Flying Home Alone

Since Kevin headed back to the UK before us, it was up to me to get the kids home on my own. I wasn't too worried about it but I new it wasn't going to be easy. I started to get a bit worked up at the Cedar Rapids airport as they ran all over the place like little tasmania devils, but once we said our good byes we made it through security fairly well and settle for a few minutes on the other side before we loaded the plane.

As we got on the plane, I tried getting our stuff settled in with a carseat, a large back pack, and the buggy board from the push chair. Well I didn't get the buggy board placed well in the overhead compartment because it came down straight onto Addison's head leaving quite a mark. We had a full flight loading and I was trying to get stuff settled while catering to her and settling Harrison. Our short flight was going to Dallas/Ft. Worth which was two hours and it went pretty good. I set up the DVD player for them and Harry took a short nap.

At Dallas I got the carseat set up in my little Maclaren stroller with Harry and Addie on the back on the buggy board and on goes my napsack with juice glasses and blankets rolled up and strapped on the sides. We looked like quite a crew and got lots of interesting stares. We found McDonald's to catch a bite at because I knew the kids wouldn't eat airplane food. We got a call from Kevin on my mobile as we text him to let him know we made it...it was about 1AM for him, but it was good to hear his voice.

When I thought everything was going great then all heck broke loose. I looked for a baby change station and couldn't find one and asked a lady inside where to find one and she knew no English (wait a second I'm in America, not France....what???? oh, yeah I'm in Texas....close the border). Well I was going to have to improvise. I brought the kids in the toilet to get them changed into their PJs to be comfy on the ride. After Addison went potty I grabbed the PJ's out of my back pack and somehow dropped Harrison's bottoms in the toilet bowl. I gasped and my heart sunk. I grabbed them quickly. I got Addie dressed and rushed out to find a sink, soap and air drier...no flippin' air driers!!!!! So I wrapped up his bottoms in some paper towels and had to stick them in my bag, poor guy was going to have to sleep on the plane in his jean shorts. Getting ready to load the plane was a bit stressful as well since the kids wanted to run around and not stand in line, but a nice gentleman and his wife helped me with the car seat as I rustled up my little ones.

On the plane the lady behind me piped up to say that she had little ones at home as well and that she used to be a flight attendant so she offered to help with whatever she could. That was nice of her so that made me feel a little better. After that things seemed to go down hill. Neither Addison's or my TV screens worked for the entire flight, they were having lots of problems and even re-set the entire system, but nothing worked so no movies for me. So I got them all set up with our new dual DVD players and two minutes into Aladdin, Addison has to use the toilet. So I had to pack up the DVD players and bring both of them back to the toilet which was the one thing I feared that I would have to actually do, but we did get it figured out. Harrison sat up on the ledge by the sink while Addie went and she stood down beside me while I changed Harrison. Washing and drying all of our hands was the tricky bit but we survived. Back to our seats where Addison said she was tired and Harrison didn't want to get back in the car seat. So I held her head on one leg and Harry on the other. She fell asleep and then I coaxed Harry somehow back into his seat without too much fuss. Then I stretched my legs across my seat and Addie's with feet dangling in the aisle as she slept and worked to get Harry asleep.

I think I slept for about 20-30 minutes when Harrison lets out a huge scream. I didn't know what was going on at first but then the guy in front of him is getting up out of his seat to use the toilet and I look at Harrison and see that his legs are pinned between this guy's seat and the car seat. I prop his seat back up and pull him out as he is screaming in a super quiet plane. I can't settle him so I work to get up and walk with him in the aisle while Addison is still sleeping and piled up on our chairs. I finally settle him but when I get back to our chairs he won't get back in his. So I sit there upright holding him with Addie's head on my lap as well and the seat in front of me fully tilted back. I wanted to cry but knew that wouldn't do me any good so I propped up some pillows and held on to Harry as best as I could and just prayed for this to all be over only two hours into our 8 1/2 hour flight. I looked at some other monitors and noticed that we were just flying by Chicago, which against better judgment should have been our connecting point....silly me.

Once Harry fell asleep I found a way to get him settled back in his seat so the moron ahead of him couldn't do anymore damage. Then I nestled in with Addison as best as I could to get some sleep myself which I know I did but didn't feel like I did.

Immigration through Heathrow was a breeze and always is with kids because they let you jump the queue. And our greatest moment was seeing Kevin waiting their for us past customs!!! He had some snacks ready for us in the car and was very happy to see us. It was great to be home and take that familiar ride home from the airport. It was definitely a learning experience for me to travel with my kids alone and I probably wouldn't want to do it again with them at this age but I can say I did it and we survived!!!