I just got back last night from a week in Niagara Falls Canada. Phew! Quinn and I survived. I definitely couldn't have pulled it off without my parents and my Ergo carrier. Poor Quinnie was teething the whole time. I can see that one on the top is close to pushing through. Luckily she was surrounded by lots of loving family to keep her distracted all day.

My grandma is turning 80 this Spring so we thought it would be a great time to go out and visit her and my grandpa. Quinn is their first great grandbaby. She also got to meet my uncles and great aunts. They were all great at bouncing her and dancing with her. It feels so good to see my baby smiling and playing with new people.

She did great on the way over. It worked out that take off and landing coincided pretty well with her nursing times so her ears didn't hurt. She took naps in the Ergo and was very entertained seeing the sights in the airport and plane. The first morning she jumped to almost midwest time, she was an hour and a half off on all her meals and naps. By the second morning she was fully on east coast time. She was cheerful all day, but the poor dolly didn't sleep so well at night because of her tooth so she shared the bed with me. She wanted to cuddle all night and kept reaching out for my face or arm. It was pitifully sweet. I'm happy to report she slept great back in her crib last night though :) 

The way back was fine with one surprise. A massive blowout while the plane was descending! She was all tucked into the Ergo for a nap and I could hear her grunting and then the smell hit me. Oh man, we were dying laughing as we changed her across our laps on her travel changing pad. As we frantically wiped her and changed her clothes, Quinn was just chattering away, "Baa baa baaay!" like nothing was happening. 

For anyone planning to fly with their baby in the future I have some tips. Absolutely bring at least one plastic freezer bag for containing anything nasty and an extra change of clothes. Quinn has had only two or three blowouts with her cloth diapers (which, by the way, I really missed using cloth diapers all week. I don't mind all the laundry, I love them.) but has had a number of blowouts when she has been in disposables when we are away from home. When I saw on an online packing list to bring a bag and extra clothes I figured it was prudent. On the way there, we didn't use them at all so I wondered if it was overkill. But after our incident, I was so glad I'd packed them. Also, I cannot sing the praises of the Ergo enough. For a teething baby who is having some difficulty with naps or needing to be on-the-go during naptimes because of planned actvities, it was a life saver. It also helped big time for being hands-free through the airports and served as a safe spot when she was overwhelmed at times. I recommend bringing your diaper bag as your purse with the items you know you will need and then pack a backpack to carry on things you think you might need, that way you can get to your essentials quickly. Bring some favorite toys and a new one or two, but don't underestimate everyday items around you. Quinn loved ripping airplane magazines, shaking a bag of pretzels, waving a straw around, "drinking" from an empty plastic cup, and holding my mom's watch. It was also helpful to be following the Baby-Led Weaning approach because Quinn could snack on whatever I was eating. She chewed on pears, apples, cucumber, etc. and even gnawed on a big chunk of pork tenderloin much to her great grandma's delight.

We're glad to be home sweet home! Quinn and I sure missed Jonathan and Shinobi. We got back just in time for Shinobi's birthday, he's five years old today.