i'll start right from the beginning.
you hear the horror stories of people flying with babies & the nightmare that ensues. i'm not going to lie, every time i have ever flown, i was one of those people who saw a baby & prayed my seat wasn't going to be anywhere near it. but with luke, i knew he was going to be just fine. when i say he is a good baby... he literally is such a good baby. from the night we took him home from the hospital, he has been a breeze. he sleeps really well (i don't even have to rock him back to sleep at night... i just place him in his crib & he falls back asleep), he is always happy, never fussy, and just an overall easy baby. i'm bragging, i know... but we truly lucked out. so for planning our six hour flight to move back to san fran, i wasn't worried about him flying at all. i was more worried about lugging all his stuff. but i did my homework & it turned out to be an easy (for the most part!) first time flying for our baby.
i first got a lot of advice from moms i knew (and from facebook!) & devised a plan. a few weeks before our flight, i shipped out six boxes of his things. they turned out to be from $30-$40 a box (which is a lot less expensive than checking additional bags!) & planned to bring just my stuff on the plane along with his stroller + car seat. the morning of the flight, we got everything loaded into the car and my brother drove us to JFK. outside the terminal, a very nice man saw us & took us inside to get everything squared away. we checked three huge suitcases and kept luke in his car seat that was attached to the stroller. the car seat base did not come even close to fitting in the storage underneath the stroller, so i used a bungee cord to attach it to the front of the stroller where a child's feet would normally be. i clipped the diaper bag to the stroller and pete carried his backpack + my London Fog travel purse (i never fly without it... available here) while i pushed luke. he was awake, but quiet, and we made our way to security.
since we have military ID's, we got to skip the line & then the only bit of chaos on the trip occurred. i don't like to be annoying to others, so it's one thing when you skip a line of people who have been waiting for a long time, and it's another when after you skip them, you then hold them up. we both had to do the standard take off your shoes, take out the laptop, get everything into bins... which takes a bit of time right there... and then we had to get luke out of the car seat, take out the base, get the car seat out, and collapse a stroller that almost didn't even fit through the machine! it wasn't so bad when i look back at it, but i was sweating by the time it was over and putting it all back together was stressful with luke starting to get really hungry.
so we made it through security in one piece, made it to our gate, and i found a family bathroom to change luke while pete went and found a cup of clean/warm water to give him a bottle. luke is all formula (i tried my best with breastfeeding & then pumping... just didn't work out as i had hoped... so we use Parent's Choice in "gentle" formula) and he finished his bottle right before we were called to board the plane. once again, being a military family allowed us to go first and have plenty of time to get situated. we walked the stroller all the way to the plane, collapsed it, secured it with bungee cords, and left it (and the car seat) with a very nice man who said he would handle it with care. ((thank you!!!)) we got to our seats, settled down, and pete held luke for almost the entire flight so i could continuously switch the foot i sat on (my spine does not do well on airplane seats.) he slept for almost the whole flight, didn't even need a bottle for take off or landing, & didn't make a peep. he was a trooper & i'm so thankful he made the move out west such a smooth one.
six hours later, we got off the plane and our stroller & car seat were waiting for us in perfect condition. we got our three suitcases, pete ran to get the car, & we loaded everything up & headed for our home in SoMa. piece of cake. so all you first time moms out there, there is hope for smooth flying!
my 5 biggest tips:
1. bring a change of clothes for the baby. luke spit up all over himself before we even got on the plane.
2. bring a really warm baby blanket. luke laid on top of a swaddle blanket in pete's lap and then we wrapped him in this super warm blanket (airplanes can be chilly)
3. buy the person you're seated next to a drink.
4. bring plenty of "easy to eat" food. putting the tray down to eat a cheese and cracker box isn't very easy with a baby so we brought plenty of handy & ready to pop in your mouth snacks.
5. & don't be afraid to ask for help. the flight attendants were more than happy to get warm water for his bottles and make sure we were doing okay the whole flight.
i want to thank all the people who gave me such great and helpful advice. i am so happy everything went well and we are now safe and sound here in cali.
happy friday to all & hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
