Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Almost two weeks ago, I set out with my four boys to fly from California to Georgia for Christmas.

We managed to arrive in one piece, with all of our luggage, but that was not the miracle.

Or maybe that was also a miracle. ha!

As I shepherded the four of them, plus myself, our five back-packs, and countless electronic gadgets through the security machines, we followed the rules very nicely, and I counted the heads of my children 300 times.

“Is this medicine 3mL?” the agent asked me, referring to my son’s seizure medication.

“Oh, I have no idea, but he has to have it.” (Don’t mess with Mama.)

“Yes, of course,” he replied.

Liquids and laptops have to go into separate security bins for the people to screen, so we segregated out all of my things.

“I’m flying alone with these four boys,” I made sure the agent knew.

For this to work, I needed a little extra assistance.

“Oh. Okay,” then he turned to the metal detector lines next to us, and he said, “Hold the lines.” The other passengers stepped back while they ushered my ducklings and I through the metal detectors, as a solid group. I was thrilled! I have never gotten through airport security so quickly!

The boys all grabbed their things, I grabbed my things, and we were on our way.

We only had to wait about 30 minutes at our gate before boarding began. JD and Daniel were happy to stand and look at the planes out the window. Caleb and Joshua were sitting in chairs, completely absorbed in their electronic devices. I chatted a bit with other folks near the windows.

The boarding agent called for all passengers who “need extra time or assistance in boarding.”

As soon as I heard it, I wasted no time whatsoever.   I pulled JD and Daniel down from their window ledge, and said, “Time to go, boys!”

They jumped up, zipped their packs, and followed me.

I rushed my 4 little ducklings along, and as I approached the boarding area, there was the usual multiple clumps of people waiting for their turn. I looked at the young man standing in the front of said line. I didn’t want to appear rude by just shoving my way in front of him.

“Are you one of the people needing the extra help?” I asked him.

He chuckled, “No, no.”

“Oh. Well, I sure am! C’mon, boys!” I said as I stepped in front of him, followed by my adorable straight line of four little fellas.

In fact, as I was just about to hand our five tickets to the ticket lady, JD excitedly ran straight on ahead, right past the ticket counter, right past me, and right on down the jetway….or whatever you call that hallway thing that leads to the airplane.

Yikes! I quickly ran over, scooped him up, and apologetically went back to the ticket lady.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “We’re with the needing the extra help group.”

She nodded. “Five?”

“Yes.”

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you!!”

No sooner than we had gotten ourselves arranged in our seats, I had a terrible. horrifying. realization.

I dug through my book bag, looking for my laptop, but wait. Where was my laptop?

Uh-oh….in the bin…beside…the medicines…and JD’s sippy cup. I did a quick check. Yes, all of those things were missing, and I knew exactly where I had left them. At security.

By the way, that’s not the kind of medication you can just quit cold turkey. There’d be headaches to suffer from that sort of thing.

Nooooooo! So I did what I always do when I have a problem.

That’s right. I called Alan. Poor Alan. He was already on the highway headed home. He said that I should ask the crew if they could help me retrieve all that stuff before we took off.

Yes, I should think of these things on my own, but no, it will never happen. I am not the person you want around in an emergency.

I flagged down the flight attendant. I told her what had happened as quickly as I could.

Raquel was her name, and she is one of my new favorite people. It was a Christmas miracle, I tell you.

“Okay! I’ll tell them we have to have this medication before we take off, or he will have a seizure on the plane!!” Raquel said.

She rushed off. I continued helping JD and Daniel get settled. I said a prayer or two, and I decided not to fret. No need. Fretting cannot help. Only Providence, Raquel, and the TSA could help us now.

And just like that, she was back, carrying all of it!

The Macbook, the meds, and the sippy cup, all present and accounted for!

Pure gratitude and elation! I was so relieved! I thanked her profusely. I handed her a wad of cash as I deplaned in Georgia, I wrote Delta airlines and told them that Raquel deserves a promotion and a pay raise.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, and thank you, Raquel!

*******The Christmas Crash**********

My parents were waiting at the airport to pick us up, and I don’t know what I would have done without them. The next day my persistent, chronic, manageable level of hip pain morphed into a roaring, uncontrollable monster, and the rest of Christmas vacation has been a blur for me. I do not know what is wrong with my hip. I did get a steroid shot. I thought, at the very least, it will help my bursitis, and it did help for a few days.

But then I took a four-hour car trip, and the problem is back. I can’t sit down but for a few minutes, lying in bed at night is the worst, stairs are torture, but walking around doesn’t bother me at all.

I will be returning to California with a newly heightened resolve to solve my hip problem, but it is also one of those things that I will have to trust God for. Thankfully, I am in good hands. The Lord cares about our pain.

