Mourning the Loss of Traveling Simplicity aka Isla's First Trip to St. Louis

We had our first flying adventure with Isla over the 3rd weekend in June. I never knew that flying without a baby was actually an enjoyable experience until I had 'flying with a baby' to compare it to. But now I know- 'flying without a baby' is awesome. If you ever fly without a baby, you should take a moment to acknowledge how good you've got it. My days of relaxing and enjoying a movie on Jason's laptop with noise-cancellation headphones are over.

Isla was great on the airplane and only really cried when we got stuck for an hour in Dallas with no AC. And really, everyone wanted to cry. The biggest pain was all the stuff. The lugging around of baby, carseat, stroller, milk bag, camera bag, diaper bag, and laptop bag. This was truly a backbreaking experience. Meanwhile, Isla gets carried around in a cozy portable bed, and takes naps whenever she feels like a little snooze. On the trip to St. Louis, I was deliriously exhausted from not sleeping the 2 nights before the trip because of 'flying with baby' and packing anxiety (nightmares of airport security taking my milk away). I wanted so bad to have someone carry me around in a portable bed.

But it was great to be back in St. Louis, and we enjoyed visiting with our family and friends. I just need a BIG break before I do that again. The picture above is my little family, plus GP's on the both sides. Isla is holding her arms out as if to say, "these are my people." Below left is Isla and 5 week-old twin cousins, Connor and Abigail, via Jason's cousin Diana. Below right is Isla and friends' babies. We've doubled ourselves- from 6 adults, 6 children. Matt and Molly are in the lead with 3 beautiful babes (center 3), followed by Steve and Maria with 2 (bookends), Jason and I trailing behind with one baby Isla in the car seat.