How to Fail at Flying with Babies (and Live to Tell)

We're back from vacation! And I would love to share some pics from our trip... but we haven't even looked through them yet! So that will have to wait until next week. In the meantime, I feel compelled to confess write about our flight home to California - in which James and I mostly failed at preparing for a flight with two babies.

It had already been a long travel day. We had to drive from the lake house in Alabama where we had been staying with James' family to my parents' house north of Atlanta (3.5ish hours) to return some things, and then south to the airport (45ish minutes) before even braving Hartsfield-Jackson International itself.

Everything was actually going well as we arrived at the ariport and boarded the plane. The airport wasn't too crowded, we got to go through an expedited security line (didn't even have to take our shoes off!), made it to the gate right on time and boarded early with the other baby-toting families like us.

As we got settled into our seats it started to dawn on me...

Where are Calvin's headphones? 

Wait, these movies aren't free? They were free on our last flight! 

Henry has a poopy diaper. Wait, how many diapers do we even have?

Um. Oops.

Well, learn from our mistakes, friends! Here's where we went wrong!

1. Make sure you, the parents, are totally exhausted to begin with. 
Like I said, we had already been traveling that day. By the time we were seated on the plane, James and I seriously just wanted to sleep. But not our kids! Oh no! They were well-napped and bright eyed! Ready to play!

Starting your flight already tired ensures that any disturbances or mishaps will feel worse than they are and that you, the parents, will have limited reserves to draw from while entertaining your small children for 4+ hours. Good luck.

2. Don't count the diapers in your bag.
You probably have enough. I think. Otherwise you could end up like us, debating which of your two children will get the last diaper when they have both already peed in the ones they are wearing and you've got like 2 hours of flight left. (Yes, Calvin is potty trained... mostly... but we put him in a diaper on the flight since we couldn't guarantee we'd be able to get him to the bathroom at the necessary moment.) (Also, in case you were waiting in suspense, Calvin got it because his was about to asplode with pee. We figured if Henry had a blow out, we'd take that last diaper back from Calvin and give it to Henry. You're welcome.) Then again, I guess this wouldn't happen to families with only 1 kid in diapers!

3. Count on the plane to provide electronic entertainment.
When the babies and I flew out to GA with my mom, she was totally prepared to entertain Calvin with episodes of Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse on her Kindle. She even bought him little toddler headphones.

James and I, on the other hand, did not prioritize entertainment in our packing plan. I had packed a few toys and books, but I totally forgot about Calvin's headphones (so they got left at Granny's house) and I didn't bother downloading any shows. On our flight out, we had been lucky and all the in-flight movies and tv shows were complimentary so I just hoped/assumed that they would be again. How cute. I thought they'd be free. Bless my heart.

4. Don't charge your cell phones.
Both my phone and James' phone were near death when we boarded the plane. I turned mine on a couple of times to take photos, but I didn't want it to completely shut down (ya know, in case of emergency and all that) so I had to leave it off the rest of the flight. And James' phone is a piece of junk that will barely send a text message let alone run a video. So we couldn't even entertain the boys with charming home movies of themselves or with the array of children's books on my Kindle app! #technologyfail #usererror

5. Don't worry about the time difference when you book your flight.
Landing at 8:30 CA time is past baby bed time, but not soooo late, right? Except that they've adjusted to central time while staying in Alabama, so it's actually like landing at 10:30. Which is waaay past baby bed time. Didn't think about that two months ago when I booked this flight. Oh well, they'll be fine right? Right guys??



Ok, so let's say you've taken this sage advice to heart and there you are, like James and I were, staring down 4.5 hours of what-do-I-do-with-these-babies-in-this-confined-space???

Here are some survival tips.

Work with what you've got. 

Calvin was not immediately impressed with my airplane menu - turned - Mickey Mouse boat...

Toys are getting boring? Play with a airplane menu! Not enough snacks? Buy expensive airline snacks or nom some Biscoff cookies care of Delta. Didn't download kid movies? Well, you might get lucky and have free movies, or you might let your kid watch a little Adventure Time with no sound. Get creative.

Channel your inner Raffi.

...but I won him over with my singing!

Or Wiggles. Or Barney. Or Sharon, Lois, and Bram. Whatever. Sing some songs. Do some puppetry. Muster whatever energy you have and play with your kid. I mean, this is what we do as parents anyway right? We were so tired. And 4 hours in a limited space with limited toys takes a little lot more effort than the usual playing-with-our-kids that happens at home. But we made it work. 

Let it go... Let it goooo.... 