Hebrews 4:15

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

The post The Christmas Miracle, Followed by My Great Christmas Crash appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

ah….airports

I love visiting my family. I love going to the beach. I love seeing my people! Why does Alabama have to be so incredibly far from California? If I want to go there, I really do HAVE to fly.

I only have to do it 4 more times. 1 round trip this summer and 1 round trip this Christmas. Then hopefully, I will never have to do it again.

Why? Why don’t I like taking a 5-6 hour flight? Well, let me tell ya.

Experience. When I was 21, I loved swimming IN the ocean, right in the Gulf of Mexico. I’d go in over my head. I don’t do that now either: I know too much, I’ve been stung by a jellyfish, and yes, I AM afraid of sharks. Experience.

So here you go. Here are my experiences with flying with my children, in case anyone needs reminding–or if you need flight tips–I do consider myself the flying with babies and toddlers expert. There I said it. I am an expert at SOMETHING.

The Flight of Four Children

A God We Can Depend On: the New Year’s Eve Flight

Breastfeeding, Strangers, and Airplanes  (That was one of my most popular posts ever. That post is read around the world every week. Posts are a funny thing. The ones I think will be popular are NOT, and the other ones are, and I have no idea how to figure it out.)

The post The Reason I Don’t Want to Fly to Alabama appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I’m back from my Alabama visit!  I caught the last flight from Atlanta to Baltimore last night.  It is a good thing too because  each flight after it was cancelled, due to the weather. And boy, do I have some tips to share about flying with an infant. Of course, I had to go and learn them all the hard way.

Best things about my trip:

• I got to visit with family.
• I got to hold a precious newborn.
• I spent time SITTING on a sofa.  : )
• The food!  Oh, the food!!!  We had Arby’s!!!  We had Swiss Cake Rolls, Fage Greek yogurt–my very favorite, but I’m usually too cheap to buy it, pizza, and oh!  Goldfingers chicken!!!  It was a party in my tummy.  : )
• We went through many of Granny’s things, mostly clothes, jewelry, and cards that she’d saved.  I brought home a few beautiful broaches that will remind me of Granny each time I wear them.

The visit part was awesome.  The flying part was where the work came in.

Have you ever flown with an infant?  It’s not really my favorite.  While waiting to board one flight, this nice, well-meaning lady came up and talked to me.  She said, “Just wait….” and I must’ve had a look on my face that let her know this wasn’t actually my first rodeo, because she stopped and said, “Is this your first?” Of course, you know I explained that I have four, but she went on to say how much easier it is to travel with just one, rather than two or more.

Well, yes, that’s true, BUT that does not negate that traveling with even just one infant is difficult–especially when you’re traveling ALONE with the infant.  Oy.  I have flown with four different babies at different times over the years–usually without Alan–but also a time or two with him.  It’s much easier when both parents are present.

Here are a few lessons I’ve picked up over the years on flying with infants:

#1. Ergo Vs. Strollers    

While I use my Ergo often, I’m not really the queen of baby carrier wearers.  I have trouble fastening them by myself.  I also have back issues, so I can’t wear them for very long at a time.

On my flight down south, I decided to only use the Ergo. I didn’t even take a stroller with me because I figured I can travel rather quickly that way. After all, I had a crazy short layover in Atlanta.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT.

If you love wearing your Ergo, fine, but I highly recommend that you have a stroller with you. Have the stroller for when your back starts to hurt so badly that you become super jealous of the people in wheelchairs.  I spent a few minutes there at the end, fantasizing over riding in one of those wheelchairs, let me tell ya!

While in Alabama, I went to the store and picked out the most awesome little almost-umbrella stroller I have ever purchased.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS:

I used this stroller on the trip home, and I didn’t bother with the Ergo.  It worked much, much better, and I won’t spend two days with an achy back as a result of it either.

#2.  Food

Food is the number one way to entertain little ones on an airplane.  JD is pretty messy with his food, so for him I used a bottle of apple juice.  My kids have to drink apple juice for their bathroom issues, so it’s a guilt-free tool for us.

JD still doesn’t really take a bottle, so he mostly gnawed on it, took sips here and there, and played with it.

Breastfeeding usually solves a lot of problems too.  Don’t be afraid to breastfeed your baby on the airplane.  People, in general, are very understanding, and if they aren’t, who cares?  Babies have to eat whether your seat mate is weird about it or not!

Which brings me to point #3:

#3. Breastfeeding on an Airplane….

Oh, the joys…I have this weird problem:  When I feel nervous or uptight, my milk STOPS.  It just won’t let down for the baby.  No milk = mad baby.

