Traveling with Babies

Last Friday I embarked on the journey from Monterrey to SanFrancisco with Samuel and Emma all by myself.  I was headed there for my friend Breanna's wedding.  Here we are the morning of the flight.  Everybody is happy and ready to go.

The first flight from Monterrey to Dallas was great.  Samuel loved looking out the window and he was happy to play with his toys.  Emma was on my lap and she ate and slept the whole time.  Here is a picture Samuel in the Monterrey airport while we were waiting to board the plane.  I know it's not a very good picture, but I barely took any, so I couldn't be picky.  This was the set up I used the whole time: Sammy in the front seat of the double stroller and his carseat upside down in the back seat of the stroller.  You can't see the rest, but Emma's diaper bag was hooked on the stroller handlebar and a backpack with Sammy's toys and diapers was shoved down in the stroller basket and Emma was in the Ergo carrier strapped to my chest.  

After we arrived in Dallas, we had to go through customs and immigration.  Of course I had to pick up our bags in order to go through customs with them.  Try to picture me pushing the stroller and pulling a cart with our 3 pieces of luggage and Emma's carseat.  It took me about 5 minutes just to get from the baggage pickup to the customs officer.
We had a 3 hour layover in the Dallas airport.  Samuel had some time to walk around and explore, I fed Emma, and we ate.  Sammy was so well behaved.  He also enjoyed greeting all the people in the airport.  We were quite the spectacle- wherever we went, people were looking at us.  Maybe it was the huge stroller, or maybe it was the fact that Sammy was waving at everyone as if we were in a parade.  Here's a picture of Emma enjoying a little floor time and Sammy playind with a car in the Dallas airport.

Notice the chairs- I loved them!!! They were so comfortable to kick back in and relax.  Sammy enjoyed climbing up and sliding down them also. 

Our layover came to and end....and then we had to board the second plane...this is when the doomsday music starts....

You see, normally Samuel takes a 2-3 hour nap everyday.  And he goes to bad around 7-7:30 every night.  Well, on this traveling day he didn't take a nap and by the time we boarded the plane from Dallas to San Francisco, it was already 5:50pm.  Samuel was overtired.  He was good for the first half hour. Then he started to fall apart.  He was telling me that he was all done (with the sign) and that he wanted out of his carseat.  He started to fuss, then cry, then scream.  I was that mom with the screaming kid on the airplane.  I never wanted to be that mom.  I tried everything.  He didn't want food, water, milk, toys....he wanted to sleep.  I'll save you a lot of details.  There was a really nice flight attendant named Kelly who helped me with Sammy.  After the seatbelt buckle sign was turned off, she had Sammy help her walk up and down the aisles collecting garbage.  She carried him when he didn't want to walk anymore, and eventually she rocked him to sleep (after a whole lot of crying).  She was such an answer to prayer!  She got him to sleep and then carefully put him back in his carseat.  He slept there for about 45 minutes and woke up when we started landing.  He was literally screaming at the top of his lungs when he woke up.  A nice lady in front of me offerred to hold Emma while I tried to calm Samuel.  He wouldn't calm down, so for the last 30 minutes, he cried and cried, while Emma was passed around the plane between 3 passengers (not really around the plane, just around where we were sitting- everyone wanted to help by holding her).  Everyone was so nice except the lady sitting behind me, but I don't even want to write about her.  Here's a picture of the meltdown just beginning.

 

When we got to San Francisco, my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were there waiting for us.  What a relief.  Finally off the plane. 

The good news is that we were all on the same flight from San Francisco to Seattle.  No more flying solo with 2 babies.  And even better- my dad is going to fly back from Seattle to Monterrey with Samuel, Emma, and me to help on the plane.  He will stay 2 days with us and then fly back to Seattle. 

So never again will I have to fly by myself with 2 babies!!!