The Trip

So we are off to B.A. for 28 days with a 10 week old baby in tow. Seems a little on the loco side, I realize, but I had to go and Carter and Mom weren't staying behind. I did my usual amount of organization for the trip (stayed up late the night before we left and threw some clothes in a bag). My wife is the organizer in the family and took care of all the little details while I took care of the big ones (editors note- no big details on this trip, maybe next time). Bella was shipped off to an upscale boarding school (Jade and Ivan's house) and the cat lady is coming over to beat the cats regularly in my absence.

Grampa Henry was kind enough to give us a ride to the airport. We have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and with lots of room, but we were so stretched for space that Grandma had to stay behind. I can't get over how much stuff a baby needs to travel with. Suitcase full of clothes (larger than mine), baby bag with diapers/ bottles etc, stroller and car seat.

We flew Air Canada to Toronto (about 4 hours). The Toronto to Santiago (Chile) leg of the trip took about 12 hours. From there it was a short hop to B.A. of about 2 hours. I have to admit I was a little worried about traveling with Carter. I really didn't want to be the people with a screaming baby. Carter was awesome the whole time. The only time we had an episode was when I tried to change him in the horrible small little bathroom before the plane took off in Toronto. There is a fold down change table in there that is about the right size for a midget newborn. "Gigantor" Nielsen weighs in around 17 lbs now and is long enough to go on most of the rides at Capital X days. He played his favorite trick and pooped after I got his diaper off and was trying to clean him up. I was holding him up by the ankles, all jammed into the locker/toilet and trying to catch the poop in my other hand. He decided that this made him unhappy and proceeded to scream bloody murder. He eventually got out of there sans poop, me not so much.

Anyway, he didn't cry at all. We just kept him close and bribed him with food as much as possible. He doesn't seem to care where he is as long as he can stay warm and dry, get some boobie time from Mom and occasionally poop on Dad.

The hardest part of the whole thing was changing planes and boarding with our array of devices, bags and babies. I think that this trip would have been a whole lot worse if we would have attempted it when he was walking and talking.