We made it to Cincinnati and back!

We had a very exciting week, last week, heading down to Cincinnati to visit my friends and family! During our time away, we had a lot of firsts... Logans first plane ride, a first tear, first time rolling over from front to back by himself and my first time flying solo with a baby!

Packing for the trip was a mess. Since, we were flying standby and checking bags gets a little more complicated, we decided to have only carry on bags and tried to pack as light at possible. We decided not to bring the stroller with us, or a carseat (my lovely friend Katie let us borrow hers) and instead brought the Ergo. Geoff came down with us and stayed for the first 4 days before having to go back to work while Logan and I stayed for another 4 days. This meant I had help on the way down and had to wing it myself on the way back. I packed up both my clothes and Logan's clothes in my suitcase. Bulked up the diaper bag with our large camera and finally decided to bring the pump with us. (I wasn't sure how much I would use it but figured I might need a bottle or two for my parents to feed Logan). We did a decent job packing but I did fedex a small box back home so I would have less to carry through the airport. I'm sure next time we will do even better. :)

Here are a few tips from my experience

- If you babywear your baby, you can go through security without taking him/her out or the carrier off. They just swabbed my palms after I went through and I was good to go.
Beware though, taking shoes on and off is very tricky when you can not bend over (remember the feeling in pregnancy?) so choose your shoes wisely.
Also if you are by yourself, going to the bathroom is also quite complicated. A stroller would have made this easier.

-You are allowed to take breastmilk, juice and formula/water through security when you are traveling with a baby. They just placed my bottles into a machine, it took a few seconds to test them and I was on my way. (Make sure to have them already out in the bins when you go through so you don't have to search for them when your bag gets pulled).
I also like to bring an empty water bottle for myself to fill up at a water fountain after security.

-Go say hi to the gate agents and show off your baby when he/she is sleeping or in a good mood. This helped us score empty seats around us both ways. :)

-During take off and landing make sure to give your baby something to suck on to combat the pressure changes. I fed Logan on take off both times and he was completely fine and he slept through both the landings. :)

-You can bring your carseat onto the plane if you purchase a ticket for your baby or there are empty seats next to you. Remember that the carseat has to be strapped into the seat next to the window in case of an evacuation (you don't want to be trapped trying to jump over a carseat). If you check your seat, you can hold your baby during the flight but do not strap them into the seatbelt with you. Use your arms as a seatbelt and hold your little one close.

-Bring an extra blanket! Planes get cold and most airlines charge for blankets (and the ones that dont sometimes reuse them from flight to flight... yuck!) so you want to make sure that you keep your baby warm enough.

-If you rely on electronics for entertainment or soothing (like we do with white noise on our iphones) remember that for take off and landing, those will have to be turned off. Come prepared with other plans for those times of flight.

-Don't forget to keep diapers, a change of clothes (and a shirt for you), pacifiers, a bottle, etc. in reachable distance... aka not packed in your suitcase.

-Relax and try to enjoy this new experience. Once we got going I was less concerned with what people would think if Logan started crying during the flight and more concerned with our little family and the memories we were making.

All in all Logan did great! On the way down he was awake going through the airport and slept the entire flight. On our flight home, it was the opposite, he slept until we got onto the airplane and then was awake the whole flight until right before landing. He loved looking around at everyone and watched the people walk up and down the aisles. I brought a few small toys to play with just in case but didn't need them at all. He didn't even really cry, just had a few wimpers when he got tired and I put on some light white noise to accompany the sounds of the engines and he was out in a few minutes.

Now as we plan future trips this year, I'll be a little more excited and a lot less nervous. I'm sure things will change as he gets older and moves around more but, knowing we have flown with him makes it somehow easier in my mind. Our next trips will have to be over to Geoff's side of the family- taking him to meet relatives in Seattle and Canada. One of the things on our to-do lists this month is to get Logan his first passport!

I'll be so excited for Logan when he gets his first passport stamp taking his first flight out of the country to Canada and then coming back on his first of many flights to america! I have a feeling our little boy will be seeing a lot of this big world we live in!

Anyone have any suggestions for traveling with a baby i missed?
Or advice for bringing along a stroller and car seat?