Traveling always gives me a bit of anxiety. Traveling for the first time with Trace, alone, gives me MUCH more anxiety. At least, it did. Mom took us to the airport and once we got there, checked in, and got our bags checked we headed to the restaurant in the airport. This gave me a chance to eat and a last chance to feed Trace so he wouldn't be hungry on the flight. Got that all done then we started to go through security. I decided to put him in the front pack for the trip. Tip #1- DO NOT put your child in the front pack until AFTER you go through security. You will have to take them out of it so the front pack can go through the xray. My experience went like this...put my 2 bags on the belt, kick off my shoes, literally, take Trace out of the front pack (one handed so the other could hold onto him), walk through security, TRY to put on the front pack while not putting Trace down, put shoes back on (not flip flops either), then grab both bags. Apparently after doing all of this I had impressed the TSA people because 2 of them came up to me and thought that I had done it all before. HA!
We boarded the first flight to Atlanta. packed flight and OF COURSE Trace (my fat boy) got hungry about half way into the flight. I decided, as to not offend anyone, I would stand up in the back of the plane to feed him. Those of you that breast feed might understand the troubles of feeding while standing. Mind you, Trace really is a heavy kid already almost 15 lbs at that point. It worked out pretty well actually. The flight attendant was great. When she realized how much trouble I was having putting my boob pad back in she closed the rear curtain so I could let it all hang out. Trace was a happy camper the rest of the flight. Got to Atlanta, went straight to our gate, figured I'd feed him again before we boarded so he wouldn't want to eat again. HA! Got onto our flight, which was a small plane. I set Trace in the seat so I could put one of the bags up top. Trace proceeded to fall over (into the seat of course). The couple in front of me had a 7 month old boy, so the dad offered to hold Trace while I put the bag up. Took off and about 45 minutes later Trace decided that he was hungry AGAIN! I fed him in the seat this time (I was sitting by ONLY females so it wasn't so much of an issue this time). After eating he decided to let out some seriously smelly poop! So I had to change him. Tip #2- The bigger planes have a changing table in the rest room, find out which rest room has it! The smaller planes, DO NOT have a changing table. So, in the small bathroom I closed the toilet seat, wiped it off with good wipes, laid the changing pad down, and changed him. (You try doing that in a plane bathroom while there is turbulence!) I had to put everything back into the diaper bag, so I asked the woman sitting next to me (must have been in her mid to late 70's) to hold Trace for a second. I have never seen a stranger's eyes light up so much! Trace had a great time with this woman, he smiled and talked to her the ENTIRE time. She told me that we had just made her whole trip.
We got to Moline and I could breathe a wonderful sigh of relief because we just made it through out first plane ride together! Trace did not mind taking off or landing. And when strangers continued to tell me what a great baby he was I figured that it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
