Lily's First Plane Ride

I guarantee the anticipation for Lily's first flight was way harder on me then little Lily. She frankly could have cared less. Give her a bottle and everyone in the airports undivided attention and she was good to go. I will admit I was stressing over this flight for weeks now and had not decided if I would even bring her with me. My mom and family (and a few clients) were giving me a lot of grief about it and insisted that I bring her. The deciding factor was my mom flew to Portland for a couple days and was able to fly back with us. Thank Goodness. If I can give any advice the first would be to NOT fly alone your first try with an infant. Yes it can be done alone...But it was so nice to have the extra set of hands and someone to make sure everything went smoothly. I am an expert flyer but throwing a baby in the mix just makes everything more complicated.

First things first if you have never flown with an infant: Make sure you add them to your ticket. Dont ask me how...I didnt know if I was bringing her when I booked my ticket so they had to fix me at the counter. They had a ticket/tag for Lily as well. The one thing I was thankful for was being told to bring a copy of Lily's Birth Certificate. I would not have known to do that....and I was asked for it as soon as I got to the counter. Usually they need one to prove that your child is still a "lap" baby. Clearly Lily is...but they still asked for it. Do not forget that one! And I would bring it no matter what. One airport may not ask for it but then another could and you could be stuck at a random airport arguing with them (or paying money).

I was so happy that we had TSA's in a chipper mood in Portland. They were making us laugh. First I had to break down Lily's stroller and put it on the belt. Uh...Yeah...I have Lily in one arm and the stroller probably weighs more than me. How the heck am I supposed to manage that? Fear not...The big heavy (which made it even funnier) HOPPED (literally) over the belt to assist. "Here need a hand with that Miss". So funny. We walk through the xray and wait for our bags to come through. And poor Lily's bag has to get rescanned and hand checked. Now...Remember I am an expert flyer...So I know what I am not allowed to bring on the plane. But did my brain even think about what Lily was not allowed? No. I packed the diaper bag just as I would. A nice unopened bottle of water for her formula and a big bottle of hand sanitizer. Oops. Neither of which are allowed through security. Oddly enough NEITHER was taken away. They old man missing a few teeth was hilarious while he looked everything over. It seems you are allowed to bring formula on the plane. But I just had powder in bottles ready to mix with the bottle of water when it was time. Thank you toothless man...You were funny and nice not to take away Lily's goodies. She didnt know any better :)

We pushed LIly in the stroller all the way to the gate (stroller gets checked at the end of the jetway) and she was as happy as could be. Squealing and talking so that everyone at the gate could hear her loud and clear. I wonder where she gets that from? LOL. She was quite the attention grabber. At least she wasnt crying right? As we are waiting in line to get on the plane Lily starts dozing off...and by the time we sit...She was out! Now I did not get on the plane empty handed. I came stocked up with my Southwest Free Drink Coupons. I passed them to the men behind us and said no getting mad if my baby cries! ha ha. Lucky for me Lily did not make a peep and as soon as we touched ground her eyes opened.

So we made it safe and sound with no real problems.....But I will still say traveling with an infant is a pain and can be a bit stressful. Somehow we all survive and its always fine in the end. I guess its the same with raising kids :) LOL

We fly home tonight at 10pm so hopefully LIly will sleep again and make the ride home peaceful. I will be on this flight alone so I also hope I have kind TSA and a helpful person on the flight who can lift my bag up for, Two carry ons plus LIly is a bit hard!

Here are a couple quick shots:

Waiting to get on plane...



Just landed...





~Whitney