We made it! In one piece! Albeit tired, but that's expected regardless.
As I stated earlier, I was a bit nervous since the flight was full. Well, it looks as though about a third of the passengers didn't show up so we ended up with an empty seat between us..all for Sofie! We strapped her car seat into it and the setting was perfect..The movie monitor was directly above the seat in front of her, so if she decided she wasn't ready for bed, she could sit there and watch whatever was on (didn't think the whole plane would appreciate if I asked for one of our Baby Einstein videos to be played). As it was, she fell asleep before take off. I had the bottle in hand waiting to see if she needed to feed during lift off. Nope. And not at landing either. She was a bit restless as you could tell she wasn't the most comfortable, so we took her out of her carseat and laid her sideways between us. Much better and she hardly stirred after that.
She slept through the landing and about half of our 3 hr layover in St Louis. She was her typical smiley ham self, meanwhile Darin and I looked like complete zombies. I didn't sleep for more than several hours on the first leg and don't think Darin got a minute more. We boarded the "turbo-prop-jet" plane in St Louis to make our way to Madison. It felt like the olden days when we would catch the interisland flight and you had to walk out to the plane on the tarmac. Except doing it in 20 degree weather is a lot more brutal. It was an hour and a half flight and I wasn't feeling the most confident about the plane. These are one of those that "gets lost in the mountains." Didn't matter that there are no mountains between St Louis and Madison, it's still a long way down. Sofie was strapped into a seat next to me (um, don't think these flights ever get full due to the reason just stated) and fell asleep soon after take off. I did some snoozing too. She awoke right before landing and decided that she had had it. Looking back it could've been the massive poop she had in her diaper that happened to leak out onto her cute pink leopard fleece pants. (TMI, I know..) I won't even get into the fiasco at luggage claim. (they let your luggage circulate TWICE then pull it off and hold it in the back). Sheesh, give us a chance to GET TO luggage claim first, esp when they don't even have signs to point you in that direction when you get off the plane. I honetly felt that passengers are left to fend for themselves when flying with "American Connection." Never again.
So we're here. The weather was beautiful today, I think 61 degrees. I can handle that. We went shopping at Target (yaaaa), Zany Brainy and Toys R Us. Looked for a booster seat for Sofie to sit in at the dinner table, misc-whatever-looks-cool at Target, and the $250 car seat we need to get. Came home with nipples (that could be used out of context, so don't go there..), clothes for Sofie, a dishwasher basket for her bottle pieces, a sippy cup, and a divided dish for food. Big whoops I tell ya! The booster seat will have to wait until we return to Hawaii since once it's assembled, you can't unassemble it. We found the car seat and now I know what to order when we get back home as well.
Anyway, that's the fun we're having so far! Sofie has been her usual cutie self to her grandparents. We have brunch tomorrow where she will meet everyone else. I swear I'm gonna gain about 10 lbs on this trip. :(
7:04 PM
In anticipation of cold weather, I just had to go out shopping to see if there was something, anything Sofie could use. I found two really cute hats. One wool green and white nordic type from Old Navy (1.99) which she looked adorable in while I walked the floor. The other from Gymboree's (almost) dollar bin. It's a soft pink (feels like cashmere, but sure it's only acrylic) beanie cap with a pale cream band design. Looks adorable in it too! So I laid out all her "so-called" warmer clothes and tried to make layers. I have a bunch of bottom layers and two outerwear items, but no middle layer. We don't use middle layers here. I discovered she has a few cardigans (um, 0-3 mos so we'll see if it actually fits) that I will use as well.
Her 6 month Dr's app't went well. Someone measured her wrong lst month since there was no way she could have shrunk 1/2". Nonetheless, she still is above average on both length (26") and weight (16.3). She received two shots, neither posed any problems, and in fact she took a 3 hr nap afterward. That certainly helped me to get some much needed work done (and taxes. ugh!).
We are ready for a vacation, but not looking forward to the flight. I called American to confirm our flights and it looks as though the plane is about 95% full. Not what we were looking at for a 10 hr redeye with an infant. We originally planned to have an empty seat between Darin and I in hopes we could lay Sofie down. Doesn't look good at the moment. Darin said he's sure the person would switch with one of us (meaning ME) so that we could sit together. Well, that's not the point. I would like the person to almost suffer between the two of us while passing a baby back and forth in hopes THEY seek out another empty seat. I want that middle person to beat it...Get it?
Anyway, just trying to finish up tons of stuff so we're not rushing at the last minute (which we will anyway I'm sure). Our flight is at 6:30pm, we need to arrive at the airport by 4:30 to check in (with an infant and the possibility of getting new seats, I'd like to be there early), but Darin works until 3:30. AACK! And it's not like the car can be packed and us ready to leave when he gets off, since I'm sure I'll need to work as well and just the thought of ME having to get myself and Sofie ready (and packed, since I'm sure I'll be the one in charge of that as well, along with whatever else we have to drag up with us.........) really stresses me out! I can see Darin rushing home from work and scurrying around trying to get himself ready since he didn't do enough of it the night before. Which leaves the responsibility of everything else (mail, paper, misc details) left for me to handle.
Still need a pedicure. Maybe I'll get that done tonight. I feel so bad that my feet have to suffer with godawful polish and overgrown nails.
3:09 PM