Disney Trip Part One

Did you wonder what happened to me?  Well, remember that half marathon I was training for so pathetically?  I finally did it!  And since it was the Disney Princess Half Marathon, we decided to do Disney World too and visit Evan's godparents in Tampa for a day.  I decided to break the posts up because I have a lot to say.  So, I'll start with Friday.

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We headed out to Orlando on Friday morning.  I had initially bought tickets for later in the day but then realized that it would be good to have that entire day to check into the hotel, visit the race expo, and get settled.  So, I booked us on the first flight out of Baltimore at 6:20am.  That meant I had to get up at 3am so I could get everyone ready to leave by 4am.  Seems a bit early but it's a 30 minute drive to the airport and then we had to park in long term parking, which means another 30 minutes to get to the airport. And when I am traveling with Evan I like to make sure I give myself an extra half hour to check-in and go through security.  I was a bit exhausted because, just like every other trip, I was packing at the last minute and washing up the dishes, etc.  I didn't go to bed until 12:30am...so got a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep.  Nice.  Luckily for me, and everyone else, I am still a pretty pleasant and positive person on two hours of sleep.

The first flight was pretty easy.  Evan didn't fall asleep like I thought he would, but he wasn't too crazy either.  We only had 20 minutes to find our connecting flight so we booked it out of that plane and ran two gates (yeah, it was close) to find our flight to Orlando.  We boarded that plane with no problems and still got seats next to each other, only to find out that there was bad weather on the way to Orlando and our flight was delayed an hour and a half.  Boo.

Southwest, being the amazing airlines that they are, let us off the plane and we got something to eat.  Well, Ivan did,  I wasn't ravenous like he was.  After the delay had passed we boarded again and headed out.  Evan, of course, finally fell asleep 20 minutes before the plane landed.  

Since we were staying at a Disney Resort we got a complimentary shuttle to the hotel.  And it wasn't your regular run of the mill shuttle, it was a Disney shuttle with great perks.  The best perk was that you didn't have to pick up your luggage.  When I reserved our spot on the shuttle they sent me special luggage tags to put on our checked luggage.  We walked right from our flight to the shuttle and Disney got all of the luggage and had it delivered to the room.  We did pick up Ivan's golf clubs though, because he had a tee time at 2:30pm and needed them right away.

Now, let's focus on that tee time for a second.  We were supposed to arrive at 10:30am giving us plenty of time to get to the hotel before Ivan needed to get to the golf course.  Except our flight was delayed.  So we didn't get to the hotel until close to 1:30pm.  This would have been fine except Ivan was golfing with a friend of ours who had moved to Tampa (Evan's godfather) and he was supposed to pick him up.  Well, Mark was running late and wasn't there yet.  So Ivan waited with me as I check in and then we ran to the food court to get Ivan some food.  Although he had had a bite to eat at the Atlanta airport, he was starving.  And if you want to know what hangry looks like, it's my husband after not eating for hours.  Add that to the fact that he was going to be late for his tee time (which he hates), and it was a recipe for short tempers and lack of patience.  I figured the best plan of action was to get Ivan food stat.  Right as we get the food Mark arrives so Ivan takes a few bites and then runs to meet him and head to the golf course.  He was playing at the Magnolia Golf Course, one of the Disney courses and was super excited.  They ended up having a great time, in case you were wondering.

Source: Disney

With Ivan off golfing, Evan and I checked out our hotel.  It was awesome!!  We had decided to stay at a Disney Value Resort because it offered the best transportation to the race and wasn't too pricey.  They have a selection of value resorts that are actually a good value.  They would have been a better value if I had booked them during the winter special when I initially looked at them, but I made our reservation the next day.  Huge bummer.

Source: Disney

Our hotel was Pop Century, basically a homage to pop culture throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.  It was so fun!!  I picked it because I had remembered Whitney talking about how she loved Art of Animation (another value resort) and that her second option would have been Pop Century.  Well, Art of Animation was sold out so I figured Pop Century was a safe bet.  And Whitney was right, it was as great as she thought it would be.  Evan loved walking around and looking at all the pop culture items.

Giant fuseball with the big wheel in the back.

 It was kind of rainy the day we checked in, so most of the photos are cloudy/rainy.

Evan playing Twister - I think it would have been really fun to play this for real!

In front of the huge big wheel - so fun!

Evan LOVED this display and threw a fit if we walked by without stopping.

