Life Lately

 Hello friends! It has been a long time since I sat down to write and even longer since I actually published a post. To be completely honest I talked myself out of every single blog post for the last two years. Yeah, read that again. I talked myself out of publishing every single post over the last TWO YEARS. Talk about psyching yourself out. 

My husband recently said to me "You really need to write a blog about that!" (which we will get to below). So here I am once again, trying to overcome this fear of putting my thoughts and ideas out there in the world. 

Before we get into today's main topic I have a little, well big, life update. We are now a family of THREE! Markus and I welcomed our firstborn son, Daniel Charles Murdy at the end of last year just in time for the Christmas holiday. Let me tell you, there's something so extra special about a newborn baby at Christmas. I really understand Mary now. So needless to say life has looked a lot different for us lately. 

Life lately is filled with diaper changes, nursing sessions, sound machines and learning a nap time schedule. But it has also been filled with baby giggles, big gummy smiles and baby snuggles. It has been the hardest and the best four months of my life. It's flying by and we are loving each stage as it comes. 

And that brings me to today's practical advice post about flying with a baby. We braved the airport for this past Easter to fly to Texas to be with my in-law family. It really was not as bad as expected flying with a then almost four month old. He did great! 

We did a lot of research before flying and truly had a very nice experience. We will definitely be flying again. So here are my top tips for flying with a baby. 

1.  Get TSA Pre check: I think this one is self explanatory and the most useful. My husband and I both have TSA pre check and this was the single biggest time saver and stress reducer. We didn't have to take anything out of our bags, the diaper bag or take our shoes off.  All we had to do was take a part the stroller and car seat. I carried him through security and then my husband wore him in the baby carrier 

2. Get a GOOD baby carrier and wear your baby: This is the next best thing. We have the Infantino 4 in 1 and LOVE it (Link below). Being able to have both hands free while in the airport makes everything easier. Baby wearing in general helps tremendously. It keeps them close and easy to reach for soothing or feeding. Ours has buckles so it was easy to take him in and out for diaper changes and taking him out on the plane. Practice wearing baby on walks around your neighborhood so you know what it feels like (them, too). 

3. Pack your diaper bag strategically: You've already got it packed for most days but on the airplane you're more confined so the things you need most should be at the top or outsides of the bag. Make it work for you. I recommend an extra set of clothes for baby on top of what you normally bring. Add several plastic bags/gallon bags to hold dirty clothes when you can't wash them out from that blowout that's inevitably going to happen. I swapped out for a brand new pack of wipes so I knew I wasn't going to run out. Pack as many diapers as you can in the bag. I even put a gallon ziplock bag in one of our carryons for an extra 5-8 diapers. Does your diaper bag have a luggage tag on it if it's suddenly no longer at your side?

4. Look up nursing pods/mom rooms at each airport: Knowing where they are before you land helps with that stress of "OMG where am I going to nurse or change his diaper?" I nursed him pretty much anywhere but I can totally understand finding a quiet non stimulating place to catch your breath and nurse in peace. ATL had nursing pods every other terminal, etc. I used the "Mom's room" in the Austin airport and it was very nice. It had two diaper changing stations with sinks right next to them and a separate room inside there for nursing if you wanted to use it. 

5. Stroller and carseat: Wait to check your stroller and carseat until you get to the gate and get the red travel bags to protect them from the baggage loader and airport ramp. This allowed us to take the stroller through security and in between each flight. We had a layover going and coming, so having the stroller in the airport was great for either putting little one in or for holding the carryon bags when he was in the carrier. You ask for the gate check tags once you're through security and reach the customer service desk next to your gate. If there is an extra "Claim at Gate" tag in addition to the white and black barcode tag, make sure that is visible (fasten through the red gate check bag handles) 

6. Family boarding (if you're flying Southwest): This made boarding a non event, no worries if you were 2 minutes late to check-in and have B59 and B60 boarding slots. You're given extra time to board so you're not rushed. Be ready when they call our for family boarding to maximize your time. Different airlines have different policies. Research your airline's policies to avoid the surprise day-of. 

7.  Bring the carseat on the plane if you can (if the little one is ticketed as a lap child... If you bought them a seat, def bring that car seat and buckle them in). This was a new one I learned because my husband is an airplane engi-nerd. Ask the customer service agent at the gate how full the flight is. If the flight isn't completely full they may let you take the carseat on the plane and put it in an empty seat next to you. That decision is normally made by the lead flight attendant (if there are extra seats, which you'll have a pretty good idea of after asking the customer service agent, or the gate agent, before you walked down the jet-bridge), so be ready to either bring it aboard or bag it and leave it on the jet-bridge. We were able to do this on two of our four flights and it made such a difference. When little one was ready for a nap we were able to put him back in the carseat, pull over his shade and send him off to dreamland. It was perfect. Mr. Engi-nerd loved having Little One strapped in for landing and takeoff. Now it is one more thing to carry on, but it was totally worth it. 

