Friday, November 30, 2012

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles



Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We made it to Iowa and now we are back home in Cleveland.  If only our travels were as quick and painless as reading that sentence...  Before I begin our story, I will preface it by saying that until I can find a stockpile of inner zen, I won't be flying alone with little Finn until she can understand the words that are coming out of my mouth.  I will drive 10 hours solo with her -- but our little solo feet will be firmly planted on the ground until the kid can pop her own ears.  Our travels were a hodgepodge of bad ideas all rolled into one muddled nightmare (I will state that it was only a nightmare and not a night terror -- there were some positives.  It just seemed that the negatives severely outweighed the positives).


 


So my story begins on Tuesday evening as E dropped us off curbside at the Cleveland airport.  I had to check a bag for our five-day holiday and was shocked to learn that United now charges $25/one-way for the first checked bag.  What a rip-off!  Another rip off?  Economy seating.  I upgrade our seats, figuring that we would need the extra room as well as needing to get off the plane as quickly as possible to catch our connection.  Each seat was about $10, but when you have a connection on a round-trip ticket, that's another $40 that they are gouging you for.  Anywho, E dropped us off and we were able to drop our checked bag off relatively easily.  Security at the Cleveland airport was a breeze as I came prepared.  No liquids save my two bottles of breastmilk, yoga pants & yoga jacket (aka no metal to set off detector), slip-on sneakers and only a cloth sling for carrying the little lady.  We were through security in under 5 minutes -- the longest was waiting for the agent.


 We find our gate about an hour before take-off.  I decide to feed us before we get onto the plane.  What can we eat at the airport that is healthy and both she and I can eat?  I decide on a salad.  Bad idea.  As I'm sure many mothers out there reading this would already know -- it's really difficult to eat a salad with a squirmy 9-month-old sitting on your lap and using the seat next to you as your table without looking like a complete mess.  Then I decide "I'm going to try to tire her out by walking around the airport and looking at all the holiday decorations so she will sleep the whole flight."  Another bad idea.  Sister was severely overstimulated & overtired by the time we get onto the plane.  We sit down and I'm praying for a sweet old lady to be sitting next to us.  What do I get?  A college dude, great...  I felt uncomfortable trying to breast feed in such tight quarters with a nursing cover to begin with (as I know that she is going to try to rip that thing off as quickly as possible -- she doesn't usually nurse with a cover over her head and has tried to pull it off each time I tried to use it), so I whip out one of our bottles of milk.  The minute the cabin door shuts, she begins to whine and squirm and fuss.  I only have 2 ounces of breastmilk in the bottle (because I didn't think I was going to use them anyways and didn't want to waste my milk) -- so I'm trying to wait until we take off to give it to her.  Bad idea #3.  By the time that I give her the bottle, sister is screaming because she isn't actively sucking to make her ears pop.  She wouldn't take the bottle -- she is throwing her head back screaming because she doesn't understand what's going on.  She's tired, hungry and confused.  So survival takes over.  I turn my back to the college dude (we were sitting in the window seat), try to throw a blanket over our heads and desperately try to get her to nurse.  And when I say desperately, I truly mean desperately -- I wouldn't want to see my face at that point, because I'm sure that it was drawn tighter than a bow.  The only thing that I wanted was for her to stop screaming.  Within 2 minutes of trying to get her to nurse, she is drinking like a champ and falls asleep before we reach our cruising altitude.  And she stays asleep all the way until we pull into our gate in O'Hare.  One down -- three to go.  New gray hairs?  20 at least.  Ugh.

We park at the gate and I sling up her and by carry-on bag.  We jet as soon as our feet hit the jetway.  I get to the departures board -- United flight 6168 to Moline --- CANCELLED.  WHAT!?!?!??!?!  And of course, our gate is located in the furthest reaches in the Siberia of O'Hare (also known at the C Terminal).  Sister and I are hauling tail to get over to C to see what's going on -- my rational was that I needed to get to my gate to see what they were going to do to reschedule us out.  Because as you remember in my earlier post, ours was the last connecting flight out of O'Hare that night.  I quickly call my parents, tell them to turn around from driving to Moline and that I would contact them once I found out what was going on.  We get to our cancelled gate at C4 -- no attendant.  We wait for about 10 minutes, still no attendant.  By this point, it is 30 minutes from when our flight was originally scheduled to take off.  So I walk over to the nearest gate with an attendant and explain our situation.  The attendant informed me that it was cancelled due to weather (dense fog) and that there wouldn't be anyone at the gate.  I needed to go to Customer Service at C18 to reschedule.  Now from C4 to C18 really doesn't sound like it is very far, but it seemed like miles as I was trying to hurry across the airport, already sweaty & lugging a heavy carry-on and my baby.


