I flew from Washington to Arizona by myself with a 3 year-old and an almost 2 year-old.

If I'm being honest...I hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon.

It was hard and exhausting, although it actually went relatively smoothly.  I think back on all the things that could've potentially gone wrong, and I'm so grateful on how our experience went.

Our flight was delayed, so we ended up spending a lot of time waiting near our gate.
My nephew made Landon this little paper airplane and gave it to him at church.  Somehow it lasted through one hour of nursery, an hour at home scurrying to get all of our things together, an hour car drive to the airport, through checking our luggage, security, at the gate, on the plane, and all the way to Arizona!  Now it rests safely on Grammy and Papito's desk.  Can't believe he took such good care of it!  It is so cute!  It provided lots of entertainment.
They also made a friend with another little boy.  It was great, it kept them entertained and happy.  I love how kids can just suddenly be friends without a second thought.
Many thanks to several strangers who helped me (I think I looked pretty helpless.  I'm sure they wondered what the heck I was doing).  It was actually pretty humbling for me, to let someone just pick up my baby and help me climb the tall narrow stairs onto the plane, or to help us get the carseats up to the counter to get them checked, or the sweet man across the aisle from us who played peek-a-boo with Vivienne and made her face light up.

Once the plane landed and everyone else got off, we got off.  This airport requires you to walk on the tarmack to get on/off the plane.  It can be a long walk and the planes are noisy.  So I had a tired, sad, screaming and crying baby girl trailing along behind me.  She wanted to be held.  But I was carrying all of our coats, my backpack, and the carry-on.  She continued to do this the whole time, even once we got inside and were walking past all the people waiting at their gates.  It was super embarrassing.  I finally picked her up and waddled around the corner where there was an "army" of people to rescue us.  My mom, dad, Bennett, and Cassidy were all right there--with big smiles and open arms.  There were more than enough hands to help carry babies, carseats, and suitcases.

We made it!  But I think we are all really grateful that Daddy will be on the flight home with us.