Our 6 Month Update

We are excited to meet our little Raelyn Grace in just a few months!

6 months... for the last few weeks when people would ask how far I was I would answer 6 months. Sure- it was an exaggeration but it is such a huge milestone for me and it couldn't come soon enough. Well now I can officially say I am 6 months. I guess I'll probably start rounding up to 7 months since I'm practically there. ;)

The last few months have seemed to crawl by and fly by. It's been filled with anxiety, prayers, daily heartbeat checks, beautiful ultrasounds, amazing little baby kicks, and the start of a baby bump!

 

With every milestone I reach I love this little baby more and more. But I also feel the need to protect myself from an even greater heartbreak. I remember at 20 weeks I decided enough was enough and I was going to start celebrating every second of this pregnancy. Every second gave me an opportunity to experience something I had never experienced before. I remember at my 9 week ultrasound (a big milestone for us) just seeing what looked like a little turtle wiggling its limbs. I could not take my eyes of the screen. It was so amazing. Again at 14 weeks we could see the limbs, the heart, the organs, and we could see our little girl dancing around. My 21 week ultrasound BLEW MY MIND. I could not believe the detail. The tech took us through and showed us all the organs, the different parts of the brain, and the heart. We got to watch as this little monkey swung her feet up to her head and just kinda hung out like that (I maybe drank a little too much orange juice before the appointment haha).

9 weeks

21 weeks

I started feeling kicks around 15 weeks. I was sitting at work and I could feel a little twitch in my intestine. It was really weirding me out so I mentioned this to my sister. It never even crossed my mind that it could be our baby kicking. Within the next few weeks it got stronger and stronger and by 21 weeks Bradyn got to feel her for the first time. I will never forget the look of shock on his face as he got to experience that for the first time.

My sweet mother-in-law threw me my first ever baby shower. It was so amazing and so fun to celebrate our sticky bean with our family.

As my gift to our baby girl I made her a blessing dress. The fabric is the same as the temple dress my mom made for me when I got married. 

We are surrounded by such wonderful family and friends and we are so grateful for all the prayers said in our behalf. We are so excited for the upcoming months and can't wait to start this next adventure in our life!

Flying With an Infant Part 1

When R was only 7 weeks I took her on her first flight. Before her first birthday she has been on 4 trips which consisted of 11 flights. Because of the variety of experiences each time I flew, I like to consider myself somewhat of an expert. Flying for the first time with an infant can be intimidating and overwhelming. It's hard to know what to expect and lets face it... we have all heard/witnessed the horror stories of the baby who screams the entire time.

First lets talk about packing. My first flight with R I was only going for a few days and my baby didn't require a lot of "extras" that I couldn't borrow at my destination (carseat, boppy, pack-n-play, swaddles, and I was even lucky enough to borrow my sisters breast pump). I really only packed clothes which all fit in a carry on. For my "personal item" I used my diaper bag. Here is my first piece of advice...

Only bring things you will need DURING THE FLIGHT or at the airport in your personal item. Nothing like trying to find a binky and having to dig through a million diapers and other things you really don't need on the flight. So what do you need on the flight?

• Diapers long enough to last the flight and maybe a couple extra
• A small pack of wipes
• A swaddle or blanket
• A binky (this helps their ears to pop)
• A bottle with breast milk or formula or yourself to breastfeed 
• An extra outfit (I learned this the hard way)
• Snacks and toys if the child is older 
• boppy (this one really depends on the size of your baby, the length of the flight, and if your baby is going to be sleeping or not. I found the hoppy useful from 5-9 months).
• If you are checking a bag... anything you have to have at your destination (read about our horrible experience below)

Another must is a baby carrier or wrap. This is helpful for maneuvering through the airport, through security, and at the gate. Its nice to be hands free when handling your bags and tickets. You can wear the baby through the metal detector but most airlines will have you take your baby out for take off and landing. I found this pretty inconvenient but I found with my carrier and wrap that I could keep my sleeping baby on my chest and just unbuckle or pull down the should straps and after take off buckle/wrap my baby back up for the duration of the flight.

