I had already showered and been ready by that point, and the next hour was spent getting Sully ready. Getting puked on. Getting Sully ready again. Packing up the car. And finally we hit the road and arrived at the airport just shy of 5 AM.
Amazingly enough, there were already lines. And of course, even at the ass-crack of dawn, Sully was a rockstar, smiling and charming everyone within a 25 ft radius. The kid has super powers. No one is ever rude or annoying when he's around.
Going through security was surprisingly easy. Sully was hanging out in the ErgoBaby, and I didn't even have to take him out. We made it through in about five minutes and waited to board.
I was pretty nervous about flying with Sully. He'd been sick, was still not 100% better, and we were going to be over 20,000 feet up in the air, stuck in a little chair with zero leg room and a tiny aisle that his diaper bag could barely fit through. And he was sitting in my lap. Soooo, even less room.
But it went just fine. I sat next to a guy who had his two boys there (they were around 7 and 9 if I had to guess), and he kinda talked me down from my train-wreckishness when Sully started fussing. He said nobody really cared, and if they did, they should remember that they were babies once too. He also said Sully would probably behave better than his kids, so I had nothing to worry about. Haha.
Sully slept a little, then awoke to make noises and raspberries as loud as he could, earning him some pilot's wings, and we landed in one piece. Okay.
I can do this!
At that point, I wasn't nervous anymore. There was a guy that kept looking back at me on the second flight because Sully refused to be mature and use his six inch voice. Sorry. There's only so much you can do for an eight month old. Sometimes, they are just gunna do what they're gunna do.
The flights back were much easier. Sully slept the whole first flight and he just hung out and played the second flight. People were surprised that there was a baby on board. He farted a few times, earning a surprised look from the guy sitting next me. If you've heard Sully fart, you know he sounds like a grown-ass man, so it wasn't exactly hidden under the roar of the plane's engine.
"Excuse you!!", I said, laughing out loud. They probably thought it was me, because how can that sound come from such a little butt?
Of course, he still charmed all the passengers sitting around us, smiling at one lady and turning the huge dude next to us into a pile of goo. He even let Sully play with his watch. With Sully around, my faith in humanity rises a few notches.
All in all, it went very well. Thank goodness for the ErgoBaby. Would choose it over a stroller any day because I have access to my two hands that were essential to carry our bag and our tickets.
A couple of things I'm glad I brought, in case you plan to travel with a baby soon...
- A couple of extra onesies.
- Sani-Hands - these little sanitary wipes for kids (like hand sanitizer in a towel)
- Extra formula (what if we got delayed?? Gave me peace of mind.)
- Binkie (kept his ears from popping)
- Harry Potter (I'm reading it to Sully, so I could either do that if he got fussy, or read if he fell asleep.)
- A sweater for Sully - it's summer, but those airplanes get freakin cold after just a few minutes.
- Binkie wipes (You won't always have easy access to rinse those damn things off)
Now we've got the real test - our flight to Texas in just a couple of weeks. Thank goodness Sully's daddy will be there. Could you imagine a 3+ hour flight with a baby? By yourself? In a little uncomfortable chair? We'll be able to play "Pass the Sully Bear" and keep him happy between the two of us. I hope.
Cheers!!
