Travel with a Tod

8 + hour drive in a car, plus 6 days in a completely new environment completely different from what he's use to had me a little nervous..,
but luckily, things went super smooth. Before leaving on the cruise I found some wonderful blog post on cruising with toddlers that were super helpful giving me some ideas of things to bring with us to make our trip a bit easier. I added some things too, so  I thought I would share some of the must have things to pack that made our trip drastically less stressful.

* Car activities!!!

For the long car ride I made a few different activities for him and also brought a long a couple things that he really likes and I know will keep his attention. One activity I made was small wooden blocks with magnetic tape on the back (top picture) that stuck to a cookie sheet. The blocks were new for him (he got them at Christmas but I hadn't got the out yet for him to play with) so he was pretty excited about that... and the fact that they would stick to the sheet if he picked it up and shook it as hard as he could. I also put magnetic tape on the back of some shapes I cut out of construction paper. He really enjoyed those a lot more than I thought. Next time I'll laminate them first because they got pretty bent up, but they were a last minute addition so i didn't have time. I also had felt pieces from the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar that I had made for my class so I added some magnetic tape to the back of those and he played with them as well (in the last picture you can see the cupcake from the story didn't quite make it back into the bag...it's still hangin out on his shirt). I just kept each activity in a Ziploc baggy inside my "car bag" and pulled them out when I saw him getting antsy.

* Snacks Snacks Snacks!
So over the span of our entire vacation Dax ate way more snacks that I would normally like him to eat (especially processed snacks.. ugh). But, it was vacation... and you have to get by with a toddler in some way. I brought a long some new, different snacks that he hadn't had before, as well as some of his favorites. In most of our pictures from the cruise he can be seen with a snack in his hand. Some times I think it was a security thing for him but I'm ok with that for just one week.

*New cup!
So this is sort of completely random but I wanted to make sure he would drink tons of water when we were going to be in the sun a lot. He loves water in the first place, but I wanted to make it super exciting to drink. We bought some adult water bottles (the kind with the sports lid that you can squirt out of) and he thought those were the coolest things in the world to drink out of. I had no worries whatsoever about him getting dehydrated!

*Diaper Sacks!

These things are AWESOME! I just happened to wonder upon some in the store before we left and thought I would give them a try. They're just the right size for a diaper and are baby powder scented. Dax may be a little boy but he can smell like a man (tmi... maybe) so I was worried what would happen if we had to end up changing a diaper on the side of the road, or even in our room on the cruise (those rooms are pretty small and I did NOT want to be locked in a small space with the smell of a dirty diaper). You just throw the diaper in these bags and tie them up and you never smell ANYTHING but baby powder! They're awesome! I'll be using these regularly that for sure!

*Stroller!
Our stroller was a life saver for sure! It made the entire process of boarding the ship and going through customs SO much easier. It also saved my back by keeping me from carrying my chunky boy around on the ship all the time. We loved just going for walks around the entire ship and people watching with the stroller. If he was in his stroller... he was happy. We have the Combi Cosmo Stroller  (I've mention before how much I love it) and it was the perfect size for the cruise. It's not much bigger than an umbrella stroller, but has the ability for him to lay down and be covered by a sun shade unlike most umbrella strollers. It also folds up pretty small, a must for storing in a small cruise ship cabin.

*Cup Leash!

This isn't the exact one we have but it's pretty similar. These are wonderful! There were so many times that I"m certain we would have lost a cup and not known about it without our cup leash. They wrap around any size cup and you can hook it to the stroller to keep it from falling on the ground. Wonderful! We also used it a lot when he was younger to keep toys from falling on the ground while sitting in highchairs at restaurants. It kept us from losing toys and saved Dax from a lot of germs in his mouth. We got ours at Buy Buy Baby but I have recently seen pins on Pinterest on how to make your own!

* Travel Changing Pads and Bibsters!

*Baby Powder!
Thanks to pinterest I found out that baby powder is a must have for visits to the beach. Sprinkle baby powder on them and the sand rubs right off!! Dax especially appreciated this because he was not a fan of baby powder being stuck to his legs!

* New Toys!
Before going I stocked up on a bunch of small, cheap new toys for Dax to play with on the ship (play dough, painters tape, a fold and car set, small zoo animals, nesting cups, funnels). They were new so he was super excited about them and they were all small so they didn't take up much space in the suitcase. I made sure not to give them to him all at once so I had new things to offer him throughout the week. The painters tape was super fun to pull and tear and stick to things and  the nesting cups and funnels were fun to stack. Our most expensive toy purchase was this...

(Sorry for the blurry picture... best one I could find) It cost a total of $10. The ramps fold up so it didn't take much space at all!


Well those are my must have items to pack for long trips! They were life savers for sure! I'll be posting soon with a few more travel tips that made our vacation successful!

A Few of My Favs...

So I was talking to a friend the other day who is expecting and she asked about what she should register for... soooo the things below made the list (warning:::: this is going to be a VERY lame post... it quite possibly will be a post that only other mommies can appreciate)

1. Diaper Genie....

oh how I want to kiss the person that invented this. Our lovely, precious tiny baby boy can sometimes resemble a man (if you know what I mean) and this wonderful invention keeps our nursery smelling nice and fresh. And it's so easy to change out the bags when you fill one up. I <3 it..... def. a must have.

