Good Times Taylor: traveling with a baby

First and foremost, i am no expert.

This is my first baby and my first time flying with an infant.

but, it went swimmingly

so i thought i'd share what we did and how we did it!

1. prepare

i have been carrying little Judson Ray around in the Moby at home for a bit while I get things done and he really likes it. It's not his favorite because he is super busy and squirmy all of the time, but he can see what's going on and likes being next to me

also know that it was only used for like 20 minutes in the airports because my parents were with me and would hold him and help out.

so, i probably won't take it next time if i have help. we could have done with out

but if i'm by myself...it's a must!

we organized everything in our bags before we left so we knew where everything was and could get to it easily.

reaching under the seat in front of you in the plane isn't always easy, so i made sure to have the things of importance within reach

2. we were flexible! and then more flexible!

we were originally scheduled to leave Wednesday morning, but our flight got cancelled

(more about that later)

so we rescheduled for 5pm the same day

this allowed us time to piddle for a bit, so we went to the mall

i was able to downsize on a few things and re-situate for the later flight

3. safety first!

we took the carseat so we could hop in a taxi once we arrived

my mom has this carseat and a snap n' go frame and it was a lifesaver!!!

totally, 100% the way to go.

we just put him in and he could watch us as we walked through the airports, the hotels, the mall, etc.

and we could have our hands free for bags, etc.

4. filled his little belly

i'm not really sure how much he ate the days that we flew, but he was full to the brim

we're usually on a 3-4hr feeding routine and it works for us, but not while flying

i'm usually against "snacking", but not while flying

i made sure he had a bottle (you could do a boob, but i'm totally not comfortable nursing in public) at take off and landing and he was pretty happy and would fall asleep afterwards.

i also gave him milk when he would fuss on the plane.

perhaps he was too full, but i didn't want him crying on the plane (hello!)

5. above all, i had help!!!

i know that this supercedes everything else, but i was so grateful to have help

i know it would not have been so easy if my parents weren't with us

my mom and dad were a HUGE help and made the traveling with JR almost effortless

6. i made sure to enjoy the time with my little boo

Judson is a very social baby and loves to look around and see new things

he "talked" the entire time we were walking around and eating

He also seemed to be super happy being held alot...duh!

I just soaked up all of his sweetness and enjoyed watching him see new things

it was also fun hearing other people compliment him and his cuteness

hilarious faces

7. less is more

no joke

next time, i will only take what i NEED

i packed one bag for him: bottles, paci's, blankets, burp cloths, change of clothes, extra socks. if you nurse in public you can save the bottles, but i'm not sure i'll ever get there (seriously).

i packed one bag for me: my ipad, magazines, wallet, phone, camera and the Moby wrap.

i will definitely skip the ipad and magazines next time...did not happen.

i had some schoolwork that needed to get done and guess what? it didn't get done.

oh well.