Kansas City Part 1

Kansas City is gorgeous. I fell in love with the place. If Texas didn't hold my heart in its hands, I would move there in an instant. Instead I'll just be a frequent visitor of the beautiful city and enjoy it that way. I'm sure Abby and Bibi wouldn't mind sharing a bed with me. Right Abs?

About a week or two ago, Noah and I flew for a short visit to Kansas City to do a little wedding planning with my sister Abby. And my momma came too! The only person missing from our fun trip was our littlest sis, Megan. I guess school kind of is a priority over vacation right now. Missed ya Megan!

The morning we left, Josh drove me and the little guy to the airport. We got there a little early, so we had breakfast at Chili's there. Yeah, I know. Weird. I didn't know Chili's served breakfast, but I guess the one at the airport does. Anyway, we finished eating, gave Daddy a kiss, and were on our way. Of course I was a little nervous about flying alone with Noah, because you just never know with a toddler. The last time we flew, Josh was with us, and Noah was so good. He sat between us in his own seat and barely made a peep. And not one tear fell. It was a wonderful, easy trip.

So I had nothing to worry about, right? Wrong!

I stood in line waiting to board the plane repeating in my head, "Everything will be fine. Just breathe. It will be ok." The whole time I was sweating bullets, partly because I was nervous about flying solo with the little one, but mainly because I was trying to hold both my bag and a chunky little monkey at the same time. I'm sure I was a site to see. Ah, the joys of flying with children. I'm sure many of you have some fun stories to tell.

Finally, they called for boarding. Yay! I was relieved and just ready to find a seat at this point. We gave the overly-smiley flight attendant our ticket and headed towards the plane to board. Noah was doing good up to this point, and I was starting to relax a bit. Maybe this flight would be easy.

That's where I was wrong.

As soon as we stepped foot on the plane Noah starts bawling. There wasn't a face in the plane who wasn't looking our way. Some faces were sympathetic as they said, "Aww poor baby" and others, well, you can imagine their faces. They were just thrilled. They were the people who don't have kids. Josh used to be one of those people before we had Noah. I used to tell him all the time, "You just wait, some day you will understand."

So, I walked ran down the aisle as fast as I could to find a seat. Some guy in front of me was walking as slow as he possibly could. I seriously almost knocked him down. I mean come on man, I have a screaming toddler in my arms. Can we get to our seats before Christmas?

We finally got to an empty seat. Three empty seats! Thank the Lord. But Noah didn't want his own seat this time, so he remained in my lap. I sat there holding Noah praying he would calm down and also praying no one would sit next to me. It was actually pretty funny watching people hurry by our row of seats, like we had the plague or something. Not many people want to brave sitting next to a parent with a child--especially one that is crying. The people passing by us started getting less and less, and I thought we were good to go. I would be able to stretch out and not have to worry about Noah pulling off the wig of an old lady sitting next to us.

Of course, as soon as I started dreaming about how wonderful a seat to ourselves would be, I hear in a deep voice, "Do you mind if I sit here?" I looked up, a bit surprised, to see a tall, McDreamy-looking guy {sorry Josh} in a nice suit about to sit down next to us. There were plenty of other seats around us. Why was he sitting down next to us? I mean did he not see the crying child on my lap? I'm sure the look on my face was priceless as I said, "Sure." Come to find out he had a daughter about the same age as Noah. He was a parent himself. He understood how difficult it can be to travel with a little one. At this point, Noah was still crying. He quickly turned his phone on to show Noah a picture of his little girl, thinking that might help. Nope. Noah started crying even harder. We exchanged a few words and then nothing was said the rest of the flight.

To make a long story short {well I guess that's not really true since I've just about written a novel}, Noah calmed down almost as soon as we got into the air. And he was so good for most of the flight.

Anyway, we finally arrived in Kansas City. Noah was calm and happy, and I was finally starting to relax a little myself. I guess the guy next to us thought it was safe to chat so he striked up a conversation and we started talking about things our kiddos are into, like to eat, etc. You know, things only parents talk about.

In all seriousness, I was so thankful for his kindness and understanding that day. I was stressed. Deep down I was wishing I had some help. God provided exactly what I needed: a parent who could relate with me. God is so good.

Well, looks like I will have to continue our trip to Kansas City another day. And I promise that post will have lots & lots of pictures!

Have a fabulous day, my friends!



p.s. Happy birthday to my sweet Nana! I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful birthday! We are looking forward to seeing you and Roger this Saturday.