Baby Anderson: The Journey

On October 5, 2006, God gave us the biggest blessing we could imagine: our daughter Liliana. So here is a place for our friends and family to keep up with her as she grows.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Getting There is Half the Battle, The Pictures

Waiting for take off at the Midland Airport.

The parade in Dallas.
Liliana loves Great-Grandpa! (and his nose)
Performing serious suitcase upkeep.
Our Chicago sleeping arrangements.
Liliana bunks down for the night.
I think Liliana's shirt says it best.

Getting There is Half the Battle, Part 3

Thursday, June 28th

I woke up at six with my back feeling like I had been run over. Lili woke up a few minutes later and I gave her a morning bottle since there was no place to nurse with discretion. (Well, I could have gone behind the phones, but someone had vomited there and no one bothered to clean it up.) We all played with the baby for awhile and then at 7:30 Mom and I got in line to check in. The minutes ticked by and a little after eight we got to the desk. Thank heavens everything went smoothly. We checked in our luggage, got our boarding passes and were on our way to security.

We were about to go through when I noticed a weird code on the bottom of the boarding pass—SSS. I now know that it means that you are marked for a random search. I discovered this a few minutes later when we went through the checkpoint. After Liliana and I stepped through the metal detector, the security guard told me that I was selected for a search. Then before I could even blink, she grabbed Lili out of my arms and took off with her. Now, I always try to be cooperative with airport security, but this really upset me. Lili started crying and the woman glared at her and told her to be quiet. She’s a baby, for crying out loud.

To make matters worse, I had to boarding passes, but they wouldn’t let Mom get them from me, so she couldn’t go through the detector and take Lili. They took forever searching, with Lili getting more upset with each passing moment. One guard finally let my mom through, but they wouldn’t let her near us. They then started pawing through Lili’s diaper bag. It was a total mess.

After about ten minutes of riffling through the bag, the lady shoved it, all its contents, and Lili at me and told me to move along. Mom put the bag back together while I tried to calm Lili down. Feeling a little shaken, we made our way through the airport, getting a wheelchair for Grandpa along the way, and finally settling in to the food court for some breakfast. Mom and I left Grandpa with Lili (who was sucking down juice in between little gasping sobs) to get some food. I found a Danish and Cinnamin Roll for Mom and me to share while she got Grandpa some eggs and other breakfast stuff.

After breakfast, we went to our gate to discover that our flight was...
DELAYED.

I actually started laughing—of course it would be delayed, why wouldn’t it be? It was scheduled to go at noon and wasn’t going to take off until three. I called Larry to let him know what was going on and he laughed too. He told me that United had told the tour company that we had gone to Los Angeles and were on our way to Beijing, Ummm...not so much United. I went ahead and called the company to tell them when we were due in and our flight number. The lady told me no problem (he he he).

We made Lili a little play area on the floor and let her crawl and stretch her little legs. The waiting didn’t actually seem that long and at three we finally boarded our flight to Beijing. We ended up idling on the runway for another hour, so we finally took off at about five.

Mom and I made a little palette out of pillows for Lili to lay on across our laps. She was so sweet when she fell asleep. I wish I could have said the same about Grandpa. I kept trying to nod off while Lili was asleep, but he kept waking me up to ask me questions. We were fed Chinese food for dinner and then later a Chinese snack. Grandpa ate all of his and most of Mom’s and mine—he just kept eating. About four hours into the flight, Mom switched seats with me and Lili and I snuggled up together and went to sleep. Even now it is such a sweet memory, cuddled with my daughter and her stuffed dog. We woke up in time for breakfast (American style) and before we knew it, we were in China! We landed in Beijing after a twelve hour flight at about 6 pm Beijing time (which is thirteen hours ahead of the USA). I was so excited for our trip to really begin!

