Our trip today went extraordinarily well. Last night, I put Calvin to bed at 5:30pm PST. He had woken up at 4am PST and seemed tired so I thought this might be an opportunity to shift him to MDT. I woke up at 6am PDT and had just enough time to shower before Calvin woke up. Unfortunately, Calvin was pretty cranky and I had visions of dealing with a screaming child the entire flight and van ride to our house. Mom fed Calvin and I ate and finished packing.
At 8am PDT we left for the airport. It’s about an hour ride and Calvin snoozed for a little more than half an hour. He woke up when we arrived and seemed in a much better mood. Dad parked so he could help me check my bag which was really helpful. After checking my bag, I headed for the security line. It’s my second least favorite part of traveling with an infant (my absolute least favorite part is boarding and getting off the plane by myself). For carry-on luggage I had my carry-on roller suitcase, my little backpack with a laptop, my car seat, and of course I was carrying Calvin in my Beco carrier. Because of the problems I had with the formula last time, I pulled it out of the suitcase and put it in its own bin so they could easily see what it was. This time as I went through the gate they subjected Calvin to a quick pat-down to make sure I wasn’t hiding anything between him and me. However, none of my stuff triggered extra screening. A very helpful TSA person helped me carry all my stuff to a table so I could take my time putting everything back together.
I arrived at the gate with plenty of time and let Calvin wander around a bit. 15 minutes before boarding, I gave Calvin a quick diaper change and then reconfigured everything to boarding configuration. With a bit of sweat, I successfully made it to our seat and worked on getting the car seat installed. I always feel guilty about flying with a car seat since that means the person in front of Calvin can’t recline. However, this time I got a break because there was another car seat in front of Calvin. In fact, the entire back of the plane seemed to be filled with families with small children. Next to me sat a father who had his wife and 2 young children across the aisle. This was really nice because the youngest boy, a 2 year old, would occasionally sit on his father’s lap and he and Calvin would entertain each other. Calvin didn’t sleep at all during the flight but was in a spectacularly good mood.
We arrived at DEN on time and I lugged all our stuff out of the plane and reconfigured it to the car-seat stroller configuration. I picked up my bag and then went to the SuperShuttle booth to announce that I had arrived and needed a ride. I went outside to the shuttle island and waited a couple of minutes for a suitable shuttle to arrive. One arrived for mainly Broomfield residents but the driver said he’d take me to Longmont also. I wasn’t sure this was a good idea but it was unclear when another shuttle would arrive for Longmont so I took it. The driver told me that my car seat should go in the back. Two men helped maneuver it back there and I stood outside holding Calvin for a couple of minutes until it became apparent they had no idea how to hook up the car seat. Someone offered to hold Calvin while I climbed back and hooked everything up.
Calvin got the middle seat and I was on one side and a man was on the other. The man worked in the tech industry and was on an extended assignment in Broomfield, which appeared to be the case with almost all the other riders. He has three children and was quite good at keeping Calvin amused. Much to my surprise, Calvin actually managed to fall asleep on the ride and slept for a good 45 min. So, even though going home via Broomfield was a little circuitous, it turned out well.
We arrived home right around 5pm MDT. I was very happy to notice the cats had only thrown up three times on the main level (sometimes they can do this much in one day much less a week). I started unpacking and then took a break to feed Calvin and myself. I popped Calvin into his bath, fed him his night bottle and put him to bed just a little before 7:30pm MDT. At first, he resisted going to sleep but appeared to resign himself within a reasonable amount of time. I finished unpacking and loading the dish washer with all of Calvin’s dirty dishes from the trip and supper.
Now I’m off to relax a couple of minutes before heading to bed.
Food Diary
- Breakfast – 2 Large Pieces of Peanut Butter Cherry Toast
- Lunch – An energy bar
- Snack – 2 pieces of dark chocolate
- Supper – Lentil soup and triscuits with cheese but I’m still hungry so I might eat something else before going to bed
Throughout the rest of the night, I tried giving him ibuprofen in case he was hurting, a bottle in case he was hungry, and a diaper change in case that was bothering him. The only thing that would work was to put him on my chest and massage his back and legs. While I massaged him, he would snooze but the instant I stopped, he’d wake up again. Finally, I handed him off to mom at 6 and went back to bed for a couple of hours. I’m so glad this happened when I was in Washington instead of by myself!