Mina Travels

Early Wednesday morning, the Schwanda family left for Florida to visit family and friends. I was a little nervous about travelling with a five-month old, so nervous that I actually packed early. I am normally a last-minute packing professional, but this time I started lining up outfits and toys three days in advance. This way I could constantly add things as I thought of what we needed. While taking care of a baby, it is much easier to pack a little at a time since I have to be ready in case Mina wakes up early from a nap or spits up all over her play yard. While  packing, I was also combatting the beginning of a heat wave in DC. It was in the upper 90s outside and we don't have AC. So upstairs, where all the clothes I needed to pack were, was quite toasty. This also made packing all at once a challenge. Little by little the bags were packed and I reviewed lists in my head several times to make sure I had everything. So far I haven't thought of anything I forgot which may be a record. With the packing complete, the next challenge was the plane trip.
The flight from DC to Florida is a pleasant two hours, a perfect length for a baby's first flight. Unfortunately, our flight departed at 7am. We planned to leave the house no later than 4:45 so we could catch the 5:15 train from the metro where are car is parked (parking in the multi-day spots at metro costs $5 for the entire trip, much better than airport parking). I was hoping we could get Mina changed and dressed quickly and she would fall back asleep in the car and continue to sleep until we got on the plane since she doesn't normally get up until 9:30. But getting up early was too exciting for her and we had no such luck. Ben took her through the airport in the carrier and she was almost asleep when we reached the front of security and had to remove her from the carrier. So I ended up feeding her while we waited at the gate instead of on the plane as I had planned. They started boarding sooner than expected and we didn't get to board early as a family with a small child since I wanted to make sure Mina had a fresh diaper before she got on the plane. But we still got to board and we had a row of two seats to ourselves.
Mina seemed really excited and tried to fight sleep but shortly after take-off, sleep won over both baby and daddy. I even heard the stewardesses talking about how sweet she was. She slept almost until our descent into Orlando. She started talking then, but was still content and happy. It was a great plane trip.

All tuckered out

Now that we are here, Mina is loving all the attention from her Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles. My back and arms are loving not having to hold her very often. Later this week, I will try to update you on how we are using her cloth diapers away from home but we will be busy. We have a wedding to go to, Disney World, the beach... all sorts of fun things.