we got back, the flight was about ready to board and (of course) we were one of the first on (I need to carry this kid EVERY time I fly!).

The flight was about 2/3 full and had three seats on each side of the aisle. So, basically there was a person in a window and aisle seat in just about every row - with the middle seat empty. I got the impression that just about everyone on the flight was flying for business, so even though I had been 100% confident about flying with Jude, sitting on the plane I got a little nervous. I kept telling myself it was only a 50 minute flight, so even if he was a terror - it'd be over before we knew it.

We got a window seat which worked out well, because I planned to nurse Jude and take off. This allowed me to whip it out and not be exposed to anyone. Not too long after getting in our seat, Jude began getting fidgety. He wanted to move, so I let him play a little in the seat between me and our passenger friend. There were a lot of middle-aged men around me and they all seemed super friendly. When I would apologize for something, they all assured me they had kids of their own and that Jude was perfectly fine. He made friends with the guy behind us and it helped assure me that the flight would be a breeze!

When we were ready for take off, I got myself ready to nurse. Put on my cover, got Jude in position and started nursing. At this point he was getting fussy and ready for a nap, so I didn't really have time to wait through taxi-ing. Of course Jude being the curious little man he is, when the plane started making all sorts of noises, he was latching on and off. The fans began blowing, the engine started making noise, etc. I was discouraged and thought for sure he wouldn't be fall asleep. He kept looking up at me wide-eyed, looking out the window, looking at the guy behind us, playing with the blanket (he hates being covered when I'm nursing him) and much more. But eventually he gave in and fell asleep just as we were taking off. I was almost a little disappointed - I thought for sure he'd be really interested to look at the window as everything got smaller and smaller.

There's really not much else to say about the flight. He literally slept through the entire flight - giving me time to read. He didn't wake up until I started moving him around as I was getting out of the seat. The other passengers around me helped me get my bags down and we made our way to baggage claim and then to the loading zone to meet Curt so we could go to dinner!

By the time we were in the car, Jude was hungry and we were in traffic. He threw a fit all the way to the restaurant and then ate like a champion! We had dinner with my parents and my brother and his family. It was great - but it was even better to get to their house, get settled in and go to bed!