Travelling with an infant and toddler

My sister is getting married this December and I will be traveling alone with 2 kids. Say what? I think I have just gone crazy, you can't imagine how anxious I am on this dreaded trip. 25 hours of travel time ALONE with a 14 months old infant and almost 4 year old toddler. I might just go ahead and shoot myself. Yes, yes.. I should do that.

I've read up on a lot on this topic lately and well here are my plans for survival and a sort of checklist for me in the future.

For my toddler:

1. So what if I will get weird looks, I will put a backpack restraint on my toddler. I'd rather take the weird looks than take the chance of him getting lost in the crowd.
2. In connection with 2, I also have this distance alarm device that will beep when he is a certain distance away from me. Yes, I am making sure that he won't get lost in the crowd, one incident at the mall was enough lesson for me!
3. I bought a DSi XL for him last May so planning to buy him more games. I just hope he won't shout while playing as he does now when playing Dora "arriba! arriba!" .... yikes! Other passengers might not like it.
4. I am planning to buy an IPad just for the trip, my son can sit in a corner and tinker with the iphone for hours! Our Iphone was our survival device when we made a long car trip from NJ to Charlotte (11 hours trip) and NJ to Raleigh (9 hours trip). I'm thinking that he'll love the IPad more than the Iphone since it's bigger. The night before the trip I will load up new Ben10 and Pokemon episodes plus a couple of new games and IBooks for him, that should keep him busy for a few hours. Yes? Okay okay there is another reason I'm buying this, simply because I like having this waste-of-money gadget, I have the apple ipad envy.
5. Toys and lots of toys to bring in the plane when the ipad can't be used (during take-off and landing) and when he's bored silly with the device. I bought this really cool magnet toy from World Market. It's a playhouse that you can stick table, chairs and other stuff to create a scene. It's similar to the pic below but imagine a house with 3 floors.
 
5. Coloring books, puzzles, stickers and mini story books. Not only is it educational, he will have fun with it too. 




For my infant:
1. I am planning to buy an Ergo baby carrier so I can have my hands free with taking care of my active toddler. Zaia likes being close to me than being put in the stroller anyway.
2. Request a bassinet even if she does not fit I'll have extra legroom and a place for her to play. If I can't have the bassinet I'm planning to buy the FlyeBaby, it will save me from having her on my lap all the time.


3.I'll be bringing her extra baby food and lots of snacks just in case the airline will not have something for her.
4. Breastfeed her as often as she likes, so what if my breasts will go sore and I will be parching as long as she doesn't wail a lot it'll save me from sanity.
5. New toys that I'm planning to gift wrap they said they'll have more fun unwrapping the presents. Planning to use those shiny and shimmery wrappers.

For both:
1. Double stroller.
2. Extra clothes for the 3 of us.
3. Pain medicines such as Benadryl, Tylenol and Motrin. Chamomile and other natural medicine to help her relax.
4. Two kinds of thermometers: rectal and IR thermometer.

How o how am I going to bring all these things in one bag! I still have a lot of questions but I have to save it in a another post. Do comment if you have more suggestions :)