We Flew...with a Baby

Hey hey friends.

We survived!!!

We just got back from a trip to Washington to visit Jason's sister...and we flew...with Jack...and it was SO smooth.  Basically I can't take any credit for it...it has everything to do with Jack's disposition buuuut...I'd like to think we did a few things to help make the process a little more smooth.

Can I just say though that when imagining the whole "flying with a baby thing" I thought a lot about what to pack, how he will be on the flight and etc but I thought NOTHING about the truly crazy/frenzied part...the security check.  haha.  Seriously, we walked up in SFO and I realized...oh my poop.  We have to get ALL this stuff through there...and take off my shoes...and pull out my little bag of toiletries...and Jack's food bag...all with a baby.  There is definitely an order to it all, as in remove baby LAST from Ergo ahem (I've heard that sometimes they don't make you remove your baby from your baby carrier...they did with me...maybe I look shady haha)  Otherwise you are doing a balancing act of removing your shoes while holding a baby because your husband already went through...with the TSA applauding your "balancing skills".  Yeah buddy.  :)

Anyways, I am SO glad I did this with family first.  In 2 weeks or so I will be doing this all over again but by myself.  I think I'm a little more prepared now.  :)

Things that I learned:
-Tote bags are NOT good carry on bags when wearing a baby (unless you have a stroller to put it in).  I thought that it would be nice to have easy access and it was...but the straps don't stay on your shoulder while baby wearing.
-Bring a stroller!  Seriously, I'm so glad we did.  It was an amazing luggage holder.  I was able to pile my big carry on bag, the carseat, and the diaper bag in it.
-Since I'm too cheap to check anything in I had to pack Jack and I into a carry on size bag.  With a baby though you get...a carry on, a personal item, AND a diaper bag, a car seat, and a stroller haha.  Anyways, since I will be pushing a stroller or wearing a baby I chose to pack everything into my backpacking backpack collapsed down to size.  I was able to wear Jack, and my backpack, AND his diaper bag pretty easily at one point while carrying his collapsed stroller.  I probably looked like a nut though.
-Two words...YOGURT MELTS aka baby candy.  Holy cow.  The boy loooooved them.  There was only one point at the end of the second leg where he got a little figety.  Yogurt drops did the trick.
- Use a shirt that you can just pull down at the neck for nursing.  On the way to WA I did (not meaning to) and on the way back I didn't.  It was way easier to pull it down...especially if the person next to you isn't your husband.  :)
-Keep that baby awake for as loooooong as possible until you get on to the plane.  Both legs he slept a good chunk of the way.
-The Ergo is your friend.  So, I attempted to just keep him in it during take off...nope.  They were ON me!  They wouldn't even let my mother in law hold Jack across the aisle because there weren't extra oxygen masks on that side.  Um yeah.  Anyways, as soon as we were mostly done ;) taking off I put him in.  Basically kept the Ergo on my waist the whole time which made it easy to have him in or out of it.

And THAT is it my friends.  I survived.  :)
And it was exhausting...but really fun to travel with the little guy.  He was a champ!