When my son was 3 months old, the military transferred my husband from Maryland to Oklahoma City. Talk about a culture shock, but that’s a story for another day. I was so sad to be leaving my family in Maryland but vowed that I would travel back with my baby often and we did just that. Was it always easy, no, it was never easy for me to fly solo with a little one… mostly because I’m super high strung. But I learned several lessons from those experiences and what it all boils down to is: you just need to go for it! I was stuck in my own head and was so worried about what other people would think of my baby crying. I was so worried that he would bother other passengers but now that I am on the other side I can say-no one cares! Here is a snippet of our experiences:
I remember flying solo with an infant, a car seat, a stroller, a pump, a diaper bag, a book bag, and all the baby things. They said it would get easier and yet that thought seemed inconceivable at the time. But for some reason, we kept flying.
I remember getting to the airport hours in advance to make sure we had time. The stress, the planning, the prep-but we kept flying.
I remember pacing up and down the airport corridors hoping he would fall asleep. I remember being exhausted by the time we boarded-but we kept flying.
I remember timing flights around feeding schedules. Talk about limited options…but we kept flying.
I remember sitting at the wrong gate so I wouldn’t get dirty looks from the passengers we were about to board the plane with. What a logistical nightmare-but we kept flying.
I remember handing him to a stranger for help after he cried for hours. I felt like a terrible mom who couldn’t control her child and just needed a break-but we kept flying.
I remember changing his diaper in the tiniest bathroom ever! There was never enough space and so many times it was my fault we went through 2 outfits. But we kept flying.
remember the 1-year-old who threw his shoes in the toilet 30K feet up! I was so annoyed, but we kept flying.
I remember the 2-year-old who told everyone he had to poop every 5 minutes which resulted in a million trips to the restroom. In hindsight that was pretty funny but not at the time -but we kept flying.
I remember the 3-year-old who yelled we were going to die every time the flight attendant started the announcements. Totally embarrassed-but we kept flying.
I remember the 4-year-old who wouldn’t sit still… up and down and up and down while kicking seats…exhausting…but we kept flying.
They said it would get easier and for years I didn’t see it. Now I see it and I’m so glad we kept flying! So perhaps this analogy is corny, but I can’t get it out of my head so maybe someone needs to read this. No matter how bad things seem right now-it will get better- and all the stress and worry and anxiety will seem like such a distant memory a few years from now!
If you are struggling, please- just keep flying, literally and figuratively.
If you are on the fence about traveling with little ones-just do it! You can do it and if you struggle in the moment, it will all be worth it-one day! The memories my son and I made together are priceless.
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