Trying to get into the car - it was kind of the perfect height for him (but the door didn't actually open)!

Roger Rabbit!!!  That was our building on the left.

We stayed in the 80s building - which is awesome since I am a child of the 80s!  I think it was also one of the cheapest building because it was the farthest away from the hotel lobby - at least a ten minute walk.

Our room was pretty basic, but still nice.  We didn't plan on hanging out in the room all day, so a basic room was just right.

Source: Disney

 This wasn't our room exactly (because let's face it, our room was a disaster about two seconds after we got in), but it gives you an idea of what it looked like.  Very simple, garden-style, but still comfortable.  And every room had a table with two chairs and a fridge, which was great.

Source: Disney

The bathroom was nice too, nothing spectacular but plenty of space and very clean.  The only thing I was disappointed about was they only gave you soap and a shampoo/conditioner.  I know, a frivolous complaint, but I would have liked some lotion.  And I was spoiled staying at the Hyatt during my last business trip where they gave us baby shampoo, baby lotion, and baby powder.  I guess you don't get those perks in a value resort.  I didn't bring any shampoo or lotion so I ended up using my face lotion on my body! 

After we got settled a bit and walked around, Evan and I headed over to the race expo.  It was at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex.  There was a shuttle from the hotel (another good reason for staying at a Disney Resort) and so Evan and I hopped on and went to get our race numbers!  The race expo wasn't anything different from other race expos (except for it was SUPER packed) and it was well organized and easy to find everything.

Blurry photo of race expo

The only confusing thing was that there were a variety of different races going on so I had to keep looking for the half marathon and kid races, rather than the 5k, 10k, or Glass Slipper (the 10k + half marathon).  I successfully got Evan's race number and my race number and then got sucked into the expo and bought a Skinny Sparkle Black Bic Band and a Nathan Handheld SpeedDraw Plus water bottle (I had forgotten mine and was a bit nervous about running in the heat and humidity without it, since I had been training in below-freezing temps for months).

What really shocked me was my corral.  Disney Princess Half Marathon specifically said that you had to send in a 10k time within the past year to get placed in a corral.  If you didn't send a time in you would be placed in the very last corral and there would be no changing and no sneaking into other corrals.  I didn't end up doing a race beforehand and had assumed I'd be in the last corral (which was P) - I was a bit sad because I'd heard I could start over an hour after everyone else and plus I had thought it would be fun to run with my sister (she was afraid to start in the last corral because she wasn't sure how fast she could finish and didn't want to get picked up in the bus).  When I went to pick up my race number I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was actually in corral C.  WHAT!!!???  I had put on my form that I was hoping to run the half in under 2 hours so maybe they took that into consideration?  Who knows, but it was a nice surprise.  I wasn't going to be last and I could run with my sister!!!

Evan and I took our time heading back to the hotel and I let him stop and touch a bunch of trees (his favorite thing ever).

And he let me take a photo too!

This is what I look like on 2.5 hours of sleep and after a few plane rides.

We got back to the hotel and I put Evan down for a short nap (it was already 6pm!!) until the boys finished golfing.  Then we headed to dinner.  I ended up buying a Disney Dining Plan (definitely a good idea) and it came with one table-service meal a day.  I wanted to have a decent table-service experience so I made a reservation at Boma's - Flavors of Africa, which is located in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  I made my reservations at the last minute so a lot of places were already booked and had no availability.

Source: Disney

It was buffet-style and I thought that that was the best option for us because then we could eat as much as we wanted and we wouldn't need to head out for more food.  Of course having a 7:45pm reservation would probably have eliminated that problem anyway, but oh well.  I also figured buffets are easier for Ivan because he can look at all the food and try different things.  I loved the restaurant and thought the food was delicious.  Ivan, not being into African flavors, thought it was just ok.  I was tired of eating Mexican and Chinese food though (what we eat at home all the time), so I wanted to get something different.  It was a success!

Evan was a bit tired and a tad bit uncooperative, so that was interesting, but other than that it was a great time!

And Animal Kingdom Lodge was beautiful!!!

Source: Disney

We could never afford to stay there, and even if we could I'm not sure we'd spend the money because then I'd want to hang out at the hotel all day and not do Disney - but it was fun to look around.

And that concludes our first day.  See, aren't you glad I decided to break this up into a bunch of posts - this was way too long and it was just day one!!!!  Congrats if you made it all the way to the end!!!

