11 Weeks & What a Good Traveler!

Harper has now been to three new states!

We headed home to Kansas this past weekend. We flew into Kansas City, MO. We were very nervous about our first flight with H, but she did really well. She fussed a bit when we got on the plane, I could feel the eye-balls searing toward our seats, but she quickly fell asleep for two hours (of course one of those hours was sitting in line to take off...ah, JFK). She ate a bottle in the air. Wish I had a picture of me sitting down to change her on the 1st class toilet (lid down), Harper on my lap, Nate handing me the wipe, then fresh diaper, making sure H didn't wriggle herself onto the bathroom floor. She fell back asleep for the landing. Big sigh of relief...the first flight was a success!

The 3hr car ride home to southeast KS was another matter. Enough was enough. In her defense, she was tired, dehydrated, over-heated (we went from 50 degree highs to 80) and completely unaccustomed to her car seat. We had to stop and feed her 15 miles from home (Thank you, Morris Furniture!), but as we learned, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Harper's grandparents were thrilled to see her. She was still awake when we got home and she promptly charmed them with her cooing abilities as we changed her for bed (I think by now she knows it's a cool thing to do...she was showing off all weekend long) . She slept very well that night in a new crib with real wind and nature noises instead of recorded ones from her ipod and in real heat with just a onesie and a blanket! It's so fun to see her chunky little arms and legs.
On Friday we took H to meet her great-grandmas. Again she showed off her 'talking' skills. It was such a delight to watch Alvaretta and Ethel Faye fall in love with our little angel.

Friday night, Nate's brother, Scott and his family came over to meet the little lady... she was asleep. Huge bummer. Sarah, our niece, came a bit early, so she did get some time before we put her to bed. Sarah's really excited because there is finally another girl in the family.

Saturday the whole clan came over! Harper's Grandma Nancy has four sisters, so Nate has lots of cousins. There were two other babies in attendance, 4 week old Josie (also named for Ethel Faye whose nickname is Grandma Joe) and 4 month old Kamryn (who looked a lot older, but I think that's because all the babies in my family are bald til at least their 1st birthday).

Grandma Joe, Harper, Nate, Kylie and Josie

It was so much fun to see all the family. It'll be amazing in a year from now when all the babes are on the move. Though Harper did take a nap part-way through the party, I believe everyone got a chance to see her. Holding her is a different story, she's a lot more inclined to want to lay down and 'talk', but she'll let you hold her if you're giving her a bottle.

It was a whirlwind weekend, and not just because of the tornado warnings. It was great to see Harper with her family again. I know they miss having her around. There was lots of talk about just leaving her in Kansas... I know she's be in good hands, but I just had to take her back home to Brooklyn.

By Sunday night I wished I had spared her. Our plane was delayed an hour in KC, then we were rushed to get on the plane and get out before a storm front hit. Two hours into the flight the pilot announced we had to divert the plane to Cincinnati, OH because a flight attendant was ill. She seemed fine. Could be a precaution with the swine flu on everyone's minds. They made us de-plane, gave us a replacement aircraft that was smaller - so we had to wait for 20 people to make other arrangements, we took off two hours later than we were supposed to land in NYC and when we did land, we had to walk down the flimsy stairs to a bus with no lights and no place for luggage to the bowels of the terminal where two flights of stairs lay ahead. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but when you've got a car seat, the base, the stroller, the pump, the diaper bag and an exhausted baby who has not slept but has yet to meltdown you start measuring every obstacle. Thank god there was another couple with a baby who knew to ask to take the freight elevator.

Once again the car ride home was not Harper's favorite thing we did all day. But look at how sweet she was while we waited in Cincinnati...

She showed her parents that she can take the travel lumps as they are dished out...which us grateful as we look to the flight home to CA in a few weeks ... 7hr flight, here we come!