Friday night, as I was packing our things, I started freaking out. What if they are all crazy? What if it does not go well and Lauren and I have to bail ASAP? Well, I am happy to report that there was no crazy, and we had a great time. In fact, we have the next vacation already set. Allison and Aaden and her husband Aaron will be spending time with us in San Diego in April!
So back to our adventure. I was very nervous about going through security with Lauren. I watched the TSA videos online and they caused me to have a panic attack. But I also read that if you are traveling alone, to ask a TSA agent for help and they will assist you. Okay, I guess this is manageable, right?
Saturday morning, my alarm went off at 3:30am, after about two hours of sleep. I showered, pumped and finished packing. By 5:30am it was time to go get Lauren from her cozy bed and load her in to the car to head to the airport. It was so weird to be on the road, heading South to the airport that early in the morning. I do the drive North coming home from work in the middle of the night, but never heading South.
Anyways, we arrive at San Diego International at 6am and the short term, Terminal 1 parking lot is empty! Hallelujah! Terminal 2 is under MAJOR construction, so the T1 lot is paying for it. Anyways, Lauren was still asleep when we got there, so Justin pushed her new umbrella stroller and pulled our suitcase for us, while I carried Lauren. She woke up just as we were approaching the ticket counter.
I was shocked how busy the airport was! I later found out that they opened at 5am now instead of 6am. We got all checked in. My bag was 49 pounds! Talk about cutting it close. We got Lauren's boarding pass and headed to the dreaded security line. While Justin waited in line, I ran Lauren over behind a baggage carousel and changed Lauren's diaper. The she had some snuggles with Daddy before we had to say goodbye.
We get to the front of the line and Justin says goodbye. I am struggling to get all of the liquids, baby bottles and DVD player out of our bag and on to the Xray belt without holding up the line too bad. Then it is time to get Lauren out of her stroller and I have to collapse it to get it Xrayed. The TSA website said that there would be a family lane where they could hand inspect it...NOPE! So I ask the TSA agent if she will help me close my stroller. She said "No, I don't know how. Just hand the baby to the person behind you in line." I freaked out and managed to balance Lauren next to me on the ground while I closed the stroller and loaded it for Xray. Then Lauren and I walked through the security machine...and BEEP! Great! Try again...BEEP. They suggested that I send Lauren through with the woman behind me in line so that Lauren can clear security. So I handed my baby to the lady behind me and she walked through with Lauren. I was HELD in a plexiglass room with a locked door as I watched my baby walk by with a stranger. Lauren was upset, I was upset, it was not good.
Finally, they let me out of my cage, and inform me that I cannot touch my baby til I clear security. They load her in her stroller, gather our things and escort us to the side where they do a full pat down. The woman kept saying I am going to do this...now I am going to do this...and I just kept saying "hurry up, I don't care what you do, I want my baby, we are going to miss our flight!" THEN...she swabbed my clothes for explosives! UGHHHH!
Finally, we were all cleared and I loaded all of our stuff back in the bag, got in the elevator and went to our gate. When we got to the gate, they were announcing my name as the plane was completely boarded and WAITING to take off. I heard one girl say "Oh I bet that is Cristin right there and then asked, are you Cristin?" 'Yes! They held us at security, I am so sorry!" They tagged the stroller, and rushed us down to the plane. I was really upset because I had priority boarding and missed it. I was so afraid we were going to end up squished between to big old guys or something. Luckily, we got on the plane and I headed straight to the back. We got an ENTIRE row to ourselves. Thank you GOD! I took a picture of us to document Lauren's first flight. That is the fakest, flipped out, pretend to be calm smile ever!
I got Lauren's bottle out so it was ready for take off and she immediately started whining because she wanted it now. I tried to stall her as long as possible, but ended up giving it to her as we were taxiing to the runway. I did not want to be the woman that held the plane AND had the whiny baby!
The flight was easy. Lauren only fussed a bit. I bought her a new toy for the flight and she really liked it. I never even pulled the DVD player out. (I was partly afraid she would freak out when they made us turn it off to land).