Getting There is Half the Battle, Part 2

Wednesday, June 27th

The wake up call came at four and I seriously felt like I had only been asleep for ten minutes. I didn’t want to wake up Lili until the last possible moment, so I slipped out of bed and into the shower. My back was so stiff from sleeping on the floor, but the hot water really helped. When I got out the shower I got dressed and then got everybody else up. Grandpa was grumpy and complained that someone was snoring. It was him! But Mom just said, “Sure, it was me.” How we do appease those we love.

After the troubles getting into Dallas the night before, I thought I ought call United and check on our flight status. My hunch proved valid—our flight to San Francisco was canceled. Mom and I had a little pow wow and decided that we should go on to the airport to see what the airline could do. I fed Lili and when I picked her up to get her ready I realized she had wet the bed. It’s wicked of me, but I was sort of proud of her considering that La Quinta had been less that helpful.

With everyone dressed and ready, we headed to the lobby to wait for our cab. It was raining, but nothing too bad, so I was confused as to why our flight was canceled. The cab took about twenty minutes to get there and in the meantime I made everyone eat something from the breakfast buffet. Everyone else had fruit and yogurt (or juice in Lili’s case), but I found make-it-yourself waffles with a Texas shaped maker—yay! I love shaped waffles. I’m easy to entertain.

The cab arrived and we all piled in. I kept my death grip on Lili all the way to the airport. The drive was much shorter than the previous evening and before we knew it we were standing in the packed United terminal. The line was practically out the door for international check in, so we put the luggage up near the front of the line and staked Grandpa out in a wheelchair to watch it.

All around us were people using there cell phones to make other plans for our canceled flight. That is the big head smacking part of the whole trip—we didn’t bring our cell phones. I asked Mom if she was bringing hers and her response was, “What for?” I charged mine up to take just in case, but forgot it in the final rush. This would come back to bite us in the butt multiple times. This was already the second.

We ended up waiting for two hours in line. During the wait I kept checking on Grandpa and trying to entertain Lili. She was actually really good. We finally got to the counter and told the woman we had to get to Beijing. She typed a bunch of stuff and told us we couldn’t get out of Dallas for two days. My stomach literally dropped. Mom immediately told her that was unacceptable and so for the next two hours we stood at the counter as they tried to find a way to get us to Beijing. They tried everything and finally came up with what sounded like an annoying, but last resort plan. We would fly on American to Atlanta at noon, change airlines and fly to Los Angeles, change airlines again and have a ten hour layover, and then fly Air China to Beijing at 1:50 in the morning, arriving in Beijing in time to start our tour. We got ready to bustle off to the American terminal, ahh, but not so fast—Mom’s ticket wouldn’t print.

Another 45-minutes and five employees later, we were on a bus to the American terminal where we had to stand in yet another never ending line. There were several kiosks for self-check in, which ironically required four airline employees to work on, while on two were checking in other passengers. I asked one of the self check guys if he could just check out tickets to make sure when were on the flight. He told me to wait in line. Two hours later we made it to the front of the line where the airline representative proceeded to tell us that they had no reservation or room for us on the Atlanta flight. Now up to this time, I had been really positive, but that ticked me off. I made some comment about wishing that they could have just checked like we asked two hours before and the lady said that they had to help people with self-check. And before I could even stop the words from coming out of my mouth I said, “Then you really shouldn’t call it self-check, should you?”

The lady then told us that we would have to go back to the United terminal and have them straighten the mess out. Mom and I decided not to drag Grandpa, Lili, and the suitcases all over the airport again, so she went to get things sorted out and I stayed with them.

By this time Lili was tired of being in her stroller, so I took her out and let her play with one of the suitcases. I guess my daughter is simple like I am, because it amused her for over an hour. The lady I had snapped at came by and apologized, as did I. After some sweet potatoes, I walked Lili around the terminal for about an hour until she was ready for a nap. While she slept in her stroller, I read a little and then Grandpa and I played Farkel. Three hours after she had left, Mom returned.

I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I could tell she was about to flip out. She told me we were on standby for Chicago at four and confirmed on a flight to Beijing at noon the next day. If we didn’t make it on the Chicago flight, we would take an early morning flight to Chicago arriving in time to make our Beijing flight.

