Hey there friends!
We did the big trip with little Lance! Its wasn't a cake walk with him, but far easier than expected. The plane ride was the biggest concern. Here's what helped us out: 1) Of course, thank goodness for nursing, during take off and landing worked like a charm. 2) Baby Einstein Mozart, Bach, Beethoven videos on the laptop during flight an excellent distraction. 3) Luck of the draw, we were seated in a row of three with an extra seat so we put the baby on the seat between us on a miniature boppy like pillow and played with a bunch of different toys, when he wasn't sleeping. He only fussed minimally. We took the "red eye" flight overnight on the return flight and he just slept the whole way! 4) I located a local baby sitter on craig'slist. We emailed back and forth and I checked her references before we went out. Then we went to her house and met her before we agreed to leave him with her. She turned out to be wonderful and reasonable with her fees. We were able to go and snorkel and explore the island a few times and even go out to dinner, alone, because of her. If anyone needs her information for the same purpose I would gladly recommend her! 5) Finally, he would go to sleep around 2 or 3 pm there because of the time difference. We were staying in a safe, gated condo community on the beach, so we used our cell phones as a monitoring method so we could go out by the pool or beach which was 50 yards from our back door. We'd leave one cell phone next to him on speaker phone as he was sleeping and then take the other with us. It worked great and we got to be out of the condo, close by, in the evenings to watch the ocean and sunsets etc.!
Anyway, all it was a great trip and I'm glad I didn't let my fears of baby disaster keep us from going! Its just a lesson that you can live life to the fullest, even with small children in tow, using creativity and trust as your guide as you figure out the best way to make that living possible.
Plus, my little guy is just awesome! Yay Lance!
We did the big trip with little Lance! Its wasn't a cake walk with him, but far easier than expected. The plane ride was the biggest concern. Here's what helped us out: 1) Of course, thank goodness for nursing, during take off and landing worked like a charm. 2) Baby Einstein Mozart, Bach, Beethoven videos on the laptop during flight an excellent distraction. 3) Luck of the draw, we were seated in a row of three with an extra seat so we put the baby on the seat between us on a miniature boppy like pillow and played with a bunch of different toys, when he wasn't sleeping. He only fussed minimally. We took the "red eye" flight overnight on the return flight and he just slept the whole way! 4) I located a local baby sitter on craig'slist. We emailed back and forth and I checked her references before we went out. Then we went to her house and met her before we agreed to leave him with her. She turned out to be wonderful and reasonable with her fees. We were able to go and snorkel and explore the island a few times and even go out to dinner, alone, because of her. If anyone needs her information for the same purpose I would gladly recommend her! 5) Finally, he would go to sleep around 2 or 3 pm there because of the time difference. We were staying in a safe, gated condo community on the beach, so we used our cell phones as a monitoring method so we could go out by the pool or beach which was 50 yards from our back door. We'd leave one cell phone next to him on speaker phone as he was sleeping and then take the other with us. It worked great and we got to be out of the condo, close by, in the evenings to watch the ocean and sunsets etc.!
Anyway, all it was a great trip and I'm glad I didn't let my fears of baby disaster keep us from going! Its just a lesson that you can live life to the fullest, even with small children in tow, using creativity and trust as your guide as you figure out the best way to make that living possible.
Plus, my little guy is just awesome! Yay Lance!