We get to Customer Service probably looking quite disheveled.  The attendant tells me that my only flight option is leaving O'Hare the next morning at 6:00am.  She also tells me that I can rent a car or take the bus to get to Moline.  I asked if there was any other flights that would get me anywhere closer that evening as I juggling Finn a little higher in her sling.  Again, she said my only option was to take the 6:00am flight and sat there and looked at me.  I knew that the airlines don't offer to put up passengers in hotels for an unexpected overnight stay due to weather conditions, so I didn't ask.  I just assumed that if it was possible, she would offer because I was traveling alone with an infant.  No such luck.  She informed me that my bags would continue onto Moline the next morning and that they wouldn't be pull that night if I was going to take a car or bus.  I would have to go to the airport in Moline the following day to retrieve my luggage.  I started to cry and we stepped out of line.  I felt completely lost and not in control -- I felt like a terrible mother because not only did I subject Finorah to an ill-prepared flight, I didn't know what to do.  As a mother, I'm always supposed to know how to weigh out the options and choose what I deem the best.  At that moment, I couldn't.  I just wanted to be home in Iowa.  I just wanted someone else to take care of things.  I wanted my mom.  And when I called her, she came through for me (as she always does).  She said that they hadn't turn around when I told them to and that they were already past Dubuque and on their way to Chicago!


I went up to a different customer service representative and asked where the children's play area was.  Finn was getting a little antsy and I didn't feel comfortable letting her crawl around on the floor of a major airport. I knew that most major airports have a fenced in children's area to let the little travelers stretch their legs in between their flights.  She also gave me advice on where to meet my parents when they arrived.  And so we trudged back across O'Hare, but this time, we weren't in a hurry.  We stood on the moving walkways, watching the dancing neon lights above us in the tunnel between terminals.  Finorah loved it.  We easily found the children's area and set up shop there, fully thinking we could hang out there until my parents were to arrive a little before midnight.  Finn crawled all over the play area, tiring out.  I fed her and she fell asleep in between the two carry on blankets that I brought with me.  She continued to sleep when the cleaning lady came and in very broken English kept saying "11, 11, 11".  I realized then that she needed to vacuum the area, she would come back at 11, and we would need to leave then.  She was very kind in that even after 11, she didn't come over and continued to clean where she could to not disturb us.  I realized at about 11:20 that we should let her do her job.  So we got us all packed up again and with Finorah still sleeping in-between her two blankets, we walked into one of the terminals to sit and wait for 11:45, which was only 15-20 minutes later.  As we were sitting in the terminal waiting, a United attendant came up to us and asked if we had missed our flight.  I explained our cancellation due to fog and she said that she would put us up in a hotel that evening -- that I shouldn't be spending the evening in the airport with a baby.  I explained that my parents were arriving very soon.  She shook her head, telling me that the customer service rep should have used her head and gave us a hotel room because I couldn't stay overnight in the airport with a baby.  It was very kind of her to try to help us even though we weren't her problem.


Finorah slept in my arms until my parents came at midnight.  She also slept the entire car ride home.  We arrived home at 3:30ish with my parents having to get up at 5:30 for work the following morning.  I felt terrible that they were going on so little sleep, but also was thankful that I was safe at home and not flying out the following morning (we had thought with the dense fog that the early flights would be cancelled or delayed as well -- we were wrong).  I had packed a change of clothing in our carry-on for Finn -- but I must not have screwed on the cap tight enough.  When I pulled them out of our bag the following morning, they smelled of bad milk.  Ick.  I washed them in the sink and dried them, so by mid afternoon, she had a semi-clean pair of clothes on.  I, on the other hand, had to wait for the luggage, which arrived Wednesday night past midnight.

 Finn didn't really take to anyone right away (stranger danger was just setting in) -- but she did take to Uncle Tim immediately.  We were thinking that it's because he looks similar to E.

Home was fantastic.  I can't put into words how amazing it was to have family for five days straight.  I can honestly say that it is something that I miss every single day.  Most people try to run away from their family as soon as they are old enough (guilty party right here) -- I'm among the minority that would run back in an hot minute if it was possible.  I didn't get to see everyone I wanted, but I got enough of my family-fix to last until Christmas.



