Plane ride with a 1 yr old

It was always in the plans for Amelia and I to fly down to San Diego. We didn’t think that she could handle the 16 hour (possibly longer with her) drive down to southern California. Especially with Amelia getting car sick way more often, it was better to take a trip alone then to try and drive down with her. I knew it would be better to fly down with Amelia, but I dreaded the flight. I picked a non-stop late night flight. The flight was only 2 hrs and departed at 8:50 pm, however I over packed like a madwoman and I had to bring so much stuff on the flight I was totally overloaded. I am probably one of the worst packers ever. First off I wait until the very last minute to pack, (generally hours prior to my departure) and I ALWAYS pack more then I have to. Well, not only did I have to pack for myself I packed for Amelia too. When I pack for Amelia I like to be prepared so another reason I over do it.
Saying good-bye is always hard for me. I always get emotional. Saying bye to Morgan’s family was not easy. It’s a good thing that we we’re running late for our flight or it would have been way more tears and a lot harder. So with my eyes blurry I walked through security. I had Amelia in her stroller, a backpack filled, a hobo purse, and Amelia’s teddy bear. I probably looked like some mommy backpacker, cuz with my stature and all my stuff it was a scene. Getting through security was a mess! With taking off my shoes, Amelia’s shoes, taking the lap top out, taking out my liquids, taking off our hoodies, folding up the stroller and walking through the metal detector…..needless to say it was rough. I knew people were looking at me judging. I even let people go ahead of me because I felt bad for holding up the line. What’s worse is that NO ONE helped me! Well, one guy helped me after I did all that …he pushed my stuff through the x-ray. Then I had to put everything back in order. The whole time I was sweating, nervous and even a little scared. Morgan and his family watched the whole time, that was embarrassing. I kept looking back, they all had smiles on their faces. I know they all wished they could help me out.

The flight went off smoooooooooothly! Amelia whined for about 5 minutes and slept the whole time. There were only 40 something people on the flight and the 2 seats next to us were empty, so she got to lay down and sleep. It was great! During the flight I heard a couple babies crying. I was just happy it was not Amelia. I know that a 2 hour flight is in no comparison to a 15 hour flight but doing it on my own gave me some confidence. At least I’ll have Morgan on the way to Japan and I know there will be other military families on the flight and hopefully they will understand. I know that she will cry I’m just hoping that she doesn’t do it the whole time.