Stay tuned for Day Two!!!

There's Sleeping and then there's no sleeping

Going through my photos I think I forgot to tell you about Valentine's Day.  Don't get too excited because we didn't do anything too amazing, but I did do a little something fun.  I made pink pancakes!  I was trying to make Valentine's a little special so we could start a few traditions around holidays, but I couldn't get as organized as I wanted.  Maybe next year.  However, I did see a recipe for beet pancakes that turned the batter pink and I thought that sounded fun.

I think I needed to put more beets in there because it was only slightly pink, but it was still fun.  They turned out just fine and you couldn't even taste the beet flavor at all (good thing because I HATE beets with a passion).

This was our meal.  We are completely out of maple syrup (hint hint mom) and so all we had left was that tiny drop.  I can tell you that Evan ate about three bites and was done, of course.  He ate well for like three days a few weeks ago and then went back to his normal pattern of not eating.  I am hoping it's just because his molars are coming in.  I also bought Ivan new slippers and a back scratcher.  We don't normally do presents for each other but since we didn't do Christmas I thought I would surprise him with those two fun gifts.

I made Evan Valentine's cards to pass out but something got in our delivery way...

and

All the snow we got made it impossible to get out and deliver them so now I have to mail them and I have no stamps.  So they will all be very late (except the ones I made for my coworkers because I handed them out on Tuesday).

On a different note, look what we did to our bed.

Can you tell it's on the floor??  Yup, we now sleep on the floor.  Ever since we moved to the new place Evan has been sleeping in our bed full-time, rather than just half the night.  He takes naps in our bed and sleeps all night with us.  However, we aren't always in the bed and hubs is terrified that Evan will fall out of the bed one day.  We were going to get rails but since he's older he can just climb over the rails and get even more injured (if he wakes up and wants to get out of bed).  So, we just decided to put the mattresses on the floor.  That way if he falls out, it's nothing worry about.

I know co-sleeping is one of those topics that people are either for or against, but I love it.  At first I was determined to have Evan sleep in his crib but I think that was more because I felt like it was the "right" thing to do.  However, when I went back to work the pediatrician suggested I try having Evan sleep with me so that I could nurse easily and get some sleep.  It worked like a charm!!  I hardly noticed him waking up to nurse and I was finally well-rested.  Plus, after being at work all day I loved the extra cuddles at night.  And I love waking up to his smiling face in the morning (on the weekends, he is not smiling when I wake him up during the week to go to daycare).  

Now that he's gotten older he spreads out a bit more, but most of the time he actually just cuddles up right next to me.  And sometimes his puts his arm around my neck and his face right next to mine so that we are sleeping cheek to cheek.  It is so sweet and melts my heart every time.  And now we rarely have sleep problems.  Although Evan is teething now and wakes up a few times screaming bloody murder, I am right there to calm him down and help him fall asleep again.  It makes nighttime so much more relaxed.

No, he will not be sleeping with us forever.  Eventually we will buy him a bed and he'll sleep in his room, but I am not really concerned about it right now.  People like to tell me he'll be sleeping in my bed forever, but really he won't.  I highly doubt a 14 year old will want to sleep with his parents!  When he is ready he'll transition to his bed.  My husband shared his bed his entire life!  In Honduras people tend to only have one or two beds in the family and everyone shares with everyone.  So, he doeosn't think it's weird for Evan to sleeps with us...he actually thinks it's weird for him to sleep alone.

And look how happy Evan looks!

So content with his little bum up in the air!

Goodbye Dolce

It's been a crazy last few days with lots of snow, no daycare, grant writing deadlines, and sad days.  Today is my first day going to the office since Tuesday...an entire week.  I had a grant deadline on Friday so I had to work but Evan was sick and then we got over a foot of snow (which is a big deal here), and then I realized Evan also had two molars coming in and was extra clingy and refused to play on his own.  It was a bit of a stressful time.  I did most of my grant writing from 8pm-2:30am when he was asleep.  Ivan was plowing all night so after two nights of no sleep he wasn't really awake enough to watch the kiddo.  So midnight grant writing was the only way to go.  It gave me a small idea of what nursing school will probably be like.

