Have Baby, Will Travel

Hi folks. Just a quick hello before the holidays. Today is being spent packing in preparation to go East again to spend Christmas with my family.


I've always been a chronic over-packer, trying to prepare for myriad "what-ifs". 'Cause, you know, the one time I decide to pack light, wouldn't it so happen that I'd get invited to go, say, white-water rafting? And me without my water shoes. Never mind that it's Winter. Better pack it all, just in case.

Well, now it's worse with a baby, especially for carry-on. Although in this case, the 'what-ifs' can be placed almost entirely into the categories of


1. body functions
2. restlessness


So, like many parents before me, I will illustrate my carry-on pre-baby:

And now my carry-on with baby (not including actual baby):

(Note that coat, hat, mittens are in his luggage for the sake of, shall we say, convenience).

When we flew last month, a fellow passenger told me I won the prize for "Most Carry-On". I guess I was sporting a bit of a pack mule look. I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd forgotten the baby amidst it all.


I figure if I'm armed to the teeth with distraction and food ammo, I can keep him entertained for the two hours in our tight quarters.

Last time, though, I was delighted to find said ammo not necessary. We were flying at night, so Sonny passed right out on my lap, cuddling his favourite sheep (named Sheepie because we never got around to a more clever name).


It was lovely to enjoy the cuddle, but the only downside was that I didn't dare move the whole time. The blood supply to my legs was cut off, but the risk of gangrene was a small price to pay. I was more concerned that I couldn't get at my in-flight sandwich, which was trapped in very noisy packaging.

My sandwich is trapped forever!

All in all, I was very fortunate to have a pleasant flight with my little guy. I could've brought a magazine after all!


This time we're flying during the day, but I'll have Hubs with me. My doctor told me 'next year it will be worse, 'cause he'll want to run up and down the aisle' (the baby, not Hubs). Shhh. Let me live in denial for a while longer.


Anyway, I aim to be easygoing about it all, however it goes. He's allowed to be there, after all. If we aren't so lucky this time, hopefully our fellow travelers will notice we are making an effort with our bag of ammo and have some Christmas spirit. Or, barring that, earplugs.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, friends, and thanks for coming by and checking out my cartoons the past few months.