It takes a village

Elle and I flew to Ohio last week for my grandma's funeral. (Thank you to all of you for the kind words on her passing - I really appreciate it!) It was a whirlwind 36 hours of getting time off of work, booking the tickets, packing our bags and navigating the airports, followed by an emotional and exhausting three days of driving, packing, unpacking, hugging, eating and driving some more before the return flights to Florida.

But several things helped on this trip:

* A list - when you've got less than a day to pack for you and an 8-month-old Florida baby traveling to a wintery Ohio and PA, you're likely to forget a few things unless you stay organized.
* A happy, easy-going baby.
* A husband who stays up all night to drive you to the airport at 5:30 a.m.
* Arms of steel.
* Caffeine.
* A carefully packed carry-on.
* Sugar.
* A handful of people on each of four flights to tell you that your daughter is "the best baby" they've every traveled with, or that she's "the perfect traveler."
* A nice old man next to you with a flashy watch and ring that your baby can paw at while awake.
* Flight schedules that allow for said happy baby to eat and sleep while flying and be awake while on layovers.
* Some rando college kids that are easily entertained by your crawling baby at the Atlanta airport.
* A cool sister-in-law that keeps you company while you both nurse your daughters, change their diapers and put them down for naps.
* Two adorable babies to distract everyone from the depressing nature of a funeral.

The cousins: Ready for action, adventure and/or distraction.

* A brother who comes to your hotel room to babysit his niece while you finish packing.
* Another brother who calls you fat. Well, this isn't really going to help with the trip, but it certainly continues a family tradition and provides the family with the joke of "tattling like Kristin" for the rest of the weekend because you instantly run as fast as an almost 30 year old can to your mom and dad to, well, tattle on your 28-year-old brother for calling you fat.
* Aunts, uncles and cousins who are more than willing to play with or hold your daughter.
* Water bottles: World's coolest baby toy.

Cousin Samantha is holding me and
I get to play with this cool water bottle?!?

* A mom who doesn't get riled by the granddaughter who is screaming because she's overtired on the way to a funeral mass.
* A baby who falls asleep 20 seconds after the actual funeral procession starts to move.
* A bagel to distract the baby who desperately wants to nurse on the way to the cemetery where her mother has to deliver a eulogy.
* A sister who takes care of your daughter while you deliver said eulogy - a day after helping you sing the "ABC" song to said daughter while she started to panic during a bath in a hotel sink (there wasn't a tub, and it was a big sink, but Elle has an attachment to her infant tub).

Hey guys! I just took a bath in the hotel sink!

* A brother-in-law who hugs you after you deliver said eulogy, helps unload baby luggage and sends you nice text messages when your siblings are verbally assaulting you (we're a loving family, really).
* A nice Delta employee who looks the other way when your suitcase weighs 9-10 pounds more than it should ... Oopsie!
* A dad who heaves your heavy suitcase in to and out of his car several times.
* A "breastfeeding station" in the small airport you frequently fly in to and out of when visiting family, an awesomely quiet place to nurse your easily distracted baby.