First Flights

Our first air travel with Owen was on Dec 12th, to visit Gramps and Granma in Orange, France (in Provence, near Nice. Yes, it was nice.)  We traveled on Air France, LAX to Marseille via Paris Charles De Gaulle.  We were able to travel light without a car seat and stroller thanks to G&G having invested in some new grandparent equipment.  We heavily overpacked the diaper bag with many changes of clothes for Owen and one for me and Noah, put Owen in the Baby Bjorn and set off from LAX. 

I wasn't too worried about the outbound trip, because Air France has the infant bassinet for babies and we were taking off at bedtime.  I was pretty sure Owen would like the white noise and vibration from the jet and get a good nights' sleep en route to Paris.  He nursed during takeoff and didn't fuss about the pressure change at all.  The flight crew didn't give me any trouble about using the Boppy pillow during takeoff or landing (on any of the flights).  Owen passed out right after takeoff and slept through until we were descending into Paris airport.  Changing planes was easy, we went through customs in Paris, and the small flight from Paris to Marseille went smoothly as well.  This time he looked out the window of the plane.  Other babies on these flights (especially one on the Paris-Marseille leg) helpfully demonstrated how loud and miserable a lap child can be in order to highlight Owen's early aptitude for air travel.  The gentlemen sitting near us on the way to Marseille suggested that he will become a pilot. 

After having such an easy time of it on the way out, it stands to reason that the return trip just had to be harder.  I mean, there's literally no way it could have been easier. 

On the return voyage, Owen slept from Marseille to Paris.  We got lost in CDG airport and found our way to the gate in time to find all 308 passengers shoving and pushing their way towards the most disorderly and angry boarding line-up I have ever seen.  It was like feeding time at the fish pond.  We couldn't even figure out where the gate itself was in order to queue up for early boarding.  While we milled around trying to figure it out, I saw a diagram of our plane's seating arrangement on the info screen and noticed that Row 40 was definitely NOT a bulkhead, which meant no baby bassinet for us...  12 hours with squirming Owen on our laps looked imminent. 

One of the ground crewmembers spotted us and let us through the double ropes protecting the two ladies in charge from the rabble.  Noah asked the attendant to check our seating assignment.  She told him, very very curtly, that there were 5 babies on this plane and only 3 bassinets, so tough luck.  The attendant went on to inform us that she had just given away the last bassinet to this gentlemen and his baby (gesturing at the person standing right beside us, so... that was awkward), and that our lack of a bassinet was not her fault so what did we want her to do?  She was unbelievably rude about it, and also utterly unhelpful.  Finally we decided to just suck it up and get on the plane.  We sat down in our aisle and center seats and prepared for the longest 12 hours of our lives.  Then an old lady came along and said "hey you're in my seat."  Turned out they had assigned us to two center seats.  It is physically not possible to feed a baby in a center seat on a plane.  This was the point at which I started to cry and Noah pitched a fit. 

Fortunately this was also when our luck changed.  The flight crew was truly excellent.  They started immediately asking people to swap seats with us.  A quick survey of the plane showed that in fact, all but two of the baby bassinets were not being used.  Somehow they had assigned nearly all the people with babies to regular seats and people without babies to the bassinet seats.  Two people in the bulkhead agreed to change seats with us.  Perhaps they thought they'd be better off in our center seats when they saw their neighbors in the bulkhead feeding their 1-year-old lap child cheetoes and chocolate.  Not kidding.  In any case, we were very very happy.  I would have bought them some champagne but of course, champagne is free on Air France flights.  We owe the gods of air travel a big favor. 

Once everyone was finally boarded, it became clear that the ground crew had also boarded more people than there were seats on the plane.  Two people actually had to get off.  Other problems this flight crew had to cope with included an unexplained electrical burning smell which resulted in having to move a handicapped lady to the jump seat, take apart a section of the cabin's floor and ultimately shut off the inflight entertainment, air, and lighting system; at least four new members of the "mile-high club" making out in the aft restrooms; a man who peed himself.  It was a long 12 hours.   

