Thursday, February 28, 2013

We survived our first plane trip...

As far as traveling with an infant goes, we had it pretty great. There were three of us to take care of Henry (Tom, my mom, and I), and the trip was only like 2.5 hours.

They let us go through the family line at security which was amazing. Tom went through the metal detector with Henry strapped in the Ergo baby carrier, and TSA scanned his formula is some weird machine. We buy the bomb-free formula at HEB, so no worries there. That was about it. I thought the getting through security part would be stressful, but the 3:1 adult-baby ratio made it super easy.

My biggest fear was that he would poop on the plane. He didn't, but in case yours does, there ARE changing tables in the plane bathroom. We changed wet diapers right there on our laps which I know is a million times more sanitary than the plane changing table. In general, I usually prefer changing Henry in unconventional settings over public changing stations. Examples would include the back of my car, the grass at Meyer Park, or the dressing room at Saks. While highly UN-germaphobic at home, when it comes to public restrooms, I have a crazy-person level of OCD. And those changing stations make my skin crawl.

One thing that WAS annoying is if your baby doesn't have their own seat, you have to be in a row that has an extra oxygen mask. We called ahead, checked in and chose seats the day of (while indicating we had an infant), and we still had to just kind of swap with someone on the spot. My advice is as soon as you get to the gate, regardless of your seats, just tell the people at the desk the situation, and they'll figure it out. Don't try to worry about it ahead of time.

The worst part of the whole flight was that the two jackasses in front of us got Wendy's and saved it to eat on the plane. An express jet, no less. I hate when people bring super fragrant food on to a plane. So in exchange, Henry cried for about 10 minutes before he fell asleep. Try savoring your spicy chicken sandwich over the high-pitched squeals of a baby that is fighting sleep.

I can say that having a baby on the plane makes the trip go by a lot faster. I didn't even have time to play bejeweled. Here are some highlights...








Here is what we packed:
-6 diapers and tons of wipes
-disposable/scented diaper bags
-extra clothes for Henry
-extra shirt for me
-bib
-4 bottles of formula
-pacifier (he still doesn't take them, except in really high stress situations)
-rainstick, football, moose toy, and indestructible book
-purel
-swaddling blanket as a general catchall for all of Henry's grossness

There's not much more to say, or any pointers to give other than have another adult with you. I can't imagine going through all that alone.

Love,
Lauren

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