Jet Set Baby

We're back from New England, and it was a great trip. Cora was a terrific traveler, and it turned out to not be very stressful at all.

She woke up in a great mood on Thursday, and we headed off to the airport. We had her in her stroller/carseat, and Cora seemed to think that the entire process of taking the light rail from the long-term parking, and going to through security, and getting to our gate was quite the adventure. She grinned the whole way.

The airplane was the smallest plane I've ever been on--two seats on one side of the aisle, and one seat on the other, with only 17 rows. They boarded babies and wheelchair passengers first, and Geoff carried her onto the plane while I folded up the stroller and gate-checked it at the end of the boarding ramp. When I joined them on the plane, Geoff informed me she was soaked through. Oh no! Thank god she's still too little to produce an odor. So while the rest of the passengers were boarding, I ducked into the bathroom and changed her on the tiny, tiny changing table. This produced murderous screams, but she was fine as soon as I picked her up again, and our first hurdle was dispatched!

I decided we would just let her dry, and I held her damp little butt on my lap during the flight. She nursed during liftoff and was perfectly content, but by the time drink service was over, I could tell she'd filled her diaper again. The kid had two major diapers in a two-hour flight! Back into the bathroom for more brief murderous screaming, and then she was quiet and content again for the rest of the flight. Everyone was in a good mood. As we were disembarking, the older man who had been sitting in the seat in front of us said, "What a well-behaved baby!" Yay, we weren't a scourge upon our flight!

We landed in Hartford and picked up our rental car and strapped her right in the back seat.We headed off to Brad and Jen's, where we met our seven-month-old nephew Gaius for the first time. He is quite the outgoing little charmer. The last time we were out east, almost a year and a half ago, neither Brad nor Geoff had any kids or were even expecting, and now:
Pleased to meet you, Aunt Jen:Brad and Jen had us set up in their guest room with Gaius's old basinette. Cora had never slept away from home, and I wasn't sure how she'd do. It took her a couple of tries, but she went down relatively early and slept very well. Another hurdle dispatched!

Friday we hung out all day, taking turns playing with the babies and the XBox. We got to see Gaius's first crawling--or the first time he put together all those little motions to actually move across the room. Brad and Jen kissed another level of peace and quiet goodbye and began making plans for baby-proofing.

We went out to dinner at The Pub.
Saturday morning we all met up with Geoff's sister, Sue, and her kids over at Geoff's dad's house. It was great to see her and to see Aiden again, who is now two, and meet Delaney, who at eight months, was also barely a twinkle last time we were out east.
The Turners' long-time neighbors even stopped by to say hi and meet the kids. Between the four kids and everyone chasing them (well, Cora doesn't need that much chasing yet), most of the pictures are blurred with motion!

Greetings! Jen and Gaius, Geoff holding Cora, and Delaney and Sue:Aiden supervises Delaney and Gaius in a crawling derby:Aiden and his Uncle Brad:Aiden, Paul, Delaney, and Sue:The baby cousins of '07. Of course, for every picture like this:Or this:There are ten like this:And this:
Sunday we flew home. Cora wasn't quite the angel she was on the flight out, but was still very good and only cried for a few minutes total. In her defense, our flight was delayed, and for some reason it was hotter than Hades in that sardine can. She was only expressing what the rest of us were thinking. On the plus side, we had learned our lesson and changed her diaper twice in the airport before boarding.

Here we hung out in an empty lounge at Bradley Airport, and Cora briefly shared her opinion on flight delays:She was still pretty zen for most of the flight, though:So it was a great time, and Thank You to all our New England peeps for making it so! We're looking forward to planning the next time. (Hopefully we will be able to meet up with our friends the Blaus next time--this time they were busy celebrating their wee elf Seamus turning 1 already!)

Although I was nervous about it beforehand, now I'm really glad we made the trip. It really helped us draw to a close that high-alert, survival-mode, newborn stage and move on with regular-life-with-a-baby. We like that.