Last week I had to fly to Minnesota for a two night work trip and couldn't bear the thought of leaving both my babies behind, so Philip got to come with Mama (because he still flies for free). Because I would be working, my mom came along to take care of Philip during the day.
Our flight was on Monday at 9:40, so we left our house at 8:00 and by the time we got our luggage checked, through security and to the gate they were already boarding our "zone". I quickly bought a bottle of water and my mom ran to the ladies room and then on the plane we got. I had used miles to buy my mom's ticket, and for some unknown reason they assigned a first class seat for the flight there - for no extra miles, strange but wonderful. My mom graciously gave her first class seat to Philip and me - what a woman. I sat down in first and said to the woman sitting next to me, "I'll be honest with you, he is four-months old and I've never flown with him before, so it could be ugly, but we are hoping he enjoys it." She had a look of mild displeasure on her face after that statement.
Once we were on the plane, there was an issue with a seat in coach, so on came the fix-it crew, which led to a 20 minute delay and while we were waiting for that to be resolved, Philip decided that he had waited long enough and needed to eat. I had been trying to hold off as long as possible because I wanted to feed him as we took off...no go. While I fed him, the fix it crew left, the door closed and we started to taxi and get in line to take off. As we took off, Philip was a peach, and sucked on his pacifier and didn't make a peep. About 10 minutes into the flight, he messed his pants, which required a change in a airport lavatory with no changing facilities. That was tricky! Once we were back in our seat, he decided to sleep for a little while (30 minutes), while I had 1/2 a sandwich and some chips - first class lunch! He woke up, allowed grandma to hold him so I could use the bathroom, then went back to sleep and slept through the entire landing. What a peach!
At the end of the flight, the lady sitting next to us said, "Wow, he was perfect." To which I responded, "Yep, which means he can travel again."
Once we got to the car rental spot, I decided to wake him up and feed him before making the trip to the hotel. Which was the smart choice because he was hungry! We got the car loaded with all our junk. With a stroller, the car seat, diaper bag, computer bag, purses, and two large suitcases, our little Corolla was filled to capacity! We decided to stop and get lunch before getting to the hotel, and as soon as we made this decision, Philip decided that he wanted out of the car and started to (loudly) let us know. Luckily for us my mom spotted a Subway right off the exit to our hotel - so we stopped in and picked up a sandwich and traveled quickly to the hotel.
The hotel we stayed at was where I stayed last year whenever I would travel to Minnesota - which was a lot - so I got to know a lot of the people working there. When we arrived to check in, two of the valet's recognized me and were happy to meet Philip. Felt good that after so many months people still remembered that I had been there before. We got checked in and up to our room quickly. We ate our sandwich, played with Philip, checked email for work and then we all took a short nap - which we all needed!
That night, we went to the bar for a beer and an appetizer, took a walk around the hotel which was so nice! Once we got back to the room, I ordered a sandwich for dinner and we crashed pretty early! Philip was wonderful - went to bed at 9:30 and didn't wake up until 6:30 the next morning, too bad I kept waking up all night!
The next day I went to the office for a presentation and my mom played with and took care of Philip all day. Her report to me was that he was a perfect little boy and didn't even seem to mind when she kept saying "you are a good little girl" to him. That night I got to see my wonderful Minnesota friend, Andrea. She came to the hotel so she could meet Philip and it was wonderful to see her and get a chance to catch up. It was so good to see her and even though it had been such a long time it felt like no time had passed. She is super easy to talk to, loves Bravo TV as much as I do, and is hands down one of the most hilarious people I know. That night, again, Philip was pretty awesome - only waking once or twice to eat and was a perfect baby on the flight home the next day.
The hardest thing about being gone was being away from Phil and Natalie. The night before we left Natalie kept telling me she didn't want me to leave and when I told her I had to she started suggesting that I take her rather than Baby Brother, which turned into her telling me that mommy, daddy, Natalie and baby brother should all go on the trip. The Monday we left, I almost started crying telling her good bye. The struggle of a working mother...saying good bye - for a day, a night or many nights, isn't an easy thing to do. The entire time we were gone, Natalie kept asking "Where is my baby brother? I sure do miss him"...so sweet!
I'm off again in two weeks and once again will be taking my mom and Philip with me. Luckily I never put away my suitcase, so I don't have to dig it out again - I just have to pack it.
On the way to Minnesota
On the way home
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