Sweden...And Traveling with a One Year Old

I'm not sure if our flights to and from Sweden were better than we expected because Axel was such a good traveler, or because our expectations were so low. In any case, we prepared as best we could for comfortable travel. We brought minimal luggage and only one small carry-on, which consisted pretty much just of Axel's stuff....diapers, toys, snacks, etc.

We got to San Diego Airport at around 11:00 a.m. right after Axel's morning nap. Our flight didn't leave until around 1:00. The flight attendants at the desk were so nice to us, they gave us three seats even though we only paid for two adults. After the plane took off, I got up and put Axel in the Ergo, since it was past his nap time. He cried for a couple of minutes, but then he was out. I covered him a little with a muslin blanket, and he slept that way for about 3 hours! He woke up about 1/2 hour before we landed in Chicago. I was amazed.

In Chicago, we had a 4 hour layover. I was kind of mad at Johan for scheduling that, until I realized the genius in it. We found a playground inside the airport close to our gate, so we let Axel play there with the other kids for what seemed like hours. By the time our flight was boarding, it was about 10:00 pm California time (WAY past his bedtime), and he was exhausted. Again, the flight attendants were so nice to us and gave us bulkhead seats and included a baby bassinet that hung on the wall in front of us. The age limit, by the way, for those is 9 months and 24 lbs. Axel was 13 months and pushing 25 lbs but we were desperate to try anything, so we told them we thought he was 24 lbs (which he might have been after the hours of playing!).

He had to sit on my lap for takeoff, but he was so tired, he laid back into my arms and just fell asleep. Poor guy. So as soon as I could take our seatbelts off, we made his bassinet cozy and laid him in it to sleep. It was amazing. What a luxury to have your baby sleeping like that on an airplane! It was a drastic change from our horrible experience on the red-eye flight to Boston when Axel was 4 months old.

So we relaxed, ate dinner, drank some wine, and played Monopoly on the iPad. A couple of hours later, Axel woke up. I think he was a little uncomfortable because he barely fit in the bassinet! He could hardly turn over he was so squished. I held him in my arms a little, and we gave him some Benadryl to help him sleep, and he was out again so we put him back in the bassinet, where he slept until the plane was ready to land in Copenhagen. That was 8 hours! Again, we were completely amazed.

But Axel was really tired. He is used to 12 hours of sleep each night, so he was still pretty tired. We had one more flight from Copenhagen to Gothenburg that was only about 45 minutes long. The funny thing was that that was the toughest out of all the flights. Axel was grouchy, he wanted to crawl everywhere but was still mad and crying. We all couldn't wait to get off.

So all in all, it wasn't so bad! We didn't sleep at all so we were exhausted, but as long as Axel was sleeping well, that made all the difference in the world for the trip. Oh, and I threw away all the toys I had brought. He looked at them for 2 seconds then was off to more interesting things. He just isn't into toys. Oh, and the same thing with the iPad and the tv. Did nothing for him. He needed to explore the plane and nothing else was good enough.

After getting to rest, we finally were able to settle in and enjoy being back in Sweden. We got to stay at the Franssons lake cabin in a small village called Bondstorp, which is just 20 minutes outside of Johan's hometown, Jonkoping. Everything was green and beautiful, just a little chilly, but that didn't really bother us. Every morning we'd eat breakfast, then take a walk around the lake and through the village. When I say "village" all I really mean are some houses and a church. There are no stores there.

We were again amazed at how well Axel got on a nap schedule. We brought his baby tent with us, and he was so exhausted from all the traveling that he fell asleep immediately for all of his naps and at bedtime. We were usually driving home late from Johan's parents condo in the city so Axel usually passed out in the car on the way home within minutes. And we also had to wake him up every morning at 8:00, which is SO late for us. But it was such a luxury to wake up so late.

Almost every day we would drive into the city to visit Johan's family. They live close to the main street, so we would leave Axel with Grandma and Grandpa and go shopping or whatever. Again, such a luxury.

The first Saturday we were there, we organized a reunion with three of Johan's best childhood friends, their wives, and kids. The funny thing was that all four families had 1-year olds! That was pretty cool. It was a fun day event. The kids got to get in the lake, we had some BBQ and drinks, and just got to hang out. I hope we can make it a tradition every time we come to Sweden for the summer.

