The Mom Crowd

I researched flying with a baby a few months ago and enjoyed reading the stories of other parents’ experiences. So I decided to write my story about my first experience flying with a baby.

In August of last year I had to decide if I my baby and me were going to the Philippines with my husband and 10 other people in December. Part of my concern was traveling with a 7 month old. I researched flying with an infant and spoke to many parents. They all agreed that this would be a great time to travel with Ace, because she would not be crawling yet. So we bought the tickets and in December we left to travel to the other side of the world.

Security

Getting through security would have been a bigger challenge if I had to do it by myself. Luckily my husband was with me to help Ace and I get through the lines. Between the three of us we had five items: a car seat, a car seat frame stroller, a diaper bag, my backpack, and Daniel’s bag with a laptop computer. Almost each time we had to put everything through the security ex-ray machine, including breaking down the stroller. In addition, we had to take off all our shoes, even Ace’s little knock-off Robeez. The first time we went through the line my husband thought he lost his mobile phone. He found his phone, but we agreed to get through the line slower next time and not care about the people behind us. Going slow through the line may not have made the people behind us very happy, but we were much more relaxed and less stressed.

In the Los Angeles airport there was a special line for strollers and wheelchairs. We zipped right through the line while we waited over thirty minutes for our friends to get through the regular security line. In the Hong Kong airport before Daniel and I went through the security line a nice security man with clean white gloves held up his hands and asked for my baby. I handed him my baby thinking, he just wanted to see her. Then, on the other side of security we saw three security personnel crowded around my baby trying to get her to smile. They had sat her sitting up in her car seat. I wasn’t sure what to think about all of it, I was tired and just glad that my baby was okay after passing her off to a security guard.

Finally On The Plane

My husband, baby, and I did not always have our three seats assigned together. Imagine if I had left my baby in the row behind me next to two unassuming passengers! Every time we would not completely settle into our seats until we made sure that the seat next to us was empty or until after we asked someone to exchange seats with us. Everyone we asked politely obliged to move seats even though they did not have to.

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***SPOILER WARNING*** If you plan on seeing the movie ‘Juno’ and don’t want any spoilers – Don’t read this blog post! Come back and read it after you have seen the movie.

I got a chance to go out and see the movie ‘Juno’ tonight with my friend Melia after I laid Annabelle to bed. The movie is about a precocious sixteen-year-old named Juno and her journey through pregnancy.

As far as pregnancies in the movies go, I thought it portrayed pregnancy pretty close to the real thing. Except that I noticed some of her symptoms were out of order in the movie, but I could overlook that detail. It is a movie. “And if it is any consolation I have heartburn that is radiating in my knee caps.” So true!

We see Juno attempt to get an abortion, but decide not to because “the baby has fingernails.” I thought the protest and abortion scene was interesting, because I like to see how conservative hot button topics are portrayed in television and film. I always thought that protesters in front of abortion clinics weren’t very effective, but in this movie it was. Thank God that Su-Chin was one brave girl giving her time and speaking truth and yelling “Babies want to get borned! Babies want to get borned!” Su-Chin was not portrayed with excessive mocking or in a heavy sarcastic tone. It was somewhat mocking, but not as bad as it could have been.

Juno is quite verbal throughout the movie that she is giving the child up for adoption, but we see her struggle with the decision. We see her grow attached to the child inside of her when the baby kicks and she is playing with a car on her belly. In the end, she gives the child away. The scene pans to her and Bleeker crying in the hospital bed. Of course, I was balling! I don’t know if I could ever do what she did. I am glad that she did have some emotion over her baby, after she was very casual in the beginning of the film about the baby.

At the end of the film Vanessa brings the baby home, because “she was born to be a mom.” During the film I kept waiting to see if Vanessa would turn out to be fake or a horrible person, but she never did. She genuinely wanted to be a mom. When you see her holding the baby, you are happy for her. In the back of my head, I was wondering how she is going to care for a newborn all by herself. I couldn’t imagine. I was upset about her husband. My friend said that Mark leaving Vanessa made the movie more realistic.

The ending is bittersweet, but I am somehow happy with the way things turned out. I enjoy funky indie films and the verbal banter in the movie. My most favorite character was “Dwight”, “That ain’t no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can’t be un-did, homeskillet.”

Have you seen the movie? Did it remind you of ‘Saved!’ or ‘Little Miss Sunshine’? What are your thoughts on the portrayal of pregnancy in the movie?

• A Wild Ride Writing Contest

AWildRide.net is celebrating its first year anniversary with a writing contest. The theme is “What to Expect When Parenting isn’t What You Expected.” There are many prizes to win. The deadline for entries is Jan.15th. I am still working on my entry!

• Regretting your Baby’s Name on CNN.com

CNN has an interesting article on what happens when you regret your child’s name.

• ‘Web Playgrounds of the Very Young’ on NYTimes.com

Our kids may be asking to be part of virtual worlds like Webkindz and “Pixie Hollow” soon. A quote from the article ” ‘Get ready for total inundation,’ said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at the research firm eMarketer, who estimates that 20 million children will be members of a virtual world by 2011, up from 8.2 million today.” Here is another quote from the article discussing Neopets, “ ‘Parents know they can trust our brand to protect kids,’ said Steve Youngwood, executive vice president for digital media at Nickelodeon.” I am a huge fan of the web and technology, but I would never rely on a website to protect my child. That is my job.

• 4 Part Cloth Diaper Tutorial on BreastfeedingSymbol.org

I read through all four tutorials and found them really helpful. It actually made cloth diapering less scary. She actually throws all the poop in the washer with the diapers. I wonder if anyone else does that.

I googled “new year’s baby” to get an image for this blog post, but I got distracted by the first provided link. The link led me to a documentary called, “New Year Baby.” The story is about a family fleeing genocide in Cambodia and coming to America. Read the synopsis. It is an amazing picture of what family and acceptance is all about. I hope this story gives you hope and encouragement for the new year.

Here’s to new beginnings in 2008!

Cheers!

Today was my first attempt to make my own baby food. I followed the instructions in the article McKenna wrote about how to make your own baby food in five easy steps. I also read parts of the book, “Super Baby Food” by Ruth Yaron.

I had the choice of starting Ace with avocado or sweet potato. She is half Hispanic and I craved refried beans when I was pregnant, so I went with the avocado. I tried using the food processor attachment on my blender to purify the avocado, but I had to keep stirring it to get it all mixed. I tried my mortar and pestle and that worked well. I may get something else in the future to make it easier. I added some water to the avocado puree to make the food pour from the spoon.

After pureeing the two avocados and adding water to the green goop, I poured the remainder into an ice cube tray. Tomorrow after the cubes are frozen, I will distribute two cubes per freezer bag and date each bag. Two avocados gave me seven servings of baby food.

I fed Ace some of the fresh baby food and she liked avocado! I could tell, because she would open her mouth for more. I followed the book’s instructions to feed my baby early in the day and right after partially breastfeeding her. I only gave her one side, then put her in the high chair. After she was all done with the avocado, I finished breastfeeding her on the other side. It worked. Although, I don’t want to have to partially breastfeed her before eating all the time, because it is an extra time-consuming step in the process.

I am surprised by how easy the whole process was. I know other vegetables may be more time consuming to cook, but it is not much more time than making a meal for myself. I really like knowing exactly what is in my baby’s food. It also makes me feel good that my daughter is eating fresh vegetables. What could be better than that?

Do you make your own baby food? Have you tried? What has been your experience with home made baby food?