Nainoa Takes Flight

My little sweetheart and I flew together for the first time yesterday.  It was the fastest 10 hour flight of my life.  I had been hearing a lot about how difficult it is to fly with an infant and I was pretty nervous, but it actually turned out to be better than I expected.  Packing and preparing to fly was more stressful than the flying itself.

I didn't start to pack until Sunday, the day before I had to fly.  I had to fit 4 light-weight, square boxes into our two suitcases and then squeeze our clothes in and around them.  I checked, double-checked, and triple  checked to make sure Nainoa and I had enough clothes, down-sized when I thought I was bringing to much for myself, and then packed more for Nainoa.  My sister Neo gave me a lot of really good advice for packing and reminded me of the few things that I would REALLY need on the plane: diapers, wipes, an extra change of clothes for both of us, and blankets.  I also packed his pacifiers.  We rarely give him one but in this case I knew they'd come in handy.

I finished all of my packing by 4pm, but still felt really anxious.  I had to do a few visits, drop off some Christmas cards and clean a few things before leaving.  I got it all done and finally started to relax around midnight.   I fell asleep around 12, and woke up at 1:30am because Nainoa was hungry.  Unfortunately I had to wake up at 4am to get ready and go to the airport, so not much sleep for me.

Tenneille dropped me off with the bags, parked the car, then brought Nainoa to the check-in.  She was told the elevator was broken and had to carry the car seat and BOB stroller down a few flights of stairs!  Luckily she ran into a man who helped her bring the stuff down.  I waited in line, and was so surprised at how fast it was moving.  There was a lady behind me who was getting in my personal space, and standing too close behind me.  I took my hair down and tossed it over my shoulder, to try to hint that she needed to back up!  Then, I got on my phone and tweeted,

If I toss my hair and it hits you, it means you're standing to f-ing close! Pls stay out of my personal space! Lol.

I'm really starting to like twitter.  I feel like I can say all the random things I want to say that I can't on facebook. 

Going through security wasn't stressful because the airport wasn't very busy (I arrived 2.5 hours early).  There were maybe 4 other infants on the plane and we were one of the lucky ones to get a bassinet at the bulk-head of the plane.  It's pulls down like a changing table off of the wall right in front of your seat.  It made things so easy.  If I needed a break, I'd set Nainoa down and let him play on his back with his toys.  Nainoa started crying before the plane was fully boarded.  I was so worried the whole flight would be like that!  There were old people sitting across from us with really tired, grumpy looking faces.  Luckily for them, this was the most fussing he did the whole trip!   He fell asleep before we took off, but woke up to feed once we were in the air.  The only other times he fussed was when he'd wake up ready to eat.  This only happened twice and it didn't last long.   I sat by a really nice Aussie couple named Kate and Jordan.  They had their eight month old son Cooper with them and he was so adorable.  He and Nainoa not only played with each other the whole flight, they even synchronized their eating and sleeping schedules to each others!  I felt so lucky because this means their occasional whining wouldn't wake each other.  I really see Nainoa learn more when he's around other babies his age.  He started to talk more, and loudly too, after being around little Cooper.  Kate held Nainoa for me the first time I needed to go to the toilet, but after that I ended up taking him myself to the bathroom.  I'd change his diaper, then hold him while I used the toilet.  It all worked out so well.

happy baby on the plane

The only downside of the flight was that EVERYTHING had a price.  They didn't have a beverage service and each bottle of water was $3.50!  Ridiculous right?  By the end of the flight I had bought a ham and cheese sandwich, 4 bottles of water, and a pepsi.  I think I spent about $25!  Next time I will prepay for food.  They also had a really neat entertainment system, but all of their movies and music and games weren't free.  They did have arrival information for a lot of their international destinations.  I watched a video about Japan and saw several places that I had visited.  It made me tear up... I miss Japan.

The flight went by so quickly!  I used the harness getting off the plane and was one of the first people to arrive at customs.  I didn't have to wait in line behind anyone.  Waiting for our bags took a long time and then I had to go to another carousel and pick the stroller and car seat.  I wish I had a picture of myself pushing all of that luggage.  It was a lot of stuff and I felt really proud of myself for doing it all on my own.

Nainoa gave his dad the hugest smile as soon as he saw him.  I was so happy to see my hubby and glad that we were together again.  

We had the best Margherita Pizza, brushcetta and cinnamon roll with brownie center (drizzled with milk chocolate and a side of vanilla ice cream YUM!) at a place called Bondi Pizza.  I was too hungry, as usual, to take pictures.  

Nainoa fell asleep while we were at dinner and I thought, "Wow what an easy day!"  He woke up on the way home and it took over an hour and a half of rocking, pacifying, and love to get him to sleep.  Poor little guy, he was such a champ all day and finally it began to take a toll on him.  He's such a wonderful little boy and he is giving me the cutest, biggest gummi smiles right now.  It's almost time for him to eat again.

We ate at a cafe called Trio this morning.  Delicious coffee, but not better than the Morning Brew!  I promise next time to take pictures of the good stuff next time.  So fun to back in the land down under and have the energy to go and see things.  The last time I was here all I wanted to do was sleep!

Checking out the menu at Trio

Uncle Nige

I love all the cafe culture in Sydney.

11:52 am.  Nainoa accidentally punched me in the face for the first time. Ouch.  Time to head into town!  I love my little cutie pie!