To Grandmother's House We Go...

On Saturday, December 13, Y and I packed up our bags and headed to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at about 3pm. The day started out pretty smooth, we packed, left for the airport, said our goodbyes and made it through security without any problems. I will say that going through security with a 3 month old, a diaper bag and a carry-on, plus having to remove your coat and shoes is not a simple task. Luckily I had a very nice TSA agent help me move all of my stuff to an area where I could sit and take my time getting everything situated. So after getting all that straight I put Y in her BabyBjorn and we were off to find our gate. We were flying out of a brand new terminal at the airport so I was not familiar with it at all but boy was it pretty cozy. When I reached the gate I quickly realized that I was supposed to go to the bathroom before going through security so that B could hold Y while I went...so let's just say we had fun figuring that one out. But we did figure it out without making any mess at all! Anyway, our flight was about 25 minutes late leaving Detroit so when I made it to Chicago I had just enough time to change Y before boarding my plane for Raleigh. We arrived in Raleigh on time, however, when I turned my phone off airplane mode I had a text message from my brother saying that they had a flat tire before they even left the driveway (they had just bought new tires). He sent me another message saying he had borrowed my uncle's car and that they were on their way. So when I looked at the current time and the time that he sent the text message I figured that I at least had another half hour/45 minute wait before they made it to pick me up so I went to the bathroom and changed Y again because just as we were landed she left mommy a nasty little present. So while in the middle of changing Y I get another text from him saying that they are almost there and that they would meet me, they must've been flying to make it there that quickly. So then I begin to rush and I hurry to baggage claim where I see 2 of my 3 bags already off the carousel with a lady that works for Southwest standing beside them. So I walk up to her and she asks if those are my bags and I tell her yes but that one is missing. My luggage arrived, my pack and play arrived, my car seat (the most important item to me) did not arrive. I look at the lady and ask, "so my car seat is lost" and she looks at me and replies, "no, it's not lost it's just not on the plane, but we'll find it." Now correct me if I'm wrong, but last time I checked if you don't know where something is...then it's LOST!!! We go to the office and fill out all this paperwork and they give me this crappy "loaner" that I have no idea how to use, luckily my brother was able to figure it out. So anyway, I finally get my car seat back 36 hours later at 2am in the morning. As we're leaving the airport my mom gets really sick but we make it home safely. Apparently whatever my mom was sick with everyone else in the house had already had so by Wednesday it was my turn. Now Y had been going through a stage where she wanted no one but Mommy and then going to this far away place which is loud and has so many people that she has never seen before in her short life was probably a bit much for her. But it took my being sick for her to really open up to the rest of the family and from that point on she played with everyone and was great. Needless to say the week flew by for us and before we knew it, it was time for us to leave. Well thankfully for us we managed to make it to the airport safely but we were not excited to leave 60/70 degree weather for the frigid Michigan air. A couple days before the Midwest had been pounded by a huge snowstorm so when we got to the airport we found that my flight to Chicago had been delayed about an hour. This put me in a panic because I would barely have enough time to de-board my plane and board my other flight. That proved to be nothing to worry about because before I even left Raleigh my flight to Detroit from Chicago had been delayed two hours. We make it to Chicago and I find myself with 2 hours to burn, Y sleeps through all of this. Then they keep telling us that our plane is on it's way and will be here soon, blah blah blah. An hour later it finally arrives and we end up sitting on the plane for another 20 to 30 minutes going nowhere. We finally land in Detroit at 1:40am, I rush straight to baggage claim, wait at least 20 minutes for the carousel to start moving, collect 2 of my bags and find that the 3rd bag is nowhere to be found. They lost my car seat...AGAIN!!! I am royally ticked at this point, so we get in line to report it missing and there are about 40-50 people ahead of us. As it turns out, everyone on our plane that checked a car seat, their car seat was lost. I'm sorry, but how do you lose every car seat on a plane along with the luggage of 40 people when the plane was delayed 3 hours? They can't say that they didn't have time to get it on the plane...I think this is the case of lazy baggage-loading-people. But through it all I must say that I have an extremely patient husband who waited there until 4 or 5 in the morning knowing he had to get up at 6am and go to work. I also have an amazing baby because though it all, she never cried. I was horrified of flying with her because of the ear popping but she never cried once. She never needed the pacifier, the breast or the bottle, it just didn't bother her! So I guess my luck was balanced by my misfortune. We got our car seat back by noon but Southwest Airlines will definitely be hearing from me. That was a long story...here are some pictures from the trip.