We had a great time in Houston with Grandma and Grandpa. Charlotte finally got used to riding in a car and was so patient while shopping and eating out. She can't wait to visit again!
In retrospect, we should have stayed a bit longer! On Wednesday, we flew to Chicago for our connecting flight to LaGuardia. Since it was supposed to be the same plane going to NY, I didn't worry when the flight was very delayed and almost averted to Wisconsin due to storms in Chicago. But when we landed, they announced that the plane was no longer going to NY. To my dismay, I found out that our flight had been cancelled. Although there is a flight to NY from Chicago every hour, due to the storm in Chicago most flights had been cancelled and the remaining ones were booked solid with 50+ people on standby. I was directed to a "rebooking center" which consisted of a counter with three red phones you could use and a phone number printed on a banner above it. After recovering from the shock of that, I noticed that there were about 100 people in line to use those phones. I called the number from my cell phone and found out that the soonest flight I could be rebooked on was 5pm the next day! Of course, the airline (AA) wouldn't do anything for the passengers.
So Charlotte and I were picked up by a friend of Pete's who was in town and spent the night at a Marriott in a neighboring town and lounged around all day napping and snacking on food from the breakfast buffet which wasn't too bad! Much better than the cots that we saw a lot of people camped out in on the news. We went back to O'Hare at 3pm, not before Charlotte ruined her outfit by pooping all over it, leaving me to dress her in the spare onesie I had in the diaper bag which she had far outgrown, so she used it as a shirt instead.
Our flight was delayed to 6:30pm so we settled in, only to find out an hour later that this flight too had been cancelled - this time due to "weather" in NY. By now my cell phone was almost dead, so I joined a long line at a different booking center (this one manned by actual people!) and had my parents handle calling the rebooking phone number. Although they said the soonest flight again would - unbelievably - be the next day at 5pm, they talked them into booking me on a United flight at 9am the next morning instead. By this point I was wondering if I'd ever see my own bed again. As I trudged out to the hotel shuttle, I looked at Charlotte in her now perma-spot on my stomach in her Bjorn and she looked at me with biggest grin on her face I think I'd ever seen! Wouldn't you know it - she was having the time of her life! That really cheered me up.
On this third day of wearing the same clothes, we got on the 9am flight without incident, though I had to laugh as they had me take Charlotte out of her Bjorn and hold her up while they patted her down as we went through security. We made it to NY in one piece. Miraculously and quickly, I found our luggage which had arrived two days prior. Upon arriving home, we took a nice long nap together. Thankfully, Helaman gets home today and we will be all together again.
This cartoon really has new meaning after hauling the diaper bag, my carry-on and Charlotte around for three days straight.