Have any of you other breastfeeding mommies had this no-let-down- when- nervous problem?

On my first flight, I was walking down the aisle, looking for my seat. All I could see in the area I were men.  “Noooooo,” I thought, “Oh, please, no, oh please, no, don’t let that be my seat next to the pretty man,” because it really looked like it was.  I did not want to have to breastfeed next to the handsome man.

I was lucky.  My seat was right in front of his, right beside a SUPER sweet girl, about my age.  PHEW!!!!  She was awesome.  We had such a good time talking, I really wish I’d caught her name.  She was a kindred spirit.

All went well with the breastfeeding.

Yes, I use a nursing cover.  I forgot mine, so I had to use a blanket, which is only a little more difficult.

On my return flight, I DID have to sit next to a man, about my age, and guess what happened?  I felt uncomfortable, as he was not a dad yet, so I knew he was probably uncomfortable, and my milk would not let down.  What is wrong with me???  Am I the only one with this problem???  Tell me I’m not the only one!!!  Ugh.

THANKFULLY, the lady I mentioned before, that I’d talked to at the airport, who’d said, “just wait until you have two kids”, appeared out of nowhere, and rescued me with a strand of Mardi Gras beads!  JD  was in Heaven with those beads.  Thank you, bead lady!!!!

God provides.

I simply fed JD later, after we landed at the airport, in a carefully selected seat near a window, across from a nice grandparent-ish couple.  Halfway through the feeding, this young man behind me–that liked to look around, but I’d forgotten all about him–suddenly said, “Oh, sorry!” looking at me….apparently he’d gotten a peek.

There was really nothing to say to that…..so we’ll move on.

#4. When the baby fights sleep, and the crying begins….

The very last flight was when JD started to lose it.  Don’t worry, I didn’t cry, but JD sure did.  Whatever you do at home to quiet a crying baby is what works on an airplane too.

Joshua was the type of baby that never cried once, the airplane just lulled him to sleep, and I thought flying with babies was so easy.

JD was more difficult, but he only got really upset on the very last flight.  We were sitting by the “We’re not talking here,” type of guy.  Boo fun.  I do not like sitting by non-talkers.  Holding the baby with no one to talk to is lonely.  The talking soothes JD, so without it, I was left with sleepy-grumpy-poopy JD.

We’ll talk about the poopy part in a minute…..

As it turns out, it’s perfectly acceptable to stand up, rock your baby back and forth, and even sing to him.  : )  Can you picture it?  Yes, I had to resort to all of these things, but at least he went to sleep.

#5. Diaper changing on an airplane:

Somehow, JD always chose to do his business ON the airplane.  Great.  I handled this 3 different ways, all which worked just fine:

A.  On a flight where the back row was empty, I snuck back there and used that row to change his diaper where no one could see us.

B.  On a flight where I boarded first, so the seats around me were all still empty, I hastily laid JD in my lap and changed him right there.  Thankfully, it was just a wet one.

C.  JD went full-on messy diaper during our very last flight, so I just marched him down to the airplane bathroom.  Do the plane bathrooms have changing tables?  Um, no.  I put the lid to the toilet down, sat there, and changed a seriously poopy diaper right there in my lap.

This would’ve all been a lot harder with a Daniel-sized toddler.

#5.  EARS

If your ears are bothering you, their ears are probably bothering them.  I tried to keep a pacifier in his mouth for this, as it never happened when he was hungry. In the past, I have done the whole feeding during the descent thing.  The descent always seems to be the worst for ears. JD seemed to handle it best lying down, rather than sitting up.

***************

 Our journey was quite the adventure.  I do have this knack for getting myself into scrapes.  On the way home, I ran into a major snag when I couldn’t find my car in the parking garage.  

Advice to myself:  Always write down your parking space number.  

I spent ten minutes wandering around the 1st floor of the garage in the freezing cold because all I remembered was that I parked on the 1st floor, to the left of the elevators……I didn’t realize there are 4 different sets of elevators….

 I ended up with a cold, hungry baby, getting back on the shuttle bus, not really sure where to look next.

Guess what happened next?  Remember my post about the kindness of strangers?  I ran into some more angels-in-disguise.  Their names were Bob and Jan.  They were a grandparent-ish couple, and they asked me if they could drive me around the garage until we found my car.  We found it right away because I remembered exactly how I’d turned into the 1st floor and driven to the third row.  Phew!  Thank you, Bob and Jan!!

Again, God provides.  Be silenced, all ye who credit coincidence; there are few accidents.

Okay, so my next big goal is to start making better decisions so that I’m not constantly requiring help from strangers!!!

The post Expert Tips for Flying with an Infant (that I learned the hard way) appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.