Pittsburgh to Tampa

Owen and I traveled to Tampa to meet Gigi and Pop-Pop (my grandparents) last weekend. Owen was a champ on the flight. On our flight departed at 6:40am and even though Owen had been up since 4am he was still adorable as ever when we boarded the flight. As I was getting settled by the window next to a really nice man, the flight attendant asked if she could take Owen. My crazy pants internal dialog was screaming, "Don't do it - you have no idea where her hands have been!! What if she takes your baby and runs! What if she isn't even a REAL STEWARDESS JUST A BABY STEALER IN DISGUISE!!!"  but somehow I just smiled and I promptly handed him over. TO.A.STRANGER. She snuggled him and passed him around to the other flight attendants. Owen was just eating up all of the attention - flashing each one his shy little smile but always looking back to make sure he could see his Mama. Then she announced that he was going to meet the pilots and I scrambled out of my seat as fast as possible so I could get a picture. The pilot and co pilot were so sweet with him, "Hi Owen! Is this your first flight? [joking] It's our first flight too!"  I knew Jeremy would be SO JEALOUS that our boy got to sit inside the cockpit like a real pilot. What a great story to tell him when he's older! Owen nursed on the way up and slept for most of the flight. I was packing up our things as we taxied and the man next to me asked if I wanted him to take Owen while I finished. People don't usually offer to take a baby unless they want to hold him - so I handed him over. AGAIN, TO.A.STRANGER. The nice man held O up and played airplane with him until we stopped at the gate. The ladies sitting behind us were cooing at him and commenting what an adorable boy he is. I'm going to have to agree with them.

I let seven strangers handle my baby on that plane that morning. I've come to learn that when its just the two of us, sometimes I need to put some of my fears aside and accept a little help here and there. I'm glad I did.

 As we left the plane the pilots and crew waved goodbye, "Bye Owen! Great flight today buddy!"

It was just adorable.