Our vacation: the transportation

(loving the kids area at YYT) 

(selfie) 

(snacks on the plane) 

(NB) 

(Cohen and Ted) 

(Our fav) 

(the rock!) 

(helping with the luggage) 

(love them)

Notes:

For this trip, we took 4 flights and drove for around 12 hours. Pretty typical for us and anyone who lives in NL, really. We find that the challenges of traveling with Cohen change pretty dramatically every time we take a trip. On past trips, I was  always thinking about nursing during take off and landings, and hoping that Cohen would nap for the majority of the driving. Now, we are always trying to keep Cohen occupied so he doesn't get whiney, and keep him from getting hungry. I brought about a million snacks, including things that I usually don't give Cohen, like sugary cereal and sweets. We brought a few toys, and we brought the iPad. 

The airports: In the past, I barely noticed those play structures for kids at airports. We didn't really even notice them this time, but Cohen beelined for it. He was in love. We were in love. He was completely occupied for over an hour. So awesome. We took turns standing near him so as to look like responsible parents, and read magazines.

The driving: The best thing that has happened to our road trips lately is that Cohen can legally sit facing forward.  At home with our usual carseat and mirror, Cohen will be rear-facing for probably another year. But on vacation, without our usual stuff, we switched the car seat to forward. Cohen loved being able to look around. And. We could position the iPad between our seats so he could watch his shows without being able to touch the iPad. The best. 

Side note: I need to share what I have recently learned about iPads and babies. If your baby loves to watch certain youtube videos, and you want to be able to watch them while there is no Wifi, this is what you do: Download the app Instatube. It costs $2.99, which will be the best three bucks you have ever spent. "Cache," aka save whatever videos you want in the app. Then watch them over and over as needed with no internet connection. Then, if your baby is always touching the screen thereby exiting out of the video they are loving, thereby getting super mad at you, this is what you do: In settings go into guided access, and in guided access you can make it so they can't touch the screen or use the home button. I learned that from Lisa, aka Jack Osbourne's wife.