En Route to Copenhagen

At least one of them is sleeping.

Timeline
2:00pm Leave House
3:00pm Arrive at Dulles Airport  (which was a zoo)
5:00pm Boarding

[Sit on Tarmac for 2 hours due to lightning storms]

7:30pm Plane finally departs
(3:30am EDT/9:30am) Arrive in Frankfurt
 10:30am Depart Frankfurt for Copenhagen
 11:30am Arrive in Copenhagen

The first part of the trip is always getting there. If you can survive that, you can survive almost anything. Being Quinn's first flight and Derek would be traveling sans nap (typically an essential ingredient for a disastrous flight), I was prepared for the worse. I will admit that given our luggage constraints, I did not pack as many toys/snacks/things to amuse as usually. I was hoping that the ban on TV the last few months would lead Derek to see the screens on the back of the seats as the best thing since sliced bread. Derek did relatively well to. We used the Lego Movie to placate him most of the time and he eventually fell asleep half way into the flight.

I would highly recommend *paying* for Economy Plus. The extra leg room in invaluable for a Transatlantic (or Pacific) flight. In my case, I actually upgraded to a bulkhead to get the infant bassinet seat, which is reserved for those traveling with small babies in many cases, so Mike and Dek actually got a middle seat to enjoy between the two of them. Who am I kidding, Derek sprawled into that thing immediately. The challenge is that Mike and I sat apart on the flight, but it was worth having the extra space.

Earlier in the afternoon, there was forecast for lightning storms all night so we started off the flight with a 2 hour delay on the tarmac. To be followed immediately by a blowout diaper. We have learned the hard way, pack at least 3 extra outfits for a baby in diapers. In some cases we use none, in others we use all three and are washing a dirty outfit in a lavatory (lovely, really).

Its hard to get both kids to sleep at the same time, but it helps that at least one of them sleeps so you can juggle back and forth.  I called ahead to secure the bulk head set that includes an infant bassinet. It was really nice to have somewhere to put Quinn - though it was just a little basket mounted to the wall, it came in quite handy. I was a bit nervous about putting the required "cover" over top which made it look a bit coffin-like, but I peeked in every 20 minutes or so while she slept and all was well.

I've flown a lot for leisure and business before I had kids and always prayed that I would not be the person seated next to the infant. I've seen some pretty bad stuff with toddlers who kick the crap out of the back of a chair and parents too tapped out to do anything so I'm very cognizant of my responsibility when I fly with a small person I have little control over. However, I am very vigilant in meeting my baby's needs swiftly and often to help reduce the possibility of melt down. If she's just about to whimper to signal hunger, I feed her. Heck, sometimes I just nurse for as much of the flight as possible, especially when they are young and the nursing helps them feel sleepy. 

It was worth it. When the 10 hour flight (remember we were on the tarmac for 2 hours in addition to the 8 hours in the air), Quinn had not made a peep the whole flight. It was miraculous. All the passengers who had previously avoided eye contact with me finally smiled and my proudest moment of the trip (since it had just started after all) when a well-dressed man who sat just across the way said, "That was the best baby I've ever had on a flight." I beamed. Its all luck, but I'm glad the universe got me back so quickly after that very.very.very long delay.