Flying the friendly skies

This past week DJ and I flew to the Midwest to see my extended family. He met his great-grandmothers, great-aunts, a few cousins, and spent time with Grandma and Granddad. He was a hit, of course, and I got some great pictures.

It’s a trip I planned before he arrived, but as it drew closer, I dreaded the idea of taking him on a plane, and it being just the two of us, no bouncy seats, car seats, play mats or cribs, for several hours. Thanks to the exorbitant air fares, non-stop flights were out of the question, as was purchasing a seat for his car seat. So it was going to be me holding him through the airports and both flights.

Thankfully, all went well, for the most part. We traveled at off times (Tuesday afternoon, Friday morning), so the planes were half-full, which meant a pair of seats to ourselves on each flight.

There were some bumps. He became very fussy right before our first flight took off. Nursing calms him down, but I was trying to wait until we actually took off, since it helps babies' ears adjust to the pressure. As he completely lost it and started screaming, the pilot announced that we’d have to sit on the tarmac for an extra ten minutes since there were too many planes in the airport’s air space. That’s when I about lost it. We didn’t have to wait the full ten minutes, thankfully, and he calmed down.

On the way home, he cried all the way through the security line, drawing many looks from our fellow travelers. I knew what they were thinking: “Please don’t let them be on our plane.”

Would I make the trip again? Not just the two of us. It wasn't the destination, but the traveling. Next time, we'll make sure Tim is with us.

Sorry it's been so long...

I’ll try to stick to a schedule of posting once or twice a week.

As I write this, I’m waiting for cinnamon rolls to proof before I bake them. We saw an episode of Good Eats a couple of weeks ago, and since then I’d been thinking about making them. Proofing, as I understand it, has something to do with using steam to wake up the yeast in the rolls after they’ve spent hours in the refrigerator. We’ll see how they turn out. I didn’t get the right kind of yeast, so it took about 12 hours for the dough to rise when the recipe said it would take two. Luckily we weren’t counting on them for Sunday breakfast.

We spent President’s Day weekend visiting friends in North Carolina. For those friends we didn’t see while we were there, I’m sorry. It was a short trip, from Saturday afternoon to noon Monday. It was pretty low-key – we just spent time with our friends and their young children, went to some favorite restaurants, and Tim played lots of Guitar Hero.

On the work front, findingDulcinea has a new project sports fans will enjoy. www.AlmostPerfectSeason.com is a look back at the Giants’ and Patriots seasons, with some of the funny commentary, predictions, criticism and reverence surrounding these two teams. This site starts in the off-season and goes through each week, then quarter by quarter during the Super Bowl. And of course there's a roundup of the jubilation and bewilderment (depending on who you were rooting for) after the game.

Watch several clips, including two commercials from Reebok with the 1972 Dolphins (there’s nothing like covering your bases); comments from Michael Strahan and Eli’s appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Belly button watch, day 127: Still an inny. I think it's decided to stay that way.