Evan cuddling with Dolce

But the sad news is that we gave my beloved Dolce away.  I still can't fully believe that he doesn't live with us anymore.  It just wasn't working out.  The hubs was always frustrated with him because he was constantly vying for attention and knocking Evan over (not meanly at all, just because he is so big) and constantly wanting attention.  So I felt like poor Dolce was getting yelled at all day, every day.  Then hubs would put him in the bedroom so that Evan would stop climbing on him and hitting him with golf clubs, but being shut in a bedroom for hours while the rest of the family played together wasn't fun either.  I came home from work one day last week and just felt that there was so much negative energy focused on Dolce and I hated the idea of Evan growing up in that type of situation and learning to yell at dogs and just being around that negativity.

So, I called the Samoyed Rescue people and they sent a family out to adopt him.  It all happened so fast that I barely got to say goodbye.  Maybe it was better that way because  I would have cried like a baby (and I did, after he left and every night since).  I do think he's probably happier with the new family.  They had three kids around 10-12ish and they had another Samoyed that was 13 years old.  Plus, they had a house with a yard and lots of toys (dog toys, not baby toys).  I think he'll love playing with the kids and I just hope they take good care of him.

Dolce playing in his new home

I miss him lots and I'm sad Evan won't get to grow up with him.  Maybe in the future we'll get another dog...when we live in a house instead of a tiny apartment and when Evan is older.  I will miss walking him and playing with him and driving to Vermont with him.  But he seems happy in his new home and that is what's important.  I wanted to keep him no matter what but then felt maybe that wasn't fair...that maybe we weren't a good family for him anymore.

So sad though.  I hate making hard decisions like this - where what I want isn't what is best.  And hopefully he knows that we gave him away because we loved him so much, not because we didn't want him.  

Tuesday's Random Thoughts

I don't really have too much to say today so I thought I would just say a few things that are on my mind.  And I have no photos, so those few things aren't gonna be as interesting without pictures.  I really need to get the camera back out and start taking more pictures!

* It's supposed to snow again tomorrow.  I am kind of over the snow a little.  Yes, it looks pretty and all but it can be a pain.  It's hard to run with the snow and ice and every time I walk the dog or take Evan out in the stroller I have to dry the dog and the stroller off because they track in so much mud.  Yeah, I know we have plans to one day move to Vermont and they get snow until April, but maybe it will seem different.

* Evan is starting to get a cold or something and I really hate when he's sick.  He is so sad looking and his little coughs shake his entire body.  Plus he doesn't sleep well and just looks miserable.  I am hoping it's just a cold and not the flu or pneumonia or any of the other sicknesses that went through the daycare last week.

* I still haven't heard from the Peace Corps about my Description of Service.  I have a feeling they are never going to find it.  I really, really hope that that doesn't affect the possibility of getting a Peace Corps scholarship if I get into Hopkins.  It probably will, but it would be nice if it didn't.  I guess I will be happy that it is just that form that I'm missing  and not something vital to my application like a transcript or something.

* Yesterday was my sister's 30th birthday and I felt bad because I think she was disappointed.  Her hisband had a meeting and had to leave at 6:30.  I made her a cake and came over and we ate and opened the few presents from me, but I think she was sad that it wasn't super special.  That there wasn't a bigger fanfare for leaving her 20s.  I guess since we are all going to Disney to run and that was the "big" thing she wanted to do...it made her actual bday less special.  Hopefully our Disney trip will be fun and make up for it.

* We had a really great book for book club called Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt.  I loved it.  It was sad and really tugged at your heart strings but was worth the read.  Plus, two of the characters had AIDS and it took place at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the late 1980s...so I found that really fascinating.  I recommend reading it.  I am excited to discuss it.

* I haven't done the dishes in two nights.  They are just sitting in the sink.  I was so tired last night that I didn't have the energy to wash them up after coming back from my sister's.  Plus, I ate a few meatballs and 1.5 pieces of really sweet strawberry cake for dinner so was probably in a sugar coma.  Ivan said he's wash them this afternoon, but with a sick boy he might not get a chance to...and they'll be waiting for me when I get home.

* I am really sad to hear that Shirley Temple Black passed away.  I loved The Little Princess - that was one of my favorite movies as a child.  My sister and I watched it ALL the time. 

Ok, I think those are the random thoughts I have for now.  Evan was up a lot last night so my brain isn't working too well.

What random thoughts are floating through your head?

What was the last good book you read???

