If you saw my Facebook update, you probably already know that the travel went WONDERFULLY. Honestly, wonderfully is an understatement. She could not have been an easier baby to travel with. There were a few things I thought through ahead of time that made our trip much easier, and I figured I could save you all some thinking and research and tell you what I did. The trip we took was to visit my parents in my hometown, where I still know a lot of people I grew up with and went to school with. Having people on the receiving end of my trip who were willing to help me out was a big key to decreasing the amount of things I had to bring with me. I encourage you to plan ahead so you can save yourself some headaches. So here's what I did:
Car Seats:
Most of you mommas probably already know that a crashed car seat is a done car seat; as in, you can no longer use it. But did you know that a car seat that you check with your luggage can also be considered a crashed car seat? Have you seen the way your luggage gets thrown around? Imagine your car seat getting thrown around that same way. Have you ever experienced turbulence on the air plane? So have I. Imagine your car seat bouncing around down below. So, checking a car seat with luggage is, generally, no good. If you MUST check your car seat, try this method.
A better option to checking your car seat with your luggage would be to gate check it with a big car seat bag over it. Gate checkers know to be a little more gentle with the car seats, and you can even talk to the employees as you hand it over before you board.
But the BEST option, as far as keeping your car seat safe, would be to contact people on the receiving end of your trip and see if anyone has a car seat you can borrow while you're in town, or take your own on the plane. I was lucky enough to have a friend whose baby had outgrown their infant seat, so we were able to borrow hers. I sat with Audra on my lap (though I could have used a CARES seat) since that is where she feels safest and happiest. Also, we weren't willing to shell out the extra dough for an extra seat on already expensive flights. Lack of bringing the car seat minimized the amount of things we carried through the airport. And that was nice.
Baby Swing:
As I've said in previous posts, Audra's been having a heckuva time sleeping these days. At least, before the trip she was. She seems to be better now. (More on that another day.) A lot of nights and nap times, the swing was the only place she'd stay asleep. However, I didn't want to ship my swing, or check my swing, or travel with my swing in any way. So again, I sent out a FB request to friends in Missouri, and sure enough, found someone kind enough to let me borrow theirs while we were in town. Awesome! It sure did get its fair share of use!
Stroller:
We decided that we just really didn't want to mess with a lot of STUFF while navigating the air ports. We thought long and hard and decided against bringing a stroller. I wore the Moby the whole time we traveled (I put it on before I left the house to avoid dragging it on the nasty air port floor), and I think Audra was in Heaven! Being held or in the Moby is quite her cup of tea. We got her out many times, like when we ate or just to let her jump around while we were waiting at the gate, but for the majority of our travel time, the Moby it was! We figured we could also use the Moby in Missouri instead of a stroller. Or if we really decided we wanted a stroller, we would buy a cheapo umbrella one once we got to our destination. But we ended up not needing one. The Moby was sufficient for the time that we were there.
The Moby seems to put a spell on her, especially when I'm walking around and she's getting that little bounce. She falls right to sleep. It's suffice to say that she slept a good majority of our travel time.
Waiting at the gate.
Well... just don't bring it on the plane! Teehee. Things you think you'll need... you won't. Put it in your luggage. The only things I could justify bringing on the plane for Audra were: diapers, wipes, extra set of clothes (I brought 2), burp cloths, a few toys, bottles in a little bottle cooler, hand sanitizer (wet-ones travel wipes), and her birth certificate/our marriage record (which you have to have, btw, for baby's ID). All of that fit in her diaper bag EASILY. For myself, all I brought was my little phone holder which has a spot for my ID and money cards. That's it. Everything fit in her diaper bag. Despite it being December/January, I decided against jackets since the air ports are always warm enough with all the walking we do. Having her in the Moby also kept us both warm. Although we could have had two carry-ons each, we both only had one. But what if they lost our luggage, you ask? Well, given that we had a fairly long lay-over, that was a risk we were willing to take. If by chance they would have, then we would have just bought what we needed when we got to Missouri. But like I said, we were willing to risk it. Even if we'd packed an extra day's worth of clothes, we still would have had to buy things in Missouri if they lost our luggage. So I stuck to the minimum.
To Keep Your Baby Happy on the Plane:
Nurse or give your baby a bottle on the ascent and descent to help with the pressure on their little ears. Audra fell asleep on all four flights, and slept the entire way down on a few of them without any fuss. On the way back home to VA, there was one flight where she was awake on the way up and she had already finished eating, so I gave her the pacifier (to continue the sucking motion). I could feel my ears popping, and looked to her to see if she could feel it too. She kinda stared at me like something may have been happening, but she never fussed or said a word. I'd heard my share of horror stories about babies not being able to equalize the pressure, and that's what worried me most about the flight. But we never had an issue.
Airplanes are chock full of white noise. And for my baby, white noise = sleep. We fed her on the way up so she had a nice, full tummy and not too long after, she was passed out. We laid her head up on our shoulders (Nic did this on the flights to MO, I was alone with her on the way back), and patted her little butt and rocked her a bit and she was out like a light. The only thing I would do differently in the future is bring some ear plugs, the foamy expandable kind. I've never used ear plugs with her, and I don't know if they would fit in her little ears or if she'd even keep them in there... but my thought was that I would put one in her top/exposed ear after she fell asleep. There was more than once that the captain or flight attendant talked over the loud speaker and Audra startled awake. I think ear plugs would have really helped. However, the speaker talked for such a short period of time that I was able to rock her and booty-pat her right back asleep. ;) I bet it was annoying for her to get woken up though.
The lady sitting next to Nic actually had the same birthday as Audra! How cool, right? Birthday buddies!
I wasn't sure if they'd let me, but I decided to try- and was able to wear Audra the whole way through security. After I went under the little x-ray door, they called me over to do a test on my hands. They ran what looked like a paper circle, about 3 inches in diameter, over my hands then put it in a little machine. 10 seconds later they said I was good to go. I asked what exactly it did, and they said it tested for traces of explosives. HAHA! 1) Anyone who would put explosives next to a baby would be ridiculously sick, and 2)Wow, that little paper can do that? I also had breast milk in the little cooler that came with my pump. I did have more than 3 oz, though I think they would have tested it if I had less than 3 oz (the allowed amount of liquid in a carry on), too. They took the lid off the bottles and waved what looked like a little pH strip (though I'm sure it was something else) right over top of it. They said they would be testing the fumes for explosives. Again, crazy right? Though I'm glad they're doing their part to keep us safe.
So, as I walked through the airport on the way home, just Audra and I, I felt a little bit proud of myself for the lack of THINGS (i.e. hassle) I was toting around with me. I had Audra in the Moby, so I was hands-free, and I had her diaper bag... and that was it. Just us and one bag. It was EASY. I saw other parents walking around with their stroller, some with a car seat too, and what seemed like a million carry-ons, and a whole bunch of things. I was proud of myself for my ability to make my life easier by not having to keep up with all of that. Perhaps when she's a bit older, things will become a little more difficult and I'll be a little more like those parents I saw. But for this age and stage, what we did was a recipe for hassle-free flying. On the very last flight, before we hit the ground in Virginia, I couldn't help but hear Dora cheering in my head, "We did it, we did it, we did it, hooray!"
I can't wait to tell you all about our time in Missouri, but I wanted to start with how we were able to travel with ease. I hope you all had an outstanding Christmas and a great ringing in of the new year. I hope this year will be your best yet! Ours is starting out that way!
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