CT Trip Day #1 "Fasten Your Seatbelts"

Finally it was Friday and time for me and Rae to fly to Connecticut!!!! Thankfully, we woke up in plenty of time to make our 5:45AM flight out of Oklahoma City and even had time to spare for a picture of Noah with our plane! I forgot how crazy it is to go through airport security...even Noah had to take off his jacket as we went through! Yikes! We were kind of slow and may have backed up the line a little but we made it through and were ready to fly!

 

Luckily, with such an early flight, Noah was still very tired by the time we boarded and got settled on the plane and so went right to sleep and slept for most of the flight! Amazing! You just never know what you're going to get when you fly with a baby. It can be really good or it can be really bad...we had a really good experience! Rae and I were joking, though, that when you are walking through the airport pushing a stroller everyone seated at the gates watches you coming from a distance and stares at you with this desperate look in their eye just wishing with all their might that you aren't coming for their gate! Ha! It's actually pretty funny to watch! As you pass you can literally see the look of relief on their faces! And then when you actually do come to your gate and check in all of THOSE people stare at you out of the corner of their eyes with looks that very clearly say "your baby better not scream..." Oh the joys of traveling with kids!

Noah did AWESOME on our second flight as well. He was awake for most of it but we were lucky enough to have an empty seat in between myself and Rae and so Noah was able to crawl around on the empty seat and even on the floor between us. We did have a near-miss-moment on our second flight when Rae suddenly noticed that Noah had found the inflatable life vest that was stowed underneath the seat between us! He had actually yanked on it so hard that a portion of the vest was hanging out from beneath the seat AND the little tab that says "Pull To Inflate" was hanging out too! Yikes! Thankfully, I'm not sure that Noah would have ever been strong enough to actually inflate the life vest but, good grief, can you imagine? Ha! That definitely gave us a good laugh! THEN Noah surprised us by taking a number two in his diaper just as the captain was turning on the fasten seat belt sign for landing in Connecticut!! Rae debated with herself whether she should try to change him in the airplane bathroom or cross her fingers and wait it out, hoping for the best! She decided to wait. It was close but she dodged a bullet and Noah made it to the airport bathroom without any accidental leaks! Whew!

Noah was super excited to see Gramma and Grampa when we got off the plane but I think the flights WORE...HIM...OUT...because we barely got him strapped into his car seat and he was OUT!! Poor baby...

Jill had sent along a special gift for Karianne and Kevin's new baby and asked me to give it to them. I couldn't hold onto it ANY longer and so gave it to them right away. Jill had bought them a variety of little baby mittens and cutesie hats but the show stopper of the gift had to be the tiny stuffed giraffe. Not only was the giraffe super cute but it was the card tied around his neck that truly MADE the gift. Jill had printed a special card with a picture of Karianne and Gray together and on it she had written Karianne a special note saying that THIS was the giraffe Karianne had given Gray when he was born and so now Jill was gifting it back to her as a stuffed animal for HER son! Wow! The room was filled with emotion and everyone had goosebumps as Karianne realized what she was looking at. Of course, the tears began to flow. What a beautiful moment.

Gray is still touching lives. Baby James will never know Gray here on Earth but he will hear about him and will forever have this giraffe to remind him of such a special boy.

Our first afternoon in Connecticut was filled with lots of catching up, laughter and settling into Grampa and Gramma's house. Family time is the best!

When I went to bed that first evening, I stayed in a guest room at my mom and dad's that I've never slept in before. When I walked into my room I immediately saw that on the bookshelf was a frame holding a picture of myself and Maddox from a few years ago. This is one of my FAVORITE pictures and even though I had only been away from my babies for 24 hours I already missed them. It made me happy to have this picture in my room all week.

While I was settling in in Connecticut my boys were having a BLAST with their friend Seth! Jill agreed to watch the boys while Brandon and Doug had a "man date"! Ha! The boys always have so much fun with Seth. It made me glad to know they were having fun even though mommy was out of town.

Our first day in Connecticut was awesome! The weather is so much cooler then it is in Oklahoma, my baby sister will have a baby in just a couple of days and I get to sleep in!! Ha!! Let's get this week started!!