Traveling With A Baby

Reed Ready to Go to VEGAS!

It is 5:00 AM in Vegas and Rudy and Reed are on the road headed to Red Rocks to take pictures and explore.  My husband is a photographer as a business and side gig.  He takes the best pictures - I can't wait to see how they turn out!

When preparing for this trip I learned that people can be very accommodating for babies.  Here are some things that made this trip easier:

1.      If you have a baby you get to go through the priority and medical liquids line.  Expressed milk is A-Ok.

2.      I was worried we were going to need to bring our pack-n-play but pleasantly surprised that both the casino in Vegas (South Point) and Flanigan’s Inn in Springdale, UT have cribs with sheets for us to use.

3.      The rental car company had a car seat we could rent for $60.  We opted to bring our own to save money.  $60 isn’t bad but since our car seat sits in our stroller it isn’t really a pain to bring and saving that $60 means more yummy food and wine for Mommy and Daddy on the trip!

4.      Take pacifiers and milk for baby to use and drink on the way up and down on the flight.  It will help their ears.  Pediatrician said Tylenol too in case his ears were bothering him.

5.      Kept it simple – we brought his stroller, car seat, clothes and just a few toys for the plane.  Would having the bumbo be nice?  The Johnny jump up fun?  Sure, but we didn’t want to fool with it.  We figured being with Mommy and Daddy 24/7 and all the new lights, sounds and scenery would be entertainment enough.

6.  You can check your carseat or carseat base for free. 

Here is Reed sitting in Rudy's lap on the plane - I got this when I was sitting in one of my sessions.  My heart melted when I saw Reed's hand on Rudy's.  So sweet.

Having these little things made the trip more doable.  It is a great vacation so far – can’t wait to get to Zion!

Plane Bathrooms Have Outlets!

I am excited that as you read this I will be in Las Vegas for a work conference.  Even more excited in that Rudy and Reed will be arriving tomorrow.  After my meeting concludes on Thursday, we are headed up to the Zion National Park area to stay in Springdale, Utah.  It is a beautiful area and the perfect place to have our first family vacation!

Not sure if you caught that this means Rudy will be flying with Reed (6 months) solo from Charlotte to Vegas…4.5 hour flight!  Eek!  Hope Reed is a good little boy!

I flew on Sunday with all of our luggage in tow.  I didn’t want Rudy to have to worry about hauling a large suitcase since he was already going to have his hands full with the stroller, car seat and of course little dude.  Bertha (the gigantic roller suitcase my MIL loaned me for the trip) was stuffed to the gills.  When I weighed her at check in I was in a pinch because she weighed 62 pounds!  Ooops, I guess my theory of weighing her on my home scale – you know weigh yourself holding the suitcase, then not holding the suitcase – was not very accurate.  If you continue to read this blog and get to know me better, you will see that these little snafus are just par for the course.  Numbers just ain’t my thang.

That was super fun pulling things out at check-in let me tell you.  The airport was really busy and people were irritated.  I was quickly removing what I could including a bunch of diapers, big bag of fruit and Rudy’s tripod.  Diapers were flying everywhere until I got the weight limit right.  The kind ladies behind the desk put them back in the suitcase after it weighed an approved 51 lbs though which was nice.

I ended up carrying his tripod and stuffing the fruit into my pump bag.  I didn’t mind carrying the tripod.  La Leche would be so proud in that I didn’t miss a beat with the pumping on this long flight.  This was the first time I had to pump on the plane.  I used the lavatory and told the flight attendants what I was up to.  I didn’t want them to think something happened to me in there. J I immediately hooked up my battery pack but realized about 10 minutes in that there was a power outlet.  Awesome!  I learn something new every time I fly.

You know this breast feeding has been a commitment but now that I am 6 months into it and have 4 plane trips under my belt, I feel like I could do it for as long as my body lets me.

Also, my supply was starting to dwindle.  More water, more food, one more pumping session a day and fenugreek and 1 week later I was pumping more than I needed.  Whew!

Can’t wait to fill you all in on all of the fun things we do on this trip!

How Long To Microwave a Sponge to Disinfect it?

2 minutes according to WebMD.

How long to disinfect my entire house?  Hoping I can do it in this naptime. 

