Vacation Reflections

Wow!! We just took our first family vacation. We went to visit my husband's brother and sis-in-law in Albuquerque, New Mexico. What a great time we had!

I really appreciated the travel tips I got on my blog post before the trip, as well as on the Natural Parents Network Facebook page, and from some friends who emailed me. Now, I have some tips and experiences to share with everyone else!


1. Sling, sling, sling.
I saw on a few other blogs that people recommended slinging when traveling more than using a stroller. However, we still brought our stroller, because I just couldn't imagine carrying Burkley around all the time. The stroller turned out to be a great asset in the airports and train stations, as we threw several of our bags on/in it, but Burkley pretty much only rode in the stroller once-- when we walked the dog at a park. Everywhere else, he rode in the sling. It was too cumbersome to stroll him in and out of all the little shops, narrow sidewalks, mountainsides, and stairways. If I had to do it again, I probably would not bring the stroller. I should have listened to those bloggers.

In Santa Fe

On the Metra in Chicago

2. Cloth Diapering while Traveling
We had lots of traveling on the first and last legs of our trip--two days on either end. To get to Albuquerque, we took an Amtrak to Chicago, the Metra train up to the suburbs, and then a plane to New Mexico. Then, we did all that again on the way home. For the first part of the trip, we opted for disposables. I didn't want to have to carry packed, dirty diapers with me for two days before arriving in Albuquerque.  We had some cute ones (plaid, stripes, etc.) that my sister-in-law gave me at my baby shower way back before Burkley was born that he just now fits into, so we just used those. When we got to Albuquerque, we started using the cloth dipes. Thanks to my friend who lent me her pail liner, we had a functioning GIANT wet bag to put all of our dipes & wipes in while we were at my hubby's brother's house. From here on out, we cloth diapered as usual, and we stuck with cloth for the return trip home. And, as an added bonus, my in-laws let us do a couple loads of laundry, so we didn't have to travel with dirty dipes on the way home. And man, that Southwestern sun sure can bleach a diaper clean!!

Albuquerque

3. Elimination Communication
This was the most challenging part of our routine to maintain while on vacation. We were just so busy every day and going out and about that we'd have so many misses and it would be hard to get back on track. But, by about day four of the trip, we were at least back on track with catching #1 after naps and in the morning, and we'd even catch a few #2's-- which are normally easiest for us. So, I feel like for a few days there we had a setback in our EC routine, but we got back on track pretty well-- until we had to leave and had two straight days of traveling. We had no catches again until we got back home this morning. I also have to admit that I felt a little weird doing EC while out and about. We did it at the family's house where we stayed, and I offered it once to Burkley when we were at the Botanical Gardens, but it's hard out in public to take off his clothes and dipe and leave it all on the changing table to go into a stall. And I don't want to lay him on the floor of a public bathroom to undress him, so I feel kind of stuck in places like that. I also didn't even attempt the plane or train bathrooms, though I've read of bloggers who do that just fine, I can barely fit in those bathrooms, so I didn't even try taking him in them.

Saying "cheese" for the camera. Ham!

 

 

4. Stranger Anxiety
Ha! What's that? Burkley was the biggest ham on this trip. Everywhere we went, we had people commenting on how social, silly, and flirty he is. It's true. He gives "bedroom eyes" to everyone, reaches out to wave at passersby (or reflections, or a garbage can, whatever), laughs and smiles at anyone who so much looks his way, and brings delight to people all over! I keep being told I should make some money off of this charmer. No worries there about him being social with people in new surroundings.

He gets himself in this position frequently, but then just sits back down.

5. Crawling
Um, yeah, NOPE!  This kid is STILL not mobile. He does pull up on things, sort of, and will climb and "crawl" all over anyone whose lap he's in, but he won't crawl around on his own. We joke and say that what he lacks in gross motor skills, he makes up for in social skills. ;)

 6. Toys
I knew I didn't have to bring many toys since Burkley is more enthralled with things that are not toys than things that are his toys (normal baby behavior), but man, we hardly even pulled out any of the toys we brought! He played with his set of blocks, but was otherwise more interested in little toss pillows my sister-in-law made, egg cartons, magazines, tables and cabinets, etc. I did make him a couple of toys before we left, and here he is on the plane playing with a fabric "B" I made him that had buttons and ribbons ("tags") sewn on-- he enjoyed this...a little bit.



Overall, he was a trooper. He didn't fuss on the plane or train at all and was in general his usual happy, mellow self. Breastfeeding, baby-led weaning, and cosleeping went on as normal. The only issue we had was his darn second top tooth. It finally poked through this morning, the day we came home. He was a bit fussy at night due to it and he has a killer diaper rash, worse than I've ever seen him have, today as well.

A few things I'm glad I had on this trip were the video monitor (sleeping in a new place made him a little curious and he has started rolling in his sleep more than ever before), Cheerios (made for a great distraction when waiting at restaurants and riding in the car), giant wet bag (as explained earlier), and most importantly, a flexible schedule and easygoing family members who were totally fine with waiting for naps to end and taking breaks for feedings.

We had such a fabulous trip!