As for our travels back -- take out the cancelled flight, add another flight in and you about got it covered.  I was able to nurse early enough before takeoff on the first flight that Finorah was a perfect angel.  She was practically sleep by the time we flew past Cedar Rapids.  I was able to sit in a row by myself (which was unusal) but I was thankful the flight attendant moved me to my own row.  We arrived in Chicago and hurried to our connecting flight 45 minutes later -- I was able to change her diaper in the bathroom right outside our gate before our plane even started boarding.  I thought I was smooth sailing to Cleveland.  I thought WRONG.  I fed Finorah some rice puffs while waiting for the cabin door to close.  I started nursing once the lights were dimmed, but we were about fifth in line for take off.  Sister was almost asleep when she opened her eyes as we were rounding the corner for takeoff and something spooked her.  I don't know what happened, but she was screaming even before takeoff.  No boob was going to quiet her.  No pacifier would silence her.  No amount of shushing into her ear.  10 minutes straight screaming as we climbed and climbed.  Nothing I was doing helping -- I felt embarrassed, frazzled, and helpless.  After 10 minutes of screaming, she tired and fell asleep.  She slept until touchdown in Cleveland.





She was an amazing girl in the airports -- while waiting for both initial flights as well as hauling across O'Hare twice.  She was amazing when we were sleeping on the floor of the airport.  She was actually amazing on every single descent that we had.  It's just that ascent and her are NOT friends.  I don't know if it was simply the ear popping or if there was something else.  I don't know if she wasn't completely over her ear infection from two weeks prior (we go to the doctors Wednesday evening for a check-see).  My parents said they saw her second lower tooth looking like it was going to be coming through soon.  I don't know if it was just too many strange places and not enough routine.  But those 12-15 minutes of screaming out of the 7,200 minutes of our holiday in Iowa completely ruined all thoughts of future solo flying for me for a while.



Despite her screaming, I am grateful for our Thanksgiving in Iowa.  So I took the bad with the fantastic.  But next time, I think we'll be leaving our feet on solid ground.

Monday, November 26, 2012

A Week in the Life (v.4.4)



Daddy is getting pretty darn good at putting together some cute outfits!

We got Finorah's passport back -- it appears the gov't wants to rename her...
(PS Eain is IN LOVE with her passport photo -- he thinks that she looks like an Irish mobster.)

In preparing to flyout of the Cleveland airport, we found a wreath that really struck Finn's fancy...

This is before all holy hell broke loose...

Stuck in O'Hare (that post will be later in the week), we went to the kids' play area and Finn got to stretch out her legs.

Trying to figure out where the announcer was.

We even fell asleep on the floor of the airport waiting for my parents to arrive.

We got kicked out of the kids' play area and so we sat in the terminal, sleeping...

An exhausted traveler...

Somebody wanted juice, but was too lazy to hold her bottle.

Cousins!!!!  Only 5 months apart.

My dad and I got to take in the Iowa/Nebraska game -- due to the 30 degree temps with 10-15mph winds, we had a three touchdown rule (we would leave if Nebraska scored more than three TDs more than we did).  Surprisingly, we got to stay for the whole game!

Sister started happy screeching while at my parents.  This whole weekend, happy screams from all corners.

Eating breakfast in Iowa.

Helping Grammy put up her Christmas lights.

So we think that the little lady is already getting her second tooth.  She won't let us in her mouth.  This is her reaction when we move our fingers to put them in her mouth.

Sitting pretty with cousin Owen.

Somebody likes to ride ponies!

Naptime with Uncle Cory.

She wanted to be such a big girl and walk like cousin Owen.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Grateful Stream of Consciousness...

(I normally post this type of post when I don't have much substance to say but lots of little things. I am also writing this on Tuesday to post on Wednesday.)

Dressed just like Daddy!

  • First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving!!!  As you are reading this, I'm sitting in my home in Iowa with Finorah and my family.  And although I'm not a fortune teller, I'm going out on a limb and saying that we are so very happy to be home.  And that Finn is digging all the attention and love.  Finn & I are blessed enough to be able to have Thanksgiving with my extended family.  My mother is planning a big Thanksgiving with all of her family (you know, the ugly Christmas sweater Salows) and I couldn't be more excited.  It's going to be so much fun to see how Finorah acts with all the grandmas (most of my mom's sisters stake claim as grandmas as well) and cousins around.
  • Last Sunday was dress like Daddy's day.  They had on matching shirts, matching jeans, and were even both wearing sneakers.  Now if only Mommy had a matching blue shirt -- we would be a Sears portrait away from being THAT family.  


You can see one of our four yard lights decorated for Xmas in the background!  As well as a big pile of leaves.

  • Last Sunday was also the lady's first cruise with her Dad...  Around the yard.  E had out the tractor to rake leaves.  We have almost an acre property and 8 huge oak trees along with a couple ashes on our tree yard and a buckeye tree near the driveway.  That means A LOT of raking in the fall.  Last year I got out of it because I was pregnant.  This year I get out of it because I have to watch Finorah. Despite all of our trees, we are pretty lucky in that our town just requires us to pile the leaves on the curbside.  So we use a big blue tarp (which you are see in the background) to pile the leaves on and drag them to the curb.  We are very thankful that we don't have to bag them -- we do in the spring if we don't get them all up in the fall.  But E is smart and realized that if he uses the tractor to blow them into the center of each section of the yard, it minimizes raking, but is still lots of work.


