On our way to the Windy City...

Well, we made it to Chicago pretty uneventfully. Mom dropped me off at the Southwest gate and I sky capped my luggage, which was awesome. I had the following to take through security though:

-One toddler
-One stroller
-One infant
-One ginormous diaper bag
-One normal sized backpack
-One child sized backpack
-One small princess bag
-One huge car seat
-One small car seat

All of this...by myself. So, I did the following:

-Toddler: teddy bear leash - tied to stroller
-Infant: Tucked into baby bjorn carrier
-Small car seat: attached to stroller
-Large car seat: placed on top of stroller
-Large diaperbag: placed on top of large car seat
-Both backpacks and princess bags, put under stroller

Yes, I looked like a pack horse! Ha! Sooo, we made our way into the airport and went through the "Family" security line, which was awesome because I could take my time and no one could say anything - it is the family line, they expect you to be slow :)

So, security sucked, but wasn't THAT bad. I disassembled my pack horse, placed everything on the security belt, including stroller and car seat, took off all our shoes and walked through. THANKFULLY they didn't make me take Tommy out of the carrier! That would have been obnoxious :) They let me keep him on - PHEW!

On we went through the terminal. We also were pretty close to the entrance, so we didn't have to walk very far. All in all, that took about 35 minutes! NOT BAD! So we had quite a while to wait for boarding. So we waited....and waited...and ate McDonalds...and waited....then they called for boarding of group A (which we paid $10 more a ticket to be in). So, me and my pack horse made our way to the front of the line and the ticket guy says, "Where is the paper work for the infant?" I told him I didn't know I needed to have any? I checked in at skycap and they didn't say anything. So he told me I needed to go BACK to the ticket desk to get paperwork. ARGH!

Soooooo, we made our way to the ticket desk where there was a HUGE line, which we waited in. While we were waiting, that was the ONLY moment on the WHOLE escapade that Ella was really being a pill. So I can't really complain :) Anyway, we get to the front of the desk, finally, and I start to chew out the lady because I'm SUPER furious that the plane is completely boarded and every seat is full except the two for me and Ella, and who knows if they are together and I have all this crap to put away and I paid extra to board first and why didn't they tell me I needed paperwork for him...and on and on...yeah. Poor lady. :) Oh well, I was mad!

SO they finally get the paperwork for Tommy, and I go to get on the airplane. Ella is on the verge of having a meltdown, Tommy is starting to wake up, and I am still pushing this huge packhorse of crap! So we get to the door of the plane and I start disassembling everything again and a stewardess sees me. Bless her heart. She was SOOOO helpful! She grabbed Ella and the big car seat and took off down the aisle, kicked some people out of their seats so we could be together, buckled in Ellas car seat AND Ella and made sure I had luggage space above for my bag! TWO THUMBS UP FOR SOUTHWEST HOSPITALITY!!!!!!

Yes, everyone on the plane had to wait for me, but that's what they get for not telling me about the paperwork! I was there WAY early and no one told me....grrrrr....

So we took off. Ella colored for a little while, then we watched Dora the Explorer, then we played with princess stickers. Tommy woke up once, so I fed him, changed his diaper, then he slept the rest of the way in the pack on my chest (which was awesome because then I could use both my hands the whole flight! Yay!)

Our flight even got in 20-30 minutes early, which was awesome! So the plane landed, everyone got off, and we were the last ones off the plane, which was fine. Another stewardess came, took the car seat, and ALL my bags while I got the babies. They helped me get all loaded up and made our way to baggage claim. One potty break (and 15 minutes later) we were with dad! YAAAAAY!

We loaded up all our bags and crap and the babies and were on the road.

We are staying with Tom's aunt and uncle right now while we wait for the lease to start on the house we will be staying in. We have to wait until September 1st, but I guess it is a really nice house....so hopefully it will be worth it.

We will be living with Tom's mom, aunt, and brothers for the next couple months until Tom starts clinicals. Wish me luck living in the Windy City (Okay, actually it is a suburb of the Windy City, but you get what I mean). The freeways here don't make sense at ALL and I am seriously NOT a fan of the stupid tollways....who ever heard of having to PAY to drive on a road!? Please....

The food is GREAT here, though, so hopefully I keep off all this baby weight and don't replace it with over eating weight! Hahah! :) Anyway, I'll keep you updated! Today is our first whole day here and we are going to try to get a little established - go look at the house, find a pediatrician, look around the city, etc. I'll try to remember to take some pictures...but I can't promise anything!