The Bartlett Family Blog
  • About Us
  • Blog

We made it!!

12/22/2011

1 Comment

 
Well, after what was probably the most stressful travel period we've had, we have arrived back in New Zealand.  Exhausted, but here nonetheless.  And I have determined that I have a champion traveler for a baby.  Or maybe she's just totally awesome in general.  Either way, she was a rock star once again for our travels.  So the stressful part?  Went something like this...

Our flight on Monday was scheduled to leave at 7pm... which means check-in at 5pm since it's international.  Well, our goal was to start getting out the door at 3:30, figuring we would have to pack up the car, the todller, and it always takes longer than expected, so we were hoping to be on the road by 4:00.  Well, we of course were slightly behind schedule due to Riley's 3+ hour nap, but we got all packed up and were ready to leave when... dead car battery.  Thank goodness for multiple cars at my parents' house, we jump started the fully loaded/packed car in just a few minutes, and we were on our way.  Could have been a disaster, but ended up not being too much of a delay.  Phew.

Off to the airport we went!  Normally, in traffic, this drive could take about an hour, so we were due to arrive a little after 5, maybe 5:15.  No big deal.  Well, turns out there was a 49ers game in the city, so every one and their mom was headed into the city, which means it took us almost 3 hours to go 35 miles.  My mom dropped me off right out side the check in, and I, 30+ weeks pregnant, ran to the gate and begged to be let on.  At 6:45 pm.  When the flight was due to leave in 15 minutes.  I think they took pity on me, and agreed to let us on, and my parents helped Mark unload the luggage and the toddler.  We said the quickest goodbye in history to my parents, and ran to security.  Somehow, we managed to make it to the gate at 7:05pm, and boarded and then finally had a few seconds to breathe. Talk about stressful! 

Now the flight was actually not so bad, all things considered.  We did not have a bassinet seat, but Riley did have her own seat so we could use her car seat, which was helpful.  She played and watched DVDs for the first 2 hours or so, and then she was exhausted (2 hours past her bedtime) and basically just fell asleep in my arms.  I held her for a bit, and then was able to slip her into her car seat.  I think she would have slept there for a while if not for the 18 month old in the row next to us that kept screaming every 45 minutes or so... but seriously Riley was the cutest, the baby would cry, and she would wake up, whine a little but, and then look at me and go "baby? baby?" and go right back to sleep.  So she slept on and off for about 8.5 hours, which is pretty darn good, I must say.  Me, on the other hand?  No sleep.  Being 30 weeks pregnant on a long flight with a toddler is no easy task, I tell you.  I was pretty uncomfortable, and Riley either wanted me to be holding her or touching her, so I was a little bit trapped. 

Anyway, so this flight (12.5 hours) landed about 30 minutes late, which made the connection for our next flight a bit of a rush, which meant pushing our 200+ pounds of luggage plus carry-ons plus Riley from the international terminal to domestic, which is no short walk, let me tell you.  Let's just say I got my week's workout in.  And again, Riley was a trooper, just going with the flow.  The only meltdowns we had were on the next flight, which is only about 50 minutes, but she was just so exhausted she was losing it over nothing, until she just finally laid her head down and fell asleep on me... as we were landing into Wellington, of course. :)

Overall though?  Stressful, but another very successful trip with Riley.  And this kid is SO happy so far here in NZ.  I was worried our first week was going to be rough with the time change, but we've kept her up late (US time) to get her adjusted to NZ time, and she is doing pretty well.  I thought she's be waking up at 3am, and she slept until 4:45, so she's doing well. And she LOVES our house.  She loves having room to roam, and being able to go wherever she wants with nothing really being off limits to her.  She's opening all the drawers and cabinets, she's exploring the rooms, she's climbing on furniture and getting to play outside.  She's sleeping in a big girl bed and loving it.  She's totally, totally loving it here.  Although, every time, she sees a phone, she goes "gra gra?" and then "jeh jeh?" for Grandma and Jennie.  And she heard a neighbor's dog barking and immediately yelled out "Bay?" and searched for her favorite black lab.  Poor little one, she's going to miss my family so much!

But, at least she's adjusting well so far.  And the new FAVE thing to do?  Redecorate our sad little Kmart Christmas tree over, and over, and over again.  She LOVES the ornaments, she loves the garland and the beads... pretty much everything. 
treedecor1
treedecor2
We asked her where she wanted to put each ornament, and for a while she wanted to put them all on the same branch.  Hence the ornament cluster. :)
treedecor4
This is what happened when she got a hold of the box of ornaments. Note the hands on her head? She's also saying "uh oh."  "Uh oh" is right, little one.
treedecor3
We also managed to go see Santa today, and even sit on his lap!  We'd been trying to do this in the US but the lines were ridiculous, and we hardly even waited when we went today, so it was a total success!  No tears or anything!  Picture to follow... :)
1 Comment
WeeMason's Mom link
12/26/2011 11:47:07 pm

Oh m gosh, that stressed me out just reading it!!

I'm SO glad that they let you on your plane and everything else went relatively well! It sounds like she was quite the trooper!

Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas! Can't wait to see the Santa pics!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Check out
    Melissa Bartlett Photography

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    January 2018
    April 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009

    Categories

    All
    10 Months
    11 Months
    12 Months
    14 Months
    15 Months
    16 Months
    17 Months
    18 Months
    1st Trimester
    2nd Trimester
    2 Under 2
    2 Year Old
    3 Months
    3rd Trimester
    3 Year Old
    4 Months
    5 Months
    6 Months
    7 Months
    8 Months
    9 Months
    Allergies
    Babies
    Baby Riley
    Baby Sign
    Birthday
    Birth Story
    Breastfeeding
    Chemistry
    Cole
    Discipline
    Exercise
    Family
    First Birthday
    First Trimester
    Health
    Holidays
    Homeschool
    Iphoneography
    Jackson
    Job
    Landscaping
    Mark
    Milestones
    Monthdays
    Moving
    Newborn
    New House
    New Toy Tuesday
    November School
    Nursery
    October School
    One Year
    Our House
    P365
    Photobooth
    Photo Booth
    Photo Challenges
    Photography
    Photograpy
    Potty Training
    Pregnancy
    Pregnancy #2
    Preschool
    Project 365
    Riley
    Riley's First Birthday
    Scrapbooks
    Siblings
    Sleep
    Sleeping
    Soccer
    Solids
    Speech Therapy
    Swimming
    Tantrums
    Tot School
    Vacation
    Vacations
    Videos
    Vlogs
    Wedding

Proudly powered by Weebly