We made it to TX

Haley & I flew by ourselves on Dec 2 to Houston, to visit with our family for about a month.  (I figured ‘why not?’ since I’m on leave from work!)  I was a little nervous about flying with her and without Trey, but Haley was fantastic on the plane – much better than I expected.  I brought several bottles to help her ears pop during the ascent & decent 

So, my plan was to give her the first bottle as we were taking off from DC.  Well, she decided she was hungry about an hour before the departure time, so I gave her one of the bottles while we waited. Luckily she then fell asleep and slept until about 20 minutes into the ascent.  So, I gave her a little of another bottle so her ears could pop, and then she went back to sleep for me. ;-)  She slept about 2 hours, then I changed her diaper and she wanted to stand up on my lap for the last hour, so we did that.  I was waiting for her to start screaming as we were descending, but she waited until the last 10 minutes of the flight to get fussy.  So, I gave her the rest of the second bottle, and she finished it as we touched down in Houston.  What great timing!  She was great the whole flight.  I borrowed my sister’s baby bjorn, and had a backpack & a carryon roller bag, along with a huge suitcase I checked.  I depended on the kindness of strangers to help get the roller bag in the overhead bin, since I had haley in the baby bjorn carrier.  (I didn’t want to hit her on the head with my bag!)  There was a very nice gentleman that helped me put the bag up and took it back down and even rolled it into the terminal for me when we landed.  I could not have made it thru the airport without the baby bjorn, so I owe my sister big time!! 

Packing for the trip was an experience alone.  Luckily my sisters had car seats, strollers, swings, bouncers, etc, so I didn’t have to pack any of those big items.  But, I still had to leave a lot of things behind I planned on taking, and actually had to sit on my suitcase to zip it up!  Both Grandmas met us at the airport so we had a nice greeting and lots of help getting bags and heading to East Bernard.  

Texas was great, but pretty busy.  The day we arrived was my dad’s first time to meet Haley & Trey’s dad came over in the evening to see her again.  The day after we arrived, mom & I went shopping to get all the things I left behind and some of the foods I like to eat.  The following day we drove 2 ½ hours to attend a family Christmas with about 40 other people, so that was a full day for Haley as well.  That was the first time for my brother & sister & their spouses to meet Haley.  Sunday, we stayed home, but had some visitors from my Dad’s side in the afternoon.  And, on Monday both Haley & I were exhausted so just hung around the house and tried to rest!   Even though Haley did great on the flight, it took her 3+ days to get over jetlag and adjust once we arrived.  (She was not eating well or sleeping well, but finally got into a groove.)  

arrival at the Houston airport

my dad's first time to meet haley

trey's dad with haley