Hello America!

It's been over a week since we landed in the good old USA so I thought I better post an update on our adventure thus far. 

The majority of my anxiety over the trip was around how Jakson would act on the 9 hour flight to Chicago, followed by a layover and a second flight to Moline.  And since i was flying alone with him (Rob is meeting us here in mid-Dec) the anxiety was at an all time high!  Well, would you believe Jakson was a little angel for almost the entire journey?? 

Our first saving grace was the 'sky cot' that we nabbed when checking in.  It's like a little moses basket that hooks onto the wall of the plane and gave Jakson a place to hang out.  Luckily he spent a lot of time in this, sitting and having a couple of naps.  It was quite amusing because where this little cot was happened to be right under the screen where movies played and he just sat in it and smiled at all the people on the flight.  I couldn't believe how well behaved he was and he was certainly a hit with the flight attendants as well as the other passengers!  People kept coming over to see him and saying how cute and well behaved he was!!  Even the flight attendants from first class kept coming back to coach to play with him!  Too bad his adorable face wasn't enough to get us upgraded!!  Here's a pic of him hanging out in his 'sky cot', reading a book:

I also sat by a lovely girl who was so helpful, she actually wanted to play with him and really helped keep him entertained, which made a difference.  Jakson even slept for a couple of hours on the plane which gave me a chance to get up and go to the loo and have a bit of food!!  It was still A LOT of work to keep him entertained but i'm glad we did it.  I'll get to why in just a bit.  Here's a pic of him all cozy in his own seat on the plane:

I'm all cozy and ready to go!

Now the layover in chicago was a bit of chaos as we were an hour late leaving London due to fog.  But we luckily made our connection with 5 minutes to spare so Jakson didn't even have a chance to fuss during our rush through customs and security.  However, I think the jetlag finally caught up with him once we boarded the second flight (it was nearly 9 pm and he is normally in bed by 7).  So during this flight Jakson sort of lost it but was easily appeased by giving him a bottle, after which he promptly fell asleep.  But again, jetlag really hit him hard when we had to get off the flight and he was awoken from his nap and had a complete meltdown in the Moline airport :(  Poor boo was exhausted.  But we got him home and sleeping by about 5 pm iowa time (11 pm London time).  And, knock on wood, with each passing day he seems to be getting better and better.  He's pretty much right on schedule and has been sleeping through the night since about the 3rd or 4th night. 

Now, as i said above, it was all most certainly worth it when I got to see Jakson playing with Nanny Kat and Grandpa Don on the first morning.  They were just in awe of him and loved every minute. 

First play date with Nanny Kat and Gpa Don

The other big excitement here in Iowa is whether Jakson will crawl with each passing day.  He's SO close.  Pushing himself backwards around the kitchen and nearly taking a forward crawl, if he could just figure out what to do with those pesky legs!  Only video can show you how funny this is:

Some other highlights from our first week in the US include some other firsts for Jakson:

First morning and first smile in Iowa :)

First breakfast: banana toast and pineapple

First thanksgiving!!

First taste of eggs

I'm sure we'll have many more firsts while we spend the next few weeks in Iowa.  Stay tuned for more fun and adventures with Baby Boo!