Babies on a Plane!

Last week was our first family trip. The destination: Los Angeles. 6 hour flight with our almost 11month old boys. Did you ever recall watching an old sitcom or cartoon when someone boards a flight or a bus and there is always a rowdy kid kicking the back of someone's seat who is trying hard to not lose his/her patience? [I was thinking of an episode of The Jetsons about "Re-crayola"..google it]. Anyway, well it turns out those cliches we were often exposed to in the 80s about little children traveling were based off some reality. Little Gray didn't give a fuck. He wanted no part in me holding him and he was letting me and the guy sitting in front of me know it. Since the boys can't walk yet, they are used to playing and crawling on the floor all day and on this flight they were a bit restless and didn't want to be held for the entire 6 hours. To make matters worse, the arm rests were locked down in place and the flight attendants were stumped as to why. So there we were with 3 seats all to ourselves and each of us holding a baby. So when it came time to take off, we gave them a bottle to make sure they were sucking on something so their ears wouldn't pop and they quickly fell asleep in our arms....like little angels...and me and lisa breathed a sigh of relief that they were actually asleep...and then....20minutes later they woke up...and were even more rowdy and amped up as before. They were awake for maybe another 3 hours. There was an old couple sitting in front of us who seemed a bit bothered with our little ones. Now they weren't throwing tantrums or anything like that. They were just doing their usual baby shtick...grunting, laughing, playing with each other...an occasional whine and 5sec cry but nothing crazy. The old woman turned to Lisa and complained about her moving her seat. Lisa wasn't having it and quickly snapped back at the rude lady. Half hour later, her and her husband changed seats. It was hilarious actually, definitely the highlight of the trip. Haha yes, we were definitely THAT family on a plane. And not only that, it seemed like a very quiet group of travelers on the plane so any noise the boys made seemed amplified and I was mortified. It was exhausting trying to hold them for so many hours and keep them content and from being loud. But it seemed like the more we tried to quiet them down, the louder they got. So finally about 4 hours pass and they're asleep finally. I dozed off for a few and suddenly woke up and didn't feel so great. I turned to Lisa and told her I felt lightheaded and about 10 seconds later, I blacked out and fainted in my seat. I was in and out. I was also holding a sleeping Jericho in my arms. Lisa called the flight attendant and told them the situation. She remained very calm but I could tell she was scared. I was terrified because I didn't want to drop Jericho and I was thinking about who would be able to help us if I really pass out. And in the middle of all this, I realized I didn't eat anything since 730am and it was now 3pm...bad news. So I put Jericho down and he woke up and started crying. Gray woke up and started crying. My lips were pale and I had a cold sweat going. The flight attendant gave me a chicken wrap and I took a few bites and felt much better. Holy shit, lesson learned. I must eat before the flight and pack snacks! Why didn't I eat when they were serving snacks you might ask? Because holding either boys while eating ANYTHING is damn near impossible. They will reach for anything in my hands and would totally make a mess. They're quick little humans you know.

In any case we made it there safely. The purpose of the trip was to just get away but also introduce the boys to a plane ride. However with parenting, I've learned that its usually about the PARENTS getting used to something new, not necessarily the children.

How was the flight back? Well as I said to Lisa when we got to LA, "It can't get any worse cuz that shit was a nightmare!"And it was a lot better. We were in the Economy Plus area so we had more leg room for our bags. We were sitting behind a mom and her kids and she pleasantly made conversation with Lisa and told her to not worry about the boys crying and she totally understands. A little boy across the aisle who was probably around 5 was playing with Gray, showing him his action figures. And a nice old couple told us we were doing a great job and the boys also did amazing [they must've been sitting WAYYY in the back hahaha]. I was also able to do some reading on the plane and watched a soothing episode of Bob Ross while the boys were napping. Something I was totally not able to do on the plane ride going there.

It was definitely quite an experience for me. One that I was happy to have gone through over a 6 hour flight than say...a 20 hour flight to the Philippines which we will be embarking on next year. Yikes!

Below are some pics of the plane ride. I was even able to snap a pic of the mean old lady haha.