A Life We Love

I have to admit. The whole flying with toddlers thing seemed crazy at first. I distinctly remember meeting a mom who would frequently fly with a toddler and baby across the country by herself. The idea floored me. At the time I was only a few months in to doing this whole “life with a baby” thing with my oldest daughter. Going to Trader Joe’s, just baby and me, seemed like the hardest thing ever! She was a pro. I was sure she was some sort of mommy unicorn. This traveling mommy gave me a few tips.

Over the course of our first daughter’s two and a half years, we flew a hand full of times. Sometimes with just my husband and me. Sometimes with our son, who provided an extra set of hands and another playmate. But when my husband got the call that his next job was to be across the world our youngest was 11 months old and our toddler was 3 and a half. My biggest fear was the flight. Not living in another country for 6 months, not being out of my daily comfort zone. My whole fear was bottled into the fact that I would have to fly with these two tiny people for a total of 21 hours (not including airport and layover time). In all, the total travel time ended up being a little over 32 hours. And this flight was just my husband, our two littlest ones, and myself. That is a 1:1 ratio!!! For the most part I don’t remember much. Which honestly is probably for the best. Not sure if it was the lack of sleep or the brutality of it all. I’ll never know. I think one of us stood in the back of a plane holding the baby in a carrier for the entirety of the flights. And our toddler’s love for anything showing on a screen saved us.

A few things I learned flying with toddlers and babies:

1. Flight attendants will actually help you. This is what they do. You aren’t the first parent to travel with little ones and you won’t be the last.
2. People will get over your crying baby. You may get some dirty looks and if you get it really bad, you may get some less then pleasant under-the-breath comments. But the other travelers WILL get over it. Trust me.
3. The flight will, at some point, be over (keep your eye on the prize) and you will have good and bad moments. Just expect the worst and hope for the best.

Suddenly a 3-hour flight feels like a cakewalk. Because guess what…good or bad…it’s only 3 hours. I have had full 16-hour bad days at home. Just because you are surrounded with strangers doesn’t mean that you need to stress any more. Do the best you can and that is really all you can do.

All in all I try my best to keep my kids happy and contained. The flights are not about me. I don’t even think about packing things for myself to do.   The only thing I pack for myself in my carry on is deodorant, my toothbrush, and a change of shirt in a Ziploc bag, just in case one of the kids gets sick on me. Pretty much I’m their performance clown and that is just what it is. Maybe when they are older I can think about packing a book and sipping a cocktail mid-flight. Right now it’s game on. And that is ok.