Adventures in Cheyenne!
We just returned from a long weekend in Cheyenne, Wyoming! I am going to recount mostly Audrey's first airplane rides but I'll include pictures of some fun things we did in Wyoming :)
July 5 - Our morning was pretty typical; Audrey was right on schedule with her wakings, feedings, and naps. At about 12:30, we were all packed and headed out to Ontario International Airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30 but we figured we'd be fighting crowds with it being 4th of July weekend. The parking lot was barely full... there was one person ahead of us at the check in... and nobody in line at security. Yet, our flight was fully booked.
My plan was to schedule Audrey's nursings so that I could nurse her during take off. I also packed an empty sippy cup which I filled with water for her to suck on during landing. I had heard that one of the main causes of babies crying is that their ears hurt. Since they don't know how to pop their ears themselves, giving them something to suck on is best. Audrey doesn't take a pacifier so nursing and the sippy cup were my best options.
Before boarding, we let Audrey crawl around and explore to her heart's content. She looked out the window and pointed at all the airport staff working on the ground getting the planes ready for take off and she loves crawling around on the carpet. Audrey is such an explorer! Bring her to a new place and give her the freedom to roam and boy does she!
We boarded towards the end of the boarding process, which was better because that meant less time sitting on a stuffy plane waiting to get going. Audrey made a bit of a fuss during the short time we were waiting. However, I strategically packed a new toy for her so I introduced it to calm her down. It's a Fisher Price "camera" and she loved it!
As the plane started to taxi and I sat in my nursing cover up, I started getting a little nervous about how to smoothly get Audrey ready to nurse. I was also nervous about starting too soon or too late. In this case, I started too soon but it wasn't really my fault. We had gotten to the runway but we were delayed by other planes. My worry subsided as I was able to switch sides and get Audrey consistently nursing through the whole take off. I think the sound of the jet engines plus the nursing was enough to lull Audrey to sleep. She slept for the first 30 minutes in the air.
When she awoke, she was bright-eyed and bushy tailed! Not one fuss for the rest of the flight! She played with her toy camera, flipped through the in-flight magazines, examined the emergency exit procedure pamphlet, enjoyed turning her socks into puppets, and munched on some cheerios. As we landed, she sucked on her sippy cup of water and was obvlivious to the fact that we had touched back down. The woman sitting next to us said, "That's the way to fly!" (there were three to a row - Jeff was in the aisle, I was in the middle)
I was so pleased with how well Audrey handled herself on her first plane ride! I doubt my preparations had that much to do with it - we are so blessed to have a baby that is content in entertaining herself with the most mundane of items (socks? magazines?!) I think it also helped that we planned her schedule, Jeff & I kept as cool and calm as possible, and we gave her lots of wiggle time before boarding. Yey!
July 8 - Audrey woke us up early so we could get ready to leave Cheyenne, Wyoming by 8:30am. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30 but we had a two hour drive from Cheyenne to the airport in Denver.
Once again, I planned Audrey's morning accordingly. She nursed early, had some breakfast, and we kept her awake and active until it was time to get in the car. Then she napped for an hour and 20 minutes of our 2 hour drive. This seemed to be just enough time for her to wake up refreshed and ready to see all the sights of Denver airport!
As Jeff predicted, the airport was really crowded (being that it was the end of the long 4th of July weekend). We waited in a long line to check in, during which Audrey played with one of her stuffed animals and mostly looked around and smiled at people. We waited in a long line at security, during which I gave Audrey some puff crackers to snack on and she continued to smile at people. We got to ride a really fast train to our terminal. That was fun! Audrey liked it too :)
When we got to our gate, we had about 40 minutes before boarding began (and yes, we did arrive two hours before our departure time!). I was debating whether or not to nurse Audrey before getting on the plane. The day before, she had weaned herself down to only 3 feedings. Her first feeding of this day was at 4:30am (I kept my watch on California time). It was now nearing 11:30am! I felt like this was a long time between feedings but she didn't fuss at all or look hungry to me. So, I stretched it as long as I could by entertaining her at the gate. Once again we looked out the window and pointed to and waved at the workers; Audrey made friends with a 6 month old baby; she crawled around a lot; Daddy took her on one of those moving walking platform things a couple of times.
Again we boarded towards the end of the boarding time and again Audrey fussed in the seat. This time, no toy was going to calm her down. I knew this meant she was ready to nurse. I worried that she would finish before we even took off so my back up plan was to feed her some food from a food pouch as we continued to take off. Yet once again, my worries fell by the wayside as a.) Audrey nursed for a longer than usual time and b.) we took off a lot sooner than I expected. And once again, she slept during the first 30 minutes of the flight!
When she woke up, again she was bright-eyed and bushy tailed! I fed her her lunch since it was now 12:30 - she ate from one of those super convenient pouches! You open the top and can just feed her straight from the nozzle - no spoons, no mess, no hassle! She also snacked on some cheerios. She then kept herself entertained with her socks, the in-flight magazines, the overhead light, a complimentary headphone set, and the buttons for changing the channels for said headphones. No fuss at all!
During the landing, she sucked on a sippy cup of water and chomped some puff crackers. Once we had landed and were at the gate, we had to wait a long time since our seats were towards the back of the plane. Still, Audrey did great! She just kept smiling at people :)
I'm so happy with how this trip went! Jeff & I agree that we'd be happy to travel with Audrey like this again!
