Leaving on a Jet Plane (don't forget to pack extra clothes)

Last fall my husband and I took our three kids on a plane ride to CA to visit my husband’s grandparents and to take in some National Parks. The trip itself is worthy of a post, someday, but for now I’ll just share about our flight out there….

It seems obvious that when flying with three kids under 3 you bring a lot of stuff. We knew we would have to change flights half way so we tried to keep things to a minimum. The hardest part was maneuvering through the airports with our hands full of kids, toys, car seats, food…. We got quite a few stares as we were standing in line at security. I am sure people were thinking, “Please let them not be on my flight!!” Going through security was a bit stressful (had to wake the sleeping baby) and I was really glad we had not brought any more junk.

Getting onto the flight wasn’t too bad. The flight itself, really wasn’t that bad either. The kids were pretty well behaved. Except…

About an hour into our 5 hr flight the baby pooped. Let me tell you, it was the mother load. Picture my husband squatting in the aisle as he changes her diaper which has exploded all over her onesie, all the way up her back. There is no good place on a plane to change a diaper. She pretty much got a sponge bath right there in the isle and the poor lady next to my husband was kind enough to hand him wipe after wipe from the dispenser. I really don’t know what we would have done if she were not so understanding. Poop was everywhere

Remember how I said we had packed light? I didn’t pack a spare onesie in the diaper bag (rookie mistake… I know). My poor baby spent the rest of the day topless with just a diaper and pants. We wrapped her in a blanket to try to keep her warm, it was no way to travel with a baby. I was feeling pretty self conscious in the airport about the fact that I was walking around with a half naked baby. I kept saying really loudly, “You poor baby, it stinks that you pooped in your clothes.” I thought this would show those in earshot that I didn’t intentionally dress her this way and perhaps it would persuade them that I am not TOO HORRIBLE of a mother.

In Sacramento, we had to spend a good amount of time in the baggage claim area working out issues with the airline because they had lost our infant seat. During this time we changed ANOTHER exploded diaper.. bye bye pants, our poor baby was down to just a diaper… thankfully we could just open up our suitcase and change her in the baggage claim office while filling out paper work. What a great picture, huh?

Packing minimally is WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME… when flying with an infant, no matter how much stuff you’re already lugging onto the plane, PACK THE EXTRA SET OF CLOTHES in your carry on.

For more lessons learned from others, check out Rocks in My Dryer this week for What Doesn’t Work For Me.