Bullshit, "babies sleep on planes"

Bucket and I flew out to visit my dad and stepmom in my hometown. This was out first flight and boy was it a doozy.

L and Bucket, pre-flight breakfast

We checked a large duffle and his car seat. I carried my large timbuk2 laptop bag as a carry-on/diaper bag and Bucket went into the baby Ergo baby carrier. Going through security was a breeze and we got to the gate with plenty of time to spare.

In the airport, Bucket was thrilled at all the new people and sounds. Recently, he's begun shouting happily at things he likes: the cat, his little friends at baby group, the birdies outside, green beans on his high chair... you get the idea. He spent most of the pre-flight time flirting with everyone he saw, and shouting with joy.

Getting on the plane was a pain in the ass. Southwest boards the babies/families after the first 60 people in the A group. It took a while to get settled, after which Bucket helped himself to a pre-flight snack:

mmmm, luggage tags....

Excited? Happy? or totally cracked out?

The plan was to nurse on the way up, let him fall asleep in the world's biggest white noise machine, and then nurse on decent. 1) nursing in an airplane seat sucks monkey balls. Jostling the wiggling baby, the nursing bra, the nursing cover, in one of those small seats? Hell. 2) Kai doesn't fall asleep nursing. This is great because it's a good sleep habit. This sucks b/c it means I can't just nurse him to sleep. 3) Sleep didn't happen... but shouting did. Shouting at the person next to us, across the aisle, at the arm rest, at the fold-down seat tray, at me... I finally just took him to the galley and bounced him for about 35 min. 4) By we were in decent, he was full, I was empty, and nursing wasn't happening. So I popped in the pacifier and prayed it would keep his ears free (it did).

Side note to parents traveling with infants using pacifiers: get one of those mini pacifier leashes. We only use the paci for sleep so I never thought it would be useful... until i had to wash the damn thing every 5 min.

By the time we landed, he was wired. Shouting, giggling, so happy to still be awake (going on 4 hours at that point). I found my dad at baggage and texted L that I thought Bucket was going to explode with excitement. As soon as I sent it, I felt a gentle thud on my chest:

couldn't handle the party

He's made the adjustment to my dad's pretty well. He had 2 naps in the crib and went down like a dream at bedtime. Granted, he woke at 11, 12-1 (because there was a dance party in our room and didn't I want to join in the fun!?!?!), 3:30, 5:45, and 7:45. Except the 12-1 shift, most of the wake ups were just trouble though a sleep cycle and I popped back in the paci and he went back to sleep. I can just hear the non-parents reading this and thinking "omg, she's nuts I'm never in a million years having kids." The parents are thinking: "hey, that's not so bad for travel sleep, nice work!" Even better, he's back on his regular nap schedule today and going down well.

So far so good and I'm glad his sleep is back on track so maybe we can leave the house tomorrow.

Fun with CeeCee