At first I was stressed and mad at myself - feeling tired, of course, made these feelings worse. But then I got the idea to write this blog post and suddenly it was all kind of funny. Seriously, who forgets to count the diapers?! James and I actually kind of pride ourselves on being able to figure things out as we go along. Maybe preparedness is not our strong suit. But flexibility is! So I let that mommy-guilt go and went to work entertaining Calvin instead. And everything pretty much went fine. Nothing like the Crying Kid Episode of 2013! The kids still have no idea what slackers their parents are. ;)

Fellow slacker parents - any tips for problem solving in a pinch while traveling??

A Visit from Granny and Danpa

It's been so great to have my parents in town for a visit! Here are some pics of Calvin and Henry with their Granny and "Danpa." 

Though Granny and Danpa are saying 'bye to California, the party's not over quite yet! We're just moving it to their place! The boys and I are headed to Georgia for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow. Praying, hoping, and finger-crossing for a safe and happy flight! 

Henry's Beary First Birthday!

We had an awesome Teddy Bear Picnic yesterday to celebrate Henry's beary first birthday! It was so nice to spend time with friends and family, especially those we don't often get to see. We picked a park down the peninsula a-ways to make sure we were out of the fog and into the sunshine. And though there was no grass to speak of (terrible drought over here in CA!), we spread out our blankets in the shade at the edge of the woods and it really was a nice picnic spot. The yellow jackets thought so too. 

To create the theme, we had bear ears for the kiddos (you know, because a Teddy Bear picnic is for bears only!), bear cupcakes, honey bear bottles for the drinks, and little bear lunches that had bear-shaped PBJ's and bags of Teddy Grahams :)

Calvin is getting ready to eat his "little bear lunch"

Since Henry can't really eat cake (not because we wouldn't let him, but because he's not quite there yet with the whole chewing-and-swallowing biz), we made him a birthday "cupfake" by filling a cupcake wrapper with whipped cream! He liked the first bite, he liked the second bite, and then he was over it. Big brother Calvin was ready to help him finish it ;) After we sang to the birthday boy and helped him blow out the candle on his cupfake, it was time to pass out the real cupcakes!

Why can't we have birthday picnics every weekend?? Oh yeah, because they are a lot of work! But thanks to lots of help from my parents, my cousins, and our friends, we pulled it off and I think everybody had a nice time. I sure did. And HALLELUJAH we had no potty accidents or tantrums or spit-ups of any kind! Happy birthday to Henry, happy birthing day to me ;) and happy picnicking to all of us!

Birthday boy! 1-year-old Henry!

Little Things

When I was pregnant with Henry, I made a playlist of songs from Sesame Street for Calvin. Songs that I remembered from my own childhood. And when I came across this one, it made me tear up. I felt touched by the sentiment. Seeing beauty, seeing importance in something easily taken for granted. I was also thinking of a baby as being both a little thing - a little squishy thing! - and also a big thing - a big, life-changing thing! And there I was with one baby on the outside, just learning to crawl, and one still on the inside on his way to join us. 

And the little one that came to join us was Henry. And tomorrow is Henry's first birthday! 

As the weeks have led up to Henry's birthday, part of me has been feeling sad... worried... even sorry or guilty... because I can see that Henry is not very much like a 1-year-old boy. He doesn't sit or crawl. He doesn't pull himself up to stand or cruise or walk around. He doesn't eat table foods or drink from a cup or even hold his own bottle. He doesn't talk or call me Mama. He doesn't bang toys together or fit toys together or clap his hands. He won't be able to eat birthday cake. 

He hasn't reached those big milestones yet. It doesn't mean he won't, of course, it just means that his timeline is stretched out. Developmental delay, they call it. He's hit some milestones. He rolls over and over. He holds himself up on his elbows and reaches for toys. He brings toys to his mouth. He eats early baby-foods like purees and soups. Those are big milestones. It's just that typically babies reach all those milestones by the time they're 6 or 7 months old. There are more milestones he was "supposed" to reach in this first 12 months of his life. I see other babies, younger babies, doing things Henry can't... and sometimes it's fine because I know Henry is Henry and Henry is free to do things in his own time. But sometimes it hurts. It hurts because it reminds me of what Henry could be like if only. If only he wasn't different. If only it wasn't so hard for him. 

But whenever I start to feel those flurries of worry and sadness and regret, the thing that snaps me out of it more than anything else is to look at Henry. To really see Henry. I see him smile his bright smile. I see him focus his eyes on me and know who I am. I watch him take interest in a toy and roll and pivot until he can reach it. I see him pass the toy from one hand to the other. Put it in his mouth. Bring his feet up and push on it. Teeny, tiny movements that are teeny, tiny milestones in and of themselves. 

It's okay if Henry's milestones are teeny tiny because the little things matter. The little things count. Those little things are his way of showing us that he is learning and growing and going to be okay. They are opportunities for us to cheer him on. Opportunities to feel gratitude. To appreciate him just as he is. 

