Airport Travel with an Infant

We just got home from our week trip to Texas!  We had a blast as always and I have other posts that will have tons of great pics and all the things we did... but this post is about traveling with an infant (and being 22 weeks pregnant), definitely not the easiest combination, but so worth it to see friends!

This trip marks Caylee's 4th airplane trip.  We (Caylee and I) have been twice to FL, and now twice to TX.  She is REALLY good and I am REALLY lucky! 

Going Down.....

We flew out of Columbus and had a direct flight to Houston.  From there the plan was to jump a quick plane to College Station.  That didn't exactly work out bc the plane to CS was over an hour delayed! Oh well, I bought some frozen yogurt and Caylee and I shared that.  The ride from Columbus to Houston was about 2 1/2-3 hrs long.  That's a LONG flight for a child who doesn't realize we have to stay in our seats.  She was less than happy... part of that was the fact that 2 hours before our flight I found out she had an ear infection! Our first sickness!  I felt really bad, but the doctor said she was fine to travel and even to give her benedryl and tylenol to sleep.  Well, 2 doses of each later and she was still NOT asleep.  Poor thing.  However, in the airport she did AMAZING!


She loved walking around with her stroller... we did that for about an hour!  She would walk and say hi to people too, very sweet.  (Yes, just socks, no shoes... I didn't want to lose too much!)

 Looking out the window was great.  She saw he people and the planes and seemed to enjoy that.

 Picnic lunch in the airport... she wasn't super hungry because she didn't feel well, but we had our lunchables prepared!

 On the plane.  We tore up 3 SkyMall's on that flight... thank goodness they are free!  We were also SO lucky that the gate agent gave us a seat with no one next to us, that worked so much better than her sitting with me the whole time.  Kids can fly free until they are 2, but sometimes the money for an extra seat might be worth it... this flight would have been worth it, but we were fortunate anyways! (Always be nice to the gate agents and ask kindly, they can do A LOT for you!)

Coming Home...

Caylee felt much better coming home and I imagined a quick and easy day.  However, it turned into 8 hours at the airport waiting for a standby flight (not anyone's fault, just the chance you take on a buddy pass, so I didn't mind) and then a 3 hour flight and a 2 hour drive home. That's a 13 hour day if you're counting!  Caylee was AMAZING.  I met some very sweet people too.  One lady offered to buy me food bc Caylee was playing so nicely that she didn't want me to have to get her up and go get food.  That was really sweet, but I turned her down of course.  By God's grace (bc no one else could have made this happen), Caylee slept in the stroller for an hour and 20 minutes!  I have no idea how that happened.  I had brought snacks and meals for Caylee, so I picked up a bagel for myself and we were good to go.  She had a blast playing with her little purse that I brought and spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to put the keys inside it (never could figure it out, but it was cute!).  On the plane (this time we just flew from Houston Columbus and skipped the CS flight),she actually looked through the Skymall to find the dog pictures.  Then she said hi to the guy next to us and his wife (A LOT of "hi's")... finally, an hour and a half into the flight she fell asleep!  AMAZING...

Playing with her purse...

Overall I learned:
1 Every flight is different so be prepared!
2 Pack plenty of food and snacks
3 Bring suckers and other candy for the very desperate situations (like Caylee not sucking anything and her ears popping, sucker worked great!) 
   **Sidenote:  No Caylee does not get candy at all, so this was very rare, but very necessary. 
4 Be super nice to gate agents bc they can really help you out!
5 Let kids play on the floor (yes, it's super dirty, but they can't be confined for that long and you can wash everything later- Just wipe hands before eating)
6 People are generally nice and will help you if you ask for it!
7 Trips are so worth the travel!!! (I will learn to do it with 2 kids too! It's good for them AND me!)