Laela's first airplane ride...

My spring break started this week, so what better than going to visit some good friends in Nebraska. Our first thought was...how will Laela be on the airplane? We knew we wanted her to start experiencing different things and this is one of them.

The airport was great! If you know us well, then you know that we cruise into the airport about 30 minutes before the flight leaves. Then we get through security and RUN to the terminal. With Laela we knew we could not do that, so we were up at 5:00 and out of the house at 6:20. Laela was able to get a little sleep on the way and then we were off for our adventure! She did really well with the security and check-in. Funny thing was...we took off our shoes because we know the routine, but we didn't even think about Laela's shoes and her paci. The security guy said..."don't forget her shoes and paci!" Of course people are waiting on us in the line so I pop her paci right out of her mouth, grab her shoe off of one foot, spin around so Ro can grab her other shoe and we are off through the check point. Thankfully we all made it through. :) We even had one hour to wait before boarding! GO US!

We got on the plane and the first thing Laela did was look out the window. She thought it was so cool!

Laela played and played on the airplane. THEN she started to get tired. This is what I feared because the flight took off at 8:45 and her typical nap time is 9:00. Well...she made it to 9:45 and started screaming. Oh man...our worst fear! I felt like everyone was staring. We tried everything except hang her from the over-head compartment. Then Ro got her into just the right spot and she was OUT! (Really the crying lasted about 3 minutes but it seemed like 30.)

We made it into Omaha and got our bags and rental car. Oh man. Another crazy mess. The rental car smelled like smoke and the carseat would not hold in snug. We didn't really notice this stuff until we had already driven away. Ro took a turn and luckily I was sitting in the back, because the carseat practically turned over. AH! We went to our friends house for lunch and then went to check into the hotel. Also, one of our friends has a baby, so we were able to borrow their old seat. MUCH SAFER! We checked in at the hotel and had a few issues there. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that I was about ready to rip off a lady's face. :) Here's Laela when we did finally get into the room.

For the evening, we planned to go to dinner with our friends. We left Laela to sleep at the friends house while one of their parents listened for her. The plan did not go exactly as expected. We told them our typical routine of eat about 5:30, drink bottle, and sleep at 6:00. Well, we tried but she knew that it was not her bed and she cried and cried and cried. We believe (to an extent) for her to soothe herself and cry it out. I felt horrible, but she was safe and fed, so she was just exhausted! We ended up leaving and going to eat with her still crying. I know that sounds horrible, but she did finally fall asleep. When we got back she was sound asleep. We decided to head back to the hotel about 10:00 so I went in to get her and when I picked her up she gave me the biggest smile. She would not stop smiling and giggling. When we go to the hotel she was still smiling. We put her down, she rolled over and she was OUT! She woke up at 9:30 the next morning! YIKES...and so much for our schedule, but she was soooo happy!Off for a fun day with friends! We stayed out most of the day so we had Laela all packed up with a stash of food and goodies. I got my hair cut, Ro went to the movies, girlfriends went shopping, etc. What a great, relaxing day with friends!

Monday rolls around and all three of us slept in until 8:30. YIPPEEE for sleep on spring break! We got up packed everything, got ready and headed out. We had most of the day to spend with our friends and then we were off for a 6:00 flight. Again, another wonderful flight time! Turns out that it was not bad since her sleep routine was a little off. The airplane was almost empty, so we took the side with 3 seats and let Laela play in the middle seat. She thought that was wonderful! I saved her dinner bottle to give to her when the plane was taking off (to help with her ears). Well...I gave it to her right when we started heading to the runway. Laela must have been hungry because she was done before we made it to take-off!

By the way...some of Laela's favorite things to play with on the plane were the AA napkins and the snack packs!

Overall, we had a wonderful trip! Yes we are glad to be back home and get back onto a schedule, but we loved spending time with our Nebraskan friends!