Three Things

Our tricks to help us survive flying with little kiddos:

1) Get on the plane VERY LAST so that the kids spend the least amount of time on the plane as possible. I always wait until the stewardess tells me that I have to board the plane because they are closing the cabin door. Tim gets on the plane with his usual "elite" crowd and gets everything set up (car seat, toys, games, snacks, sticky pads etc) and claims overhead space. However, even when I've traveled by myself with the kids, I still waited until the last minute. I then ask the stewardess to help me get set up (I find that they are very very helpful....I even went to the bathroom and they held Olivia so that I didn't have to deal with her in that small area).

(Olivia walking down the jet-way to get on the plane...we were the last people on)

2) Bring a car seat with Travel Companion and sit in the bulkhead row. THIS WAS A LIFE SAVIOR this last trip!!! Having Olivia in a car seat was a HUGE help. It was worth every penny and effort it took to travel with the car seat. . Olivia knows the routine in her car seat and even though at one point she did get upset, she calmed down because she knew she couldn't get up. And this little travel companion thing I'm talking about...whoever invented this IS A GENIUS! It costs $14, but probably took $2 to make (and I would have spent $50 because of how awesome it is). If you are traveling with a toddler and bringing the car seat...buy it or borrow ours :) The bulkhead row is also wonderful. There is usually more leg room and with Olivia in the car seat, we were worried about her kicking the seat in front of us...but not in that row. Definitely call ahead to the airline and request that row. Tell them you have kids and they usually will work to help you. Oh, and if you have a really young child, on some planes (long trips only) you can request a bassinet for the child to sleep in. This is what we did when Olivia flew to London at 5 months old.

(every parent with a toddler in the airport was starring at us)

(BRILLIANT!)

3) Have games, snacks, activities, and comfort items (silky, blankets, stuffed animals). Joyful sent Olivia an organizer and we had crayons, stickers, sticky pads, and paper all together in one place for her. Sticky pads are great. The kids can draw on them or when Olivia was younger, she would just take the sticky pad paper off and items that I stuck it too (like the window)....easy easy entertainment. There is also this wonderful thing called Crayola Color Wonder. It's special markers that only make marks on the "special" paper. Then there were the snacks: lollipops are a HUGE hit right now, and last a long time. We also had Cheerios and other dry snacks along with Olivia's normal sippy cup filled with water. And the ipad to play movies... We used every single one of these things to help survive our travel. If we were going longer than 3 hours, I don't know what we would have done.

Phew - who wants to travel with a 2 year old and 4 month old now???