FREEEEEDOOOM!!

Sunday. Mom and HB dropped Ladybug and I off at the Nashville airport at 11:15 a.m. Our first flight went just fine, and we arrived in D.C. on time. We already had a three hour layover, so I was prepared for lots of entertaining. (I took Ladybug in her pouch--no carseat or stroller. I hate traveling with all that baggage.) At 5:30 when we should have been boarding the plane for Boston they announced that our flight had been delayed until 8:00...most likely. At this point I started wondering how I was going to deal, but we just figured it out. I alternated between walking the terminal and letting her crawl in front of the big window and sitting her in a high chair in the food court.
The terminal was getting cramped. There were flights delayed all over the place, so people were getting all clogged up. At around 7:00 I started searching for an empty high chair again. One was being used to hold a couple's bags, but the other one was open. However, there was only one empty adult chair left. I walked up to it and a lady pulled it to herself--she was already sitting down. I literally dropped the high chair and said, "Are you using that?" And she said, "Yes." I was shocked. Then this sweet man nearby started gathering all his things together and said, "Here, you can have mine." I started crying! I thanked him through tears and he sort of chuckled and said, "You're welcome." I thought, he must have women in his life if he knows to just go about his business when one of us starts to fall apart. (Those poor guys and their fix-it fixations.)
Finally, at 8:00 they boarded us on the plane...so we could wait. I know, I know, they need to be ready to take off at a moment's notice. But I was holding a very hot, very tired baby on my lap. By 8:45 Ladybug has screamed herself to sleep and we taxied to the runway. Then the pilot announced that Boston wasn't letting any aircraft in until further notice. My head immediately dropped in my hand and I started sobbing. Mind you, I do NOT cry in public. But I simply couldn't stop. I was trapped. Ladybug was miserable and I was stuck in the very back corner of the plane and I couldn't get off! At 9:45 we took off and we landed in Boston at 11:30 p.m. Ladybug woke up and screamed to sleep a couple more times, and was finally totally unconcious for the last hour of flying. I could not get off that plane fast enough!! I felt a little William Wallace action welling up within me as fresh air hit my nostrils and my legs moved!
It took us twelve hours to travel from Nashville to Boston. Twelve hours of togetherness for me and the babe. :) She was SO happy to be home Monday. She was absolutely giddy as she crawled and babbled and napped. What a relief it must have been. I was exhausted; also insanely happy to be home. But when B.daddy got home from work I got supper on the table and went straight to bed. And that is where I stayed until Tuesday morning!

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I love Ladybug's current phase of discovery. Everything is enthralling to her new, independently searching hands--and mouth. She is so funny and so content to just explore, explore, explore! She got her first tooth this month and her long, muscular body is starting to get a little more chunky and sturdy. I just want to eat her up!

This is how I found her in her crib one morning after Li'l Bit dressed her.


Her first night to crawl!


Her adorable smile. And the skid mark on her nose--I dropped her. Don't really want to talk about it. ;) I've told that story enough already.