Our next time flying dad came along so we decided to check a bag instead of having a couple of carry ons. It was a disaster. Because of the weather and season (Christmas) we got stranded during our layover in Denver. They lost our bags and no flights were leaving for at least 24 hours. We decided to rent a car and drive the remainder of the way but I only had the bare minimum in my diaper bag. I was exclusively pumping at the time and supplementing with formula. Luckily I had an entire can of formula and my hand pump otherwise things would have gotten ugly. I didn't have my meds and I barely had enough diapers. I didn't have a change of clothes for R and she ended up with a blow out which meant we had a nakey-baby. We did end up getting our bags back after a week but thats another story for another day.

My next time flying by myself with R was to visit my parents for a month while my mom recovered from surgery. This was a considerably longer trip than we had ever taken and R was now 9 months. This meant she was a little more high maintenance when it came to travel. I decided to bring my stroller and I checked a bag. It seemed like a good thing at the time but if I could do it over again I would not bring the stroller. It was hard to lug a bag and the stroller to the counter and apparently the stroller has to go on the belt through security. So I was holding a squirmy 9 month old, trying to juggle my belongings, and folding a stroller to hoist on the belt. Looking back I would have just worn her and borrowed/bought a stroller at my destination. If your baby is too big to wear then my sister used one of those foldable wagons. She plopped her kid in it and her bags and it seemed to work pretty well for her. I'm interested in any other ideas you guys might have!

Next we will talk about the actual flight! https://livingthebishopfamilydream.blogspot.com/2017/08/flying-with-infant-part-2.html

Flying With an Infant Part 2...

Last time we talked about preparing for a flight with an infant, packing, and navigating through the airport. Read about that here (https://livingthebishopfamilydream.blogspot.com/2017/08/flying-with-infant-part-1.html) Today we are going to talk about when to book the flight and surviving the actual flight.

The first time I flew with R she was only 7 weeks old. At that age babies pretty much sleep, eat, and maybe sit there for bit. So flight time really doesn't matter. They will probably both sleep and eat on the flight regardless of the time. I would try to arrange it so you aren't trying to worry about feeding the baby until you are through security if you can. The next time we flew she was 3 months old and had more of a defined schedule as far as naps go. We chose to fly later in the evening so she would sleep for most of it. We did the same thing when flying at 5 months. At 9 months I flew alone and tried to fly during her nap. It was a nightmare. She was a lot more distracted by her surroundings and i had to really fight her to go to sleep. It was overwhelming for me and even though she wasn't crying that much I was really worried about bothering the other passengers. I think at this age flying after a nap would have been a lot better. It's a lot easier to keep a kiddo entertained then try to keep and overtired baby happy. We are flying in a few months for Christmas and we will give this theory a shot.

My three sleeping loves (look closely and you'll find Koda in plaid)

Something to keep in mind is layovers. I prefer direct flights for obvious reasons but 2 of the 4 trips we've taken with Raelyn had a layover. The first trip she was 3 months and the next she was 5 months  old. She was still pretty much in the eat and sleep stage so it wasn't too bad. Now that she is almost a year the thought of a really long layover sounds terrible. Mostly because she naps so terribly when its crowded and noisy. But I think I would still take a layover if it saved me a couple hundred dollars. One miserable day of travel and then its behind you haha.

Hanging out during our layover.

Now how to survive the dreaded take off and landing. The change in altitude can be very painful on little ears. As adults we know to swallow or yawn or chew gum to help with this but its up to you to help your child pop their ears. The easiest way I've found to do this is by sucking so either a binky or eating.

By our first flight together at 7 weeks I was exclusively pumping so I had a bottle pumped for take off and landing and some formula just incase. I obviously don't have a lot of experience with breastfeeding on a plane but I would say its cramped and not a lot of privacy so if breastfeeding is iffy at all then I would have a bottle just incase.

My first flight I was really anxious about this and even tried to wake her during landing to feed her. She of course was basically in a coma and not even really sucking on her binky and she was totally fine. When we flew at 9 months she was getting over an ear infection and still did fine.

My last piece of advice is really going to differ from baby to baby. Flying can be loud and overwhelming and scary and this is when your baby's individual comforting techniques come in handy. For R she loves being worn and snuggled, she LOVES her binky, and can't live without one of those light weight cotton swaddling blankets to snuggle with. She loves being sung to and bounced. Keeping these things in mind before the flight helped boost my confidence in my ability to comfort her. And remember... worst case scenario your baby cries the entire flight and life moves on.

Waiting to take off