Lily Ruth Flies the Friendly Skies

Well, we did it. I looked like it wouldn't happen, but we got packed, got to the airport, waited out a flight delay, and finally flew to Denver. All with only a few minor melt-downs from an exhausted 11 month old. She was a true trooper. In fact, all of the melting down occurred in the airport when she was bored and tired but it was too bright and noisy for her to switch off and relax.

I think that I did more melting down than the baby did. I managed to NOT pack even one single thing until after 3:30. Um, we had to leave for the airport at 4:30. It was ridiculous. Don & I ran around the house like the Keystone Cops hollering helpful things like 'did you pack my toothbrush? Then where IS it?' at each other. We discovered that we had never requested a copy of Lily Ruth's birth certificate. We remembered to bring underwear. We talked ourselves into leaving our bathing suits (bad idea) and taking the stroller (great idea). My grandparents waited patiently in their car to perform shuttle service duties. We ran out of there (only 15 minutes behind schedule) leaving a HUGE mess and confused pets.

Lily Ruth was pretty excited. This level of activity usually signals Big Fun...


The airport was new and exciting. Big, bright, loud and full of strangers. There was lots of big girl walking and loud vocalizing. Eventually, we went in search of one of those bins they use to check the size limit for carry-on luggage...


In the interest of full disclosure, this picture was staged as a response to my friend June who sent me a similar picture earlier that same day of her 1 year old daughter in the same pose. It probably wouldn't have occurred to me to do that on my own. Especially since we had to hunt down the bin - most of them were located on the actual jetway for the gate and were therefore unavailable to us :-( but it is trés adorable, non?

Then came the actual plane ride. Lily was charmed by the view of men working hard on the runway. She waved and smiled. She tired of looking out the window before we took off, and was sitting in Daddy's lap checking out the new toys that Mama had cleverly procured. When the plane left the ground and the pressure started changing, she grew a bit nervous, and reached for me. We agreed that nursing was in order. I was less than thrilled that the off-set seating made our session visible to more folks than I would like, but they all ignored us, and we carried on. She nursed through the first couple of times that my ears popped, then asked to go back to Daddy. She played with new toys again and nursed a tiny bit more when she grew concerned about another pressure change. Then there was light snacking on Cheese Nips (thanks Southwest, and Daddy for sharing:-/) a tiny, almost unnoticed tantrum, serious nursing, and a 45 minute nap!


Check it out - airplane cocktail, crashed out infant, and Alice in Wonderland on dvd. Not too shabby...

Our traveling champ woke up right as we began our descent. She checked out the view for a minute then stood on the floor in between our seats and visited with any nearby passenger who would make eye contact with her. Then she started saying 'tickaticka' and tried to reach between the seats to tickle the passengers there. She obviously felt that they were not paying enough attention to her. Luckily, they found her adorable. They even commended her on her traveling skills, and played 'peep-eye' with her until it was time to de-plane. She found them enchanting.

So, YAY! We made it!