Flying with Babies, Part I

In 5 hours I will wake my babies up, pack them, 4 suitcases, 2 car seats, 1 stroller, myself and the husband in the car, drive to the airport, and make the 7 hour trip to South Carolina for a week of sun and beach. (Whose idea was it anyway to book a 6 am flight anyway? Mine? Oh. I guess when I booked it I was thinking, "getting up at 6 am isn't so bad..." well, duh.)

Now, for those of you who don't know Boston in the flesh, let me paint you a picture. Imagine a squirrel. In a room of shiny objects and mirrors. Who just drank 3 shots of espresso. He talks really well, and is possibly smarter than you. Oh, you have a new little baby squirrel you have to keep alive, too. (Who, to be fair, is actually a quite calm, laid back little thing, something you really think you have earned after the first described squirrel)

Now imagine you are to confine them both to a seat for 7 hours, keep them happy, fed, hydrated, and well-behaved. This, my friends, has been on my mind for the last 3 months.

I have put hours and hours of thought, preparation and planning into this 7 hour time frame. I have made lists, scoured the internets, and have possibly driven myself slightly nutty trying to prepare for every possible scenario. (ha.)

(ha ha.)

(ha ha ha.)

And so now, dear reader, I share with you my plans for tomorrow. My idea is to blog the plans I have made and the things I intend to do while travelling. When we get back I'll update you all on what worked, what didn't, and what was such a major flop of failure that I was left sobbing in Terminal 2, Concourse B.

1. Snacks. Boston is definitely a snack-motivated child. (Possibly common of 2 year olds.) While I know and embrace the fact the he can be bribed into good behavior, I also recognize that it isn't very prudent of me to think that "HERE! HAVE A SUCKER! Now, fruit snacks! Aren't you HAPPY? No no no, don't be loud or obnoxious on the plane, here have CANDY! MORE!" and then expect him to sit quietly and, well, behave is a little irrational. And so:

I have made good attempt to make his snacking options somewhat healthy, filling, and least likely to induce a sugar high. I also didn't want my diaper bag to be full of ziplock baggies of stuff that would just end up crushed into powder, smushed into goo, and all smeared over everything. I bought these Innobaby stackable snack containers months ago from Baby Steals and had yet to use them, so I thought this would be the perfect time! They hold around 1/3 cup of product, you can stack as many or few as you need, and have interchangeable lids. I have one of "dry" snacks --raisins, goldfish, pretzels, cereal and mini marshmallows. I also made one of cold snacks - cheese cubes, olives, and grapes. The cold container fits perfectly into a bottle thermos with a small ice pack.

On top of these I have a small bag of other snackable items - fruit leather, applesauce (have you seen these? We loooove them), peanut butter-on wheat crackers, etc. He also has a sandwich packed in his backpack.

2. Toys. One suggestion I kept finding was to buy a few small, dollar store toys, wrap them up and let him play with them as a new and exciting thing.

Done and done. Small dinosaurs, a motorcycle, stickers, etc. Plus a new Mickey Mouse coloring book and crayons. All of these items are in his own backpack, along with diapers and wipes, a sippie, and a few other essentials. The plan is that he will carry his own backpack, but we'll see how long that lasts.

Last week a friend of mine was hosting a craft night where everyone could just bring whatever they wanted to work on and have a kid-free night of crafting. I didn't have any current projects so I decided to make Boston an ABC book for the plane. Despite a few setbacks and cosmetic flaws, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

We also bought a Viewsonic G-Tab a few months back. Boston already loves it, and frequently asks to play his games. Its also loaded with several movies. (This will also come in handy for the drives we will make between Myrtle Beach and Charleston)

3. Carseats. We have decided to check both car seats, to reduce the amount of items we have to carry to and from the gate. I went back and forth on this for a while, but hopefully this works out. Boston's car seat is very bulky and heavy, and carrying Maia in her is heavy enough, plus it makes it very difficult to carry anything else in that arm. (plus we didn't but her a ticket)

4. Mei Tai wrap. Since Maia is a lap-rider and we won't have her car seat, I'm planning on wearing her pretty often. Definitely through the airport to our gate, again after landing to get luggage, and probably fairly often during the vacation itself. She loves being in any sort of sling or wrap, and it gives me both hands to deal with other things. I can also carry Boston on my hip while wearing her if I absolutely have to. (Short distances.) Another reason for this is we didn't want to lug our Sit 'n Stand stroller around, so we are only taking a small umbrella stroller for Boston to use occasionally.

5. CARES system. Since Boston won't be in a carseat on the plane, my main concerned was him getting out of the airplane seatbelt. I don't anticipate it taking long for him to figure it out, and once he does keeping him sitting will be the biggest challenge. Enter this:

It's a CARES seatbelt system, specifically for planes. It hooks around the back of his seat, then clips across his chest, much like his car seat straps. I'm really hoping the familiar look will help him understand that just as we don't unbuckle in the car, we don't do it on a plane. They are crazy 'spensive, and unless you fly often I don't know if the cost is justifiable. We rented ours from a seller on Ebay for 12.99.

6. Extra clothes. I'm really hoping I don't have to use this one, but I have packed in the diaper bag an extra full set of clothing for each kid. Blowouts, major spills, etc - we're prepared!

7. Clothing style. This might make you all judge me a little (a lot), but both kids are being dressed in nice, coordinating, planned and ironed outfits. If you know me at all, you know that few things drive me more crazy that children who look unkempt. I take a lot (possibly too much?) pride in how my kids look. Not only do I think it reflects on me as a mother, I honestly believe that people are more forgiving of slightly obnoxious 2 year old behavior when said 2 year old is clean, matched, and looks put together. A snotty-faced, bed-headed, dirty play-clothed child having a tantrum is a lot harder for me to accept. This might be a last-ditch effort that despite my planning, he likely will have a small meltdown or two and hopefully people will be a little more understanding of that. (Read: He might be acting naughty, but damn he is cute....and that makes it a little better) Again, you might call me crazy, but I never said I wasn't.

Whew! On top of all these, I have my diaper bag packed with the essentials. I'm really hoping the plane ride goes smooth, and we all emerge on the East Coast with limbs and sanity intact.

Now I'm going to go catch a few (very few) zzzz's, as my 5 hours is now 3 1/2 hours, and if I thought this trip might be hard to begin with, just imagine it with a sleep-deprived, less-than-fully-functioning mama. Oy.