Who says you can't go home?

Last weekend, we went home to visit my family in TN.  We took Holt on his first plane ride.  Aside from a 10 minute meltdown on the return flight, he did pretty darn good.  I was pleasantly surprised at how nice and accomodating the people at the airport (and I'm talking employees, not other travelers!) were.  I was even able to wear him in the Baby K'Tan through security!  At the end of the post, I'll give you my tips for flying with an infant.

In the mean time, put your seat backs and tray tables in the upright position and enjoy the flight through the pictures that I'll let do most of the talking! (wow, that was a really bad attempt at a pun, or whatever...)



 

H is sitting in his seat like a big boy!  He really didn't sit there.  We held him.  We just put him here while we put our stuff in the overhead bin and got settled.

We timed his bottles to where he'd be eating upon take off.  Then, he fell sound asleep after.  I'm talking about the baby, not the husband...

 

 

 

Sweet baby cousins!! Unfortunately this cousin was more interested in hitting H than loving on him.  LOL  He was also fascinated with his hair.  My other nephew LOVES H.  My brother and the boys were meeting us for lunch and he got in the car and asked my nephew M was he was doing and he said "going to see Hote!" (pronounced like tote with an H)  And all weekend, he'd follow us around wanting to see what "Hote" was doing.  He'd even steal toys from his brother to give to H.  So stinkin sweet! 

 

 

 

As you can see from the above pictures, his hair was a bit of a hot mess.  So, since my SIL is a hair dresser, we asked her to cut it for us.  Since the only hair long enough is right on top of his head, he now has a natural mohawk thing happening...  You can see M's little leg in the bottom of the left picture, always interested in what Hote is doing!

 

 

Me and sweet nephew M.  I just love that little nugget!  He is so sweet and so funny.  I miss those nephews like crazy and hate that I live so far away from them!

 

 

Tips and tricks for traveling with an infant:

 

First of all, the most freaked out people about an infant on a plane are the infant's parents.  Rarely do people care as much as you think they will.  In fact, on the flight to TN a nice lady offered to have us sit in her row (we flew Southwest, where boarding is similar to The Hunger Games).

 

Get to the airport early.  We got there with about an hour and a half to spare.  We checked our suitcase (I got all 3 of us packed in one suitcase.  I am awesome!) and our car seat and base.

 

Be ready to put your stroller through the security belt thing.  We have a Britax B-Agile and it's insanely easy to fold.  That's why we brought our full size stroller.

 

Don't sit in the front row.  We did this since the nice lady asked.  But, we couldn't have any bags with us, so I was left to awkwardly hold his bottle, our water bottle, his toys, his burp cloth, and a blanket, plus my phone and Nook.  It was less than comfortable.

 

Feed during take off.  I read this helps with the ears during pressure changes.  However, he did fine during landings without even a paci, so perhaps this is best determined on a kid by kid basis.

 

Don't freak out!  We were far more worried about it that necessary.  It was so much easier than I thought it would be.  Granted, we had a domestic flight with no layovers and the flight itself was just over an hour.  I'll check back if I ever fly cross country with a 30 min layover....