Momma's Nuggets: Time for a Roadtrip and a FIESTA!!!

Wow, this week flew by! I feel like weekends fly by even faster now that SG is getting older. I'm really loving her at this age. It's so awesome to take her to do things and to see her try and figure things out. I am amazed everyday by her. It seems like each day she learns something new. We decided last weekend to visit my family in San Antonio. It's funny how traveling with kids changes things. Before we were so carefree about trips and stayed in fancy hotels, planned lots of activities and ate lots of dinners out. My how times have changed.

I took a half day on Friday so I could prep for our trip. I started packing for SG the night before but by Friday I quickly realized that SG's overnight bag was just not big enough. Thus I shifted all her things into my bag. Since I knew space would be limited I then decided to pack my stuff in her bag. She's already taking over my things, lol. I packed all of SG's clothes in Ziploc bags to make thing easier and presorted all her food (i.e. bottles, cereal, baby food, etc.). I had arranged to have a portable crib delivered to our room so all I needed to pack were her linens. Which brings me to my next point, the hotel. My goal was to recreate the home environment as much as possible so I booked a room at a Residence Inn which had a separate living and bedroom area. This was a HUGE plus. It made things so much easier! I had planned our departure around SG's nap time. I thought I was money because she always falls asleep in the car. Not this day! She decided to sleep about 45 minutes (usually she naps 1-2 hours). Despite this I had packed extra toys and she did amazing. She just played and talked the entire time. It helped that our pup Chloe was also in the backseat with her to amuse her. We stopped to feed SG a little early because she seemed a bit fussy...well that was because she had a near blowout. This kid has only had two others and both were in public. Why oh why does it always have to happen at the most inopportune time? Thankfully I had an extra outfit packed but let me tell you, I under packed for her this time because she rarely gets dirty. Thank goodness I had the extra outfit. Once we arrived it was dinner, bath and bed routine time. I brought her baby seat for the bathtub which was great because I also used it as a chair for her to sit in to feed her. Warning: I HIGHLY recommend you thoroughly wash and clean the bathtub before you put your lil one in it. Thankfully we had a kitchen in our room so I used dish soap to clean the tub. Husband Daddy put her bed together and I brought her linens from home so she would feel and smell the comforts of home. She fell asleep like a champ (thankfully because she hadn't napped much) with her sound machine on and all was good.

The next day SG woke up sounding a bit congested. I thought little of it because she has never gotten sick. By breakfast time her eyes looked watery and she just didn't seem her normal happy self. A cold front had just come in so I wondered if allergens were bothering her. We headed to one of San Antonio's biggest events...FIESTA! Think Rodeo for Houston, ACL for Austin, etc. This is the big event of the year. Fiesta is about three things; food, drinks and fun. I hadn't been since I was a teen and Husband had never been. SG wore her best Fiesta friendly dress and looked like a lil Senorita! After two hours we headed home because SG seemed tired and still seemed like she wasn't feeling well. It's a good thing we headed home (to the hotel) because after her nap she woke up sounding terrible. I knew she was definitely sick. We had planned to go to my parents for dinner so I packed up all her things to recreate dinner and bath time at their house. Our poor lil girl didn't want anything to do with this. She was so uncomfortable and unhappy so we had to leave early. We stopped at Walgreen's on the way back to the hotel and I bought Vick's and an all natural cough suppressant (really it is just has natural herbs to help baby). By this time SG was coughing a lot and choking on her milk to the point she would throw up. I got her home and gave her Tylenol (which I carry in her overnight bag), put the Vick's on her and got her to bed. She barely slept that night not able to get comfortable and coughing the entire night. Finally, around 4 or 5 I held her in my arms and rocked her and let her sleep in my arms. I did this until my arms were numb and finally I laid her in bed next to us. I am deathly afraid of doing this but I felt like she was older now and since I wasn't a sleep deprived mommy of a 3 month old I felt a little more comfortable doing this. To be honest she had begun to be very clingy to me since she starting feeling bad. I realized at this point that the best thing to do was head home early and get her to the comforts of home. When she woke up we packed up and headed out. I felt terrible that we had to cancel the plans for the day with our extended family but it was best for Sofie. Thank goodness we came home early. Immediately she seemed happier. I took her to the doctor Monday and found out she had an ear infection and cold. We were given antibiotics for the infection and cough meds. I felt terrible that she had an ear infection and I didn't even know. I looked for the cues (tugging at the ears, red ears, etc.) but she never did any of it. Our tough lil cookie actually never acted that bad the entire time she was sick...only when I gave her saline drops and cleared her nose did she really cry. Needless to say our first big road trip out of town was a semi-success. I am glad I waited until she was older for the trip because I was MUCH more relaxed than I would have been if we had gone when she was younger. I had my rhythm down of how/what to pack, when to hit the road, how to plan around naps (now that her naps are regulated and at the same time) which all made things much easier.

A few tips when traveling with lil one that I learned:

Pack in Ziploc bags (clothes, bibs, socks, pacifiers, toys, etc.)-makes things so much easier when rummaging through a bag at a gas station or in the hotel and then everything isn't and explosion of baby supplies when you arrive to the hotel
If possible try to book at suite only hotels (Residence Inn, Hampton Inn, etc.) with a separate bedroom and living area---ironically these are often less expensive than some of the nicer hotels and include free breakfast which is a PLUS for mommy and daddy (and endless coffee)
Arrange to have a crib in your room rather than pack your Pack-N-Play (one less thing to pack and they usually have PNP as their portable cribs)
Pack your own bed linens (we were provided some from the hotel but I knew SG would be more comfy with her own)
Take the sound machine if your baby uses one (ours has a nightlight too which was a big plus)
Try to recreate home as much as possible and stay on schedule as much as possible (I realize if you have an agenda staying on schedule can be hard but if you have flexibility plan activities around naps)
Naps---I try to only let SG take one nap in the car, the other I try to keep at home or hotel...in a bed. I do this because she doesn't sleep as soundly in the car so I want her to at least get one good nap in bed
Plan your drives, flights, etc. around naps meaning you want to drive and fly during your lil one's nap time
When packing diapers I pack the amount she uses each day plus an extra 30% (yes I just came up with a formula for how many diapers to take but then you don't pack too little and you don't have an overabundance of diapers)
Always travel with certain meds (I carry Tylenol and diaper rash cream) just in case and good thing I did because although I rarely have used these with SG I used both on this trip
Check the weather before you go and pack accordingly with a couple outfits for the opposite weather in case of a sudden change in temps
Try to pack your lil ones things in ONE bag if possible--my good friend Lisa also told me she packs her kids things in large plastic bins--I thought this was genius because they stack on top of each other great in a car. I will be doing this on our next road trip

These are just a couple things I learned and I wish I had taken photos of how we packed and what we took. I will have to remember to do this on our next trip. In the meantime here are a few photos from our weekend.