So here's to Henry. Here's to every single one of the few seconds that he can sit up on his own. Here's to every bite of stale graham cracker that he managed to chew and swallow without gagging. Here's to every ounce he has gained and every inch he has grown. Here's to that one tiny tooth poking through in front. Here's to every light brown curl on his little pea-head. Here's to his breathy laugh, and of course, his incredible smile. Happy birthday to my sweet sweet boy. 

Tomorrow we'll take the 12 month pic! 

7 Years Good Luck

Last Monday James and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! The 7th isn't typically thought of as a major milestone, but for us it felt special because of our lucky 7 wedding date, 07-07-07 :)

My mom and my cousin Pam babysat for us on Saturday so that we could spend the day up in wine country. I love going wine tasting, but we never get to go anymore now that we have littles!

On the 7th, we went out to dinner on the Embarcadero in the city. Granny Anne and Hartley babysat. 

Goodnight babies! Mama and Daddy are going out!

In honor of our 7th anniversary, here's a #tbt  #jamesanddianaversary edition! 

 

It was a wonderful day. The cloudy skies saved us from the usual heat of Georgian summer. We were surrounded by family and friends, so many of whom helped us pull the whole thing off! For our honeymoon we borrowed a little Hobie catamaran from the GA Tech sailing club (James was a member) and towed it up to the outer banks of North Carolina where we spent a week relaxing and sailing. As soon as we got home from our honeymoon, we packed up our little apartment (again, with lots of help from friends and family!) and took a cross-country road trip in a moving van to our new home: California. 

It was a wonderful day, and it has been 7 wonderful years. A whirlwind, especially these last two years when Calvin and Henry blew into our lives and made us a family of four! These days we are often exhausted and covered in baby food and dirty laundry, but at our hearts we are happy and grateful because we know we are blessed.  We celebrate the 7 years gone by, knowing we are still just at the beginning of our journey together. Cheers! :)

Fourth of July

Henry celebrated his first Independence Day last week! Though he probably couldn't tell that it was different from any other day, since we had a very low-key celebration. I said, "Henry! It's your first 4th of July!" And James goes, "Yeah. And yesterday was his first 3rd of July. And tomorrow will be his first 5th of July. All the days are his first day until his birthday." #thankyoucaptainliteral

That morning, during Henry's early nap, Calvin did a little patriotic painting.

Calvin also helped me bake and decorate the cupcakes.

One sprinkle for the cupcake, one sprinkle for Calvin...

My cousins came over for a little party at our place. We had some red, white, and blue snacks and James grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.

It was a foggy day in our neighborhood, but Calvin still got to play outside a bit with his water toys and his sand sensory bin.

Calvin and Granny

Abbie, Calvin, Ramiro

Henry stayed in his PJ's all day. Because why not? Here he is playing with his daddy at our little work bench.

#nailingit

Happy 4th of July! Pamela, Diana, Granny Anne

Pamela, Granny Anne, Henry

After dark, we walked over to a nearby playground to watch the illegal fireworks our neighbors set off. Hee hee. We even let Calvin stay up late and come outside to see them. (Henry went to bed at his usual bedtime and did not get to see any fireworks. #sorryhenry) Calvin seemed fascinated and frightened at the same time. Every once in a while he would sign "scared" after a particularly big boom. But when we asked if he wanted to go inside, he said no, he wanted to see more.

It was a pretty chill 4th (literally chill too with all that fog!), but always fun to have an excuse to have our cousins come over and hang out, eat some yummy food :)

Mini Wellness Update: PT Pics

Saw Henry's gastro doc this morning and here's the latest: the erythromycin has decreased the vomiting, but he is still waking up in the middle of the night retching. So the doc recommends giving the last dose after bedtime, which means waking him up - but  maybe that's better than letting the poor kid wake up retching :( Not sure if it will work, but I will try it for a few nights. Henry's doc also wants to do another fluoroscopy, like the swallow study, but this one will look at food travelling all the way through his system past his stomach in order to check for any anatomical abnormalities. I don't think this procedure will be that big of a deal. Just Henry drinking barium and being x-rayed again.

Henry had a good PT (physical therapy) session today! His therapist noted that he seems to be gaining strength and stamina - not needing breaks as often and not getting fussy at the end of PT. I took a few pictures during his session today. Sorry for the blurriness! Moving subject!

Some practice kneeling... using his trunk to hold himself up so he can have his arms free to play.

Some practice sitting with a hand on his lower back to help him balance

Pushing with his legs for strength and sensory input

Baby elbow plank! Kind of like a wheelbarrow...

And all the way up! Baby plank! Using those arms and abs to support himself. It's hard!

Whew! It's hard work for my little guy. I'm always proud of him.