Then we realized, when you wake BG up at 3am to get in a car and the cold winter air hits her face... well, BG was up and very aware that we were on an adventure.
She's so adorable though, the whole car ride out to JFK, she kept asking... "nigh, nigh?" and then she'd try to cover her eyes to block out the street lights so that she could fall back asleep. But of course, she didn't fall asleep until we were about 5 minutes away from the JFK parking lot.
So then we checked one bag, and the pack and play; went through the security line only to realize that Jeff had to go back and re-check in because his ticket said JEFF instead of JEFFREY; finally went all the way through security; had to get our bags checked by TSA because we packed empty sippy cups; left behind our beloved moby baby carrier; and just barely made it to the gate in time to get on our flight early so that we could make sure we could stow our bags right next to our seats.
By this time, it was almost 6am, and BG was wide awake. She's still under 2 years old, so she we didn't have to buy her a plane ticket and was able to fly with her as a lap infant, but man.... She was just so excited to be on a plane and explore. She hardly sat still during the entire plane ride.
Because I no longer breastfeed, I wasn't able to just feed her and hope she fell asleep, and Jet blue refused to give us any milk for her because they needed it for passengers that wanted coffee, and BG was hungry. The combination of her being up earlier than usual and the fact that normally she's a pig in the mornings, made for a very hungry child. Thankfully I had remembered to pack some squeezable fruit/vegetable pouches. We've tried the gerber, earth's best, and plum varieties, and BG loves them all.
These were especially helpful because it gave BG something to suck on to help with her ears popping with the change in cabin pressure.
But she refused to sleep. Never mind that both Jeff and I were both exhausted because I had ended up pulling an all nighter packing and getting things ready to go, and Jeff had fallen asleep at 12am and only slept for 3 hours.
So here we were, two exhausted parents, with an exhausted toddler who refused to sleep because she's also completely ADD (can you tell if a toddler is ADD or is it just being a toddler?) and who just wanted to do everything in her power to keep herself awake.
She finally fell asleep for the last 45 minutes of the flight. Only to be woken up again, and taken on another adventure.
Of course we arrived so early in the AM that our hotel wasn't ready for us. So we went to the hotel restaurant and had some breakfast while they hurried to get a room ready. By 11:30am, we were in the room, and by noon, we had set up our pack and play and put BG in it who screamed about having to take a nap even though we KNEW she was exhausted, and I passed out for two full hours. Oh man, if it hadn't been for BG, I would have slept the day away.
Returning home was no different. She refused to fall asleep until the last 30 minutes of the flight only to be woken up by having to deplane. She fell asleep in the car, only to be woken up when we got home and had to get her out of the car seat, out into the cold winter air, and into our apartment. However, she did crash as soon as she was put down in her crib.
All in all, what lessons did I learn from this trip? Don't try to plan flights to coincide with sleep time. At least not for BG. Her attention span just can't handle it!
On another note. The Tampa airport had a little kids play area, and BG LOVED it!
I know.... I posted this picture already... But it's just so awesome I had to post it again!
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