Lola Does FL

Hello from Naples, Florida!

 Me and Adrien and the kids

Well, it turns out that we can add "good traveler" to the list of Lola's talents!

I was so nervous about flying with Lola by myself and so early in the morning but she absolutely killed it. It helped that I had a lot of advice from many sources (including a play by play of what to expect from Vanessa who patiently answered my bajilion questions about how to tackle the situation) and that I was in an unusually confident mood that morning. We almost had a meltdown in the line for customs when Lola suddenly woke up and realized that she was no longer in her bed and that she had been gipped of her morning meal. It did not help that looking ahead past customs to security was the longest line ever. But alas, the perks of traveling with bebe - as I was frantically looking for where to enter this seemingly ginormous mass of miserable-looking travelers, I felt a tap on my shoulder. The customs lady pointed to the Wheelchair/Family priority line in front of us and suddenly Lola and I went from staring down the barrel of a 30 minute meltdown to sailing through security with hardly a second of waiting. And THEN Lola got us hooked up again when we got to board only second to the Elite and SuperElite star alliance members! When they called boarding "for those traveling with infants and small children under the age of 6" we were the first ones at the check in counter. I'm never traveling without this kid again! 

Side note: I truly believe they changed the announcement to specify "children under the age of 6" rather than the generic "families traveling with children" because of my dad. We were hovering around the age of 18 and dad would still say "okay lets go!" after the announcement for family boarding. We probably went along with this for far longer than our shame should have allowed for. 

Anyway, I started getting a bit nervous when it got close to take-off time as so many people had told me how much the pressure change bothers baby ears. Everyone advised me to feed Lola during take off and landing so as to prevent the screaming that results from a baby in pain. So just as we started gaining momentum I plucked Lola out of her car seat and started force feeding her. Lola would come up for air and look at me like "wtf mom I'm not even hungry! I JUST had breakfast in the lounge!" and yet I continued to insist that she try to continue eating. Poor thing. I'm surprised she didn't scream as a result of mommy being completely insane. 

And then Lola, sensing the fasten seat belt sign would likely be on for awhile, pooped a smelly smelly poop. The kind you just know is about to be oozing out from all corners of her diaper at any moment. As soon as the light went off I wanted to jump up and make a run for the bathroom but the pilot immediately turned the seat belt sign on again and said that we'd be going through rough turbulence for "awhile" and to remain seated. I think I lasted probably 10 minutes before I finally felt that the risk/reward ratio was in my favour and this pilot may be looking out for our safety but I'm looking out for my seat neighbours not dying of poop smell. Just kidding, I was really looking out for the safety of Lola's outfit. I only had one extra with me and I liked the pink, elephant spotted frilly sleeper she had on better than the alternate outfit in my diaper bag. 

So, Lola experienced (or rather, I survived) her first diaper change in a public washroom. She was then up for about an hour but was mostly quiet as long as I kept moving her around and letting her jump up and down. Then she drifted off to sleep and stayed that way for the remainder of the flight (I did not force feed her for landing, though I did think about it...). That is, of course, until we were waiting for everyone to exit the plane in Florida which is when she started screaming bloody murder. But who can blame her? Aren't we all feeling that way when the clueless family of 8 is slowly and inefficiently collecting their 25 bags from overhead compartments somehow littered throughout the aircraft. In my head Lola was just yelling "hurry the hell up!" like all of us want to do anyway. 

It was all worth it though. It has been so cold at home and we've been feeling trapped in the house lately so it was great to go from that to sunny Florida where we immediately headed to the beach to walk the boardwalk and see what a large body of water was all about. As you can see from these pictures, Lola was not a fan.

I think the boardwalk was more her speed. 

It was also so worth the flight to get to hang out with Zac and for Lola and Zac to get to spend more time together. Zac is sooooo cute when it comes to Lola. He asks to hold her and then laughs his head off at Lola's weird spastic baby reflexes which just makes him holding her all the more adorable. Hes gotten good big brother practice by assisting me when I change her diaper, playing with Lola when she's in her chair, and rocking Lola in her car seat when shes crying.

Zac's all like "uhhh guys is anyone gonna do anything about this crying baby? No? You're all just going to stand there and take pictures then?"

All in all our first trip was a success although we have been missing Sean very much. Sadly he had to stay back home (someone's gotta bring home the bacon) and will be missing out on Thanksgiving this year. We're hoping that making sacrifices now will mean having to make fewer in the future when the kids are older and holidays are all the more meaningful. Still, its been hard to be away from Sean. Mostly because I know how much he is missing us and I feel terrible for that. As a result, I've been sending him more pictures than his phone is able to handle. Including this little gem:

Next up, Lola and I and my mom are off to Newark at 5am this coming morning. We were originally scheduled for the afternoon flight but with the possible Noreaster coming we figured we better try to beat the storm rather than possibly end up spending Thansgiving in the Ft Myers airport. Ahhh I hope waking my sleeping baby up at 3:15am will be worth it! Although...when all is said and done, there are worse places once could be stuck than sunny Florida ;)