You know how you always hear parents say that once they had kids they were always sick all the time and pass things back and forth to each other?  I honestly thought they were exaggerating.  Nope.  It is true and it is annoying.  Luckily we are just passing around a cold/cough/throat thang/feeling gross.  No spitting up up...knock on wood!  So today I am staying home and completely disinfecting my house. 

Washing everything.

Bleaching everything.

Boiling all of his bottles, pumping gear and pacis.

I don't know if this will help but I have to feel in control of something here because Reed doesn't need any drugs, I can't take any because I am breast feeding and I am just tired of being sick and tired!

Oh, I hope we are better soon!  We are taking a family trip to Utah and I don't want us to be sick!  I have big plans for hiking, plein air painting, relaxing, etc.

I am also planning on making homemade chicken noodle soup today...stay tuned for the recipe!

La Leche Would Be Proud - Flying and Pumping Success

Okay so this is a post about pumping and travel.  If you are not pregnant, breastfeeding or interested in my adventures in travel pumping, you may want to come back tomorrow.

I left Tuesday morning for my first trip without Reed.  (sob...)  I travel for my job and am typically gone for 1-4 nights per month.  I completely used up my stash of pumped milk with this trip so I wanted to save what I pumped and bring it back home.  I left armed with

1.  A car charger power source
2.  Battery pack
3.  Bottles
4.  Freezer bags
5.  Plastic grocery bags
6.  Mini cooler (the size that can hold a 6-pack of beer)

The trip started out with a session at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.  They have benches in each restroom for nursing mothers.  I could have also used the family bathroom but I was running late (taxi driver's fault) and I didn't want to have to look for it.  I brought my modesty cover and just went through my work emails.  It was a little awkward being out in the open in a busy woman's restroom but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do and many women could probably relate to what I was doing.  The only drawback was that there wasn't an outlet but I just used my handy Medela battery pack and was just fine.
DC National offered a spot in their restroom too with the bonus of having an outlet.
Albany was even better with cushioned chairs, power source and a more separate area in the bathroom.

The hotel we stayed in for our meeting has refrigerators in each room with a small freezer space.  This was perfect - I was able to keep my freezer pack frozen and begin to freeze my milk in storage bags.
Here is how I packed my milk up to go home:

1.  Bottom layer of ice in grocery bag.
2.  Milk bags in the middle
3.  Top layer of ice in grocery bag.
4.  Wrapped cooler in 4 grocery bags and then the large dry cleaning bag from the hotel.

My goal with all the bags was to prevent leaking from the cooler.  I will bring tape next time to really seal the cooler in addition to the bags.

I checked the bag thinking that it would stay cool enough below the plane.  And thankfully it did!  The proof was the fact that the milk and ice were still frozen.  I was able to save all of my milk!

Success!!

Thank You Dr. Ferber! Cheers to sleep in 2012!

I am sure you have all heard of the saying "let them cry it out" when talking about getting a baby to go to sleep.  It sounds hard but it works.  Thanks to recommendations of several friends and my sister, Rudy and I purchased the book by Dr. Richard Ferber, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems.

Now I wouldn't say Reed had a serious problem...he just didn't know how to put himself to sleep on his own.  We knew we couldn't be rocking and shushing him for the next year so we bit the bullet and tried it.  And it worked!

By the third day he was falling asleep on his own, no pacifier, no rocking, no nothing in about 5 minutes.

Last night for NYE, he yawned so I put him down with his little blanket dog and he was quiet as a mouse. Within 5 minutes he was asleep.  We were over at a friend's house for the night and it was so nice to be able to put him down and then join the party.

The concept does not mean that you leave your child screaming alone in the crib for hours upon end.  It starts with a gradual process.  The first night you go back in after 3 minutes, then 5, then 10 and then every 10 until your baby falls asleep.  You go in and say "I love you, it's bedtime, go to sleep." This way they know you still care and that it is okay to go to sleep.  If you are hesitant about it, just try it, what have you got to lose?  The first night he cried for 50 minutes, second night 25, third night 5.  And by the third night it wasn't even major crying.  Just sort of putting himself to sleep moaning and grunting.  I know you know that sound!  It was super hard the first night - I wouldn't try this on your own.  Make sure your husband or someone is with you for support.  I would highly recommend this book and the method. 

So, here's to you Dr. Ferber!  Thank you!