Sophia's Big Trip, part 1: The Journey Begins

Now, for the most exciting event of the past few weeks. As just about everyone who reads this knows, my family journeyed to Chicago for the Christmas holiday. It was Sophia's first plane trip, and the first time The Husband and I had to plan to be away from our own home with Sophia (for any length of time) overnight- nevermind nearly a week.

The trip was months in the planning. The Husband and I like to plan :-). We decided to get Sophia her own seat on the plane, that way we could take up a whole row, as well as take the car seat on the plane with us- that way the airline couldn't lose it! Plus, the ticket allowed us extra checked bags and carryons.

Just an FYI- the next few blogs will not be in chronological order, per se...more like grouped in themes that made sense to me.

Naturally, the trip begins with the airport in San Diego. The TSA authorities informed me that there is a new policy- all cute babies have to stay with them. I told her, as long as you're going to keep her until she's thru with braces, that's ok with me. Another TSA employee commented on how amazing Sophia's eyelashes are; I gave all the credit to The Husband. Those sweepers are not from my people!!

Sophia wants to check out the airport, but its too crowded to allow her to explore.


Sophia was excellent during take off. She stayed in her seat and had a bottle. I don't think her ears bothered her at all. The Husband has a very sensitive inner ear, so he was very concerned that Sophia would also have this trait. It looks like she was spared.


The flight to Chicago was largely uneventful. It was a little bumby on the descent, not terrible. But Sophia didn't like it, so I held her during the descent. She was a little squirmy and whiny during the flight. I figure this was likely because she wanted to explore and meet her neighbors, who were not all thrilled to be sitting around a baby on a four hour flight (I can't imagine why!?).

After 4 hours, we landed in Chicago's Midway Airport. My mom met us at the airport, and I'm glad she did. The airport was a mess, and having another set of hands in the baggage area was very, very helpful. Eventually, we collected our bags, got our rental car and were on our way to Nana's House. It was VERY cold the day we arrived in Chicago. They were experiencing freezing rain and 70 mile an hour gust winds. As you can imagine, being a Southern California baby, Sophia has never been "bundled up" to keep from freezing to death (quite literally). She found the experience interesting and actually seemed to enjoy the cold.