I didn't believe it at first when everyone would say it is the best thing and the HARDEST thing that you will ever do. TRUE... so true! My heart is torn in one million directions everyday with every step my child takes because it is so hard to know you are a good Mother and that you really are doing a great job! Today I was reminded that I need to give myself a break of being so critical of everything I do when I called to make my baby a doctors appointment. The nurse I was speaking with asked me if I would consider keeping her family members 8 month old twins. Mind you she doesn't really know me THAT well and we only visit this Doctor every so often and that is the only place I see her, so when she said that I was blown away. She said you really are a great Mother and I can tell you are all about teaching children so that is why I was thinking you would be great at keeping these babies! WOW what a complement!! Then she told me that just from the time she was around me and my sweet baby she could tell that I wanted an army of them (which I do!) to surround myself with the unbelievable love that comes along with it (YES!). I thanked her A LOT and of course I started thinking about one thing I DO think I do well as a mother - traveling with my baby in arm!
My husband and I love to travel so when we had our child we were cut off from that for a short time, but then the first trip we really went hyper planning on making sure that our life (aka baby) was 100% a travel lover too! In doing that we started figuring out what would make it easier for sweat pea to travel. We even took a 5 hour trip across the US testing how far we could travel with a child. It was a difficult and stressful process at first because we wanted to make sure it was going to be a smooth and happy experience for us all. To start out we researched and researched getting as much information from other people with children that we could, calling the hotel asking a million questions about everything they could offer (such as a refrigerator in room), really investigating what was in the area to do with a small child, planning our daily routine with allowing naps/downtime, and most importantly what to pack.
Flying with a child especially a child under 2 is interesting because the TSA does allow more items when you have a little one to try to make it easier on you! TSA Site traveling with Children list link
I was still nursing our baby on the 5 hour flight so I didn't need to worry with the guidelines for milk and such, but I did take a the few following items for the flight:
- Thin blanket serving 2 purposes (1 cover up the baby 2 covering both of us while nursing)
- Wrapped new little toys that he had never seen 1 per 20 mins of the flight so he would be entertained
- snacks
- diapers/wipes/Vaseline/disposable sacks
- Little jacket
- Portable DVD player with DVD's
- Small pillow to rest arms because we didn't purchase him his own seat
- extra set of clothes and things I carry on in case the one checked bag is lost
- Car seat - it is a must no way around it (you can rent, but we had a good travel lite one)
- Very lightweight stroller
Day travel see above we packed a day back pack with:
- Water
- Sunscreen
- Hat
- Sunglasses
- Little monkey had a few toys and such for him to have
- Wipes/Diapers/rash cream/disposable sacks
- Hand/face germ wipes
- Snacks
- Money etc
- Camera
- Bib
- Wash clothe
- Table topper (little plastic sheet so the food doesn't hit dirty dining tables - kids put food all over the tables so if they are not use to a plate this is a good way to keep it all clean)
- jacket just in case of weather
As you can tell in the pic above the DVD player and blanket packed were a BIG hit when we were trying to get ready for bed plus he loved the different hats I had for him as well!!
We are preparing for a trip to Tennessee this weekend so I am filming a crazy video on how I try to prep for a trip just to show you what I do in greater detail! I will post it below after we get back so I can add a review of some things I wish I wouldn't have packed and things I wish I would have packed just so you know what worked!
HAPPY TRAVEL TUESDAY TO YOU AND YOU BABY!!! :)
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