It's been over a week since we landed in the good old USA so I thought I better post an update on our adventure thus far.
The majority of my anxiety over the trip was around how Jakson would act on the 9 hour flight to Chicago, followed by a layover and a second flight to Moline. And since i was flying alone with him (Rob is meeting us here in mid-Dec) the anxiety was at an all time high! Well, would you believe Jakson was a little angel for almost the entire journey??
Our first saving grace was the 'sky cot' that we nabbed when checking in. It's like a little moses basket that hooks onto the wall of the plane and gave Jakson a place to hang out. Luckily he spent a lot of time in this, sitting and having a couple of naps. It was quite amusing because where this little cot was happened to be right under the screen where movies played and he just sat in it and smiled at all the people on the flight. I couldn't believe how well behaved he was and he was certainly a hit with the flight attendants as well as the other passengers! People kept coming over to see him and saying how cute and well behaved he was!! Even the flight attendants from first class kept coming back to coach to play with him! Too bad his adorable face wasn't enough to get us upgraded!! Here's a pic of him hanging out in his 'sky cot', reading a book:
I also sat by a lovely girl who was so helpful, she actually wanted to play with him and really helped keep him entertained, which made a difference. Jakson even slept for a couple of hours on the plane which gave me a chance to get up and go to the loo and have a bit of food!! It was still A LOT of work to keep him entertained but i'm glad we did it. I'll get to why in just a bit. Here's a pic of him all cozy in his own seat on the plane:
I'm all cozy and ready to go!
Now the layover in chicago was a bit of chaos as we were an hour late leaving London due to fog. But we luckily made our connection with 5 minutes to spare so Jakson didn't even have a chance to fuss during our rush through customs and security. However, I think the jetlag finally caught up with him once we boarded the second flight (it was nearly 9 pm and he is normally in bed by 7). So during this flight Jakson sort of lost it but was easily appeased by giving him a bottle, after which he promptly fell asleep. But again, jetlag really hit him hard when we had to get off the flight and he was awoken from his nap and had a complete meltdown in the Moline airport :( Poor boo was exhausted. But we got him home and sleeping by about 5 pm iowa time (11 pm London time). And, knock on wood, with each passing day he seems to be getting better and better. He's pretty much right on schedule and has been sleeping through the night since about the 3rd or 4th night.
Now, as i said above, it was all most certainly worth it when I got to see Jakson playing with Nanny Kat and Grandpa Don on the first morning. They were just in awe of him and loved every minute.
First play date with Nanny Kat and Gpa Don
The other big excitement here in Iowa is whether Jakson will crawl with each passing day. He's SO close. Pushing himself backwards around the kitchen and nearly taking a forward crawl, if he could just figure out what to do with those pesky legs! Only video can show you how funny this is:
Some other highlights from our first week in the US include some other firsts for Jakson:
First morning and first smile in Iowa :)
First breakfast: banana toast and pineapple
First thanksgiving!!
First taste of eggs
I'm sure we'll have many more firsts while we spend the next few weeks in Iowa. Stay tuned for more fun and adventures with Baby Boo!
I can hardly believe I'm typing this BUT it's been nearly two weeks that Boo has slept all the way through the night. TWO WEEKS! And I don't care if I type it here and jinx it now as we are leaving for America on Sunday so it will get messed up anyway! So yippee - we have a baby (and a mummy + daddy) who is finally getting one good nights sleep after another. He's usually down by 7 and has been getting up at 7. It's totally mazers, that's for sure!
Jakson has also been doing very well on the food front, tho that's not surprising. His weight is also proving how well he's doing as I took him to get weighed yesterday and he's now 17 lbs + 14 ozs! That's between the 25th and 50th percentile so he continues to climb the charts. He has a very ambitious appetite and quite regularly eats 3 meals a day and sometimes even a snack! For breakfast he has things like 'banana toast' which is toast topped with mushed banana. He loves that. I alternatively give him different types of fruit for breakfast to shake it up, usually some melon sticks and/or apple/pear slices. Then for lunch I try to give him some sort of protein, which is mostly chicken or tuna with some veg and maybe potatoes if we had a roast or something the night before. And then dinner is usually some veggies, maybe a rice or something but i try and limit protein as they say it is better left out of dinner/before bed time to ensure a good nights sleep. It's just so much fun to watch him mow down - and he's even chewing now! Chewing with his two tiny teeth but mostly gums :)
And the two bottom teeth are fully visible now and boy are they cute. He smiled at me today and you could seem them clear as day. Only problem, i think they are crooked!! I wonder if it's the dummy? Gonna have to nix that habit...right after the trip to iowa :) I also read somewhere that once the teeth push through that we should start brushing. Does anyone brush their babies teeth? Because I've tried and he's not so keen. So i guess i'll just let him 'chew' on the toothbrush for a while and see how we get on.
My next post will likely be from the corn fields of Iowa. Stay tuned for a full update on how we got on with the plane ride and how Jakson enjoys his first snow storm. Snow men anyone?
I've been posting a lot of pics lately so I thought it was time for an update on what's been going on in the world of boo. He's a little monkey, that's for sure. We've got two teeth coming in on the bottom, which makes for lots of biting, chewing and general fussiness. It's all good tho because the fussiness isn't too terribly bad. One of the little chompers is almost fully visible while the other one has just broken through. I'm sure it's only a matter of days before he's showing off those new pearly whites to anyone who will have a look!
We are also getting very close to crawling, as you might have seen from the last video post. It seems each day he gets closer and closer - this morning he was going backwards! Pushing his way toward something he wanted. He has the idea that he can move and pull himself towards items of interest, what he now needs to figure out is how to pick himself up and move his arms and legs to get it. Again, only a matter of time before he has it figured out. I just pray he doesn't do it before we get on the plan to head home to Iowa.
Speaking of Iowa, only two weeks to go before we head off! I am bricking it as the idea of an 8-9 hour flight alone with Boo seems overwhelming and certainly exhausting. I've got fingers and toes crossed that we can get a 'sky cot' but we won't be able to secure it until we actually check-in. I think that would make the flight a lot more bearable. A LOT! But i've also purchased a baby carrier and a few new toys to (hopefully) keep Boo entertained along the way. I've been very anti-TV since Boo was old enough to pay attention but i may just have to bring along the portable DVD player as an option to keep him calm on the flight.
The only other exciting happening in the world of Boo would most definitely be FOOD. It seems food is the highlight of most things lately. He's (or should i say 'we are') having so much fun exploring and eating new foods. We've ramped up quite quickly but such is the nature of baby led weaning. His most recent conquest included some homemade lasagna. And oh boy did he LOVE it:
What are you looking at?
What started off with such good intentions (and coverage)
ended with a complete and total mess!
I think it's safe to say he loves Italian food as we also had a great experience at Jamie (Olivers) Italian. Here he is enjoying some risotto and ravioli:
Mmmmm....risotto is yummy!!
And the most fun with food has got to be eating whole fruit. Yes, I said WHOLE FRUIT. Check out boo eating a whole pear:
So lots of fun goings on in the world of boo. Love his cute little bum! xxx
