Planes, Trains and Auto-immunities

Hallie and I flew down to Vegas to reunite with Natalie who had just returned from her mission in Ecuador. It was Hallie's second time flying, but it was my first time flying with Hallie by myself. We left out of the IF airport, so I knew that security and the actual airport part would be a breeze (which it was, I love that airport and everyone was so kind and helpful!) but I didn't know how Hallie would do on the plane.

Last time we flew, we had Eric with us ... and Hallie wasn't mobile. Both factors played a significant role in the successfulness of our flight.

 So first things first. We go to board the plane and I'm carrying: Hallie, a backpack, a diaper bag, a car seat and....... pushing a stroller. I have to collapse the stroller and the carseat at the end of the long walk-way thing before I actually board the plane. So I'm standing their trying to juggle Hallie and our bags long enough to get the stroller collapsed... yeah it wasn't happening. Then a shining man in a uniform (I discovered later that it was the pilot of our aircraft) happened to come through a secret side door at just the right time and he helped me get things settled.

Phew. I made it on the plane and now I only have 1 baby and two bags to juggle. I got this.

I had memorized my seat # because I didn't want to have to dig through my diaper bag while I was standing in the aisle to find my boarding pass. When I come to seat 27D (what I thought was my seat) I find a grumpy old man sitting there! Ahhhh did I read my boarding pass wrong?? I must have. Time to dig through the diaper bag and keep Hallie from pulling the lady-behind-me's hair. I found the pass, re-read my seat number. It said 27D!!! There was a man in my seat!!! And the line up behind me was getting huuuuge. Ahhh.

"Excuse me sir, I think this is my seat"
"I think it is too. I guess you're going to make me go sit by my wife"
"Yup, I guess I am. Sorry to do that to ya."
"Bahahaha well the least you can do is give me that baby!"

AND THEN HE PROCEEDS TO GRAB HALLIE RIGHT OUT OF MY HANDS!

Hallie of course starts doing her closed mouth sob. She was not happy, and I was like... what the??? He took my seat and then he snatched my baby!? Uhhh.... seat change please!

Except I didn't change seats. After realizing that this was indeed a friendly (not crazy,..well maybe a little crazy) old man, I decided to embrace the situation. I sat and chatted with him and his wife before the plane took off and it turns out we know some of the same people. And they were really, really kind.

The only thing was... that this old guy would randomly grab Hallie out of my arms to hold her! Like I'd be trying to get her settled down to eat and ... SNATCH! Or she'd be dozing off on my shoulder and ... BAM! He's got her! She was never very happy about this, and I wasn't super thrilled either because he had the most ghastly, mucas-y cough! And he'd cough right into his hands and then grab her! a;lksfjad;j

Uh mom? A little help here?

But he looooved holding and playing with her and I just didn't have the heart to say, "Excuse me sir, but I'd love to not have a sick baby during my vacation." But I knew he was just trying to help and give me a break, and in all reality.. it was really sweet.

It was a long hour and a half. Hallie had way too much energy and didn't take her nap on the plane like I was planning on and she was all over the place. But everyone loved her. The couple behind us would lean in and play with her. The student to the left of us madly underlining and highlighting his text books would look up every so often to smile at Hallie. The man in front of us was wearing a really shiny puffy jacket that Hallie couldn't keep her hands off and he just loved that and could grab her hands and kiss them... and every single flight attendant that passed by stopped and grabbed Hallie's hands and cheeks and told me over and over how adorable she was. It was all very flattering... but If I make it through this whole weekend with a healthy baby... I am super mom.

 Hallie absolutely crashed hard core the second we got off the plane. I strapped her into her stroller, and she was out! Much to the disappointment of Natalie who came to meet Hallie for the first time at the airport.

Anyways, we had a wonderful trip down to Overton. I hardly ever saw Hallie. As soon as she woke up, someone would snatch her up, and I'd roll over and go back to sleep. Awesome! I even woke up late one morning to Hallie giving me eating pretty purple lilacs that her grandpa had helped her pick for me!