The Plunk Family

Splashing around in the pool today (that is just a shadow on his head)



As promised here is a post about our plane ride. I was very worried about how Jonah would do because he has become so active and wants to crawl everywhere. We were on a full flight but fortunately the only empty seat (that I saw) was next to us. How is that for lucky? We had a window seat which worked out well because Jonah loved looking out the window. My plan was to nurse him as we were taking off but he was very hungry and we sat on the runway waiting for a while. So he was done before we took off. Then my plan became to give him what I had pumped on the way to the airport. I gave him the bottle when the plane started moving but again, we moved and then sat for a little longer. Meanwhile he finished the bottle. So we finally took off and I tried to get him to drink some water for the bottle but he just wanted to play with it. He did fine though. Shortly after takeoff he decided to dirty his pants so I had to wait for the seat belt light to go off to take him to the bathroom. I didn't even think to ask if any of the bathrooms had changing tables but the one I got did not. It was miraculous that I managed to stay clean while changing a squirmy, stinky baby on my lap in an airplane bathroom. After that he played for a while and climbed all over me a bit but then I nursed him and he fell asleep for over an hour. I didn't dare move to get a magazine or anything because I didn't want to wake him. They were playing a movie which I watched without hearing. He woke up and played and ate some lunch (also very tricky with him on my lap). The guy that was sitting in our row in the aisle seat was very nice about me having to get out to change Jonah. He was working on a laptop and had a coke. Both of which Jonah tried desperately to get. For the rest of the flight we read books and played with toys. He was happy and laughing and singing. He even played peek-a-boo between the seats with the lady behind us. At the end of the flight everyone said how good he had been and some people said if it hadn't been for his laughing they wouldn't have known he was there. There was another little boy (under 2) that cried off and on during the flight. I was so happy that he did well but I know as he gets older he'll be a little harder to keep content for a 4 1/2 hour flight.
So another reason I wanted to post about our flight was to talk about transporting the frozen breast milk. I looked for a long time to find information on flying with breast milk because I was concerned it would thaw or we would have a snag at the airport. So I wanted other people to be able to benefit from my experience. What we ended up doing with putting the frozen milk in a hard sided cooler (the kind with wheels and a handle) with the frozen gel packs you use to keep your lunch cold (about 6 of them). You don't want to use ice because breast milk freezes at a lower temperature than water so the ice would actually cause the milk to thaw. I toyed with the idea of using dry ice but a)I would have had to drive a ways to get it from a party supply store and b)it makes checking the milk at the airport because there were regulations about ventilation, the amount of dry ice and labeling. I figure that from the time I loaded it into the cooler before leaving for the airport and when I placed it into the freezer at my destination it was around 10 hours. It was all still completely frozen. If you do not use dry ice the airline does not require that you label it but I wanted to make sure that it was treated with care so I did label it as human milk (a weird way to put it but that is how the donor milk shipments at work are labeled) and included a picture of Jonah. I sealed the cooler with duct tape and placed the duct tape inside to be used to reseal the cooler if they had to open it. When I checked it the lady made a face when I said it was breast milk (whatever lady!) and asked if it contained dry ice. I said no and then off went the precious cargo. Jonah and I saw the cooler being unloaded from the plane when we arrived in Seattle. Matt picked it up from baggage claim and met us to take us to our new home.
Ok, that is it for tonight. We're off to the zoo tomorrow! And on a sidenote, anyone want a couple of dogs? I'm ready to give them away. I might even pay if you take the little black one off our hands.