Off roading with Dad.



  • Hopefully we are currently sitting in Iowa, that means that we have arrived safely from our travel adventures.  And I am very hopeful when I say that I hope that our "adventure" was as tame as walking around the block.  I am an anxious flyer to begin with, but now I can't perform my usual "rituals" that calm my nerves as I'm toting my baby with me (i.e. putting on the headphones and cranking up the Christmas music while gripping the arm rests in a choke hold that would knock out Andre the Giant).  And that baby is also the other part of my anxiousness as I'm preparing for the worst -- instead of screams of "Mother f'ing snakes on a plane!", the glares of "Quiet that screaming baby!", which are actually 1,000 times louder than screams.  Plus, in my super intelligent mind (that's sarcasm  right there), I decided the quicker I can get to Iowa the better.  That means we only have 45 minutes to run before our next flight takes off (not boards, but pulls back from the jetway).  And, that connecting flight is the last flight of the day.  So, I'm turning to my imagination on this one and saying that this is going to be an adventure -- a fun story to tell Finorah when she gets older.  Let's see if it is a bedtime story or a horror story! 



  • This past weekend, Finn & I put up the rest of my holiday decorations.  I can officially say that we are Christmas-ized! I have one Christmas tree that didn't get put up.  It's one of my wedding tree (and now I get to post obligatory photos of my wedding so you don't think that I'm crazy and that my wedding was, in fact, amazing -- it'll be 8 years this year.  I'm sure there'll be some type of anniversary post in December).  It's a 6 footer that isn't prelit, simple white ornaments with red bows.  It's my upstairs tree.  I want to wait and see what the cats are going to do to the big trees as this tree has sentimental value.  Plus half of the flat white lights that go on that sucker aren't working.  So it may not get put up this year - we will see how December progresses.


  •  On Sunday, we also gave Finorah her Christmas present from us.  I feel like I'm going to be a labeled a bad mother on this one -- but we aren't going to get her anything big for Christmas. I know that she is going to be getting lots of gifts from her grandparents.  There really isn't anything that she needs this Christmas.  And there isn't anything that she wants (as she can't talk yet).  I was really itching to get her a radio flyer red wagon.  But she wouldn't use it right now -- so unless I see a super sale, I'm not going to worry about looking for one until spring.





  • Anywho, we bought her a drum set as the daycare says that she is infatuated with the one that they have there.  It was an instant hit!  When handled the drum sticks, sister started banging on the top of the drum like it was nobody's business.  She was even singing and laughing.  I posted the video of her initial whack at the drum.  She loves it.  It's from B Toys -- which I love.  We have their Fish & Splish bath toy.  Their toys are very well made.  All are non-toxic and they use recyclable materials whenever possible (in both the toys and their packaging).  I just found this, which I'm just dying to get her.  But Symphony in B. is for 3 years and up -- I don't think that she would really get a lot out of it yet.  Maybe a little later. 







Monday, November 19, 2012

A Week in the Life (v.4.3)

Sleeping beauty

We love to grab video of her bedhead.  Now that her hair is getting longer, it is becoming more apparent.

We all scream for "J-E-L-L-O!"

Sister took a nosedive on the sidewalk the previous Sunday and had scratched up the tip of her nose nice.

Her reaction when Daddy comes home...

Munk gave her a swift karate chop to her head -- knocked her right over...

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father..."  One of the many marks of being a Mother -- sister swiped me and left a nice mark on my face.

Finn's first photo as a photographer.  I think that she is into abstract art.

We have hit a milestone this week.  We have a crawler!

Just hangin' and playin' and crawlin'.

I couldn't catch it -- but the first thing she does on this video, is try to scoop out applesauce with her hand and eat it (but the bowl was empty).  She had done it numerous times, but the minute I whip out my camera -- it's like she knows.

In our crawling adventures, we found the dog bowl.  Munk was not amused.

Sunday was dress like Daddy's day. I absolutely LOVE her potbelly in this photo.

When we put on her sneakers, she then became a shoe model.

Look at my beautiful shoes, Mom.


Going for her first cruise with Daddy in a 1965 Sears lawn tractor.

Yes, he is trying to strap a baby to his lawn tractor...

He wanted me to add that it is totally safe, because she is rear facing...

Being that Finorah is only 9 months old and doesn't realize what Christmas is.  We totally gave her her Christmas present last night.  As you can see by the video, she LOVES it.