My younger brother, the middle child, was married on 7/5/13. My entire family is in New England. They haven't met Chewy and it would be sort of ridiculous for all of them to travel here to do so. So, being the crazy determined person I am, I decided we would make a short family trip to be in attendance and to show off the Cutest, most Handsome, Happy-Go-Lucky, Best Amazing Baby EVER*
The flights out of Madison to Manchester were at crazy early or really late times. Originally, I booked us a flight out of Madison for around 4:45pm figuring that would put us in Boston right around Chewy's normal bed time. We decided NOT to purchase a seat for him and have him ride in our laps. All was well.
A week before the trip, commence panic mode where I made, I kid you not, 10 different lists of things I would need for myself, my son, and my husband while traveling. My son's list was the one that kept changing. It's so hard to predict what you'll need and use when you're only going to be gone for half a week.
If you are curious, here is roughly what we packed for him:
- Car seat (gate checked)
- Portable high chair
- Seriously one of the best things we've purchased. So much easier and safer than the high chairs in restaurants.
- Sleep sheep
- Toys & books
- Didn't bring a lot, just the few favorite ones I've noticed him playing with
- 2 Muslin swaddle blankets
- Chewy still likes to be wrapped up at night and enjoys chewing on the blankets (I think these will turn in to his 'lovey' when he gets a little older). I wanted him to have as many home comforts as possible while we were in a new environment.
- Four bottles
- A sippy cup
- A pack of Similac 8oz pre-mixed bottles of formula for the flight(s)
- Easier to take through TSA than powder and water
- Clothes, pj's
- Enough diapers to get us there
- Night time diapers
- Moby Go and Beco Gemini baby carriers
- General "medication" things
- Gas drops
- Motrin
- Teething tablets
- Sunblock
Things waiting for us when we got to my Grandmother's house:
- Pack'n'play
- Stroller
- Puree/finger foods
- Small can of formula
I'm sure there were other things we packed but are forgetting about at the moment. When we got there, we stocked up on diapers, bought a pack of swim diapers, and got a few other misc things. I really wanted to pack as light as we could, knowing there were stores available to us when we arrived.
- Pro-tip: Download airline apps or sign up for text notifications!
Knowing I was traveling with an infant, I made sure I got their app and signed up for the carrier's trip alerts, so I would get a text message the minute there was a delay, cancellation, etc. I thank the heavens I did because right as we were getting ready to leave for our 4:45 pm flight, I received a text saying our plane was delayed an hour and a half which caused us to miss our connecting flight. They couldn't find us a flight out of our connection location so we opted to take a flight the next day, first thing in the morning. Saved us a trip to the airport to have to turn around and come back home.
Flying with Chewy wasn't actually that bad. I made sure I carried him in the Moby Go while in the airport and while switching planes. It worked out amazingly - he was attached to me and I was mostly hands free to help my husband with our carry-ons. Chewy was happy for the most part and only cried on one leg of the trip. On the way home, he was a lot more settled and slept for a good amount of the time. Things that helped on the plane were animal crackers, the bottle(s), a few new toys he hadn't seen before, and letting him stand up on our laps and flirt with the rest of the airplane people. I was actually surprised, we had just got through dealing with croup and an ear infection RIGHT before we left. He did so amazing.
The downside of the whole trip was that New England was experiencing a really unbearable heat wave. The coolest it got at night was MAYBE 82 degrees and the oppressive humidity never went away. The place we were generously allowed to stay at unfortunately only had a window a/c in one of the bedrooms. Even with the door closed to the rest of the house, the unit just couldn't keep up (and it was very loud). After realizing my child was not going to fall asleep at this place (he had been awake around 9 hours straight!) we packed everything back up in a hurry at 10:30 at night and relocated to my grandmother's house that had central air but lacked space. It worked out a lot better - Chewy fell asleep almost as soon as we got there and was able to nap/rest better at her place. He still didn't sleep much at all during our trip, but, it was worlds better than the alternate.
Even the place my brother got married had no a/c - not even the reception. We were all sweating like crazy, but what we were able to stay for was very nice - the food was really delicious, too! It was nice to be able to have Chewy meet the other side of his family. He even got to meet both his grandparents, which is pretty impressive seeing as they are divorced and have been at each other's throats in the court system for over 10 years now.
I'm glad we went, I'm even more happy to be home again. I miss my family as I always do after seeing them for such a short period of time but when I'm here, in Madison, I'm HOME <3
If anyone has any questions about flying with babies that I didn't answer here, feel free to leave a comment here and I'll answer it if I can! :0)
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* Self-applied Mommy bragging title.
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