Travels

I recently flew across the country to Georgia by myself with the two kids. Yes, I am slightly insane for even attempting something like that. But we went during Doug's finals, so we wouldn't have seen him anyway and I was so excited to have some help with and company for the kiddos and I.

I learned a lot on the trip:

1. People are generally understanding and helpful. Starting weeks before the trip, I prayed hard every day that I would get to sit next to people who would not want to kick my teeth in every time my kids yelled or cried or spilled something. And for the most part, I was surrounded by angels. Seriously. They were wonderful.

2. Benadryl saved my life. (And Jackson's.) I brought it as a just-in-case kind of deal, and I used it twice when I had exhausted every other option to get Jackson to sleep. It was either drug him and hope for the best, or let him scream and scream and try to keep him from wiggling onto the floor. Within five minutes he was zonked.

3. Expect the worst and then you will be pleasantly surprised.

4. They don't have "warm water" for bottles on the plane. They have boiling hot water for coffee or cold water from water bottles. It took me a few planes and a few flight attendants to figure this out, but the best thing to do is to ask them for 3 or 4 oz of of boiling hot water in the bottle, and a water bottle, and then you can dump back and forth and mix and shake until the temperature is perfect.

5. If your kid throws up all over the place on a plane, it's not the end of the world. Yes, Juliann lost her lunch on one of the flights. It was horrendous for so many reasons but it's amazing how your gag reflex shuts off and your parental "step-it-up" instincts kick in. I handed Jackson off to a sweet old lady in the row behind us who had offered to hold him whenever I needed her to. Juliann and I ran back to the bathroom and cleaned her up as best as possible. Her shirt took the brunt of it and of course I hadn't brought an extra shirt. She had to wear only her coat for the rest of the trip. Could have been worse though.

6. Portable DVD players are a necessity in situations where there is only one parent on a very very long flight.

7. Sorry some of these are kind of gross, but do everything possible to not let your kids/babies have diarrhea on a flight across the country. Jackson had it pretty bad for 3 or 4 days right before our trip including a bad diaper rash. I said a lot of prayers and the day before the trip fed him nothing but rice cereal, bananas and cheese. It seemed to do the trick and thankfully he did fine the day of the flight. Yay!

8. Bring lots of new toys, books and candy. And extra hair ties.

9. Ask for help if you need it. Lots of people offered too.

10. Tell yourself that anything is possible, and maybe a teeny part of your brain will start believing that. It was just enough to get me through the trip.

I learned a lot on the trip and the traveling part was TOTALLY worth the time we got to spend there. I will put pictures on the trip up on the next post.