The next day, on Sunday, Johan's parents and uncle had a family lunch for everyone to get together and to meet Axel. It was really nice to see everyone since it's so hard to get that many people together. And it was so nice of them to do that for Axel.

During the 2nd week, we decided we wanted to go to Stockholm to visit friends. We had planned on taking Axel with us, but changed our minds at the last minute since Johan's parents said they wouldn't mind taking care of him. So we left on Monday morning, and I immediately started bawling my eyes out. We had never both left him and gone off on our own overnight. I didn't know I'd feel that way, but it just felt so awful for all three of us to not be together. We had to stop the car and talk it over. I told Johan that I wanted to make a rational decision, not an emotional one. So we prayed about it right there in the car for us to make the right decision and immediately in my head I heard God say "It's more important that the grandparents get this time with Axel than for you guys. And even if you have an awful time because you miss him, they will have a wonderful time because you left him with them". That totally made sense, and it was rational. So I felt completely fine about our decision and we kept driving to Stockholm.

We stayed with our longtime friend, Hans, who lives in the city. Another good friend, Stefan, came and met us and we went out to a really nice Italian restaurant close by. It was the start of the European Cup in soccer, and Italy was playing, so you can imagine the place was packed. It is always so fun to be with Hans and Stefan. They have visited us several times in SD and they're so much fun. I love them.

The next day we wandered around the city. We were supposed to stay that night with Johan's very good friend, William, and his family, but his 1-year old came down with a stomach virus. Since we had all just had an awful virus, we decided it was best to stay away, and sadly, we didn't get to go see them at all. We instead decided to drive back home since visiting William's family was really our only next plan. Plus, I missed Axel!

The rest of the trip to Sweden was really relaxing. The weather got a lot better, so we had some time at the beach by the lake. The only bad thing was that we all got eaten alive by mosquitoes. I think I had itchy mosquito bites for at least 2 weeks after we got home.

The day before we left, it was midsummer's eve, which is huge in Sweden. No one really seems to know why they celebrate it, but they love it anyways. They build a huge maypoll decorated with flowers, hold hands, and dance around in a circle and sing. Then they eat pickled herring, potatoes, schnapps, and strawberry cake.

The whole time we were there, the nicest thing for me was that I didn't have to spend a minute thinking of how to entertain Axel. At home, I am always planning our day and we have to keep moving. But in Sweden, everything was so new and interesting that we never had to worry. It was SO nice!

The flight home wasn't as easy with Axel, but it never is because it's during the day. We let Axel take his morning nap in the car on the drive to the airport. Then he was awake the whole awful flight to Copenhagen. From Copenhagen to Chicago, he was crazy. He was crawling everywhere, wanting to touch everything. But everyone was so nice. The flight attendants, again, were amazing and gave us business class seats!! I felt to important with big seats and nice food and drinks. However, we didn't get to enjoy it all since were were busy playing in the back of the plane where the flight attendants hang out. I think he was up on the flight for about 4 hours. But he was exhausted. I tried putting him in the Ergo to take his nap, and he'd scream and scream and scream. He was just overtired. Finally, I had to pin him down in my arms and not let him move, after which he just passed out, exhausted. He slept in my arms for the rest of the flight, about 3-4 hours. We got to Chicago and played a little at the airport there, then had another 5 hour flight to San Diego. Axel slept for 4 1/2 hours on the flight, which I was so thankful for because that was the only flight where we had no extra seat or a special seat, he had to sleep laying across us. When we got home to SD it was 11:00 at night and I was worried that he would think it was 8:00 in the morning and be up all night. But I think the good thing is that since we always have him on a pretty good sleep schedule, he needs his 12 hours of sleep a day. If he doesn't get it, then he's really tired. So even though he slept for so long on the flights home, his sleep was broken up and he was still really tired. So as soon as we put him in bed at around midnight after we got home, he was out and slept until around 6:30 the next morning. And, amazingly, he got right back on his normal schedule again.

So I am really thankful that traveling with a baby turned out to be a pretty good experience. I have to admit that, as parents, you don't sleep even if your baby sleeps. So we were exhausted after the travel. But like I said earlier, as long as baby is happy, the whole travel experience is SO much more enjoyable. I also know a lot of people were praying for us for a comfortable trip, so I don't think we can take credit for any of it really. But we are extremely thankful to have these opportunities to travel as a family.