8. Nurse/offer a pacifier on take off and landing. This helps with the changes in cabin pressure for their little ears. Little man wasn't interested in nursing at the time so he got his binky (pacifier) and that worked just fine. They don't have to be awake, just sucking on it. 

9. Toys: for a four month old I did not need as many toys as I thought. I brought a couple he loves so he had familiar favorites and then a couple of ones he hadn't played with yet. Honestly, letting him look around and out the window was just as great of a pastime as playing with his toys. Plus once we took off he fell asleep, like most babies do. 

10. Apple air tags: I bought my husband a set of 4 for Christmas and these babies paid for themselves with this trip. We put an air tag in each of the items going in red bags (taped to the stroller and buried in the car seat liner) and each checked suitcase. When we got home to FL, we were expecting to see two red bags on the jet bridge; one for the car seat and one for the stroller. There was only one. The carseat was not there. And before we really started freaking out that we didn't have the most important piece of luggage, my husband pulled out his phone, went to the handy dandy "FindMy" app and looked up where that Air Tag was. "It has made it to JAX but it ended up in the luggage carousel." Phew, we did not need to freak out, and because we had put our carseat in that bright red bag it was easy to identify on the luggage carousel. We are definitely going to be getting another set of 4. 

 11. Bring your pack 'n play/travel crib as a carry on item (if it fits inside the volume limits). That way if you get stuck without your checked luggage you have a sleeping place for your little one. It also works as a great play pen if you have a long layover and need to give them a little more space to run around. We invested in the Guava Lotus as it's longer than a pack n play, folds up smaller and weighs less. I highly recommend it. 

12. Copy of baby's birth certificate. This is the only form of ID they have. Whoever has the bay as their lap child needs to have this ready to go when you get boarding passes. One thing to note: when you check in for your flights 24 hours ahead of time the lap child does NOT get a boarding pass in the app, so you have to go to the ticket counter at the first departure airport to get their boarding passes for that day's flights. Give yourself extra time for this. 

13. Changing a baby on the plane: Ask the flight attendant in your area which of the lavatories on board have a changing station in them so you know where to head before you get up. When you get up to change your baby don't bring the whole diaper bag, those rooms are already small as it is so why add anything unnecessary? My husband did this part and his recommendation was just to take a diaper, the wipes and a portable changing pad, we have one that came with our diaper bag that folds up. Little Man liked the different things to look at the mood lighting in the Boeing Sky interior aft Lav. 

14. Label EVERYTHING: seems easy enough but I can't stress this one enough either. A lot of people have the same black bags or the same red checked bags for the strollers so a unique luggage tag or writing your name in sharpie on the bag is an easy way to make sure you end up with your luggage. We have a set of luggage tags from MurdyCreative.Co on every bag we take. I put on on the diaper bag, the stroller, the carseat, the travel crib, Markus's carry-on and each checked bag. 

15. Take a few things for yourself momma: Bring a refillable water bottle (You can totally bring your favorite water bottle through TSA, it simply has to be empty when going through the scanner... fill that puppy up afterwards) and snacks for you. Flying is already dehydrating, and if you're breastfeeding you need all the hydration you can get.  Bring snacks that are easy to eat and not messy. We pack extra protein bars, PBJ sandwiches and fruit. 

Relax and enjoy this wonderful opportunity to show your little one more of this great big world. Flying makes the world a little smaller and brings people Little One may only see on video calls into real life. We found people very accommodating. If you need something, ask for help.  

What else worked for you? I'd love to hear other helpful hints you've found over the years! 

Just the Musings of rhe 20s

~Lauren

Links (no commissions here, lol) to mentioned products: 

Infantino 4 in 1 baby carrier: https://www.amazon.com/Infantino-Flip-4-in-1-Convertible-Carrier/dp/B00M0DWQYI/ref=asc_df_B00M0DWQYI/

Apple Air Tags: https://www.apple.com/airtag/? 

Red checked bags: https://jlchildress.com/products/gate-check-bag-for-standard-double-strollers 

Guava Lotus Travel Crib: https://www.guavafamily.com/products/lotus-everywhere-travel-crib?  

Luggage tags: https://murdycreative.co/products/custom-leather-bag-tag