Last week Fionn and I hitched a ride from Southwest Airlines and took a little trip back to Jackson, Mississippi to visit my family for 5 days. Conor had a business trip in Arkansas for the greater part of the week, so he met us there on Friday evening. This meant that Fionn and I were on our own for the first leg of the trip.
For those of you without children, let me just tell you this. Traveling with an infant is hard. Traveling with an infant and no co-parent support is even harder. Because Fionn is still portable (i.e. not mobile yet, thank God!), I was able to strap him to my body by way of the Baby Bjorn. This was quite helpful. However, this did not alleviate the issue of All The Freakin' Stuff.
All The Freakin' Stuff is what you accumulate very quickly once you have a baby. It includes (but is not limited to) a carseat, a stroller, infant toys, diapers, wipes, pacifiers, a breastpump, and gads of baby clothes.
All of it is necessary. All of it takes up a lot of room in your suitcase.
During my packing efforts, I decided early that the stroller was not going to accompany us to Mississippi. With highs of 95 in the forecast and humidity that I know all too well, I figured taking leisurely strolls was probably not in the best interest of my boy anyway.
However, all the other Stuff. Had to take it.
So I crammed and I crammed, and I finally fit it all in. Except for the nice Nikon camera which got ditched at the last moment. You might notice the quality of these photos is not exactly of the same caliber as those in previous posts. Sorry, Folks. That camera with its enormous padded bag was sadly replaced by some additional burp cloths and diapers. Good decision on my part, believe me.
Packing complete, I zipped up my ginormous suitcase, carried it to the living room, and patted myself on the back for a job well done. I did it. I could do this. Traveling alone was going to be a breeze. I decided to turn in for the night as our flight was the following morning at 10 am.
Flash forward to the next morning. The Super Shuttle I booked arrived 10 minutes early (i.e. 6:50 am) which should have prompted no panic on my part since I was not required to be ready until 7 am. However, I am the kind of person who becomes very stressed out and overwhelmed when I think that I am putting another person out. Not to mention strangers who are trying to get to the airport which, as we all know, does not exactly provoke patience in even the kindest of individuals.
So I began to race around the house in a panic. Fionn was still hanging out in his diaper, so I quickly dressed him in his Johnny Cash onesie (very necessary for a trip to Jackson, as the title of this post suggests) and strapped him into his carseat. The wailing of my son thus began which did not help matters.
Then I grabbed the trash from the kitchen and the trash from the nursery. One might question the necessity of taking out the trash at a moment like this. Well, let me tell you, for anyone who has come back to a nursery smelling like 20 little dirty diapers, this was a necessary task in its own right. Believe me.
I hauled all of the stuff, including my wailing son, out onto the porch and waved frantically at the driver to let him know that I was coming. Just as soon as I figured out how to get my pile of stuff down the steep staircase, that is.
I peered at the pile of stuff. Then I peered at the many steps that stood in between me and my Jamaican Super Shuttle driver who was waving kindly from the street but not exactly making any moves to assist me in any way. To be fair, the Super Shuttle rules state very clearly that the driver is not responsible for helping patrons with their luggage. I stared at Anthony (the driver). He stared back at me.
It was a standoff of epic proportions.
Thankfully, we have the greatest neighbors of all time, and they happened to appear on their porch just in my time of need (as they often do). Brian Wirth carried my suitcase down the steps while Nicole Wirth then toted Baby Fionn. This allowed me to grab the additional items (diaper bag and bags o' poopy trash) and make my way to my waiting chariot.
The rest is history. The flight went great. Fionn, as you know, is quite a seasoned traveler at this point, so takeoffs and landing are like butter (i.e. smooth). This flight was actually even more fantastic because the plane was pretty empty, allowing Fionn and I to take a full row for ourselves. As you can see, Fionn enjoyed having his own little seat.
Two hours later, we were in Jackson! Fionn so enjoyed spending quality time with his Ganna, as well as his Grandpa Jimmy and Julie.
He did not so much enjoy being forced to wear cutesy clothes for the visiting relatives. But it was a necessary evil. Sorry, son. That's what we do in Mississippi when people come a-callin'. This first picture shows Fionn wearing baby loafers that were made for him by one of Mom's neighbors, Georgia. Babies don't really need to wear shoes when they don't even walk yet, but it sure does make for a cute picture.
This next picture was taken on the day of Fionn's "Sip-and-See" out at my dad and Julie's house. A "Sip-and-See" is a southern affair, as you might have imagined, where family and friends come over to "see" the baby. The "sip" is lemonade or coffee or tea. Or, in mine and Conor's case, some really good beer. Apparently, Conor needed to get a little liquored up in order to bear the sight of his son (or, as Conor said, "my daughter") wearing slightly prissy southern boy clothes.
Okay, so even Fionn looks pretty miserable. But how cute is he? I mean, really.
All in all, the trip was just fabulous. Fionn misses his grandparents already! We are eagerly looking forward to being back in Mississippi for the Christmas holiday. Until then...
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