Flying with an Infant & Toddler

We traveled back to Memphis a couple weeks ago so that our families could meet Michael. It is about a 22 hour drive (without children) from Denver to Memphis, so duh, we flew ;) 

This was Michael's first flight and Lucy's 4th flight. I have to be honest and say that I was sooo anxious about flying with both kids. To say I was dreading it is an understatement. The reason for this is because we haven't exactly had great flight experiences with Lucy any of the times she has flown, and 9 times out of 10 when Lucy cries, Michael cries. Bad combo friends!

Michael was easy peasy for the flight. I wore him in my Solly Baby Wrap, nursed him on the ascent and no problems! I use this nursing cover which I LOVE! It covers me completely, and Michael can kick and squirm all he wants to without me worrying about being exposed. 

Now for Lucy...I can't blame her one bit for her dislike of sitting still on a plane for 2 hours, especially at this age. Kids need to be able to move right?! I really have contemplated letting her run the aisle because it would save my sanity and probably the sanity of several others. But, in the event that running the aisle is not a reality, we need a serious bag of tricks! 

Prior to Lucy's first flight, I read up on a bunch of tips & tricks for flying with a little one. There are so many great ideas out there, unfortunately nothing really worked for us those first few times. I don't know if Lucy just hit a sweet spot with age for this flight or what but we had major success this time so I thought I'd share what worked for us, and then maybe someone else will find it helpful too. 

Lucy has a few different games that she plays on the iPad so we brought that and we had Finding Nemo on there so she could watch that too.  She likes this app with Elmo teaching the ABC's and the KidsDoodle app where she can color. This has never worked for us on prior flights, but we lucked out this time. 

Snacks, snacks, and more snacks! We over packed when it came to snacks, but it kept my little one busy so we'll take it. We use these for snacks to avoid a mess. 

One of Lucy's big things right now is stickers. She can't quite take them off by herself yet but she loves for me to hand the stickers to her and she sticks them on all kinds of things (the dog, construction paper, herself). This is actually something great I use for when I am nursing Michael as well. So we packed a bunch of stickers with us which worked great! This girl could sit for probably 30-45 minutes doing just stickers. 

The last thing I'll mention was just out of silliness but ended up working pretty well for us was "pretending to go to sleep". I had Michael with me and Ben had Lucy on his lap and he would say to her "let's take a nap!" and she would lay her head down on Ben with her eyes closed pretending to sleep quietly for about 30 seconds. I know that doesn't sound like much but do this repeatedly for a little while and it adds up. We totally got lucky on this one, but ya do what ya gotta do, no matter how silly it seems. 

Nothing ground breaking here, but definitely did the trick for us, at least for this flight. Hey, 1 out of 4 ain't bad right? ;) 

Happy, happy, happy!!

Michael - 3 Month Update

I'm 3 Months Old Already!!!

This little sweetie pie turned 3 months old last week! Look at that smile! This fella can light up the room with that toothless grin :) And we are starting to get some good roll action going on in those thighs. I just want to eat him up!

Where to start...my little buddy is getting BIG! He is filling out his 3 month clothes REALLY well! And while I haven't officially measured him, he seems to be getting much longer! It's so interesting seeing the growth differences between him and Lucy.

It really isn't noticeable in this picture, but his hair is starting to fall out, just like momma's! Gotta love postpartum hair loss, right ladies?! ;) It's way cuter on him than it is on me, that's for sure!

He is rolling over belly to back, and he is getting really good at grabbing things (like momma's hair) and toys. 

Eating is going about the same. He is a fast, efficient little guy and I am always thanking the Lord that my breastfeeding experience is so much better this time!

Sleeping has also been going well. My pediatrician mentioned that I could start trying to push back the early (5am) feeding around this time. We went to Memphis for a long weekend a little over a week ago and I knew I wanted to wait until we got home from our trip to try it out, but he was a little champ and did it on his own!! Hallelujah! Seriously, this guy makes me want to have 5 more kids! Then I remember that it is unlikely that they will all be as easy as him. ;) So now I dream feed him at 10:30 then he starts stirring around 7:30 and I feed him around 8. It's so funny though because my mom asked me if I felt like a new woman getting all this sleep now and I told her I have actually felt more tired since he has been sleeping longer! My guess is that my body got so used to 5 hours a night on average that it must be too much sleep ha! Anyone else feel me on this? I'm sure my body will readjust and thank me later.