Busy Busy and Jogging Stroller Run Breakdown

This weekend just flew by!  I guess that is what happens when there are so many things planned that you have no free time. It was a good thing though.  I think it actually started on Friday because it was a super busy workday and I didn't get a chance to relax until late in the day.  Busy work days are good sometimes and stressful other times, I am not sure which kind of day this was.  I finished the work that was due though, so that is always an accomplishment.

Saturday started with a long run.  Yup, after two weeks of no movement, I decided that I would try to do 8 miles with the jogging stroller.  Hubs had to work so I ran two miles to the TNT meeting spot and got there just as they were finishing their warm-up.  It turns out they were doing a 3 mile loop or an 8 mile loop...so I decided to do the 8 mile loop.  I was a bit nervous because I wasn't sure whether Evan would last in the stroller that long, but figured I'd try.

He lasted until mile 8.5 (that's including the two miles it took me to run to the meeting spot).  Then he started crying like crazy.  I still had two miles left, so I wasn't sure what to do.  It was really cold out and he was toasty in his Bundle Me Arctic (fyi - I did NOT pay $100 for this!), but if I had to carry him he didn't't have warm enough clothes.  In the end I carried him because he was screaming so much, but I felt badly because his mitten fell off (figures, how impossible is it to keep two of the same mittens on kids) and his feet were cold because he just had his pjs on (he had a winter coat on, just not winter pants and boots).

Frozen pond we ran by - see - it was literally freezing out!

We managed to walk the two miles back to the start and then one of the coaches drove me home (he has a little daughter and had a car seat).  We then took a hot shower together to warm up!  And I drank an entire glass of hot chocolate with whole milk (since we don't have any other kind in our house these days).

And then I couldn't walk.  Probably a bad idea to run so far with the stroller.  There were some hills too.  One hill was so big I had to walk up and even that was incredible strenuous with the 45 pound stroller. My legs feel better today though.

We then ran (hobbled) a few errands and Evan and I went grocery shopping and then we had dinner at my bus friend's house.  She made the most delicious pork roast and mashed potatoes.  So good!  I ate so fast I didn't take a picture.  Then we chatted while Evan played with his toys (that we brought over) and tried to climb upstairs. 

Sunday we got up early for no reason so I made beans and eggs and Moroccan-style lentil soup.  We ate the eggs/beans for breakfast and saved the soup for later.  In the afternoon I headed to my golf friend's house to make a cake for my sister.  I ended up making  Southern-style Strawberry Cake with cream cheese frosting.  I can't wait to eat it!  It worked out so well because I hadn't visited with my golf friend for a while and baking a cake was an easy thing to do while catching up.  Plus we got to eat lots of cream cheese frosting - delicious!

Then it was home, Skype with Mimi, and bedtime for the kiddo.  

After all those weekend activities, I only snapped one photo:

Dad and son napping during the day on Sunday.  Pretty adorable, huh!  I would like to mention that this happens with me a lot but no one ever snaps a photo.  Evan is totally in love with cuddling - it is the best thing ever.  One of these days I'll write a post about our experience with co-sleeping.  I pretty much love every minute of it - especially when Evan and I hold hands as we fall asleep.  Or he rolls over and puts his arm around my neck.  Melts. My. Heart.

Trip to Houston

The entire reason I flew to Houston was so that I could attend a conference.  The conference was the National Conference on LGBT (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, and a Transgender) Equality and was called Creating Change.  The main reason I went was because I was presenting a workshop, but I found it to be an amazing conference for many reasons.

First, they had free, on site daycare from 8:30am-6:30pm.  Seriously!?  This was awesome.  I have never been to a conference or meeting where daycare was provided, especially free daycare.  I only needed it one day because my sister drove over to Houston to watch Evan the other days, but if they hadn't had it I wouldn't have been able to go to the daylong institute before she arrived.  I think all conferences should have that option!

Second, the conference was so inclusive of everyone.  Along with "scent-free" areas, the also had gender-neutral bathrooms.

If you zoom in, you can see why gender-neutral bathrooms are important.  I thought it was great and even better that we were at a the Hilton and they were willing to turn their bathrooms into gender-neutral ones.  And it didn't even feel different seeing guys in the same bathroom.  

At an awesome conference you are bound to see awesome people!  I ran into a good friend of mine and got to spend some quality time with her.  The last time I saw her was at the International AIDS Conference in July 2012, when I was 8 months pregnant.