I made the call that we should get back to the United terminal and get some food. On the way, Mom told me that she was so angry because most everyone else on our San Francisco flight had been rebooked on a flight that left an hour later, but United hadn’t rebooked us because we weren’t considered priority.

We got checked in and finally got to check out luggage before setting in for some much needed McDonalds. It was three by this point and we hadn’t eaten since the hotel. So my quarter pounder tasted extra yummy!

After lunch, Mom wanted me to call Larry, somehow hoping he could straighten the whole mess out. I knew I needed to call him to have him get in touch with the tour company to tell them we wouldn’t be on our expected plane. Larry tried to help as best he could, but after several back and forth phone calls, nothing had really changed.

I snuck off with Lili to find a place to nurse her. We found a little abandoned spot behind some chairs and while she nursed I watched the rain fall outside. When we got back to the gate, Mom was frantic because she couldn’t find me. We had made it on to the afternoon Chicago flight! Yay! I called Larry and asked him to see if he could find us a hotel room.

We boarded a few minutes later and Liliana soon fell asleep. I watched a little of the Office when they showed (Phyllis’s Wedding for all you Office fans like myself) and napped a little afterwards. Two hours later landed in Chicago.

Once on the ground, we got our luggage and I called Larry. Because so many Chicago flights had been canceled, all the hotels in Chicago were booked. We were on our own. A very nice monk (who looked like my stepfather, according to my grandfather with one eye—so, not really) suggested we stay at his seminary, but it was two hours away.

We decided to go to the United counter to make sure we were confirmed on the flight the next day and see if we could check the luggage and find someplace for Grandpa to sleep. We were confirmed, but they wouldn’t let us check our luggage or get boarding passes or leave the ticket area until the next morning. I then explained that my grandfather was 90 years old and asked if they had a room or a cot or even just a blanket so he could lie down. Nope. Since our flights were screwed up due to weather they weren’t responsible for anything.

We wandered the ticketing area until we found some benches. Mom staked them out while Grandpa and I bought dinner. Forty dollars for three sandwiches and three bottles of water. Awesome. After dinner we tried to get Grandpa and Liliana to sleep. Lili passed out in her stroller. I was restless so I walked around and discovered that the next terminal over had cots, pillows, and blankets. But they were all being used by a group of teenagers and no one was willing to give theirs up for my Grandfather. So he stretched on a bench with a sleep mask on. Mom and I took turns watching the luggage and Lili. Mom took first shift, so I tried to sleep on the floor. It was a restless night, with me having to take Grandpa to the bathroom about every two hours. I think the only one who slept well was Lili. After my shift, I passed out again on the floor and was so tired that actually got some sleep.

Getting There is Half the Battle, Part One

Tuesday, June 26th

Because I would be taking so much time off (two and a half weeks to be precise), I decided to work part of the day. We hadn’t done much packing the night before, so I went home at noon to begin the arduous process of packing for myself, Lili, Mom, and Grandpa. I am a notoriously good packer—the downside being that everyone wants me to pack for them. I finished packing the three suitcases for Mom, Lili, and me pretty quickly because I had a really good list. Mom and I only took a week’s worth of clothes, planning to have most of our stuff do double and triple duty. I then went to Grandpa’s to work on his suitcase. He already had his things sitting out for me, and it was looking not so good. He had five shirts, five pairs of shorts, and five pairs of underwear. Ummm...for fifteen days? Really?

I made the mistake of questioning his packing choices and was promptly told that he didn’t need to pack everything in his closet like me and Mom. He was a smart packer. (If he’s so smart, how come I’m the one packing? Just saying.) So fine, take your five little things and live with it.

I got back to Mom’s house in time to go home, pick up a few things and get Staylee to go to the airport. Mom and Larry left to go get Grandpa and I ran home. Staylee for once was ready to go, so pretty soon we were on our merry way to Midland International Airport. (The International cracks me up since the only international flight is about one a year to Mexico. Everything else is either through Dallas or Houston. International my eye.)

