It was 83 degrees here yesterday and yet all of the locals had long sleeves and long pants on. It appears as though Texans want to participate in all of the cozy aspects of a chilly fall day but many of them have no true concept of what brisk fall air actually feels like. Yesterdays 83 degrees was unseasonably warm, but I'm still adjusting to the fact that temps in the mid-70's give grocery stores license to feature recipes for soup and put hot chocolate on sale. Furthermore, I am completely baffled by the racks of winter jackets that greet me when I walk into most retail stores. I guess everyone is just getting ready to visit their families in colder climates :).
The warm Texas weather aside, I have excitedly started preparing for our Thanksgiving travels and thought that perhaps you or someone you know might be getting ready to travel with a baby for the first time. It can feel difficult and overwhelming to pack up your most precious cargo, take them out of their familiar environment and willingly break their routine. This is not always easy for parents or children, but in my experience the time of meaningful connection is always worth the trip. With that said, I thought you might benefit from a few of the tried and true travel guidelines I have established over the last year.
- Pack two spare outfits in your diaper bag or carry on. I tend to have one spare outfit for Nicole in her diaper bag at all times but on days when we'll be away from home all day, I always pack two. I have many comical stories about the situations that caused us to use both clean outfits I had packed but I'll spare you the details and instead implore you to do the same. As a bonus tip, I highly recommend packing one clean shirt for both mom and dad when you'll be out and about for an extended period of time. You might not always have room, but if you do, you won't regret it!
- Keep a stash of small garbage bags somewhere on your person. I am the kind of woman who carefully folds her plastic grocery bags and then keeps them in a quart size zip-top bag for restocking my diaper bag. While it may seem a little unnecessary to take the time to fold the bags, trust me when I say that they take up almost no space that way. I keep two of these folded grocery bags in Nicole's diaper bag at all times but when we're traveling I bring the entire quart-sized bag along. If we're flying, I generally keep 4 bags easily accessible in my carry on and stash the rest in my checked luggage. The last time we traveled we used almost every single garage bag I had packed. You just never know what kinds of sticky or stinky situations might warrant the need for a plastic bag or two :).
- Have a handful of toys & books easily accessible. While I have been guilty of packing large items such as activity mats and bouncy chairs when driving to visit family, I can honestly say that we've never used them. In general the toys that entertain your children for extended periods of time at your house end up feeling out of context and unnecessary when taken out of your home. Often times the people you are visiting are eager to get on the floor and play with your kids so all you really need are a few small toys, a book or two and a blanket to lay on the floor. I now don't pack anything that doesn't easily zip into my backpack which has made packing a breeze and keeping track of such items while we travel much less stressful.
If you find yourself traveling by plane, also remember to:
- Carry a copy of your child's birth certificate. If your son or daughter is under the age of 2, they are considered a lap child and do not have their own seat. You verify their age with an agent at the ticket counter upon arriving at the airport and they atomically put your child's boarding pass on the back of the mothers boarding pass. It's fast and easy and you don't have to take out the birthday certificate again until your flight home.
- Get a bag for your carseat. Anyone who has flown before knows that your luggage usually looks a little worse for the wear when you pick it up from baggage claim. Carseats happen to be one of the items that you can check for free free, but since they will be doing a fair amount of traveling of their own, do yourself a favor and protect your seat with some kind of barrier. Some parents just put large black garage bags over their carseat before handing it to the ticketing agent but we chose to buy a special bag on amazon for it. It has a handle which makes it easy to carry and I like to believe that it was handled with a little more care thanks to the large 'car seat' label on the front of the bright red bag.
- Have something on hand that will help your kids suck and swallow. Weather you're nursing, bottle feeding or have bigger kids that drink from a sippy cup, you'll want to create opportunities for your little ones to suck and swallow during take off and landing. This will help keep their ears clear and pain free.
Wishing you a wonderful time of preparation and connection!
With love,
Erica
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