It’s 2:30am in Amsterdam right now and I am AWAKE. Prim woke up briefly at midnight and got herself back to sleep, but I was not so lucky. This happened last night too — she woke up at 2am and I had her back down within about 20 minutes, but I ended up being awake until 5am because my brain was like, “Hey! It’s 5pm in California! How about some dinner?”

Sooo, that’s awesome. Everyone seems to be adjusting onto the new time schedule pretty seamlessly, aside from me. KC has been sleeping through the night like a freaking champion, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes think about murdering him for sleeping so soundly while I lie awake next to him.

Marriage.

Anyhoo, I thought I’d run you guys through a quick overview of how flying with Prim went. It was, in a word, brutal. As I mentioned, we booked a redeye that left at 7pm, assuming that she would sleep most of the way (everything I read about flying with infants was like, “fly during bedtime! It makes life so much easier!” Lies.)

We got to the airport with plenty of time to hang out, so Prim got to move around and get her wiggles out.

Prim was totally enthralled by the airport and all the people, and she was especially fascinated by the guy who came by to empty the trash.

When it came time to board the plane, Prim was not happy to be leaving the land of climbing the stroller and squealing at strangers, and so immediately broke down sobbing (which I’m sure made the whole line of people waiting to get on the plane super pumped to potentially sit near us).

We got her onto the plane and calmed her down, but she was far from mellow. I don’t know if I like accidentally gave her 14 shots of espresso or something, because the girl was amped.

^^safety first!^^

I managed to feed her dinner and then nurse her during takeoff so her ears could acclimate to the pressure. I hoped that this all happening around her normal bedtime would mean that she would mellow out and eventually fall asleep, but no such luck. The rest of the flight was basically her descending into “I’m so tired but refusing to fall asleep” insanity, complete with numerous breakdowns. (Those of you with little kids, you know when they get into that “wet noodle” stage where they’re just losing it and you can’t even really hold onto them because they’re just trying to melt onto the floor? Yeah, that’s where Prim was.)

So we were “those people” on the plane, which, let me tell you, it totally sucks to be those people. Because it’s not like we weren’t doing everything within our power to calm her down and keep her occupied. There were new toys, snacks, and even kid shows on the Kindle — but Prim was having none of it.

I have always hated flying. I get that it’s a “luxury” to fly, but flying feels very far from luxurious (unless you’re in first class or something, probably). But after these flights, flying without a baby sounds like a freaking spa day.

We arrived in Frankfurt for our layover and cleared customs (Prim, of course, fell asleep just before the plane landed and slept until we got to our gate. Such timing!) I got her changed and we let her roam around on the floor while we waited to board the flight. (Yep, all of those thoughts I had about not letting Prim crawl all over the airport floor totally went out the window. Immunity builder, right guys?)

Luckily the next flight was short, and everyone around us was super friendly. The flight attendants were really sweet to Prim, and the whole row in front of us made friends with her and kept her entertained for portions of the flight. I don’t know if it’s because they were European or what, but it felt so much nicer and more supportive than the flight before which was full of Americans. Prim managed to keep it together until just before we landed when she had a full-blown meltdown. (Which, when you’re going on hour 28 of no sleep, is just the mood booster you need.)

I managed to calm Prim down and she was in good spirits when we de-boarded in Amsterdam.

Of course, as soon as we got into the cab to head to the hotel…

Standard.

So anyway, just goes to show that the best laid plans with kids pretty much mean absolutely nothing. Prim is actually fairly easy going and adaptable (I mean, the girl is basically already on European time somehow — I wish my damn brain would get the memo), but flying was just not something she enjoyed.

I’m hoping that by the time we fly next she’ll be walking so we can just parade her up and down the aisle to wear her out. But who knows, right?

Here’s hoping that if you have to fly with a child your experience goes much more smoothly than ours did!