~*~ Traveling from Ontario ~*~
~*~ Cousin Playtime ~*~
~*~ Exploring Cheyenne ~*~
~*~ Family ~*~
~*~ Aunt Meg & Uncle Jeff with Evelyn ~*~
~*~ Travel from Cheyenne ~*~
July 5 - Our morning was pretty typical; Audrey was right on schedule with her wakings, feedings, and naps. At about 12:30, we were all packed and headed out to Ontario International Airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30 but we figured we'd be fighting crowds with it being 4th of July weekend. The parking lot was barely full... there was one person ahead of us at the check in... and nobody in line at security. Yet, our flight was fully booked.
My plan was to schedule Audrey's nursings so that I could nurse her during take off. I also packed an empty sippy cup which I filled with water for her to suck on during landing. I had heard that one of the main causes of babies crying is that their ears hurt. Since they don't know how to pop their ears themselves, giving them something to suck on is best. Audrey doesn't take a pacifier so nursing and the sippy cup were my best options.
Before boarding, we let Audrey crawl around and explore to her heart's content. She looked out the window and pointed at all the airport staff working on the ground getting the planes ready for take off and she loves crawling around on the carpet. Audrey is such an explorer! Bring her to a new place and give her the freedom to roam and boy does she!
We boarded towards the end of the boarding process, which was better because that meant less time sitting on a stuffy plane waiting to get going. Audrey made a bit of a fuss during the short time we were waiting. However, I strategically packed a new toy for her so I introduced it to calm her down. It's a Fisher Price "camera" and she loved it!
As the plane started to taxi and I sat in my nursing cover up, I started getting a little nervous about how to smoothly get Audrey ready to nurse. I was also nervous about starting too soon or too late. In this case, I started too soon but it wasn't really my fault. We had gotten to the runway but we were delayed by other planes. My worry subsided as I was able to switch sides and get Audrey consistently nursing through the whole take off. I think the sound of the jet engines plus the nursing was enough to lull Audrey to sleep. She slept for the first 30 minutes in the air.
When she awoke, she was bright-eyed and bushy tailed! Not one fuss for the rest of the flight! She played with her toy camera, flipped through the in-flight magazines, examined the emergency exit procedure pamphlet, enjoyed turning her socks into puppets, and munched on some cheerios. As we landed, she sucked on her sippy cup of water and was obvlivious to the fact that we had touched back down. The woman sitting next to us said, "That's the way to fly!" (there were three to a row - Jeff was in the aisle, I was in the middle)
I was so pleased with how well Audrey handled herself on her first plane ride! I doubt my preparations had that much to do with it - we are so blessed to have a baby that is content in entertaining herself with the most mundane of items (socks? magazines?!) I think it also helped that we planned her schedule, Jeff & I kept as cool and calm as possible, and we gave her lots of wiggle time before boarding. Yey!
July 8 - Audrey woke us up early so we could get ready to leave Cheyenne, Wyoming by 8:30am. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30 but we had a two hour drive from Cheyenne to the airport in Denver.
Once again, I planned Audrey's morning accordingly. She nursed early, had some breakfast, and we kept her awake and active until it was time to get in the car. Then she napped for an hour and 20 minutes of our 2 hour drive. This seemed to be just enough time for her to wake up refreshed and ready to see all the sights of Denver airport!
As Jeff predicted, the airport was really crowded (being that it was the end of the long 4th of July weekend). We waited in a long line to check in, during which Audrey played with one of her stuffed animals and mostly looked around and smiled at people. We waited in a long line at security, during which I gave Audrey some puff crackers to snack on and she continued to smile at people. We got to ride a really fast train to our terminal. That was fun! Audrey liked it too :)
When we got to our gate, we had about 40 minutes before boarding began (and yes, we did arrive two hours before our departure time!). I was debating whether or not to nurse Audrey before getting on the plane. The day before, she had weaned herself down to only 3 feedings. Her first feeding of this day was at 4:30am (I kept my watch on California time). It was now nearing 11:30am! I felt like this was a long time between feedings but she didn't fuss at all or look hungry to me. So, I stretched it as long as I could by entertaining her at the gate. Once again we looked out the window and pointed to and waved at the workers; Audrey made friends with a 6 month old baby; she crawled around a lot; Daddy took her on one of those moving walking platform things a couple of times.
Again we boarded towards the end of the boarding time and again Audrey fussed in the seat. This time, no toy was going to calm her down. I knew this meant she was ready to nurse. I worried that she would finish before we even took off so my back up plan was to feed her some food from a food pouch as we continued to take off. Yet once again, my worries fell by the wayside as a.) Audrey nursed for a longer than usual time and b.) we took off a lot sooner than I expected. And once again, she slept during the first 30 minutes of the flight!
When she woke up, again she was bright-eyed and bushy tailed! I fed her her lunch since it was now 12:30 - she ate from one of those super convenient pouches! You open the top and can just feed her straight from the nozzle - no spoons, no mess, no hassle! She also snacked on some cheerios. She then kept herself entertained with her socks, the in-flight magazines, the overhead light, a complimentary headphone set, and the buttons for changing the channels for said headphones. No fuss at all!
During the landing, she sucked on a sippy cup of water and chomped some puff crackers. Once we had landed and were at the gate, we had to wait a long time since our seats were towards the back of the plane. Still, Audrey did great! She just kept smiling at people :)
I'm so happy with how this trip went! Jeff & I agree that we'd be happy to travel with Audrey like this again!
~*~ Traveling from Ontario ~*~
~*~ Cousin Playtime ~*~
~*~ Exploring Cheyenne ~*~
~*~ Family ~*~
~*~ Aunt Meg & Uncle Jeff with Evelyn ~*~
~*~ Travel from Cheyenne ~*~
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