The week after giving birth to my daughter, I came down with severe gastroenteritis. We’re talking severe – I ended up in the hospital for two nights to treat both the amoeba and dehydration. I am nursing, but since I had the IV’s in the wrist, I couldn’t hold my daughter. So we took the pump with us to the hospital, and I pumped milk and my husband would bottle feed her. It was actually a blessing because he was able to bond with her and she learned early on to be flexible between nipples. And not that I would have chose it that way, but I lost all my baby weight!

Oh, Mary, I am so sorry to hear about your bad experience, but happy that you realized you have to laugh sometimes, just to keep your sanity.

My kids (ages 6 and 4) are pretty good travelers. We drove to a friend’s wedding 9 hours away when they were 7-months and 3. We thought we were in for a headache of a drive. We stopped only 4 times on the way there. We let the older one play at a McDonald’s for a breakfast stop (not realizing that we had crossed time zones and thought we were stopping for lunch). We had a minivan, so I was able to slide into the backseat and feed the younger one while we continued to drive. Peaches on the interstate are not the funnest food, but it went pretty well. On the return trip, I was sick the whole time so my husband only stopped 2 times, both times to get gas and change diapers/let the older one use the restroom. Both kids slept almost the entire ride home, so I didn’t have to do too much entertaining.

Our other “big” trip we took was to Disney World when they were 4 and 19-months. We flew down and were meeting my parents there. It was a smaller plane, and my husband sat across the aisle by himself, while I sat across the aisle with the two kids. Trying to save money, we didn’t purchase a seat for the younger one. I was allowed to hold her in my arms for take-off and landing. Once up in the air, I buckled her up in the seat with her sister and they colored and played the whole flight. They were perfect little angels the whole time. Our oldest rode home with my parents and we traveled with just the younger one on the ride back. She missed her sister and pouted almost the whole flight home. She didn’t cry, thankfully, and the flight attendants were in love with her. It made the trip much more enjoyable.

Awww Mary you’re poor daughter! I would cry if that happened to me too!

What a bad travel experience for the whole family! Makes me a little nervous about my own family trip to Florida next month!

Hello,I just proof read what I wrote, Its not noing duh it should have been knowing. And I am a college educated person. No excuse. Sorry

We take the kids out of school and fly to Florida for about 10 days. (We go during teachers conference so kids are not out that long.) Since we have four kids, 15, 13, 7 and 3 years old it is, well to put it, chaotic to say the least.

This last October we flew to Disney, I bought our tickets last January. We always fly Midwest, (their head quarters are in Milwaukee). However for the last three years we have NEVER had any of our seats together! This totally sucks.

Our older children and myself are nervous flyers. And being nervous and having to sit next to strangers is not what i call a fun flight. I pitched a huge fit stating that a then 6 year old and 2 year old should NOT sit next to a stranger, they acted as if I was someone who was demanding to sit in first class but paid for 2nd.

They had to have people move around a bit. Oh well. So the 3 year old sat next to me, the 6 year old sat across from me but next to a stranger too and the rest were scattered around the large jet!

Just before landing the 15 year old got sick and was in the bathroom until the flight attendant told her she had to take her seat and gave her a bag. The man sitting next to her was not amused and told her to use the bathroom if she is going to be sick. She cried the last 15 min. of the flight, I knew nothing of this. It broke my heart when I found out that she was all alone after the flight. (she broke her wrist less then 24 hours before and was on a pain med that made her sick).

My three year old was in a car seat fell asleep and wet her pants. Just before we landed, she awoke crying, I should say screaming, wanting to get out but couldn’t because we were landing, once we landed my husband yelled up to me to just get off the plane and he would collect our stuff. He picked up the car seat not knowing that she wet it and urine spilled over the other seat. He was mortified and the flight attendant was not amused! She just said great.

When my husband found us outside the gate he found a uncontrollable crying 3 year old, the 6 year old (ears) and a 15 year old sobbing because she is sick and her wrist hurts. He found me laughing and crying because I could not believe what just happened.

The flight from hell. I could not stop. The 13 year old went off and sat by himself pretending not to know us. That was just one of many nightmarish stories we have. That night while my husband and I were in bed I had the giggles so bad just thinking about how our family must had looked like as an outsider watching us on the airplane/airport.

Normally when we travel I am very organised. Each child will have a new game they cannot get until they are on the plane. They get a bottle of water and gum/suckers. We have learned that we must get to the airport 3 hours ahead because for some reason that is out of my control our two sons share the same name as some IRA’s, and their names are on the homeland security list. so we are always held up! remember they are 7 and 13.

My husband and I have a great since of humor. Its needed since there are things that are out of our control and we just have to sit back and laugh. Or cry depending on the situation.