Joash had been such a great traveller! Praise God! There were a few techniques I employed to make life easier with baby.
1) We traveled at night. This way, baby would be sleeping most of the time. I wouldn't want to worry about entertaining Joash for 8 long hours! (esp since he cat naps in the day) True enough, Joash was asleep most of the time, either in the bassinet or in our arms during turbulence. There is a safety regulation that requires us to take baby out of the bassinet and attach his seat belt to ours during air turbulence, which happens half the time we were in the air. Sigh! We had to hold onto Joash for almost 3 hours in total! So much for having a bassinet seat... But then again, carrying him for 3 hours is already much better than having to hold him throughout the flight!
2) We had plans to get his milk bottle ready during take-offs and landings. However, we made the mistake of putting the baby bag in the overhead compartment at first. By the time we remembered to get the bottles, we had to stay belted in and poor Joash cried the whole 15 min's worth of take-off. I think he was also hungry in the first place and it was his first time taking the plane so he might have been frightened, too, by the noise and perhaps the ear popping. Anyways, he was fine during landing as we learnt from our mistake and kept one bottle of milk with us beforehand. In fact, during our flight home, Joash slept through both the take-off and the landing! That's my boy!
3) I kept my watch at S'pore time and followed the usual schedule as much as I could. By the grace of God, the 2 hours time difference was a great bonus. Joash could "stay up" with us to attend night gatherings and the night wedding rehearsal without much disruption cos by the time we got back to Uncle A’s place at 10pm in Melbourne, it was just nice Joash's 8pm bedtime back in S'pore. We didn't even have to worry about waking up later to get more rest as 8am in Melbourne was 6am in S'pore, Joash's normal waking time. Joash had no problem at all with the time difference. He didn't even miss a beat! No adjustment problems whatsoever there and back. Amazing....
4) Since I already trained Joash back in Singapore to listen to me when I say "no", it was a lot easier to teach him not to touch certain things like the heater, CDs, newspaper and such at both my best friend’s and Uncle A’s place. He was already used to having me set the boundaries in a new place. Thank God! I could almost give him as much free reign to explore as in Singapore.
5) We bought Joash new toys over at Melbourne so that he will be kept entertained. I got the nested toys so that everything is compact enough to carry around when put together and yet numerous enough for variety when taken apart. It reduces the weight and bulk of our luggage going there too since we didn't bother bringing old toys over. :)
6) God has made Joash sociable. I'm so thankful to God that he has no stranger anxiety! It made life so much easier as other people could help care for him and everyone absolutely adored him. What's even better was that my BFF's churchmate could babysit him for us during our last day so that we could have some double dating time. He didn't fuss much at all! Hallelujah!
7) We were very blessed by the family of God in the couple's church as they loaned us many baby things and saved us the trouble of bringing ours. The stroller, high chair, bathtub and car seat were all kindly loaned to us by various individuals. We are one in the bond of love....
8) Instead of buying thick clothing (which can be very expensive) for the chilly weather, I chose to keep Joash warm by putting on many layers of clothes. He will usually have his PJs (onesies) as the innermost layer, followed by a long-sleeves top and long bottoms. Then I put on the rompers to keep the top and bottom from separating which may expose baby to the chill. Next, I put on matching booties, mittens and hat. The last piece would be the $15 green Osh Kosh hooded jacket which I bought just for this trip. As you would be able to see from the video, Joash sleeps in the IKEA sleeping bag at night with the normal PJs. It really helped to keep him warm and snug.
There are so many cute photos of Joash that I thought it more efficient and space saving to compile them into a movie. So please sit back, relax and enjoy "Joash's first trip to Melbourne"!
1) We traveled at night. This way, baby would be sleeping most of the time. I wouldn't want to worry about entertaining Joash for 8 long hours! (esp since he cat naps in the day) True enough, Joash was asleep most of the time, either in the bassinet or in our arms during turbulence. There is a safety regulation that requires us to take baby out of the bassinet and attach his seat belt to ours during air turbulence, which happens half the time we were in the air. Sigh! We had to hold onto Joash for almost 3 hours in total! So much for having a bassinet seat... But then again, carrying him for 3 hours is already much better than having to hold him throughout the flight!
2) We had plans to get his milk bottle ready during take-offs and landings. However, we made the mistake of putting the baby bag in the overhead compartment at first. By the time we remembered to get the bottles, we had to stay belted in and poor Joash cried the whole 15 min's worth of take-off. I think he was also hungry in the first place and it was his first time taking the plane so he might have been frightened, too, by the noise and perhaps the ear popping. Anyways, he was fine during landing as we learnt from our mistake and kept one bottle of milk with us beforehand. In fact, during our flight home, Joash slept through both the take-off and the landing! That's my boy!
3) I kept my watch at S'pore time and followed the usual schedule as much as I could. By the grace of God, the 2 hours time difference was a great bonus. Joash could "stay up" with us to attend night gatherings and the night wedding rehearsal without much disruption cos by the time we got back to Uncle A’s place at 10pm in Melbourne, it was just nice Joash's 8pm bedtime back in S'pore. We didn't even have to worry about waking up later to get more rest as 8am in Melbourne was 6am in S'pore, Joash's normal waking time. Joash had no problem at all with the time difference. He didn't even miss a beat! No adjustment problems whatsoever there and back. Amazing....
4) Since I already trained Joash back in Singapore to listen to me when I say "no", it was a lot easier to teach him not to touch certain things like the heater, CDs, newspaper and such at both my best friend’s and Uncle A’s place. He was already used to having me set the boundaries in a new place. Thank God! I could almost give him as much free reign to explore as in Singapore.
5) We bought Joash new toys over at Melbourne so that he will be kept entertained. I got the nested toys so that everything is compact enough to carry around when put together and yet numerous enough for variety when taken apart. It reduces the weight and bulk of our luggage going there too since we didn't bother bringing old toys over. :)
6) God has made Joash sociable. I'm so thankful to God that he has no stranger anxiety! It made life so much easier as other people could help care for him and everyone absolutely adored him. What's even better was that my BFF's churchmate could babysit him for us during our last day so that we could have some double dating time. He didn't fuss much at all! Hallelujah!
7) We were very blessed by the family of God in the couple's church as they loaned us many baby things and saved us the trouble of bringing ours. The stroller, high chair, bathtub and car seat were all kindly loaned to us by various individuals. We are one in the bond of love....
8) Instead of buying thick clothing (which can be very expensive) for the chilly weather, I chose to keep Joash warm by putting on many layers of clothes. He will usually have his PJs (onesies) as the innermost layer, followed by a long-sleeves top and long bottoms. Then I put on the rompers to keep the top and bottom from separating which may expose baby to the chill. Next, I put on matching booties, mittens and hat. The last piece would be the $15 green Osh Kosh hooded jacket which I bought just for this trip. As you would be able to see from the video, Joash sleeps in the IKEA sleeping bag at night with the normal PJs. It really helped to keep him warm and snug.
There are so many cute photos of Joash that I thought it more efficient and space saving to compile them into a movie. So please sit back, relax and enjoy "Joash's first trip to Melbourne"!
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