This is definitely not a stellar photo of me, but at least we are wearing coordinating outfits....  I met her about four or five years ago when I trained her on an HIV intervention in Columbia, SC (not where either of us are from though).  She liked to run and we went on a few runs together, and you know how running really solidifies friendships. {And let's not talk about how I haven't run in two weeks and my half marathon is two short weeks away.}.  It was so fun hanging out with her and catching up!  And I have to mention that even people I didn't know we're super nice.  People came up to me and introduced themselves and were genuinely nice and warm.  It was such a positive environment.  I loved it!  And Laverne  Cox was there, from Orange is the New Black and she gave an amazing speech at the Opening Plenary.

The Plenary on Saturday was on HIV/AIDS and it was really good.  There was a guy illustrating the points being made through a drawing and it was the coolest thing ever.  He did two sheets and I only got a photo of one, but look at this amazingness!

I just couldn't believe he could capture what they were saying and simultaneously design and draw this cartoonish interpretation.  Skills people.

Evan had a great time too.  He got to hang out with my sister and go to the beach and  tour the USS Texas, a battleship that was in WWI and WWII.  Plus he hung around and was spoiled by his aunt, which is always nice.  When he is older I would love to take him to conference sessions, but not at 17 months.

So, that was my trip.  On Saturday afternoon we headed to Dallas to stay with my sister for two nights and that was a lot of fun.  On Sunday we even put a movie on and drank hot chocolate.  Fabulous.  I don't even remember the last time I did that.  Evan was napping in my arms, but it still felt good to not have anything pressing to do and to just be able to relax and veg on the couch.  That night we headed to my sister's friend's house to watch the Super Bowl.  I didn't get a lot of football watching in, but Evan did a lot of venison sausage eating.  It cracks me up what Evan likes and dislikes.  I'm not sure that I would have put venison on the "for sure" list if I hadn't witnessed his chowing down myself.

Upon my return my good mood was completely hampered by my old landlord and the fact that he shorted me some of my deposit money.  And you want to know what his reason was??  I didn't give him 30 days notice.  HELLO, he asked ME to move out and gave me six weeks to find a new place...and then he turns around and says I left without giving proper notice.  Haha.  It is so stupid it's funny.  But then it's not because it made me so mad.  I really hope karma nips him in the butt, and not even nips...bites really hard.  I am secretly thrilled knowing his electricity bill this month is probably close to $500.  I guess that's karma in a way...that he's stuck in the condo he didn't feel important enought to care about.

Ok, although this bus is frigid because it's about 20 degrees out and the heater seems broken, I am going to try to get to sleep.  Yet again I only clocked four hours and thirty-four minutes of sleep last night and I have a ton of work to do today.

Plane Rides with Toddlers

I have so much to tell you.  It's been a while since I had a chance to post and that's mainly because I went to Houston for a conference.  And what a conference it was!  I really had a great time and it was made even better by the fact that my sister drove over and hung out with Evan while I was attending sessions and presenting.  Good times.

Of course to get Evan to the conference we had to somehow survive a four hour flight.  People have asked me a few times about traveling with toddlers, so I thought I'd do a quick post about my strategies and how I survive travel with a kiddo all by myself.

I admit I was a tad bit nervous this time.  The last time I had flown with Evan was when I went to New Orleans and he was only 10 months old.  There is a big difference between 10 months and 17 months, I can tell you that.  And the main differences that matter to airplane trips? Walking and napping less.  Previously I could count on Evan sleeping the entire time on the plane...not really the case this time.  Plus, with a four hour flight he would inevitably be awake for at least half the flight because there was no way he was going to nap for 4 hours.

Playing in a car - not quite a plane and he only stayed put for five seconds!

Luckily, it didn't turn out too badly.  The flight there was a bit more stressful because we sat on the plane for 45 minutes before leaving, essentially turning a four hour flight into a five hour flight.  Plus, I had decided to skip his nap in hopes he'd sleep on the plane; however, rather than falling asleep during take-off he decided to sleep the second half making the first half of the trip a bit more challenging.  We sat next to a pilot who had four kids of his own so he wasn't too annoyed that Evan kept poking him and he didn't even glance up when Evan had a mini tantrum on the floor of the plane.  And by mini, it really was pretty small (thank goodness).  Just a fuss, an attempt to throw himself backwards that failed due to the very small space, spaghetti body, and then sleep.  I counted myself lucky!  The return was even better.  He played the entire flight and fell asleep the last 40 minutes or so.  No fuss or tantrum at all.  

