What a Mom Wants

Road Tripping

Wow, Father's Day Weekend was cuh-ra-zeeee.

Traveling between my family and my husband's family with a 10-week old is a feat of giant proportions - especially in So Cal. The traffic alone is maddening, but mix with that the dysfunction, the diapers and a couple of Dewars on the Rocks to get you through and you've got yourself quite a Sunday cocktail of chaos.

The good news? We are feeling more and more confident taking her out and juggling all of her needs...and ours. The bad news? It's hard for a girl to take a constructive nap while she's being juggled. Who can blame her? TV blaring, younger brother introducing another new girlfriend who I have to entertain, friendly neighbor whose had one-too-many, and doting grandparents who are in town for only a couple of days and need to get their cuddles and pinches in.

So, what have I learned?

Well, you just have to be flexible. When people want to know what time you are going to be there, that number o'clock better have an -ish connected to it. In other words, 11-ish, 12-ish, Today-ish. People will understand and if they don't, to hell with them.

Second of all, if you are going to pack too much of anything, it better be diapers and clothes. With all of the rough handling, my daughter threw up on herself (and me) into the teens. Now, I don't change her every time she douses herself from neck to waist. But when things start to get sticky and the bibs have seen better days, a change of clothes does everyone good. An extra shirt for you is a good idea, too.

One of the things that puts our mind at ease whenever we are in the car, especially in So Cal where you could be stranded should there be an earthquake or if they shut down a freeway, is an Emergency Backpack. For our girl, we've added 6 diapers, a travel pack of wipes, a bottle, a 6-pack of ready-to-eat formula, a couple of formula powder singles and a change of clothes. We hope we will never need to use it, but it's great to have. As she grows, we replace the items with age appropriate sizes so it is always up-to-date. We have one in each car and one in the house. Even if you are nursing, it's important to have a formula option in the backpack if you are not around or god forbid, something happens to you.

Also important, you need to take care of yourselves. Make sure you are eating, having fun and taking advantage of the extra hands. If you aren't keeping your energy up, it will be harder and harder as the day progresses. You will be tired, hungry, cranky and impatient. And that isn't good for anyone, especially your mini.

Finally, and this is a big one, you just have to be firm when your little one needs some sleep. This, I didn't do. But I will next time. Family and friends will want to hold her and touch her, keeping her awake. You just need to make your apologies and put her down for a couple of hours. She will be much more interactive and playful if she has some good nap time. Our girl didn't have any meltdown moments from the lack of sleep, but I felt bad when she was rubbing on her face. She was tired, poor thing, and I can tell you, we were scared about what the night had in store for us. Lucky for us, she went right down after we 5 S'd her. Thank goodness for Dr. Harvey Karp!

Traveling with baby is a challenge, but the more you do it, the more savvy you become. You gotta just get out there and enjoy the ride!

- Kim

Airport Adventures

We went on a trip with our 4 month old last week. I can’t believe how good he was, the boy likes to travel. I figure since I went through airports, hotels and car rentals I’ll give you a few tips about how to travel with baby.

• First if you can, get a friend to drop you off and pick you up. It’s so much easier. Just the thought of lugging all that stuff from the car to the parking lot bus and back makes me tired. We used to never ask friends but now, there is no doubt about it we need help.

• We borrowed a Car Seat Travel Bag to check the car seat and base. The best part about this bag is you can shove other things in it too, like blankets for the stroller, tummy time etc..

• You can take the stroller all the way to the plane. We took our ginormous stroller with us and it fit through the x-ray machine, no problem. Then you and the baby just walk through the x-ray machine. Once you get down the jet way just fold up the stroller and place it by the door it will be checked below the plane and brought back out when you land.

• Don’t forget to pack plenty of diapers, a change of clothes and a toy or two on the plane. Our guy went through 2 diapers on a 2 hr flight! Yikes!

• We didn’t take a pack n play with us, our first hotel had a great crib but our second one did not. So I found a place that rents baby stuff and we rented one pack n play for seven bucks a night. It was defiantly worth it for us.

 
I’m also learning to roll with the punches, and laugh when you get puked on for the fourth time. Traveling with baby is certainly different than before. In certain aspects it’s more fun, and a whole lot more tiring.. whew!

Oh and it's free for the baby to ride on your lap until he/she is 2 years old. The ticketing agents mentioned that once he gets a little older we'll need to bring his birth certificate so we have proof of his age.

- Tess