Flight home

What I initially thought would be a difficult and problematic flight home turned out to be easy. Monsieur Henry was a bit out of sorts when we first boarded the plane. He's learned he can twist and bend and arch and twirl his way out of my grasp, a talent that is not appreciated when we're in a full plane about to take off and he's supposed to be sitting securely in my lap. He got a bit vocal and a tremendous fear that he would be the worst baby ever to fly took over. I have to admit I feel a bit lost when he reaches that level of fussiness. Thank goodness the boobs retain their magical powers. Henry latched on and was asleep shortly after takeoff. He remained that way until our plane touched down in Portland. I should point out that at no time did I have any trouble with any of the Delta employees for nursing Henry.

Pops was waiting for us inside the terminal and Henry was overjoyed to see him. He kept reaching his hand out - we think this is his version of waving hello - and smiling at his dad. Once home, as I was busy putting stuff away, starting laundry, emptying the dishwasher, etc., we had the following conversation:

Darr: Did you have a fun and relaxing time?

Me: <Thinking about Henry's teething fussiness, his intense car seat hatred, my bout of insomnia, illnesses of both Henry and myself, etc.> It was fun. But relaxing? No. It was not relaxing.

It's hard to be a good traveling companion when you just want to crawl under the covers and sleep for four days straight. It is even more challenging when you add a baby to the equation. Henry is quite mobile and becoming more independent every day he's on the planet. Both of these changes require constant vigilance as he now has his own desires he wants to fulfill (e.g., getting his hands on the dog bowls) and the means to carry out his diabolical plans (e.g., crawl across anything and everything to reach dog bowls). Here's hoping my friendship with Ann is still intact. She had to put up with quite a bit this past week. Many thanks to her for her driving prowess. While we chatted quite a bit, as two women are wont to do, she still allowed me plenty of time to read so I was able to finish one of my recommended readings and start the third book. I can attribute part of my future success at law school to her for helping me prep for my first year.