Unfortunately, when it was time to land, her second bottle had curdled and exploded from the pressure, so she had to land without a bottle. Dr. Shalauta said that the most important bottle was the landing bottle and Lauren had to do it without one. I felt horrible. She whined and yelped in pain. We had both been sick prior to our trip, so I took Lauren in on Friday to make sure she could fly. I tried to massage her ears, but I am not certain it helped.
When we landed, I called Allison to let her know we had landed. She was still a few miles away, so that gave us time to casually get off the plane, get the stroller, call Justin to tell him about our horrific experience in detail (I called when we got on the plane, but only had a second), and then go get our suitcase at baggage claim. By the time we got down there, I could see our bag going back around for a second pass. Most of the bags were already claimed, so I was able to walk right up and grab it and go. Awesome.
Next we ran to the restroom to clean up the mess that was the exploded, curdled bottle. Then we went out to the curb to wait for Allison, who had gone to the wrong terminal and was now on her way to the right one. Originally, she was going to park and come in, but it was dead, so I told her to just come to the curb. She rolled up, and I loaded Lauren in to her carseat (the she borrowed from Aaden) and Allison loaded the suitcase and stroller and we were on our way.
We ended up getting on the freeway going the wrong way, so the first few minutes were spent making calls and cell phone mapping directions. Once we were on the right freeway, going the right way, I called my family to let them know that all was well, and then the awesome conversations started on our drive to Walnut Creek to meet up with the other ladies. Lauren and Aaden slept the whole way. It was so sweet.
When we got there, Ariana and Tanith were already there...but we were still waiting for Monica and Maddie and Amanda and Hailey. While we waited, Aaden and Lauren had some banana on the tailgate.
Then it was playtime in the park! Lauren was the only non-walker (despite being the oldest), so she got left on the blanket while the others took off in all directions exploring the park.
Maddie was SO sweet. She came back and sat down with Lauren and played with her. I think she was a bit puzzled as to why Lauren stayed on the blanket the whole time. There was lots of sharing and hugging and kissing.
After a bit of playing, we headed to Katys Kreek. A super cute restaurant in Walnut Creek. It was sort of French meets Country. Everything was delicious! I brought Lauren's high chair with us in my suitcase, so she sat in that. She hates sitting in restaurant seats. Mmmm....Puffed Rice and a squeezie for Lauren.
Seafood salad for Mommy!
The whole gang! Not a single baby looking at the camera. From the left: Hailey and her Mommy Amanda, Aaden and his Mommy Allison, Lauren and her Mommy, Maddie and her Mommy Monica, and Tanith and her Mommy Ariana.
Attempt Two: Much better!
After lunch we said goodbye to Ariana & Tanith and Amanda & Hailey and headed to Monica and Hailey's house a few miles away. I had to pump (ugh!) and Monica needed to pack for our slumber party at Allison's house that night. The kids fell asleep in the car and then Lauren woke up and freaked out while I was in the house pumping. Monica brought her inside to play, but she was a little unsure after that.
We got on the road again and I ran in to Whole Foods to get more rice cakes and Hemp Milk for Lauren for the weekend. Then we got on the road again. The drive from Walnut Creek to Hollister should have taken an hour, but there was a fire on the freeway, so it took hours...maybe 2 or 3. At one point, Lauren decided she had had enough of the stop and go traffic and started SCREAMING. She would not stop. She pooped too, so the car smelled bad. We finally got to a point we could pull off the freeway and I got her out of her seat. I changed her diaper, tried to feed her, but she just would not stop screaming. Did I mention Monica and Maddie were following us there? Finally, I decided to ride in the back seat and hold the DVD player with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on and let poor Allison play chauffeur. Aaden was so confused with me back there.
We finally made it to Allison's house and all went inside and sort of unpacked. Allison made a lovely dinner. We drank wine and chatted and the kiddos played (while Lauren sat with me and watched them). And soon, it was time to go to bed. Lauren fell asleep drinking her bottle, so I left her in my bed. When I came back a little while later to go to bed, I just slid her over and crawled in. I was too tired to try to move her and hope she did not wake up. Allison put Aaden's pack n play in our room, but she ended up sleeping with me for the entire night.
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