pictures at bottom of post ;)
Our alarm went off this morning at 3:30am. It was early but our excitement was enough to get us up and moving. Once up we both got ready, tipping toeing around not to wake Lincoln before the last possible moment. We were getting picked up at 4:20 so at 4:10, Eric started taking our bags down to the Lobby. At 4:15 I had no choice I had to get Lincoln ready to leave. He did of course wake up and to our surprise he stayed awake and fairly well behaved to just before we boarded the plane when he fell asleep.
Lincoln certainly tested our patients as parents during the entire eight flight from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Amsterdam, Netherlands. In the end, we both felt so bad for Lincoln, it was a really hard flight for him. He is teething and he was nervous about what was happening. These two things combined resulting in a very dirty-stinky situation. Lincoln had his first explosive diaper upon take off. I have never prayed so much for the fasten seat belt sign to go off. I was out of that seat with Lincoln and in the bathroom in 10 seconds flat. He screamed and screamed like I was killing him the entire time we were in the bathroom. This first changing took probably 20 minutes, two diapers, tons of wipes and a whole new outfit. This kid was covered in poop from his neck to his toes. Of course, the airplane bathrooms are so stinking small that it was impossible for Eric to be in there to help me. We finally emerged from the bathroom, I had visions of the whole plane clapping OR screaming at us when we emerged. We did get many super dirty looks but no one said anything to us. The flight attendants were wonderful, kudos to our KLM flight crew. Once back in our seats we thought okay the first 45 minutes was super stressful for the three of us but we survived. Not 30 minutes later the whole thing started over again. This kid went through 12 diapers and the only 3 outfits we had for him before we even arrived in Amsterdam. He spent the last several hours of the flight in only a shirt and diaper because we only had one pair of clean pants left for him and he needed to wear them at the airport in Amsterdam. It was a very long flight for our little family. Once we got off the plane in Amsterdam our first mission was to find a store where we could buy diapers. We had a four hour layer over so we figured worse case scenario we could leave the airport and go to a local super market. Lucky for us we pass a drug store and thankfully they did sell diapers. Yippee, we now have an additional 28 diapers; will this be enough to get us to Boston??
The Amsterdam airport has a Baby Lounge. It was beautiful, perfect, wonderful, just what we needed!! We walked in and it had eight or so private areas. The private areas had a crib and two comfy chairs for Mom & Dad. Also in the room was a big changing table area with two sinks for bathing your baby plus a microwave for warming up food. It was awesome! We dropped Lincoln in the crib with a few toys and he was a happy camper till his next dirty diaper. The thought of him getting dehydrated was really concerning us. Even though Lincoln screamed every time I had to change his diaper the other families in the baby lounge were very understanding. We visited the medical desk at the airport and ended up getting some medicine to give to Lincoln to help ease is teething pain. We were a little apprehensive about giving him something that we never heard of before but we felt like at that point we needed to try anything. We had given him Tylenol earlier in the day but it didn’t help him at all. The medicine was wonderful, it worked like a charm, and it even calmed him down enough to sleep a little. Sleep he really needed after his stressful first flight.
We ended up being stuck at the airport for an hour half longer than we planned because of problems with our plane. This totally screwed up our plan for Lincoln’s schedule but we made it through the schedule changes fairly well. Eventually we were able to board the plane and we are off on our way to Boston. This leg of our trip went MUCH better. Lincoln was able to catch a few Zzz’s. He wasn’t perfect but we did have an empty seat next to us and he really liked having his own seat to hang out in. This was great because the bassinet was really too small for him and we didn’t have enough leg room to put it on the floor for him. Eric and I even caught an hour or so sleep on this leg.
Once we arrived in Boston, I was so excited for many reasons but the two biggest were: 1. Lincoln became an American citizen as soon as we touched down and 2. I knew my Mom and Dad were there to meet us. I missed them so much and I could wait to see them and introduce them to their newest Grandson.
It took us a bit to get through customs, immigration and to gather all of our luggage. Once we accomplished all this we were off through those double doors to our waiting family. I’m not sure if I was happier for myself to see my parents or for them to see Lincoln for the first time. Needless to say it was a very happy reunion.
! ! ! ! We are HOME ! ! ! !
