Traveling Baby Chapter 2 - Getting on the Plane

It was finally here, the day before our trip to NYC for my brother’s wedding. I went through my packing list for baby boy a few (10) more times. If you are curious, my packing list is at the bottom.

After dinner the night before, hubby double-checks the flight loads (for those of you who don’t have to play the standby game, this is what tells us if we have a chance of getting on our flight, or if we should just give up now) and made a few back-up recommendations. We will likely get there on the flight we want. YES!

Then we discuss our plan of attack for the morning.

• Step 1 – 3:15 a.m. hubby wakes up (barf!)
• Step 2 – 3:30 a.m. I wake up (those 15 minutes help)
• Step 3 – DON’T WAKE THE BABY YET OR OUR SCHEDULE/PLAN is F-ED
• Step 4 – Hubby makes breakfast, packs snacks and I pump
• Step 5 – We run silently around the house like crazy people. Side note, I think parents could carry out all kinds of burglaries or special ops after living your life to not wake your sleeping baby.
• Step 6 – WAKE THE BEAST! Quickly put him in his flying outfit (yes, I had a special outfit for flying and it said something about being Daddy’s copilot) and get him in the car. You have three minutes to do all of this while he is still groggy before the meltdown starts. It’s only 4:30 a.m.
• Step 7 – Pray all your stuff is in the right bags and load them in the car. Don’t forget the baby!
• Step 8 – Feed your screaming child as you drive to the airport. Start the countdown until he needs to eat again and pray for no massive messes before you get on the plane!

At the airport I feel like I’m carrying out an intricate balancing act. Baby is in the stroller I’m pushing in front of me, my roller suitcase is behind me and my diaper bag is on my back.

WARNING – Make SURE your boarding pass says “Infant in Arms” or they will NOT let you into security. I don’t even want to talk about that.

Weave in and out of the security line ropes with all your crap in front of and behind you. Have fun!

When you get to the part where you take out your stuff for the x-ray, collapse your stroller, load your bags on the x-ray machine belt, take off the car seat, and grab your baby people will glare at you! It doesn’t matter if you are trying to disarm a bomb people, everyone behind you (all 2 of them) hate you for taking 10 seconds longer than they think you should. Meanwhile, you feel like inspector gadget with all your crap and like a serious badass as you take care of business alone.

Get through that metal detector (that’s right, no weird body scanners for you!) and then reassemble all your belongings. But this time, you do not care one bit that the people behind you are annoyed. You are just beginning your trip.

Say “Hello” to hubby who managed to park the car, ride the terminal bus from the parking lot to the terminal, go through security and get your boarding passes while you accomplished only one thing.

Then, get on the plane and hopefully fly peacefully to your destination.

My packing list

• Birth certificate
• Breast pump and pieces
• Ice packs
• Bottles
• Bottle cooler bag
• Baby carrier
• Eight onesies
• Three swaddle blankets (one for each night)
• Three bibs
• Five burp cloths
• Four pairs of socks
• Dressy outfit
• Three plastic laundry bags
• Ten diapers (buy more when you get there)
• Wipes (buy more when you get there)