We decided to board the plane last so that Riley wouldn't have to be contained in our seats while all the other passengers boarded, and I think that was a great decision. We basically boarded, got all our stuff out (toys, books etc), and let Riley explore the airplane for a bit before we had to strap her down and keep her still for take-off. She was pretty good during take-off, and was quite happy on the plane! Around her usual bedtime (7ish) she was getting tired, but they were serving dinner and there seemed to be no chance of getting her to sleep. Finally, around 8:30, after a bit of protesting and maybe only 2 minutes of crying, she fell asleep in my arms. I was able to slip her into the bassinet without waking her, and she basically slept until 15 minutes before we landed!! I was absolutely shocked that she continued to sleep after they turned all the cabin lights on, and came by with the carts to serve breakfast. But honestly, while it was still stressful, and I didn't get a wink of sleep, it went much better than I thought!
Since we've been here, Riley has been having a BLAST. She loves it here already, although I can't wait for her to get back on some kind of schedule again. Last night? She went to bed at 11:45pm (6:45pm NZ time), but on the upside, she didn't wake up until 9:15am. It's looking like it's going to be similar tonight, seeing how it's 7:45pm and she's napping... eesh. But, this is only day 2, and it's really hard on her little body going through this big of a time change, so we'll get there I'm sure. If anyone has any tips to help babies adjust, I'd love to hear them!!
In the meantime, we'll keep Riley entertained by letting her play with the dog, because she absolutely LOVES dogs. I think we may have to get a dog someday...