For our part, the flight was a little tougher than the LA to Paris trip because Owen was awake most of the time and were sharing the 4 bulkhead seats between 6 people, and let's just say the other couple and their child were using more than their 50%.  The child was rowdy, the parents were very fat.  Overall Owen was the easiest part of the trip.  He only fussed a little about having to sit in once place for all those hours.  He fell asleep around 9PM France time in the bassinet and stayed asleep more or less until we got home. 

Jet lag has been a little challenging but we'll get back to our regular schedule soon enough.  Overall I'd say Owen is an A++ world traveler.  I wouldn't hesitate for a second to do the trip again!  

4.5 Months: rocking and rolling

Owen weighed 17lbs 1oz at 4 months of age. He seems to outgrow another pair of pajamas every few days. 

Little by little, he's developing motor skills and reacting to his environment differently, and with more intention.  As a newborn, his movements were jerky and random - but over the past few weeks, we've watched him discover his hands as tools.  While not fully articulate, he is developing dexterity that allows him to accomplish simple things - like stuffing a fuzzy toy into his mouth.  A month ago, he'd be pleased to have the toy in his mouth, but didn't show any inclination or understanding of how he might arrange for that to happen, outside of registering his complaint with the management, of course. 

His mouth has also changed.  A few weeks ago, he really enjoyed feeling different things with his mouth.  That seemed to be a precursor to the early stages of teething.  His mouth still is one of his primary sources of information, but it has developed demands of it's own.  His efforts to ease the discomfort in his gums, he's developed a new skill  He's begun to chew things now. Sophie the Giraffe is a favorite. 

His hair has now come in fully, and even the bald spot on the back of his head isn't truly bald.  I miss his soft infant scalp, as it was particularly nice to nuzzle him on the top of his head.  Now you get hairs up your nose.  He's getting a little bit of cradle-cap too, which means we should probably start bathing him more often.  The daily bath routine at bedtime was giving him dry skin, so we dropped back to two baths a week.  That resolved the skin issues, so hopefully we can strike a balance that will keep the cradle-cap to a minimum.

As he's getting bigger, he's getting stronger.  He can lift and hold his head up for extended tummy-time - and has started to push up on his arms too.  Gramps and Granma think he'll be crawling in another month.  He's also able to hold himself in an upright seated position for a few seconds and can hold his weight on his legs, if you hold him under the arms for balance.  All of that combined strength-training means that for increasing lengths of time, Owen now has a visible neck.  It's like being beamed right in the eye with a ray of cute.  His cheeks, no longer supported by his chest, wobble slightly as his smile cracks through his usual pensive expression.  He's laughing a lot more now.  And not just the strange Kraken noise of excitement, but peals of laughter, shrieks of joy and sly chuckles.

Preparations for a big adventure were also on the forefront.  We decided to take Owen to France for his first Christmas, to visit the Jones grandparents in the ancient Roman town of Orange de Valcluse.  On the plus side, infants fly for free until they are 2 years old.  On the down side, infants now require passports in order to travel internationally. Mom managed to gather all of the pertinent information and forms while simultaneously taking care of Owen full-time and working part-time too.  We all went for an in-person visit to the Post Office, where we filled out additional paperwork and supplied them with photos that showed Owen giving his best thug-life pose.  We triple checked the documents, and crossed our fingers that the government would process the application in time for our trip.  Two weeks later, the freshly minted passport arrived. Unfortunately, it arrived with a typo.  "Owen Nataniel Makoa Jones".  So, Mom got to make an in-person trip to the Federal building in order to get the correct spelling in place.  Passport in hand, Owen was equipped to be a world-traveler.

And travel we did!  Owen's first flight was a redeye flight from LAX to Paris on Air France.  We lucked out and got the bulkhead seat, complete with a bassinet.  The crew sized him up as a potential long-term client, and showered him with gifts, including a teething cloth a plush toy cat.  He snacked quietly on the ascent after a bit of fussing with the seatbelts (he hates all forms of restraint).  Then we tucked him into his bassinet and he slept for the duration of the flight.  Not a peep.  He had breakfast while we landed, and was equally well behaved on the short jaunt from Paris to Marseilles.  We were on the receiving end of a lot of impressed looks from other passengers, as not all of the children on the trip showed such a natural aptitude for the jet-set lifestyle.

Hello, Secret Pig

Owen tries and tries to roll over (16 1/2 weeks)