First trip on an airplane

After Easter, Rebecca, my Mom and I flew to Halifax to visit with family. It was Becca's first airplane trip! Well, the poor business man who was stuck sitting next to us look nonplussed, and before take-off, I could hear him bemoaning his luck to some friend whom he had called on the cell phone. But, Becca slept through the entire flight. She didn't stir at all. After we landed, several business men (these were numerous since ours was an early morning flight) stopped to congratulate me on what a good flier she was. I felt vindicated.
Actually, while in Halifax, many people made mock offers to purchase Rebecca because they felt she was so cute. The flight home did not cause anyone to make such overtures. She was still teething, and take off was clearly bothering her ears. She howled and cried and everyone turned to watch. In the end, she managed to fall asleep, so she was quiet for probably 80% of the flight (including landing). The biggest problem was that there was another baby in our row, and every time he wailed, it tended to wake up Rebecca and cause her to cry. Having a baby on the plane is awkward. They stay on your lap the entire time, but even Becca is already so long that it is hard to position her in a way that is comfortable (for either of us). The flight attendants were quite friendly and helpful and even offered to heat up bottles for me, and of course, we got to board the airplane first.
On the way to Halifax, I had made the mistake of thinking I could just carry Becca through the airport. She was very heavy. I purchased a relatively inexpensive umbroller for the trip home. The only trouble I encountered was when the Halifax security personnel upended my diaper bag to put it through the x-ray machine, and caused a bottle of milk to leak everywhere. They also patted down Rebecca and ran a wand over her after passing her through the metal detector (neither my Mom nor I underwent such a procedure) - despite the fact that Rebecca did not set off the metal detector. She didn't seem to mind these measures.