Weekend Full of Firsts

Jenna's Parents, Chloe, Jenna & Zach
Chloe being held by her cousin Sydney

On the plane ride on the way to Indy

Chloe and her Easter Basket on Easter MorningChloe's Easter basket by her crib Chloe watching Tom & Jerry on the plane ride home

We just got back from a trip to Indiana to see my family. We made the trip out there for Easter before it gets too humid and while the outside is all green rather than white with snow. It was Chloe's first Easter, but it was also her first flight. This wasn't a little flight, it was a long flight. It takes us 4 hours to get from Phoenix to Indy. I had been very nervous all week about the flight and I started to have dreams about what was going to happen. Most of them included us either forgetting Chloe or misplacing her in the airport. Luckily none of them came true. I was also very nervous because of the 3 hour time change. That is a huge difference and even though we tried to get her ready by moving her feedings up the week before, I was still not sure how she would do.
She did great all weekend. We started out on Thursday morning and even though we didn't buy a ticket for Chloe the fight attendants let us take her car seat on the plane because it wasn't a full flight. Chloe didn't take a nap during her first nap so we were sure she would be super tired on the flight. We sat in seats above the wings so that way the engines would muffle out any crying and also there is extra vibration to help put her to sleep. In the row right in front of us was an Arizona cowboy. (I say Arizona cowboy because he wasn't a good ole' country boy, but a more classy cowboy. Basically he is cowboy in fancy hat and fancy boot only.) We hadn't put Chloe is her seat yet because we wanted to give her as much freedom as possible so Zach was playing with her and then she just squealed a high pitch squeal. The cowboy turned around and I said sorry, but he and his wife quickly moved towards the back of the plane. That was really the only noise she made the entire flight. Once we were ready to take off we put her in her seat and I gave her a bottle and then she was out for about an hour and a half. She woke up and we played quietly for a little bit and then she went back to sleep for about 45 minutes to an hour. She was the perfect baby on the flight. It is also worth mentioning that the cowboy sat back near another family. That family didn't have such luck as we did as their children were quite noisy.

We landed and gathered all of our bags (only 1 suitcase, 1 duffel bag, 1 computer bag and 1 diaper bag) and headed back to my parents house. Of course on the way home we had to stop by and get some pizza and breadsticks from the amazingly, wonderfully, glorious Pizza King. Scratch that off my list only just a few more items to scratch off the list before it can be considered a successful Indy trip. We had a nice relaxing night and had a few visitors. My grandparents came by for a visit and then of course Christina, Sydney and Carter came by for a visit. Chloe did so well with the time difference and being in a new place. She woke up a few times throughout the night, but we've been having that same issue for the past few weeks so that was actually normal.

Friday was also to be a relaxing day. We were suppose to meet my friends Heather & Sean and their new baby Ella at the park for a picnic, but it had been raining for like weeks straight so we had to move our picnic to my parents' house. It was a great visit. They were there for a few hours and we were able to meet each other's babies and get caught up. I love meeting up with them because it is like no time has passed between the last visit. Instead of going to take photos we went out to dinner with my family and then went back to my parents' house to put Chloe to bed and play some games.

Chloe slept good on Friday night. She only woke up once during the night. We woke up to a little bit of sunshine and no rain! We were so excited because our chances of getting our photos were looking up. We met our photographer at 9am and were able to spend about an hour getting our pictures taken. It was beautiful out, the ground was really wet, but the sun was out a bit and the gardens were blooming! After our photos we went to a little Mexican restaurant to celebrate my dad's birthday. The rest of the day was relaxing. We went back to the house and my grandparents and aunt came over for a little visit. Zach and I then decided for dinner we would drive to get some Noble Roman's breadsticks and White Castle burgers. We could now mark these two things off my list. While we went out my parents watched Chloe. This was only the second time that Chloe was not with either Zach or myself. She survived and so did we.

Sunday was a crazy day. Zach and I stayed home while my parents went to Easter service so we could make sure Chloe had a good nap before our busy day. After she woke up from her nap she found her Easter basket that the Easter bunny left for her by her crib. It had a few Tom & Jerry DVDs and some new toys. We then went to my cousin's house and had Easter lunch with my mom's side of the family. Zach and I left a little early and took Chloe on a car ride so she could get a little nap in between our family lunch and dinner. It was only about a 20 minute drive in between my cousin's house and my grandparent's house, so I took Zach on a tour of Hazelwood so we could give Chloe about a 45 minute nap. Now for all of you that know where Hazelwood is you must be thinking that we were crazy and how could we spend so much time driving around the city. For those of you who don't know where Hazelwood is it is maybe a 2 mile square grid so we had to go around many many times. At my grandparents' house I could mark the final two things off the list. I marked off my grandma's rolls and strawberry pie from Gray Brothers. It could now be considered a successful Indiana trip. And it was.

Monday was our last day and we just stayed home and had visitor after visitor after visitor come by before we left. Our last adventure was the airplane ride home. I wasn't as nervous this time because Chloe did so well the first time. I should have been. Our flight was in the evening and that was a big mistake. She had already had all of her naps so she wasn't really tired and did not really want to be in her car seat as once again we had our own row on the plane above the engines. For the first hour Chloe fussed and cried until she finally fell asleep. She slept for an hour and then was ready to eat again. So she ate and then played for the rest of the trip home. It was a little more stressful, but it all worked out.

Now that we are home it is time to start on "Operation No Swaddle". We are breaking Chloe of using a swaddle when she sleeps. She is starting to get out of her swaddle at night and waking herself up because of that. So wish us luck as I'm sure the next few nights may be a few long nights.