Nap time is a bit unorganized and an area I should probably work at a bit more. Michael usually eats then is awake for an hour to an hour and a half, then goes down for a nap. He just hasn't been sleeping for that entire hour and a half until the next feeding. He typically wakes up after 30 minutes then needs his pacifier or some snuggles before he goes back to sleep again. I'm working on self soothing with him and going to bed awake so we'll see how all that goes. He has started sucking on that thumb which doesn't really excite me, but it does help soothe him. 

Him and Lucy have grown more interested in each other over the last month and it is the sweetest thing! He loves to stare at her and she loves to help do anything and everything with him. 

Best buds, I tell ya! :) Sweet little babes holding hands! 

These two are just growing up so fast! Lucy will be 2 in just a few short weeks so I'll have to do a big update on her! The days are long, but the years are short, right?! 

Lindsey

When Parenting Sticks...

In my 22 months of being a rookie parent I have learned over and over again that I must be patient. There is no such thing as rushing a child. They have a time frame all their own for when they can/want to do things. And just when I think I am getting pretty good at the whole patience thing...my toddler quickly reminds me that I still need to work on it ;)

I can remember when we started teaching Lucy sign language. I really only wanted to teach her "please" and "thank you" and some signs to help with meal time. There were many days when I felt like she was never going to catch on, then about 2 months later we finally had success with it.

We also introduced "room time" to Lucy from Babywise around the time she was 15 months old. After about 3 months of working on this, Lucy loved doing room time, and could play in her room for about 30-40 minutes. She did so well during this time and I saw a huge difference in her concentration with her toys.

Practicing patience during these times can be difficult for me. I think part of this is probably because  as I said I am a rookie parent, and hey, I had no clue what was coming. BUT THEN...the day comes when you see the fruition of your hard work and the benefit for your kid and IT.MAKES.IT.ALL.WORTH.IT. Am I right?!

Recently, we were eating dinner and Ben and I were eating broccoli, so as usual I put a couple pieces on Lucy's plate in hopes that she would try it. Well, she saved the broccoli for last which is pretty typical for any green food, or vegetable for that matter. Then, out of nowhere, without being prompted...she took a bite of broccoli!! I wish that I could have videoed the looks on Ben and I's faces when she took that first bite. I think I was holding my breath, eyes wide open...making sure this was really happening and not my tired eyes playing tricks on me. Then, she ate ANOTHER bite! Ben and I were looking at each other, totally freaking out with excitement on the inside. It was quite the celebratory moment. We sang her praises when she finished eating her 2 pieces of broccoli. She didn't want anymore after those 2 pieces which was a-ok with us. Small victories is where it's at people!

Then, there was the Target incident. Let me preface this by saying that Lucy is pretty wild most of the time, and she is a toddler so she is curious about everything. This is no exaggeration here...she HARDLY EVER walks anywhere. That girl runs wherever she goes. I'm pretty sure thats how I stayed in better shape when I was pregnant with Michael. Lucy has recently become bored of sitting in the stroller whenever we go places so depending on where we are going I will let her walk with me. Well, this particular afternoon at Target she was doing awesome walking with me and listening when I told her to stay close to me. Then, we get to the checkout line. I am not sure if something or someone caught her eye but we got up to the register and she takes off around our register to the one next to us, and is circling both registers to our right and left. I of course try calling her back over and that doesn't work. Mind you there are people in line behind me and I am supposed to be paying for my stuff right about now. So I leave Michael in the stroller in the line (which totally freaks me out by the way) and go chasing after my super fast running toddler, who is by now, deliberately running away from me as I'm calling her name. I am bright red and embarrassingly a little winded when I catch up to her and attempt to strap her into the stroller with her kicking and screaming. So with those small victories in life, also come bumps along the way, as well as a glass of wine at 3:30 in the afternoon :)

And for the second sweetest one (next to saying "I love you") she has started saying "sorry" on her own after she does something that she isn't supposed to do. MELTS.MY.HEART. My goodness, it's those moments that it makes all that work so well worth it and helps you keep chugging along in this journey as a mom. Encouragement to all you mommas out there...it may not feel like it some days, or even most days, but what you are doing IS making a big difference to those sweet little ones!

Lindsey