just a quick update. i got the upgrade!
after some wrangling between my mother in law and son over who would get the upgraded seat, my son ended up winning in this case. MIL will get the upgrade next time.
i got my upgrade confirmed at around 4am. the flight was at 6am and we got to the airport at 4:30am and got to the gate at 5:15am and they were already boarding the flight. we got on the plane and it looked like we might even leave early but there was an issue with the pilot (maybe he didn't show up) so another pilot was called in and we finally left at 6:30am.