As the tiny strips of skin began to be pulled from her irritated cuticles, tiny spots of blood began to appear around. Falling under the classification of nervous habits, this would be my wife's. We still had two weeks before our plane was to lift off from the tarmac, but her endless concerns of flying with a 3 month old had already taken hold. This nervous energy was fueled by hours of web research and parental testimonials of travel gone wrong. The good news is that despite the anxiety we felt we where prepared. Little did we know........
As we lugged large amounts of luggage through the airport we emerged through check in, breezed through security, and found our seat with ease. Once we where settled I glanced over to see Kate resorting to her nervous habit, I grabbed her hands to hold them and then her leg began to bounce, the whole time Ella slept with nothing but peace. After the plane broke contact wit the earth things where calm...... for now.
Ella had just finished feeding and was now smiling at her father as she faded in and out of her milk comma. That is when Kate's face lit up as she shrieked "ohhh noooo!" Drink service had just passed and we sat with trays down, leaving little room to scratch your nose, let alone move freely. As Kate lifted Ella, I could tell by her face this was not good..not good at all! I leaned over to see a large pile of Ella's post digested breast milk between Kate's legs. Ella had EXPLODED and defied gravity to send it right out of the back of the diaper. So there we sit, on a sold out flight, Ella has poop on her, Kate has poop on her, we have a seat full of poop, AND we have no room due to tray tables full of beverages. As I began to chug random glasses of pop and water, Kate began the clean up process the best she could. To her credit, all her research had payed off, we where as prepared as a parent could be. In the end Ella had to be changed, Kate had to be changed, and a team of stewardesses help as the seat had to be changed and exited in a large plastic bag. The entire time Ella smiled with relief wondering what all the fuss was about.
The family landed safely into Denver where we met by Kate's mom. Once again Kate and I quickly faded into the background as Ella became the center of attention. While we where out there Ella got to swim for the first time and learned that if we threw her head and arms far enough forward she could actually sit up. Now if she could only figure out how to slow that momentum down and not fall face forward into the couch. The best part of my vacation was waking up with my daughter and knowing that I had the whole day to spend with the family. Of coarse Ella enjoyed being showed with love from the grandparents - Gary and Gayle.
Kate and I joked the other day that in Ella's short three months she has participated in more than I had at 18 years of age. She has road tripped to Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado and the Northern tip of Michigan, she clocked a time of 44 minutes and 15 seconds as she went on to beat her mom by 1 second in a 5k road race, attended a Reds vs. STL Game and Rockies vs Cubs Game........ did I mention she is only three months old?!
