Adventures in Eliland

Our first trip with Eli has been tiring, but fulfilling. We left Madison very early on Tuesday morning. Eli slept through the first flight to Chicago, fussed a little bit in O'Hare, and then slept on the flight to DC. Even though Shelby and I packed very light, we still ended up with a huge amount of stuff: baby clothes, a pack and play, baby supplies, books, toys, and plastic bags. When traveling with a baby, you really can't have enough plastic bags. The other lesson we learned on Tuesday is that plane boarding requires exquisite timing. We wanted to change Eli as close as possible to the time of boarding, without missing preboarding. On both flights, Shelby rushed out of the bathroom just in time for preboarding. 

We also learned that the airline policy towards infants is very fluid. Everyone affiliated with the airline was accommodating, but this led to uncomfortable moments where we had a large car seat occupying a seat reserved for another passenger. We also learned that it is important for me to keep my frequent flier status, if for no other reason than because paying to check Eli's bags would otherwise be very expensive! It also helped on Wednesday, allowing us to jump on an earlier flight to Miami. 

Once in DC, we lugged our luggage (is 'lug' the root word?) on the train and met our friend Vicki for lunch. Despite one fussy spell in the bathroom, Eli behaved well. This was a landmark event, as we had not previously taken Eli out to eat in public. After lunch we took a taxi to Bethesda for our meeting. We had dinner with Shelby's cousin, his wife, and their son. Eli, again, was surprisingly well behaved, though Shelby had to leave dinner once to feed him. When we went to bed, Eli spent more time in a car than he had to date, took his first (2) plane rides, rode in a train and taxi, ate out in restaurants (twice), and set up shop in a hotel room - quite an eventful day!

On Wednesday I participated in an NIH workshop on AIDS vaccines. Eli met several of our collaborators and was far more popular than me. Shelby got to see a portion of the meeting, but spent much of her time in the hotel room tending to Eli. After the conclusion of an early afternoon session (that I actively participated in), we scurried to the airport. Security and check-in was easier than anticipated, and we managed to get a flight to Miami that is an hour earlier than scheduled. Eli behaved well on the flight. Since Shelby doesn't like to eat before flying, we didn't have dinner until we arrived in Miami at 10. Despite the perturbations in schedule, Eli slept well.

I had to give another talk on Thursday at an NIH transplant workshop, so I spent most of the morning refining my presentation while Shelby watched Eli in the room. The room configuration was more conducive to having Shelby lurk in the back, so she was able to see more of this meeting than the one in DC. After my presentation, Shelby and I ducked out of the last talk of the day and walked along the oceanside with Eli. There is a very nice walking path and park close to the hotel. Since it was already late in the afternoon, the sun had begun to set and the temperature was reasonable. When we returned to the hotel, our workshop had adjourned and attendees were gathering for drinks and dinner at a local restaurant. We brought Eli and had a nice dinner outside with a number of our collaborators and lab members. Eli slept well again, though not for seven full hours as on Tuesday night. 

Today brings the end of the official work portion of our trip, though we will likely be on email through the weekend. Tonight we will rent a car and drive to great-grandma Roz's house in Fort Lauderdale. To (great) grandmother's house we go!!