flight TO mexico.

our flight to mexico was our first international trip with B.  however, it was our ninth (round trip) flight with him in general.  i thought we had it all down.  lots of toys for distractions, nap in the airport in his stroller pre-flight, friends to help wrangle him on the plane, copious amounts of formula & baby food just in case.  well, i actually had nothing down apparently because he went crazy on the flight!!! :)  we traveled with rob & suzanne but we were unfortunately (maybe fortunately for them) seated far apart for this flight.

first of all, brady was SUPER grabby the entire time.  would not be satiated with anything longer than a nanosecond so even after grabbing my napkin & the neighbor's napkin (not someone we knew) and flinging them onto the ground 1,000 times - he moved on to something else.  imagine him bending at the waist and grabbing every magazine & pamphlet out of the seat-back pocket in front of us and flinging them onto the ground.  same with every toy i offered him.  and wiping his binky all over every airplane surface he could reach (mmm germs).  lather, rinse, repeat.  1 million times.  my arms were exhausted from the wrangling.  at one point he even managed to fling himself backwards while i was bent over picking up a toy off the ground and whacked his head on the seatrest (insert screaming).

waiting for take-off offered some distraction for seven seconds, watching people & trucks loading up the plane.  he touched every surface he could reach, and licked the window.

and look, so sweet right?  a darling sleeping baby.  what wasn't captured was the twenty minutes of blood-curdling screaming that preceded this peaceful photo.  i am not talking about brady's usual gentle, mild crying or fussing.  i mean screaming.  back arching.  sweating (both of us).  more back arching.  hair pulling. kicking the armrest next to us.  you get the idea...he was a wild beast and i was exhausted & embarrassed & wanted to give him away. til he fell asleep, and then he was cute again.  and after he woke up not another peep except for saying "hi" to everyone that looked at him and grinning like a toothless cheshire cat.  post-nap, baby was darling & charming & everyone loved him (those who forgot about the demon behavior earlier).

mama was VERY glad when the trip was over & we were on solid ground and i had the stroller back and rob & suz available for additional baby wrangling.  then, all was right with the world again.  and thankfully wild-beast-brady didn't make another appearance all weekend :)