Have baby, will (try to) travel

Traveling with a newborn. What an astounding experience that is. As I sit here, warm and cozy and HOME in my little house in New York, I still shake my head, dazed and amazed at the airplane flight with little Lillian. I know, most of you have done it once, twice, a thousand times, and I bow down to you. In fact, I bow down to most everyone who has a child and has yet to lose their sanity. How can a tiny little thing not yet weighing 13 pounds require so much effort...and have so much stuff?

The trip from NY to Austin is the one worth telling. Here's how it went down:

I woke up at 3:45 a.m. I fed the baby. I gave her to Trent who snuggled with her while I got ready. I flat ironed my hair, I put on some make-up (gotta look good for the ladies waiting for me in Austin), and I finished packing my bags. It did take me 3 times as long to pack my bags the night before, and that was good times.

At 4:30 we were ready to go to the airport. I put Lillian in her car seat. Trent put my bags in the car. We drove to the airport. I got out of the car. I put on the Baby Bjorn. I grabbed the diaper bag. I grabbed my baby out of her car seat. I flagged down the sky cap. I found out that the Rochester sky cap sucks...all she did was walk inside with me and run my credit card through the kiosk. $50 bucks to check those bags. I gotta talk to Delta about that. It's not working for me, not at all.

Some more stuff happened, like security and walking to the gate. I made it to the plane. I sat down. I put Lillian in her Kiddopotomus and she slept like a log while I held her with the baby-Boppy in my lap. I got off in Atlanta. I cursed the airport designer who made the chairs all facing each other in the Atlanta airport. I sat down facing a big ole cowboy dude. I pulled out my Bebe-au-lait (aka Hooter-hider...it's really called that...) and fed the baby while cowboy dude tried to not stare at me. I got a protein bar smeared all over the baby-Boppy while I tried to eat while trying to nurse while balancing the Boppy, the Bebe-au-lait, and the Baby.

More stuff happened after that, including changing the baby in the airplane bathroom with the little changing pad from her diaper bag spread over the top of the toilet and wondering if I was going to give her some sort of STD for sticking her on the toilet...and wondering where else I was going to put her to change her anyway if it wasn't that cozy little spot on top of the airplane toilet.

By the time I landed, my arms were shaking from holding her, I was dizzy with fatigue from waking up early, and hungry from the lack of food (remember the days when you actually got fed on airplanes?). I grabbed (just one more time to refresh your memory. Oh, and extra credit to anyone who recognizes what each of these baby things ARE): the boppy, the diaper bag, the bebe-au-lait, the kiddopotomus, the bjorn, and, of course, Lillian, and somehow made my way off the plane.

But I was in Austin, and all 5 of my glorious sisters were there to greet me. You've probably read about the ups and downs of the trip. It all worked out well. We pulled it off with a little sickness, a little drama, and a whole lot of grace. I'll end with the wonderful words of my sister Julianne, who was able to encapsulate so perfectly the trip for all of us:

"It's been a rough month but such is life when we're forced to rush 'time'. I am sure that if given more 'time' our differences would settle down, and understanding and laughter would abound. Let us remember this Thanksgiving how lucky we are to have each other. Ten hands to hold when life brings sadness, ten arms to embrace our joys, five smiles to uplift and rejoice in our accomplishments, and five hearts filled to overflowing promising love never ending."

It was worth it.