Tuesday, October 30, 2012

on traveling with a baby.

Fall walk!

i have to admit that i was not looking forward to traveling with avery.  she's actually a pretty easy going kid, but she's never been a good sleeper and i was worried that the trip would mess up her sleep habits so much that it would take her weeks to find a new normal again.  i was also worried about the plane ride both because of her ears, the chance the i could have a crying baby on a 4 hour flight, and lastly the fact that entertaining a 10 month old can be difficult in small spaces.  we flew out on a friday night and our flight left right at avery's bedtime.  i dressed her in her pajamas, fed her dinner in the airport, and then nursed her during takeoff in hopes that she would pass right out and sleep the flight.  she ate just fine but wasn't quite ready to go to bed.  i think being on a plane, with so many people to look at and so many different things to touch was much more exciting then sleeping.  she finally fell asleep about halfway into the flight and then slept the rest of the way until we got on the train back to baggage claim at the airport.  so although we were tired from getting in at 1:30 am i considered that first flight a success.  

Babywearing when the stroller got vetoed.

she did sleep terribly all 9 days that we were traveling.  we were staying in multiple places and the majority of the trip she ended up in our bed, between us, and waking up 5-6 times a night.  it wasn't exactly the most restful sleep any of us got, although she seemed to do okay with naps while we were there.  i was worried about her napping a lot because she's always been a terrible napper and as only recently started taking a consistent morning nap at home.  luckily between some long car rides that she slept through and charlie and my mom putting her down for morning naps she was able to nap enough to get her through the day.  she never adjusted to east coast time, which i did think she would, but instead went to sleep every night at 9, which turned out to work just fine.

Untitled

i was also worried about the flight back because charlie was flying back the day before so it was just avery and i.  also, since it was during the day i knew the chance that she would sleep at all was pretty slim and the trip flying back to colorado is longer than flying out to d.c..  it really wasn't as bad as i was expecting it to be.  i had bought a lightweight stroller before the trip, which came in handy in the airport and during the trip.  all of the security guards were really helpful while going through security and  i also brought and used the moby wrap when i was boarding the plane since i was carrying two bags and trying to gate check the stroller and our carseat.  she did great on the plane ride back, although she was definitely ready to get off the plane once we landed and i was glad we were sitting up front so we were able to get off right away.  one thing that i didn't know until the day we left was that we needed to get her a boarding pass, which basically meant checking her in at the airport.  since we were flying southwest which does family boarding, i didn't worry about getting a good number since it wouldn't matter much anyway.  i didn't even bother checking before showing up at the airport on the way back and it saved me the time and paper for printing a boarding pass.  i did make sure to get a window seat each time which worked out well since i was nursing her a lot and also for her to look out the window when she was getting bored with the toys that i had brought her.  i will say that everything that i brought didn't keep her attention very well on the way back and i ended up digging through my bag in desperation to find something that would entertain her before she threw a fit.  i found a few stickers, which worked magic for a while and then gave her my bracelet to play with during those last 20 minutes of the flight.    

Big A and little A reading books.

it was definitely worth it just to spend time with family and have everyone see avery again.  it's been really nice that we've been able to see a lot of family every few months especially during this first year when avery's growing and changing so fast.  she definitely loved the time and attention that everyone spent with her and has been having a hard time this week when she has to play on her own for more than 5 minutes at a time. 

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