This narrative is from my point of view. That means it may include some pregnancy influenced perceptions. Hannah and/or Jimmy (or anyone else for that matter) may not tell the same story.
Sunday, December 27th
It was freezing. Not just chilly, freezing. We packed up the Explorer with what seemed like an awful lot of stuff for 3 days, put our sleepy pj-clad daughter in her carseat, and headed south to the airport.
Once there, we had to figure out how to get everything inside with the number of hands that we had. My mom's joint problems prevented her from being able to take too heavy of a load, my pregnancy prevented me from taking too heavy of a load, Lily had to be carried since we were acres away from the terminal... which left Michael as the pack-mule. I did however find an abandoned "smartcart" in the lot so we were able to haul everything in without too much trouble after that. Did I mention it was freezing? We did not want to take our coats into 80 degree weather though so we toughed it out.
Once inside and on our way to check in it became clear that the "taking the carseat with us" idea was going to be a challenge. The FAA/TSA says kids who would normally be in a carseat are required to be in one on a plane. *They lied by the way. So, after checking in and dropping off our large bags we proceeded to haul the stroller (with Lily in it), her large diaper bag, my purse, a large LLBean tote (toys, books, cooler clothes for L., etc) her carseat (a Britax- probably the heaviest one made), Michael's backpack, mom's carry on, and...that may be it. A guard very nicely let us cut through the stupid strap maze to go to the "family security check area". Every single thing had to go on that belt... including the stroller and carseat. Shoes off, all M's pockety stuff, everything. Then... the diaper bag search... Again...TSA's website says that you can take breastmilk, formula, water, or other liquid in limited quantities for small children- whatever is necessary to get them through their flying experience. I (in true Amanda fashion) had packed enough for a preschool to fly. That is an exaggeration. I packed 3 little 6 oz? bottles of water and 3 little 6-8 oz bottles of white grape juice. Enough. First, they confiscated 2 waters and 2 juices. Evidently the TSA website was kidding. He told me that technically I was not allowed the juice at all, but he would let me take one. $3.89 for 6 of those bottles... anyway... he still tested them for ? fumes? He used what I assume is litmus paper and tested the contents of all 6 containers and then sent us on our way. So, we had to reassemble our caravan of people, totes, bags, stoller, etc and proceed on to the "train". Hurdle #1- getting down to the stupid train....elevator or escalator? I picked Lily up, folded the stroller, and took the escalator. There was a line for the elevator. Hurdle #2- waiting for a train that was empty enough that we could fit on without hitting anyone with stroller, carseat, bags on shoulders, etc. Hurdle #3- moving fast enough to get everything and everyone in the train before the doors closed because as we all know "the doors will not reopen". Lily was watchful of everything but did not seem that interested until we got to the train. She liked that a lot. We figured she would.
We got to the gate with, of course, tons of time to kill- with a 2 year old. We took turns taking walks with her down the strip of gates, looking at planes through the windows and generally trying not to piss off sleeping people at empty gates.
We also went though...probably 3 diaper changes before we left. Note* ATL airport does not have a changing table thing. Seriously?!? So I had to change her on the floor of the busiest airport in the USA's bathroom. Gross.
Eventually, we gave up finding things to do and took her to Paschals to eat something more than a banana and graham crackers. The only snag in this plan is that we had to balance any trips away from our seats and stuff with who could stay and watch them. Mom stayed behind while we went to eat.
By the time we got back, Jimmy's mom had joined mom at the gate. We waited and waited and waited... if I remember correctly the flight ended up leaving about an hour later than what it was supposed to. Oh, they have also done away with the one perk I was really looking forward to using.... NO MORE EARLY BOARDING for passengers with mobility problems or with very young children. Thats right, we had to get in line with the rest of the lemmings to file onto the plane with all that crap and Lily. So, eventually we were able to gather everything up and file onto the plane, hitting who knows how many people with our bags.
Again, I will mention that Lily was the ONLY child on that plane that was in a carseat. You could tell we got bonus pts with the attendants for having her in one, but still. We also sat in the last row of seats. I THOUGHT that was a good idea. No. Those are narrower than even the row in front of it. So, Lily got to sit by the window- required to actually, then Michael, then me. Mom was across the aisle with no one beside her. Of course.
The only 2 parts of the trip that we were really concerned for Lily was going to be take off and landing. We talked on and on about how it was going to be loud and might sound scary but it was ok. We taxied to the runway and went barreling down the strip... Lily: "wheeeee". No problems there. The only real behavioral problem was her kicking the seat in front of her. After about 45 minutes though, she fell asleep and slept till about a half hour or so before landing. Not too bad...
I prayed pretty much the entire time we were flying. The thought of taking my child on a plane 35,000+ ft. in the air was really causing me some anxiety.
Landing was pretty much as uneventful for Lily as taking off. She was definitely ready to get out of her seat though. Of course being the last freaking seats meant we were also the last off the plane. Wonderful planning on my part...
First thing, we grabbed the stroller and loaded it down with stuff and headed to the bathrooms to change clothes. Or at least Lily's clothes.
to be continued...
