First Plane Ride

First of all, I want to say that I took lots of pictures of Aidan's first plane ride with my cell phone but I forgot the memory card converter so I can't post any until I could get back. Use your imagination :)

I thought I should be at the airport extra early, having been warned by my sister that it takes some time to push a stroller while pulling a luggage cart. When will I learn not to tell Mike that I want to be somewhere early? My flight was scheduled to leave at 12:10pm and at 7:30am Mike was asking if I was ready. Thankfully he let me wait until about 8:30am before we left, but I'm getting off track.

Aidan woke up around 6:30am. I fed him and he was back to sleep around 7:30am. He sometimes has his morning nap this early and sleeps until about 9am. He was napping in his swing so Mike could watch him while I got ready and I accidentally knocked into the swing around 8am, waking him up. "Crrrraaaaaaappp" (my thoughts), "Now Aidan is going to be super cranky all day because his nap was 30 minutes and we have to go soon!" I was slightly stressed. People without children cannot understand what a missed nap truly means. Maybe even people with uncranky children can't understand.

Anyway, Aidan fell asleep on the drive there (yessss!) at about 9am. His schedule was off, but whatever. I was just glad he was sleeping. Mike helped me load my things on a cart and came into the airport with me. The tricky part came after he left - because only ticketed passengers are allowed through the US security area, I had to push his stroller with one hand while pulling the luggage cart behind me the other hand. Originally when my sister told me about this technique, I thought I should try to pack less. Yeah, right. My living room is Aidan's amusement park and I don't know how I'm going to live without the toys I didn't bring, I crammed in as much as possible. Plus he needs cute outfits for all the fun things we're going to do. It wasn't that hard since the line moved kind of slowly, and Aidan was still sleeping!!! Joy! I couldn't believe it. He slept until I was through customs and up at my gate. Am I lucky or what??? It was amazing. But before you get too jealous, something bad is going to happen, don't worry.

So around 11am, Aidan wakes up. I'm so happy, he's had a total of 2 1/2 hours of sleep so even if he doesn't nap again he can't be THAT cranky. Aidan's happy, too. I want to hold him off on eating so I can feed him as the plane takes off but he hasn't eaten since 6:30am so I feed him at 11:30am. Wow, I am giving a really detailed account of the day...I may have to edit this down a little so it's not so boring.

So, Aidan is happy - rested and fed, what more could a baby want. I carry him over to the kiddie section in the seating area by the gate where there is a table with toys attached. I hold him so he can play with the toys. Here is where disaster comes....

Although Aidan is pretty good at holding his head up and keeping his balance, he's still a little wobbly. I was holding him around the waist, in front of the table, when WHACK he smacks his head on the side of the table. Obviously, he instantly begins to scream. I'm not too worried...I pick him up and try to calm him down. Until....I notice....HE HAS A CUT RIGHT BY HIS EYE!! I AM THE WORST MOM EVER!

I'm freaking out, it's about 5 minutes before I'm supposed to board and there is blood (not gushing blood, barely noticeable except to the trained mother's eye, but still...blood). I don't know if I should clean him up or get it checked or what I should do (I guess I'm not that trained of a mother....) so I go over to the desk where the westjet staff are sitting. "Um, excuse me...." A lady employee turns to me. "Can I help you?" She asks. "Ummm...I just...I..not sure" I can't even speak, I break down in tears. I show her the cut and I'm sure she thinks I'm a psychotic over protective mother. Looking back, I can't believe I started sobbing. Okay, I can. I used to be a big crier but I got over it. Since I had Aidan, though, commercials about a boy eating cereal with his mom can make me cry (okay, I exaggerate...slightly)

Anyway, I ask the lady what she thinks I should do, should I still get on the plane, etc. I'm not sure why I thought this 20-something west jet employee would have all the answers, but I was so panicked that I didn't know what to do. She assured me that it was no big deal. Her co-worked laughed, "That won't be the last time he hurts himself! Hahaha!" I am not laughing, but I stop crying. And Aidan has stopped crying long ago.

Two seconds later, it's time to board. Another westjet employee helps me with my suitcase and tells me how her 16 month old son's head is covered in bumps, he is always hitting his head. Ahhh, how am I going to deal with Aidan learning to crawl/walk? He's going to hit his head constantly! Will I sob every time?

We get on the plane and prepare for departure. As per advice, I nurse Aidan on take-off, even though my row is full. I use the annoying breastfeeding cover. Aidan nurses for about 30 minutes and is pretty much asleep. I adjust him on my lap so that he is basically lying down across me. He sucks his soother for a looooong while with his eyes closed (half sleeping) and then sleeps for at least an hour without the soother. I'm thinking "this is too good to be true". He wakes up with about 2 hours left to go on the flight. He is happy. I am happy. He gets a little fussy, but not too bad. No real crying.

About 45 minutes before landing, I ask a flight attendant to warm up some milk I brought (hey, when I boarded someone told me to press the flight attendant button if I needed a bottle warmed). A different lady came to my seat. I have to say I can tell that she does not have children. Either that or she just hates her life and is a crank pot. I would like to take this opportunity to go off on a tangent. Since I had Aidan, I get more annoyed with things/people that aren't child friendly. I never noticed before how difficult it is to get around with a stroller. How are you supposed to open a door? Or carry your luggage at the airport?

Anyway, I gave the flight attendant my bottle and 2 bags of milk. She handed back the bottle and said, "I'll just warm these up and bring them back to you". Are you kidding me? Do you not SEE the child in my lap? How am I supposed to hold him and pour milk from a bag into a bottle without spilling it everywhere (I did do it, but I'm just saying...). I also told her they didn't need to be hot, just room temperature is fine. Her reply, "I can't guarantee the temperature...we only have hot water, not a microwave". Okay, obviously not a mom because all moms know you don't heat breastmilk in the microwave. The bags came back piping hot, which tells me she has never heated up milk before (not a mom). I'm glad I didn't need the bottle right away because I had to let it cool for at least 15 minutes. Maybe the real reasons I hate this woman were because a) she didn't smile b)Aidan had been fussy so I was more cranky.

We landed and my grandparents were waiting to meet me and meet their great grandson for the first time. We packed up the van and were on our way. At this point it was 6:30pm Calgary time, past Aidan's bedtime. He was okay at first and then....fuss. No big deal, right? But THEN...SCREEEEAM like I haven't heard him scream in a long time. I knew it was because he was over tired, but it still sucked because we were driving and there was nothing I could do. He eventually passed out and when we arrived at the house I threw his car seat in a back bedroom and closed the door. When my grandfather was giving me a tour of the house, he started to open the door to that room.."Noooooo...Aidan's sleeping in there!" Evidently, he didn't hear me, because he turned on the light and continued talking. Aidan woke up. But maybe he'd go back to sleep? No such luck.

Long story short (too late for that?), Aidan stayed awake and didn't fall asleep until 11:15pm Orlando time, 9:15pm Calgary time. It was rough getting him to sleep. I'm not sure what the night will bring, but hopefully he'll sleep until morning-ish. It might be a hard day or two....

Now it's midnight, and I'm sitting here waiting for my sister and parents to arrive. Or I might go to bed and see them in the morning......All in all, it was a good travelling experience and I'm happy to be here, although I wish my husband was here with us.