Lincoln certainly tested our patients as parents during the entire eight flight from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Amsterdam, Netherlands. In the end, we both felt so bad for Lincoln, it was a really hard flight for him. He is teething and he was nervous about what was happening. These two things combined resulting in a very dirty-stinky situation. Lincoln had his first explosive diaper upon take off. I have never prayed so much for the fasten seat belt sign to go off. I was out of that seat with Lincoln and in the bathroom in 10 seconds flat. He screamed and screamed like I was killing him the entire time we were in the bathroom. This first changing took probably 20 minutes, two diapers, tons of wipes and a whole new outfit. This kid was covered in poop from his neck to his toes. Of course, the airplane bathrooms are so stinking small that it was impossible for Eric to be in there to help me. We finally emerged from the bathroom, I had visions of the whole plane clapping OR screaming at us when we emerged. We did get many super dirty looks but no one said anything to us. The flight attendants were wonderful, kudos to our KLM flight crew. Once back in our seats we thought okay the first 45 minutes was super stressful for the three of us but we survived. Not 30 minutes later the whole thing started over again. This kid went through 12 diapers and the only 3 outfits we had for him before we even arrived in Amsterdam. He spent the last several hours of the flight in only a shirt and diaper because we only had one pair of clean pants left for him and he needed to wear them at the airport in Amsterdam. It was a very long flight for our little family. Once we got off the plane in Amsterdam our first mission was to find a store where we could buy diapers. We had a four hour layer over so we figured worse case scenario we could leave the airport and go to a local super market. Lucky for us we pass a drug store and thankfully they did sell diapers. Yippee, we now have an additional 28 diapers; will this be enough to get us to Boston??
The Amsterdam airport has a Baby Lounge. It was beautiful, perfect, wonderful, just what we needed!! We walked in and it had eight or so private areas. The private areas had a crib and two comfy chairs for Mom & Dad. Also in the room was a big changing table area with two sinks for bathing your baby plus a microwave for warming up food. It was awesome! We dropped Lincoln in the crib with a few toys and he was a happy camper till his next dirty diaper. The thought of him getting dehydrated was really concerning us. Even though Lincoln screamed every time I had to change his diaper the other families in the baby lounge were very understanding. We visited the medical desk at the airport and ended up getting some medicine to give to Lincoln to help ease is teething pain. We were a little apprehensive about giving him something that we never heard of before but we felt like at that point we needed to try anything. We had given him Tylenol earlier in the day but it didn’t help him at all. The medicine was wonderful, it worked like a charm, and it even calmed him down enough to sleep a little. Sleep he really needed after his stressful first flight.
We ended up being stuck at the airport for an hour half longer than we planned because of problems with our plane. This totally screwed up our plan for Lincoln’s schedule but we made it through the schedule changes fairly well. Eventually we were able to board the plane and we are off on our way to Boston. This leg of our trip went MUCH better. Lincoln was able to catch a few Zzz’s. He wasn’t perfect but we did have an empty seat next to us and he really liked having his own seat to hang out in. This was great because the bassinet was really too small for him and we didn’t have enough leg room to put it on the floor for him. Eric and I even caught an hour or so sleep on this leg.
Once we arrived in Boston, I was so excited for many reasons but the two biggest were: 1. Lincoln became an American citizen as soon as we touched down and 2. I knew my Mom and Dad were there to meet us. I missed them so much and I could wait to see them and introduce them to their newest Grandson.
It took us a bit to get through customs, immigration and to gather all of our luggage. Once we accomplished all this we were off through those double doors to our waiting family. I’m not sure if I was happier for myself to see my parents or for them to see Lincoln for the first time. Needless to say it was a very happy reunion.
! ! ! ! We are HOME ! ! ! !
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Our flight to Amsterdam, it wasn't all bad. Here is Linc enjoying reading his book, Who Loves Baby while sitting in his basinett on the floor in front of our seats. This basinett was actually really comfy for him with a little mattress inside of it.
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Sound asleep.
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See another happy moment on our nightmare flight.
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Sound asleep on Daddy's lap.
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This is the Baby Lounge at the Amsterdam airport. This was our safe haven after our long flight. Smiles returned to all our faces after being able to hang out in here for a couple hours.
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Lincoln actually really liked his crib in the baby lounge.
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Sound asleep in his basinett on our northwest flight from Amsterdam to Boston. Poor thing, this basinett as you can see was nothing more than a card board box. All 3 of us were very disappointed in this get up. Thankfully we had the empty seat next to us and he took the rest of his naps on that instead.
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