Meeting Uncle Brendan!

Some of these photos are blurry because I was trying to figure out camera/lens

So I embarked on my first flight with an infant to head to Evanston, IL to visit with my parents and little brother.  Kayla had not yet met Uncle Brendan, she only "saw" him on Skype when she was like 1 month old.  I actually flew into Milwaukee because it was $100 cheaper and Aunt Lauren picked us up and Papa (my dad) dropped us off.

Waiting to board my first airplane!

My parents had literally bought almost everything we needed except for clothes and my pump.  They borrowed a car seat, bought a pack n play, an activity mat, a stroller, bibs, towels, washcloths, burp rags (as you know I usually need a bunch of these), bowls, spoons and all the toiletries Kayla needed.  All I had to bring was clothes for her and me, my toiletries, my pump and her medicine.  This sounds glorious (and it was) however, I am possibly the worst over packer ever and I had like 3x as many clothes as either of us would need.  I guess I figured I had the extra room...

I slept during my first takeoff.

The flight to MKE wasn't too bad.  Justin dropped us off very early (before Kayla's normal wake up time) at the airport.  He helped me carry bags and check in.  The hardest part by far was getting through security.  Not to self (and any other new moms): don't bother packing a carry on for yourself with things to do or things you think you "need" to bring...you don't.  Literally, all I really needed on the plane was diapers, wipes, a change of clothes in case and my "hooter hider" so I could feed Kayla.  Oh and her binky since sucking is supposed to help equalize pressure in their little ears.  Along with these items, I also had: my camera bag (huge and heavy), my computer (huge and heavy but I wanted to play with my new Photoshop CS5 my mom got for me), books (mine and Kayla's...pointless) and toys.  The toys do turn out to be a bit helpful.

Don't worry, I spent the rest of the flight flashing my pearly whites...err...gums at other riders :)

The flight was a bit bumpy.  Anyone that knows me knows I'm not a great flyer.  I really dislike it and I get a lot of anxiety.  I had been up since 2 am even though Kayla wasn't for fear of flying and flying with an infant.  Kayla was great.  She slept for about 1/3 of the time and the rest of the time was so interested in everything going on around her and was way to busy smiling and hamming it up for the people around me to even bother thinking about crying.  We landed and Aunt Lauren helped us get our things in the car and it was off to Evanston.

I love being the center of attention

"Are you talking about me?"

The weekend ended up being a lot more eventful than I expected.  I hadn't told any extended family we were going to be there (not intentionally, just didn't), however, my parents did.  My Nanny and Gramps came by Saturday afternoon after we arrived.  Nanny was going to sleep over for a couple nights to spend some time with us.  Then Sunday morning, my Grammy, Papa and Aunt MEM came down to visit for a bit from Milwaukee, followed Sunday afternoon by my Aunt Lindy and cousin Kelsey (who were sleeping over).  So we had a busy weekend of family fun.

After the first weekend, everything was kinda like normal for me and Kayla, just with a few other people to entertain us: my brother, my mom for half the time, and my dad when he wasn't at work.  We took a lot of walks (when it wasn't either hot as **** or raining it's *** off), which ended up being about 3 days worth of walks.  My mom and I went shopping with Kayla where she totally spoiled her! :)  I tried to learn Photoshop while Kayla napped and her Gigi, Papa and Uncle Brendan played with her.  We played cards (a usual O'Neil family activity), laughed, lounged and generally had a great time.

On a walk to Lake Michigan

Notables:

• Sleep: Kayla started out sleeping like normal- two long naps and one shorter one and sleeping until 4 or 5 am with a dream feed at 10-11 pm.  Her wake up time was quite a bit earlier (5 am) which was HORRIBLE for me but what can you do.  And after a couple days, I decided I didn't want to do the dream feed anymore because I didn't want to teach her to wake up at 10 every night.  After that, along with teething, seriously learning to scoot, thrush, and just being too excited about everything around her, sleeping went downhill.  The last couple days there, she wouldn't nap longer than about 1 hr 15 min and sleeping overnight was terrible.  She would wake up at around 10 and I would soothe her back to sleep then up again around 1 or 2 to eat and after that, she would wake up on the hour, ever hour until morning.  This was by far the worst and most tired I have felt since she was born.  Luckily, since we've returned home, she is doing a little bit more like normal (although the middle of the day nap seems to be shortening...not sure why).
• Eating:  Kayla still wouldn't take ready made formula.  My mom thought it was funny how she gagged it up.  No one believed me but she seriously gags.  So by the end of the week, I gave her a bottle with 25% ready made formula and 75% breast milk.  I basically had to force her to take it but she did.  Since then, we've increased the ratio of formula:breastmilk and she seems to actually like it now.  I even mixed a small amount of formula with the rice cereal last night and she didn't seem to mind (although her poop today is quite a bit more solid...TMI but I'm not sure why.)
• Milestones:  Kayla seriously scooted ALL over my parents living room all week.  She's not quite as active here (maybe it's the floor, who knows, or maybe Mommy is boring). It's like in a day or two she went from struggling with rolling to scooting all over the place...including off the bed!)  Also, Kayla had her first time on a swing.  She LOVED every second of it and I got a great video I will post when I get around to it.
• Teething:  She is definitely getting a tooth.  I didn't know when I would know this, but I can see it and feel it in her gums and she's super fussy recently so I'm trying to go with the flow and comfort her while she's upset.  I have to admit, I really loved the rarely experienced cuddling time with my little girl on the plane rides and a couple times in the morning when I wanted her to go back to sleep for an hour or so.  I miss that cuddly baby!! :)

My first time in a swing

I like this gum massager

The flight back was a lot more eventful.  My dad and I got to the airport with about an hour and half to my flight time.  There was a long, long, long line at AirTran and not enough people working.  My dad was kinda irritated and tried to ask someone about it and to make a long story short...Kayla started to get angry (she needed a diaper change and doesn't like standing still) so I just figured, screw it, and walked myself right up to the kiosk to check myself in.  My checked bag was 56# but there was absolutely no way that lady was making us pay after my dad made a stink and my daughter was screaming in her face!  After that, everything was fine.  The flight was much smoother, but there were a lot of babies and they were all crying and talking and screaming, however, Kayla was pretty calm.  She cried a couple times for a few seconds because she was really tired (it was bedtime), but she slept for about 30 minutes and again was a ham for everyone around her.  The lady across from me with an 11 month old boy said, she's so calm, I'm jealous...since her son screamed for much of the flight.  I felt bad because he just wanted to crawl around.  Poor little boy's mommy couldn't make him stop, but she tried her darnedest.  

It's nice to be home and I'm definitely not afraid of flying with Kayla anymore, although still afraid of flying in general! :)

I love these last two photos!  Her faces kill me, and her little lips...sigh.  All photos are pre photoshop editing.  I'll make a post with before and afters when I figure it all out!