neil, a friend from church who graciously agreed to give us our zombie hour ride to the airport, arrived at 610 - just as i was getting last minute things into the diaper bag. as anticipated - this was the very moment that murphy's law kicked in for the day. jimmie decides he's starving, and can't wait another moment for his bottle. as i prepare the bottle and commence the feeding i scrutinize the clock, thinking "okay he can eat an ounce before we need to be in the car, then another ounce in the car on the way -- then another ounce in line for security and he'll be set for at least 3 hours."
yeah right.
jim and neil load the car, and i put jimmie in his carseat. he has eaten an ounce. he falls asleep and is sound and snug until we unload him to go through security. shoes off, carseat unfurled, contents of the diaper bag sprawled into different bins, baby in one hand -- jim carried the bins and i juggle the carseat and we try to put ourselves back together. whew. now, off to our gate. oh look! a sonic right across from our gate - and 30 minutes before we board. jim gets in line and i stifle more baby hunger with another ounce of said bottle. of course he falls asleep again. jim and i eat our breakfast and enjoy some people watching until its time to board. jim grabs the trash and i grab the carseat and diaper bag. off we go to kansas city.
jimmie did great. the plane wasn't full so we were able to bring his carseat on instead of gate checking it like anticipated. all the passengers and flight attendants oogled over him, and he slept the entire way.
he earned his wings, since this was his first flight.
upon landing in kansas city we discover that we have to exit the boarding area and go through security again at the gate for our connecting flight. seriously? isn't there some sort of exception to this rule for parents traveling with an infant? *sigh* we head to a restaurant to wait out our 45 min. layover in silence. as we are chatting about how to juggle another trek through security without shoes, i start digging in the diaper bag for jimmie's bottle so i can clean it out and get it ready for his next feeding - which i anticipate happening as we are boarding our next flight since he only took 2 ounces and is not on his schedule at all.me: honey, do you have the bottle?
jim: no, i thought you had it.
me: it's not in here - did you see it on the table at sonic in okc?
jim: no, i thought you had it.
me: well i don't. here let me empty the whole diaper bag, maybe i'm just missing it.
*proceed to empty contents of diaper bag onto table*
me: well crap! where is it?? i was feeding him at sonic, then we got up to get on the plane. i could have sworn i put the cap on and stuck it in the diaper bag.
jim: its okay, hes not even hungry.
me: well, not now - but he will be in about 30 minutes -- while we are in the air on the way to chicago. what should we do?? i don't want to be the mom on the plane with the screaming infant! what did i DO with that bottle??!
jim: just use the other one.
me: its in the suitcase, on the plane. *sob*
that was a fun conversation :). of course, airport stores do not carry bottles. and our spare was in the suitcase. i'm such a failure. how could i leave my son's bottle in oklahoma city? and *of course* this is my son... the one who wouldn't latch on to my boob to save his life, so nursing isn't an option either. i was a basket case. jim just kept saying it would be fine. i just kept thinking yeah, you won't be the one trying to console the screaming infant while a few hundred angry eyes stare at you and squirm uncomfortably!
well, about 30 minutes into our flight i had staved off screams of anger pretty well. we asked the flight attendant for a cup of water, and eyeballed 2 ounces. luckily i had some syringes that we use to give jimmie his medicine with. jim used one to stir the formula and as i held jimmie we fed him mcgyver style from a medicine syringe. its parenting people, you do what you gotta do.
we survived. and look what was waiting for us in chicago: a happy, well-fed baby boy :)
