We expected that first leg of the trip to be the crazy part since we were seeing so many people in so few days, and then we thought I would be able to relax for a week and see everyone else at a leisurely pace.
Yeah, not so much.
The first leg went great. All of our friends made it to our get together, my mom's family organized a party, my dad's family came to our hotel, Mr. I's sister and nephew even traveled to our hotel to see us for a couple of days. Everyone did their part, and although Miles may have stayed out past his bedtime that first night, it all worked out pretty well.
The second leg was not at all what I'd imagined. I know that it was mostly during the week and people have jobs and school and lives and so on, but I'd given everyone so much notice, and everyone had claimed to want to see us so badly, I guess I figured more people would make more effort to hang out and/or at least help me out, realizing that I was alone with a baby, dependent on others for transportation, etc. I forgot that my family is a bit nuts and a bit wrapped up in their own lives.
I ended up spending a lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing besides trying to keep Miles entertained, by myself, with few opportunities to get out of my dad's teeny tiny house. Seriously I can't even exaggerate how small and overcrowded (with people & STUFF) the house is - Miles literally had 6 square feet in which to play on the floor, which just bored and frustrated him. All the unpredictability of traveling made him clingy and I couldn't put him down long enough to shower or even pee sometimes. The only place he would nap was in the Ergo, which thank God for the Ergo, but that was physically exhausting for me. The only person who could hold him for any length of time besides me was my stepmom, whom he adored, but that was about it.
I could hang with all of that but what really irked me was that I was left pretty much to my own devices for five days and then EVERYONE wanted to see us on Saturday, the day before we left. So I had to crowd five visits into one day, Miles barely napped, blah blah. I realized that I should have just gone down there for a couple of days, cram everyone in, and get home quickly. Live and learn.
And then there was some stuff with one of my brothers that pissed me off, but yadda yadda.
So, the trip home. Was epic. My hometown, you see, is on an island. So even if we made all our connections, it was going to be a 12 hour trip, because we had to take a ferry, then a bus to the airport, then hang around til our flight, then a layover, and one more flight. This is where the Ergo comes in.
That thing is worth its weight in gold... but it's pretty lightweight, so actually it's worth its weight plus the weight of a 20 lb baby that I carried on my body for 12 hours in one day plus 4 more the next morning.
The ferry and bus went fine and dandy, I got to the airport, checked my bag so I only had to carry Miles in the Ergo and my handbag, which contained three diapers, a few wipes, one toy, and my wallet. I had a leisurely dinner and scored a free banana for Miles because he's just so cute. I changed Miles's diaper, peed with the Ergo on, walked around, and 2 hours had passed before I noticed my flight was delayed. I talked to the clerk, and not only was I not going to make my connection, but I was going to be stuck in the airport for FOUR MORE HOURS. That's a total of 6 hours just waiting for a plane. And when I got to my layover location, I was stuck for the night with no luggage.
When it came time for Miles's normal bedtime, I walked around for TWO HOURS until he fell asleep and I could sit down. I had my ipod and some podcasts to keep me sane, but I was dog tired. When the plane finally arrived, Miles was still, thank god, sleeping, but as we boarded the flight attendant told me I would have to take him out of his "holster." I wanted to kill her. REALLY? You asked for it, lady.
And so he screamed. And cried. And screamed. And I cried. Eventually he fell asleep but it sucked. There was a married couple sitting next to me and they never said a word but I think I provided some very effective birth control for them that evening.
We got to our hotel (Mr. I had booked it online when I called him) at midnight and it was gorgeous. It's too bad we weren't staying under better circumstances but yay Hy.att. In the morning I showered, put my dirty clothes back on, strapped Miles back into the Ergo and we were back at airport waiting game. Miles managed to grab a nap just before our flight so I thought he'd do well. Yeah, no.
He screamed. And screamed. Worse than last time. He screamed through about 90% of the flight, and I mean SCREAMED. And the old guy next to me was really nice, as were the flight attendants, but honestly when your kid is screaming in your ear on an airplane, the last thing you really want is suggestions from strangers. And oh by the way I had to laugh when the flight attendant told me the "proper" way to fly with a baby on a plane: sit with baby on your lap and your arms folded in front of him so he doesn't jump around. I wanted to ask her, have you ever MET an 8 month old boy?
Anyway. We survived. And I will tell you something, the days of me obsessing over Miles sleeping through the night are OVER. If I can hack a week long "vacation" and 22 hour return trip alone I can do anything. I suddenly have the perspective to see that my daily life with him has actually been pretty cushy and not that hard so I'm kind of over worrying about whether he nurses two, four, or six times a night. At least I can take a shower again.
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