The drive was pleasant enough and before I knew it, Staylee was helping me unload the car and kissing me and Lili goodbye. I hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be until that moment—Staylee and I had never been apart this long before. I could tell he was upset, too because he kept making me promise to stay with the tour group and not go anyplace that looked dangerous. Mom stuck her head outside the airport door and told us to cut the goodbye short. I gave Staylee one last kiss and Lilia and I went inside...

...where we got to wait in a very slow line. We basically standing still until I realized that people were upset over canceled flights. I checked the monitor for our flight status and wouldn’t you know, it was the only one labeled CANCELED. Gahhh!!

Mom immediately flipped out and said that Grandpa has a little black cloud over his head when we travel because we always run into snags. I put on my best Spoon Full of Sugar voice and attitude and went to work cheering them both up. Mom called my stepfather and started freaking out that he would have to drive us to Dallas (6 hours away) and then had to hand the phone off to me because she was so upset. I told both she and Larry that I thought we should wait to freak out until we talked the people at the desk.

For once I was right, because as soon as we got to the desk, they told us there was a plane flying in and turning right around to go back to Dallas, and if we hurried we could just make it. Hurry? With a baby and a 90 year old? Sure, why not? We hustled as much as you can when you have to pull all the liquids out of the diaper bag and explain that the juice is indeed for the baby and have a little old man searched by hand since his pacemaker prevents him from going through the metal detector.
Thankfully we made it to the plane with time to spare. We sat down for a few minutes to enjoy some cold beverages (last call Diet Dr. Pepper! Does not translate in China) and then it was time to board! The worst was over, right? (You will look back at that line and laugh later—or at least I will. I have to in order to keep from crying).

We arrived in Dallas only an hour behind schedule and picked up our checked luggage. We had reservations at the La Quinta for the night (not my choice of accommodations, but it was just for one night) and I called their shuttle to pick us up. We rented a cart for the luggage and Mom pushed Grandpa in a wheelchair who in turn pushed Lili in her stroller. It was quite the parade!

The shuttle picked us up fairly quickly, but we had to stop to get some other people. We didn’t have a carseat (and there would have been no place to put one if we did), so Lili sat on my lap. It felt so weird and I seriously started hyperventilating at the thought of a crash. By the time we got to the La Quinta, Lili’s arms and tummy were red because I was holding her so tight. Grandpa was grumpy because we weren’t staying right the airport, but the hotel really wasn’t that far. Inside we went to check in and were faced with more bad news—they had messed up our reservations (even though we had double checked them 24 hours before) and we only one room on the second floor at the back (not so good for Grandpa) and since there were so many people with canceled flights not only could they not get us another room, we would not be able to ride the free shuttle back to the airport at 5 am, we would have to take a cab. We asked if at least we could store the luggage since we were all crammed in one room—nope. No roll away bed or crib either. We turned to leave and Mom said, “This is why I stay at the Hilton.” I guess the girl felt bad, because she moved us to a ground floor room at the front.

Mom and I managed to get all our stuff into our sneeze of a room and it was decided that Mom and Grandpa would each take a room and Lili and I would sleep on the floor. Everyone got ready for bed and I put the bedspreads and Mom’s top blanket on the floor for Lili and me. We turned the lights out and Lili was fascinated by the wall and kept trying to cruise along it, so after thirty minutes I finally switched her to my other side and got her to sleep. It was one in the morning and we had to get up at four. Sigh.

Coming up:
Things to do in Dallas when your plane is dead,
Lines that lead to nowhere, and
Why I will never go through Chicago O’Hare airport again.

Apologies...

First, I would like to extend my regrets that I have not posted in so long. After we got back from China, work was just crazy and I've been trying to get somewhere with my thesis. I do have some recaps from our trip for those who would like to read them, as well as some pictures. So please stayed tuned for the wonders of China. It really was an amazing trip.