Traveling with Baby: Volume One

We all know how much is involved when packing for a day out. It's absurd! It takes forever and the amount of stuff you have to take is just ridiculous! If we have to leave early the next morning we must pack the bag the night before. Yes, washing all the bottles before bed is so much fun! We recently went on our first overnight trip. Just one night. I stuffed tons of bibs, formula, diapers, burp rags and outfits in our luggage. For just one night... because you never know how much they will need and you DO NOT wanna run out. 

When Brad is working nights & asks what I'm doing... I usually say "Poppin' bottles!"

I mentally went through the list over and over on the way to our destination 2 hours away (6 hours in baby time). Amazingly the only thing we forgot was the bottle brush and soap. I was proud. Brad just had to run to the gas station to get dish soap... and I'm glad he did! He came back with Palmolive. We had only used Dawn up until this point. To our pleasant surprise this made bottle washing time shorter. It rinsed off so much easier than Dawn. I never thought I would be so excited about something like this but after five months of washing bottles over and over... It was like I found a gold mine! Now I look at Dawn like it's the plague. No more rubbing bottle nipples for a full two minutes to make sure your baby doesn't ingest dish soap. Bye Felicia! 

The rest of our stay went pretty smooth. We had a great time with my side of the family. The baby didn't sleep too well because she wasn't in her own bed. I brought her rock-n-play hoping she would sleep in it but no such luck. She will only sleep on her stomach now. So, she slept in the bed with me and woke up several times with lots of tossing and turning. But, all in all we had a lovely trip. A few stressful moments but nothing compared to the stress I go through at the grocery store. That equals a successful trip to me.

Roosevelt State Park

Our big 6 day vacation is coming up and I thought this would help prepare us... to an extent. I learned that we definitely need to bring a pack-n-play. She can sleep on her tummy in that. I'm starting to pray now that she will sleep peacefully. Now I'm wondering how we will have room to pack everything. Stroller, highchair, pack-n-play, bumbo, bouncy seat... Oh my. I think we need to pull a trailer. Seriously. Another thing is the 9 hour drive (36 hours in baby time). I believe we will opt to stay the night halfway. We have a really good baby but there are times when she gets tired of riding... Like, if she's awake. We just never know how she will do. I wouldn't wanna be strapped down like that either, so, I can't blame her. 

We are traveling with both families and there will be a lot of activity. I know that I won't be able to go and do like before because of my little angel. I don't mind though. Hopefully everyone will be understanding in realizing that our 6 month old is used to her 2 naps a day and she will be irritable if she doesn't get them. Also, that it takes 20 minutes to spoon feed her solids and another 20 to feed her a bottle. We can't just head out of the door to go eat or do something at the drop of a hat.  We have to pack her bag and double check it. If she's sleeping, we wait. It's never good when she doesn't wake up on her own time!

I can't wait to be in the mountains on our first real vacation as a family. I know we will have an excellent time. Relaxing is my goal. Well, as much as you can relax with a 6 month old in tow! Prayers would be appreciated!