A week before we were suppose to embark on our 13 hour car drive home, Vivian decided she did not want to sleep well. She was waking up insanely early for the day...3:45-4:30am...and was even waking in the middle of the night. Plus, her naps weren't so great. Baby wasn't getting enough sleep. With her not sleeping well, I had the feeling she wasn't going to do as well as she did coming. With that I decided to book a flight and I'm so glad we did.
I was extremely nervous about flying alone with a very curious 13 month old. The night before I only got 2 hours of sleep. Our Delta flight departed GTR at 6:50am and we had to leave the house at 4:30am to get there by 6am. I wasn't sure how I was going to get Vivian out of the crib without waking her up. I decided I would leave her in her jammies and change her clothes at Atlanta airport since we had a 3 hour layover. When I went into the room to get her and place her in her car seat, child was awake in the process of standing up. I didn't talk to her in hopes she would fall asleep back in the car. Not so much. Kid stayed awake until 12pm.
When we arrived at the airport, my Mom changed her diaper while I unhooked the car seat. I got us checked in and decided to counter-check the car seat instead of gate-checking. I didn't have a car seat cart to attach the seat and I wasn't going to carry the oh so heavy Peg Perego in ATL airport. We said our 'goodbyes' to my parents and made our way through security. I ran the Britax baby carrier through the x-ray machine and carried Vivian on my hip. I left her water in her sippy cup and her yogurt and other foods in the diaper bag. They had to test the water and didn't say anything about the food. I let Vivy roam around while we waited to pre-board.
Yes, my child is barefoot in the airport. I'm not a germ-a-phobe. Pre-boarding is great. It takes a little bit of time to get settled. I let Vivy stand in the seat while I got a few things out of the diaper bag and stowed in the overhead. Thank heavens they didn't sit anyone next to us. Vivian behaved so well. She didn't try and crawl out of my lap or fuss. One of the passengers even said she wouldn't have known there was a baby on the flight. Music to a Mom's ears.
It only took us 40 minutes to fly from Columbus to Atlanta. We were the last to depart the plane and made our way to the restroom to change Vivian's clothes, diaper and for me to potty. Wearing your child while peeing at the same time was interesting. There was no where for me to sit her, so I left her in her harness and sat with me. Gotta think outside the box! There wasn't a changing table inside the stall. The changing tables in Atlanta are on the counter next to the sinks. Weird changing dirty diapers, especially the poo one's, in front of everyone. Plus, the lovely smell.
After getting changed, we made a stop at the crepes restaurant to grab breakfast. We split a strawberry, banana and nutella crepe and a strawberry smoothie. We landed in Concourse D and needed to get on the train to Concourse C. I had Vivy in the Britax baby carrier and wore my gigantic diaper bag as a backpack. Worked out great! We got to our concourse and walked all the way to the end to eat our food and Vivy could stretch her legs. When we walked over to the end, no one was sitting by the windows. Yea! We sat down and ate. Not long after sitting there, other people decided to sit next to us with their kids. I guess other parents wanted to do that, but were afraid too. I started something I guess. It was fine. Got to talk to adults and they were all "oohh and awwing" over Vivian.
After eating, I smelled a lovely odor from little one. Off to the restroom we went. Child had 3 poo poo diapers before we departed home.
We walked to our gate and hung out there. Thankfully, there was a young girl that sat next to us playing with her teddy bear. She was throwing it up in the air which kept Vivy entertained fir a good 30 minutes or so. I let Vivy walk around as much as possible. Five Guys was right across from our gate so I shared a burger at 10:30 am.
They didn't assign our seat in Columbus and had to do it at our gate in Atlanta. While I was at the counter, I asked the attendant if by chance I had a window seat. He said he was going to do his best to not have anyone on our row. Score!
We pre-boarded and got settled in our seat. Poor Vivian was so tired since she had been awake since 4:30 am. After everyone boarded the plane, she was out.
About 20 minutes into her nap, the flight attendant started passing out beverages. I don't understand why you need to pass out beverages on an hour flight is beyond me. Cut that out and lower the ticket price. Any who, with the sound of opening the sodas and talking very loudly, sweet baby girl woke up. I tried my best to get her to fall back asleep, but had zero luck. She fused a little but settled down and played. She did great!
All-in-all I had a great flying experience with little miss. We'll see how it goes when we fly to New Orleans in November. Hoping for the best!
Mama was so proud of you little girl!
