The night before Will and I flew out, Will barfed and it filled me with dread. It was 12 non-stop hours to Seattle followed by a 4 hour layover and then a 1.5 hour flight to Salt Lake. All I thought about all night long was how I was going to be stuck on a plane with a barfing, tired baby. We both started to get colds a few days prior to the trip as well so it seemed that the fates were completely against us! But it was far too late to make any changes to our plans.
The morning of our departure, Joel and I ordered McDonald's breakfast to be delivered bright and early at 5:00 am. I was so nervous that I couldn't even finish my hashbrown (which is UNHEARD of, hashbrowns are my FAVORITE). We dragged our bags down to our waiting taxi and off we went.
Luckily, Joel was able to come with us to the airport that morning. Our plan was to leave for the airport at 6:00 am and Joel would go with us all the way to the security checkpoint. Of course, nothing really ever goes as it's planned, and this trip was no different. At the entrance to the international terminal was a passport check. You had to show your passport to gain entrance to the terminal. Joel didn't bring his passport because he wasn't flying anywhere so we pretty much had to say good-bye at the door of the airport. I was completely crushed. Not only would I have to haul all of our baggage and Will by myself to the check in counter, but we had to say goodbye RIGHT NOW. We hugged and I was rushed through the terminal door by incoming passengers behind me. My tears flowed freely as I watched him turn around and walk away. This trip had not started out well.
I managed to get both of my checked bags, backpack, diaper bag and baby to the check in counter without any mishaps. A nice French man helped me heave the bags onto the conveyor belt so that I didn't have to do it by myself. I was feeling much better about my situation now that I was unencumbered by heavy baggage and I made it through the passport/visa check and security without any problems and got to our gate with an hour to spare before take off. I called Joel and Skyped with my Dad, and both conversations had a really calming effect on me. Excitement had begun to finally creep in but it was severely dampened by the looming beast that was our 12 hour flight. I couldn't focus on anything but surviving the coming day.
The flight itself was not quite as bad as I had been expecting. Twelve hours is beastly no matter how you look at it. Will threw up twice, though I managed to contain it both times, and he would eat nothing but packaged fruit purees that I had brought. I figured as long as he was eating something, I wouldn't be too picky about what it was. He even slept for two hours.
Our flight attendants were polite, but not helpful at all. I had to take Will to the bathroom with me every time I had to go (which was super fun) and trying to eat a nasty airplane meal with a squirmy toddler on your lap was definitely tricky. We managed to survive the flight and made it in one piece to Seattle, where my sister was waiting for me after spending the night in the airport.
When I found Annie, she said she had a surprise for me. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, there was my mom running towards me. We all hugged and spent the next four hours playing with Will and chatting with a group of returning missionaries. The layover flew by quickly thanks to my wonderful mom and sister who spent the night at the airport so that they could meet me as soon as my flight landed.
The jet lag with a toddler has been somewhat of a nightmare. He wasn't hungry during the day because of the time change so for three days, he hardly ate anything. I was freaking out. But, eventually, his body clock started to sync with Utah time and his healthy appetite is back and he's waking up less in the middle of the night. Just a few more days and we should be right on track.
For the first few days, I was a total basket case of emotion. My family, the grocery store, the blue sky, the dryer, the grass and the sunset all made me cry. I'm just so happy to be here. I'm happy that my clothes aren't crunchy from being line dried and I'm happy that I can take Will outside without worrying about air quality. I'm happy that all of the food at the grocery store is safe to eat and that I can drink the tap water. I'm especially happy that I can see my family and Joel's family anytime I want and that I can watch them play with Will.
We live in such a wonderful country. Despite it's problems and struggles, this is where I want to be and I'm so grateful for all of the blessings associated with living here. I cried all the way through the Star Spangled Banner when we sang it in church this morning out of gratitude and happiness. We should never forget how blessed we are!
Having Joel so far away is the one thing that's not right about our so far wonderful holiday. It's hard to find a time that's good for both of us to chat. So we Skype for a few minutes before he goes to bed so that he can see Will. I miss him terribly and I want to wait to do all of the fun things we have planned until he gets here. So we're just hanging out and waiting for our family to be all together again. Three weeks didn't seem like that long when we were booking the tickets but now it seems a lot longer!
And, before I forget, here is a copy of Will's Sony commercial that we did. Our "agent" gave us this right before we left so it was perfect timing. I'm sure just about everyone we know has already seen it, but just in case:
