Learning what not to do (the hard way) while traveling...

Hello from the land of smiles -- that is, Thailand! It's hot and humid, but I guess it's fairly tolerable compared to the summer.

Our visit here is twofold: we had to leave the country for our visas (our allowed stay is only 60 days at a time in China), and Liam needed to get his 4-month immunizations. (China does not have vaccines). However, we have learned a lot in the span of just two days about traveling to Thailand to get your baby vaccinated.

1. Do not attend church the morning of your flight. We were thinking, Oh our flight's not 'til 6:00 pm... We can handle going to church. No. We should have remembered that Sundays are not the easiest of days for babies. There are no naps in their own bed, just short little shut-eyes in Mama's arms between worship and the sermon. By the middle of the afternoon, they've had it, and it's hard to relax. This was the first ingredient in the recipe of misery.

2. Do not drink coffee the morning of your flight (if breastfeeding). I love coffee. But I haven't really drank it since Liam was born. I guess I don't like the idea of having a caffeinated baby awake at all hours of the night, but I will have it occasionally when I'm feeling particularly dangerous. Days of planned travel are not days to feel dangerous.

3. Bring the Infant Tylenol with you to Thailand. What was I thinking? I actually considered bringing the Tylenol, then I thought, Psshh, no... what are the chances of Liam coming down with a fever on this short trip? He was going to be vaccinated, hello!!

4. Or better yet, just bring the blasted vaccines back with you to China, have them administered there, and then you can actually enjoy your trip to Thailand without having a cranky feverish baby! This one pretty much explains itself.

So, the plane trip was awful. Liam was all hyped up from the caffeine and cranky at the same time from the lack of sleep that day. He couldn't settle himself down for a good nap at any point in the journey. Good thing it only lasted a couple hours.

And for the rest of the time, he was irritable and was running a pretty good temperature for a couple days.

As you can see, I have taken away much from this short trip. 

And if we need to do this again, I will know exactly what (not) to do.