baby's first plane ride

my biggest fear: that caleb would the 'that baby' who screamed and cried the entire way, and i would be 'that mother' that could do absolutely nothing to console him.

for the fist ten minutes on the airplane, this is what i really thought was going to happen. we had woken him up only a couple hours after he went to sleep to thrust him into the hussle and bustle of the airport, not to mention a very anxious and stressed out mom who realized that (a)we had ALOT more luggage that it initally looked like (b) most of it was caleb's and (c) he was the only passenger unable to help cart our luggage and who himself had to be carried. it also dawned on me that seb's parents, who were picking us up, may not be able to even fit all the luggage in their car.

i knew i had packed too much, but having never been away from home for 5.5 weeks, and having never done so with a baby, i wanted to prepare for anything, and somehow when it was all in the suitcases and duffel bags in my bedroom on the floor, it really didn't look like that much. (SO wrong.)

after we checked our luggage and made it to the gate, i suppressed the urge to cry and instead focused my energy on keeping caleb from eating the armrests on the chairs at the gate. after a while i realized this was going to be impossible and just wiped them down with my sani wipes first. i know my germophobia is somewhat ridiculous but in an airport i feel fully justified in being a little overprotective.

caleb was clearly tired but seemed to be operating just on the novelty of it all, and was fascinated by all the new sights and sounds. he also took the opportunity to flash his charmer smile at anyone who would look at him long enough. but by the time we got on the plane, he was reaching the end of his rope, and as soon as i had to strap him into his car seat (and yes, we paid for him to have a ticket, and yes, i think it was totally worth it for this kind of trip) he really really lost it. in that moment i really did think it was going to last the entire flight. unable to pick him up and console him i was soon sobbing as well. with nothing else to do and knowing that seeing each other would just make it harder on both of us, i pulled his car seat shade down, covered it with the airplane blanket, and started praying. after what seemed like forever, but was really only as long as it took us to get into the air, he was asleep.

he did wake up about half way but the worst was over, i was able to feed him and put him back to sleep much easier this time, and the same went for the second flight. he had awake and playful moments but unfortunately there was never anything to see out of the window when he was allowed to be out of his seat. he was asleep when we landed in LA, but i don't know if he's ready to appreciate sunrise anyway.

his nana and papa were very happy to see him when we reached our destination, and we were very happy to have the flight behind us. (and that the luggage DID fit in the car, though barely.) mostly i was very happy that my little man turned out to be a very good traveler.