Pre-baby, the hubs and I would throw some stuff in a bag the day we left for a trip and hope for the best. But now, with baby in tow, a little more thought is to be put into our packing.
NoseFrida…check
Compostable diapers…check
Seventh Generation wipes…check
Sophie the Giraffe…check
20 baby outfits…check
Baby Uggs…check
Snoozlers aka Aden and Anais Blankies…check
Nursing cover…check
Car Seat…check
Bugaboo…check
Baby…check
So there I was feeling on top of the world for being so organized and ready for our first trip with baby. To-do list meticulously checked off and we were on time en route to the airport. All we had to do was park and print our boarding passes and we were off to Seattle. Sounded like traveling with baby was going to be easy as pie…
We printed our boarding passes and made a beeline for the family pass line. We got up to the TSA dude who was checking IDS and tickets and thats where all chaos began. He checked the hubs out…all good. Checked me out…all good. Then he asked for the babe’s ID and boarding pass…huh?!? We need paperwork for the dude??? I mean I get that he has a social security number and I use him as my extra person in the carpool lane but a boarding pass for the plane where the little guy was going to be on our lap??? But who’s going to argue with TSA these days??? We rushed back over to Southwest, impatiently waited in the line, got the dude’s boarding pass and rushed back over to TSA. We managed to get ourselves through the first TSA dude successfully and make it to the luggage x-ray machine. Luggage goes through, coats, shoes and then they say to break down the stroller. ok, done. stroller goes through and then with my non-sleeping child who is actually asleep in his car seat, the TSA guy so casually says ma’am the kid has to be out of the car seat. Seriously??? You want me to wake up my kid to walk through the x-ray??? Any sleep expert will totally agree with me here… you are never supposed to wake a sleeping baby…oh well! I wake up the kid, unstrap him and through the human metal detector we go. Just as we get to the gate, we miss pre-boarding but hey at least at this point we made it to the plane.
Oddly enough, the flight to Seattle was pretty uneventful other than my child deciding to be a pooping factory. Things livened up after the flight when I swung my bag over my shoulder and knocked my wedding earring right out of my ear. The hubs, me and cleaning crew searched high and low to find nothing. Whats amazing is that my ear managed to hold on the backing. Why??? I would have been totally ok to lose a backing…just not the post! My post-pregger hormones were now flying out of control over losing my earring for obvious sentimental reasons..it was just at this same moment I looked up from the ground to see my hubs holding the babe and I realized that the two of the most important people in my life were right in front of me 🙂
I am slowly learning that you can only plan for so much in life and sometimes life feels like one step forward and two steps back…
