Thursday, March 8, 2012

Vacation Realities

This month is sort of a crazy one for us here at Casa AB. Reality has just set in that in approximately a week and a half, for a few days, I will be at Disney World. With an eight month old.

Shortly thereafter, we {Evelyn and I} are headed to Tennessee to visit one of my best friends and her new baby.

I am looking forward to both trips, but ack! Traveling with a baby!

Though I have done it already, this is the first time we are traveling since she has been eating solid foods, plus THEME PARKS. ALL DAY LONG. ACK!

What if she cries all day because she can't take a decent nap? What if she cries all night because she didn't nap all day? What if we run out of diapers in a theme park? What if? What if? What if?

Ok, I'm back. In the spirit of preparing for this, I plan on sharing my plans here, bien sur. All my plans center around bringing as little into the parks as humanly possible, since that's how I like amusement parks.

So far the plan is...

  • Wear Ev in the parks via the Ergo. I prefer the Moby still, since I can face Ev out and she loves that (I know, I know, overwhelming stimuli, blah blah blah - she likes it, what can I say?), but hubs prefers the Ergo, and I can deal with it, so we will do that instead of bringing two.
  • Bring husband's diaper bag as it is more messenger style - though once we inventory what actually needs to go in the bag...we may be shopping for a new option since his isn't that big. Yikes.
  • Cut food and bottles from packing list to save room. Hopefully we will be able to find suitable things to order off the menu for Ev. Thankfully we do BLW so we *can* cut these things from the list. Plus who needs bottles when Momma and her boobs will be there? amirite?
  • Buy some new clothes for myself, because as I have sadly realized over the last few nice weather days - my supply of spring and summer breastfeeding friendly clothes is LACKING. How did this happen?! Oh yeah, I like dresses. And most of them I can't breastfeed in without hiking the hemline up to my neck. That's cool at Disney, right?
  • Have fun?
Oy. I feel that I am woefully unprepared at this point. 

CUE STRESS.

Any hints/tips would be helpful, of course, and you can count on me saying what worked and what didn't when we get back.

Annnnnnd, I'm off to wash all of Ev's spring clothes. And maybe to buy some for me. 



Evelyn Rae is in the waning days of being seven months old

...and she also woke up at 4:45 this morning. Inconsolable. This may or may not be adding to my current addled state of mind. Maybe.

6 comments:

  1. I can't help you with the traveling part, but Milk.com has some really cute, affordable nursing dresses!!! Good luck!!

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  2. I have traveled a lot with my 6 month old- half way around the world twice and across a continent last week. In my initial travels I packed way too much! You might be tempted to take too many diapers like I was, so heads up :) Bring extra clothes for her, and possibly an extra shirt for you if she is a spewy baby. Oh, and I would recommend you bring a stroller into Disney if you can. They hold so much gear (like the snacks and bottles you opted not to carry). They provide shade from the sun. She can sleep well in the stroller, play in the stroller, and everyone will be cooler with her in the stroller. Are you traveling by plane? For plane rides I've always carried on my feeding pillow, not only for feeding but for a comfy place for bub to sleep. Plus, depending on the airline, they may make you put a seat belt on her, via your seat belt, and the pillow helps with that positioning as well. Only other plane advice is the change tables aboard are rock hard, so if you have a blanket or something to put under your personal change mat it would be better. Have fun!

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  3. Second the stroller idea. You are going to be walking a lot. Babies get heavy and baby junk gets even heavier. You can store the junk under the stroller. If you take an umbrella stroller, I would suggest you invest in one of the mesh bags that hangs on the handles to hold the baby junk. You can even throw the baby carrier under the stroller. Disney is great at sroller management. If you are taking her on a ride, you park your stoller in a stroller lot. You do what you need to do and then go back for your stoller, which may or may not be right where you left it because they have people to keep the strollers organized. We would also change the boys in their stroller. It was a little white trash, but it was clean, it was handy, we didn't have to wait in line. (Also, the boys would fall asleep in the stroller while we were waiting for parades. It held our spot and got them their nap!)

    There will be stuff for her to eat. There are lots of healthy options at Disney.

    Also if she cries, rest assured that she will not be the only one crying. Every kid has a Disney meltdown at least once a day! Stay calm and have fun. I can't wait to hear about your trip! We are heading to Disney with everyone else in the world right after Easter!!

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  4. For stroller rentals, there are less expensive strollers outside Disney. They deliver it straight to your hotel and then pick them up when you're done. They are more comfortable too.

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  5. Bring a hand held battery operated fan. It'll help to keep your baby cool.

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  6. Pack a drink of cooled boiled water in your hand luggage if you're going by plane. Aeroplanes can be very dry and if it's not time for her feed she may like to sip some water.

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