Back in Baku

Well, I'm back in Baku again. It seems like I've been away forever, and I guess I was at my parents house for about 4 months, but the time really did go by pretty quickly. We also survived the plane ride, despite all of the nights where I'd awaken in a cold sweat from nightmares of taking a small infant on a plane. And if you compare traveling with an infant to traveling in the first semester of pregnancy (not pretty, not pretty at all) it was a walk in the park.
We arrived at the airport super early to check in (you know I'm a full fledged mommy now, I've got tons of luggage, a dog and a baby, so I wanted to make sure there was plenty of time for everything) and I got the slowest checkout person in the planet helping me out. When I arrived at the counter the woman took one look at me and said she wasn't sure she could help me because I had a dog, even though the sign above her head said "groups, pets, oversized baggage", and she promptly left trying to find someone else to check me in. Her trip must have been unsuccessful because she returned again, slower than ever and started asking me questions as if she could get rid of me because I didn't have the right paperwork. But her dastardly plan was foiled by my careful preparation and attention to detail. Finally after an hour an a half we were all checked in, and I retrieved my baby from the tired arms of her Aunt Joy who had been walking and singing both the dog and baby while we waited for Ms. Molasses to get everything in order.
Next Hurdle, Airport Security... I really must know who finds the surliest people on earth to represent American law enforcement in our Airports? At this point, I'm starting to run late and Zora is crying because she's hungry, I've got the stroller, way too much baggage (traveling on a plane with a baby, what do I need? I don't know so I'm going to take everything!), the infant seat base, and of course the baby. I get to the xray machines and they ask me if I have any formula, I tell them I don't, but the man seems to think that I'm lying because he asks me to take any food that I have for the baby out of the bag, and when I don't, he says they are probably going to have to search my bags anyway... I'm sorry, he growls at me, that they will probably have to search my bags anyway. Then he tells me that I'm going to have to collapse the stroller and put it through the xray machine. Ok, this doesn't sound difficult right? Not too unreasonable? Right, ok, now remember that I am standing in those stupid narrow aisles I'm barefoot, I'm jiggling a screaming child in my arms, her head flopping about while I'm staring at the infant seat/stroller travel combination that now seems like a horrible idea. My mind is racing, ok, the stroller needs two hands to collapse, I need a hand and a half to hold the baby, Crap, the infant seat is already through the xray machine! Finally the security guy, seeing my dumb look of disbelief asks one of the other security guys to give me a hand and we finally make it through security.
After that it was pretty smooth sailing, everything took so long, that I was able to walk through the airport and right onto the plane. There was a period of time when we first got on the plane that I was sure we were doomed. As soon as we sat down Zora started shrieking her head off. We hadn't even taken off yet, and already she was crying like I was murdering her. I rocked, soothed, calmed, and finally I pulled out here favorite green blanket. But it took a good fifteen minutes or so for her to calm down, and I didn't think she was going to, I almost cried too. Luckily though, the favorite green blanket and some soothing songs calmed her down and she slept most of the way.
So we finally arrived in Baku and all seems to be well. I think Zora, Honey, and I are all finally over our jet lag. Although it took awhile for the baby, she was staying awake for almost 24 hours, and then sleeping for almost 24 hours, but we are back on track! Hopefully next week we'll get started doing things and I'll have more adventures for everyone.