Allie's first plane ride

Whew - what an experience.

Today was Allie's first plane ride...and my first trip solo....with a baby. I was ridden with nerves ALL day today, but purposely made our flight later in the day in hopes that Allie would sleep. One of my friend's on facebook suggested that I have her skip her second nap so that she would go straight to sleep.

Bad idea.

Babies don't tire and fall asleep like grown ups.

They get more restless....and more whiney!

All was well when we boarded the plane in Augusta. Brad was able to go to the gate with us, which took a huge burden off my shoulders. Small plane, few people and a row to ourselves! Yay! Our flight left at 4:30. It took us a little over two hours to get to Dallas and Allie was over it about 30 minutes into the flight. She wanted to play in the empty seat next to us. I decided to keep her occupied by feeding her....except they didn't have a microwave. Ah....I brought some yogurt, a banana and an avocado. Viola - muacamole....

She gobbled it up and then wanted to play more. I kept thinking, "When is this kid going to go to sleep?" She kept wanting to wiggle and yell, so finally about an hour into it, I pinned her in my arms until she whined herself to sleep. THANK GOD!

Yup - we were those people on the airplane...

FINALLY!

When we landed in Dallas, she was in a pretty good mood. Here was the challenge. With booking a later flight, I had a longer layover. 3 1/2 hours. Yup - almost 4 hours.

We went to Chili's and had some dinner. Allie really wasn't in to eating and I could tell the girl did not get enough sleep. She was a bit of a brat. She didn't really eat and really wasn't quiet. So we hurried up there and then walked the airport. And then walked more of the airport. And then more. Luckily, Brad and I had downsized on the monster stroller to a nice sturdy lightweight stroller. Not quite an umbrella stroller, but somewhere in between. We had to make sure it had a cup holder!! So we continued to walk. Our flight didn't leave until 9 and if you're doing the math in your head...left Augusta at 4:30 and landed in Dallas - two hours later. That means it was 6:30, except in Dallas you gain an hour, so it was only 5:30 when we landed. So - around 8:00, we were struggling to stay in the stroller. So I got her out and let her walk, and walk and walk and walk. I let her walk until she was ready to crawl on the ground and then forced her to get into her stroller thinking about all the airport germs. I'm a germ-a-phobe when it comes to Allie and by this point in the game - I was out of sanitary wipes. Oh well. By the time 9:00 rolled around - I was almost in tears. I felt like such a bad mom.

Luckily, when we boarded the flight to Salt Lake, we got another empty row to ourselves and Allie passed out pretty quickly. I was able to lay her down next to me for a little while, but then she insisted that I hold her. I was able to sleep a little and by the time we landed - I was just ready to get settled into the apartment.

Chris met us at the SLC airport and helped with the bags, Allie and the car seat - which was SUCH A HUGE HELP! I am so thankful to have him here in SLC to help me out until Brad gets here!!