A previous plane ride, when he was still a little baby and napped the entire time.  My, have times changed!

Keys to a successful plane ride?  Not sure I really have the answers, but I will give you my thoughts on traveling alone with a toddler.

1. Bring lots of toys!  I packed the diaper bag with a plethora of airplane friendly toys (or at least I thought I did until a few were chucked at my face and they were deemed unsafe for such close quarters).  I brought books, a train, a little car, a small soft ball, some measuring cups, and some blocks.  I didn't break out the toys until Evan was restless and then I'd bring one out until he tired of it, etc.  I should have brought a crayon and paper because I think he would have liked that, but we were pretty good on the toy front.

His favorite toys = anything that is not a toy.  I did bring some kitchen utensils on the plane though!

2. Bring lots of snacks!  This was a lifesaver, of course.  When are snacks not life savers?  I had lots of pouches, little crackers, rice cakes, applesauce, and honey grahams.  The flight was long and crackers went a long way.  The flight attendant gave us Ritz cheese crackers (something I would never give Evan normally) and I gave some to Evan as a special treat.  Totally worked!  Because the flight was long and snacks keep a kid busy, they were essential.  Especially crackers in those little plastic containers with the rubber flaps on top that make it a challenge for kids to get the crackers out.

3. Remain relaxed.  This is key.  Kids are masters of sense - at least mine is.  The second I am nervous or anxious Evan goes into anxious mode.  Although I was nervous about being in such cramped quarters with him and wondering how he was going to sit in my lap for four hours - I kept telling myself that we could both handle it and if he started throwing a fit, the plane ride would eventually end.  Even when things didn't go according to plan and he decided not to nap when I thought he would, I just let him keep playing and remained calm.  I think that helped the situation because Evan never once acted anxious or clingy.

Cool as a cucumber - no stress in sight!

4. Make friends with the people next to you.  Obviously this is luck of the draw, but I try to sit all the way in the back in hopes that the people who sit next to my/around me consciously made the choice.  I feel like people like to sit in the front of the plane because they want to exit first, but there is no good reason to sit in the back of the plane.  So, if they choose to come all the way to the back and they see I have a toddler, then it is their own fault.  And if they choose to sit next to me?  They should expect to get poked a few times.  I got lucky and had very nice people sitting near me - they played peek-a-book with Evan and helped me carry my bags off the plane and did all kinds of nice things.  It was way easier to remain relaxed with friendly people nearby.  Plus, Evan loved playing on the floor between the seats and this would have been awkward if the person next to me was a child-hater.

5. Try to turn part of hour flight into nap time.  Really, isn't this everyone's goal?  The first flight was during Evan's nap time so I was really counting on him sleeping.  He did eventually fall asleep and that was great because it gave me time to relax, get a beverage, and read my book.  However, the flight back was in the morning and didn't really overlap much of his naptime, so I was uncertain if he'd actually fall asleep.  He ended up falling asleep the last 40 minutes or so and then slept all the way until I got my bags in baggage claim.  Would I have preferred a longer sleep-time on the plane?  YES!!!  However, he was in a really good mood and wasn't fussy at all, so I didn't complain in my head too much.  I did still nurse him on the plane and I'm sure people thought he was too old to be breastfed (although it's recommended to breastfeed until a child's two, most people I know stopped at 1 and I feel like a lot of people I know think it's weird that I still breastfeed Evan).  No one said anything to me and I didn't even get any weird looks or anything, but I can tell you that the older Evan gets and the more he grows, the harder it is to find space in those tiny cramped airplane seats!

Those are all the suggestions I have.  I feel like they are pretty much common sense, but sometimes when you are sleep deprived or so anxious about something you forget most common sense.  I had thought that maybe I would walk up and down the aisle with Evan for a bit but then I was afraid that if I took him to the aisle he'd never want to sit down again, so I decided against it.  He did spend a lot of time on the floor and looked at books down there and ate some snacks down there and was quite content.  We also had a middle seat free for part of one flight so he liked to sit there and buckle and unbuckle the seat belt.  My next trip is to Orlanda and the husband is FINALLY coming with us so it will be nice to have some help.  It will be the first trip I've taken with Evan that I haven't had to do alone.  Plus, planes to Orlando are always filled with tons of kids so he won't stick out at all.

How do you fly with kids?  Any suggestions?

I'll recap my amazing conference tomorrow!