With our bags packed and an early morning wake-up (which was actually normal wake-up for Kien anyway) we got to the airport in plenty of time. Jef dropped us at the loading bay, and after we checked in I as able to hang out with Kien in the staffroom as we waited for our upgrade confirmation.
He did not want to take off his bag! He didn't even know what I had packed in there for him, but the mere fact that I put the bag on him was enough.
We were finally confirmed with an upgrade, so the flight over to Brisbane was a lot more pleasant. Right in front of my seat was a padded area where the crew put things like newspapers and spare blankets/pillows etc. It made a brilliant play pen! The travelers in the cabin were so friendly. Kien went and introduced himself to a nice lady in the other aisle, and she loved that he wanted to hold her hand.
There was another toddler sitting on the other side of us, so Kien and Blake shared played with each others toys. Kien was by far the more boisterous of the two, climbing from one seat to the other, up and down using the side drink stand as a step. He also ran from one end of the plane to the other. When we were at the back of the plane I was so thankful we were at the front of the plane. It was absolutely packed.
So all up I would say the experience from the moment we left home till when we arrived in Brisbane was relatively easy, all things considered. That's also counting his screaming at being constrained in the infant safety belt for both take-off and landing, then falling asleep as we were taxi-ing to the gate just after landing, then having to wait for an hour in the terminal with him hot, sweaty and asleep on my shoulder because the baggage handlers were on strike!
We went grocery shopping to pick up some supplies, and had lunch at Bianca's place (Justine's sister). When we got back to Justine's place the kids had an absolute blast with the water table outside.
We ended up with all three kids running around naked, and we made an executive decision to give them a bath outside - in the baby bath, one at a time.
There is a 3 hour time difference between here and NZ, and I wasn't sure how Kien was going to cope. But he was great last night. All 3 kids went to bed at 6pm, and he slept in the port-a-cot all night with only one wake-up at 2:30am for milk. Our start to the day was 5am (8am NZ time), and I felt great!
I am able to write this post because he is currently having a nap. It was just to easy. I went downstairs to pack our bag for going out, and he asked for milk and to go into the cot. So I pulled the blinds, put his noise on, and he was asleep within minutes. When he wakes up we will go and get some lunch before heading over the Justine's mum's place for a swim.