2. Munchkin Bottle Warmer/Sanitizer

I don't know what I would do without this! It makes heating a bottle soooo easy. But the best part is the fact that it's a sanitizer. If you know me... I"m kind of a freak when it comes to sanitizing. Needless to say this sanitizer gets used multiple times a day for binkies, toys, you name, I've sanitized it.

3. Mobile above changing table

So my aunt got us the ADORABLE OU mobile. We had decided that we didn't want a mobile above the crib b/c we wanted it to be strictly a place for sleep, not a place to play, but we also wanted to use the mobile somehow. Well during my time working in daycares I learned one thing... keeping a child still while you change their diaper can be nearly impossible... soooo born was the idea of hanging a mobile above his changing table. Daniel built a little contraption to make it fit (he's pretty handy sometimes) and now it is one of Dax's favorite things ever! He just sits and watches it while we change his diaper! greatest. idea. ever.    (if I do say so myself)

4.  Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers/ Seventh Generation Diapers

So we've always loved the idea of using as much organic/natural/chemical free stuff as much as possible and started out with the intent of using only Huggies Pure and Natural. Well we were given TONS of diapers (pampers, regularly huggies, luvs, etc) so we used those when we ran out of our original stash of Pure and Naturals. Well Dax got diaper rash after diaper rash so we decided to bag them up and give them all to someone else. While after bagging away a ton of diapers Daniel's hands got red and started burning.... needless to say that was the night that we decided no more diapers that aren't chemical free.

5. O'Ball

This is Dax's favorite toy EVER!!  And mine :)   I found this at Walmart after Dax's shots and felt obligated to get it for him. It's soft, rubbery, squishy, light weight, easy for little fingers to grab a hold of, and rattles.... what else could a boy need?!  It was the first toy Dax reached for and we play with it all evening long.

6. Dapple Bottle Cleaner

So I only bought this stuff last night but so far so good. I wanted a dish soap that didn't have all the extra non essential stuff in (again with the as natural/chemical free as we can get) so that when we cleaned Dax's bottles nothing harmful was getting left on them. This stuff works really good, smells great, and is very safe for baby.... I'm a fan

7. Combi Shuttle 33 Stroller and carseat

I'm in LOVE with our stroller and carseat! Daniel was really picky on the carseat we would get and I was pretty specific on what I wanted a stroller to be like. We knew we didn't want the traditional travel system because its just way too bulky for us. And Daniel wanted a top rated carseat. Well this little wonderful combination was at Babies R Us and we fell in love. The stroller is super light weight, folds up really small, is easy to open and close, and the carseat just snaps right into it. And the carseat is highly rated, very padded, and is complete with a baby roll bar as I call it. It's perfect.


ok... I'm done with the lame mommy post. I promise next time I'll try to be more interesting!

Time flies...

Sorry it's been awhile! Between Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, Christmas shopping, work, Daniel preparing for Test Block, and me playing with my adorable son I haven't had much time! Well Dax was 3 months old on November 30th!  Three months, already! It's crazy how fast time goes by. The past week has been so much fun with him. He's really starting to interact a lot and has started reaching for toys... needless to say most of my time is now spent dangling toys over his head and giggling at how hard he works to reach it... he loves this game :)  Also in the past week his love for his feet has grown tremendously... and I'm just waiting for the day when I walk in the room and he has a toe in his mouth.  If he's laying flat on his back you can pretty much count on his hands being in his mouth (or bib or whatever else he can grab and stick in there) and his feet being straight up in the air... it's pretty funny.  With that said his clothes and bibs stay wet most of the day... and if he has a hold of your hand you can pretty much count on that becoming drool covered in no time at all :)
Well Dax has been in his crib at night for a little over a week now!  It was such an easy transition for him... and I think he really likes it!  The first couple nights we were in there quite a bit reinserting the binky but that has dwindled down since then. Hopefully with his new love for his hands he'll realize how to soothe himself with those and the need for us to give him his binky back throughout the night will go away. And p.s.... I LOVE my video monitor.. best invention EVER. Its so comforting to just be able to hit the button on the top and see him whenever I need to throughout the night. The first few nights I think I spent most of my time watching it... but I've gotten better :)
So onto life besides Dax accomplishments (there is a such thing... sometimes anyways). Thanksgiving was great! I'm reminded at every family gathering how special my family is! We have a bond unlike many families and I am so, so, so very thankful for that! The weekend before Thanksgiving we had Thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents at their new "full service apartment" as we're calling around them (aka, assisted living center). That was very special and I think it helped a lot in making the transition a little better for them. I also got to see my adopted mom while I was there (my bff's mom who lives in Kentucky) and she got to meet Dax for the first time! That was pretty special.  Actual Thanksgiving day was spent at my moms house with my parents, all of my siblings and my 50 nieces and nephews (okay.. only 6... but at times.. like when Christmas shopping... it feels like 50). We ate wayyyy too much, took way too many pictures, passed around Dax, and played some chicken foot. I'd say it was a successful Thanksgiving!
Now Christmas decorations are up, complete with Dax's first Christmas ornament and new stockings with each persons name on it. I've always been a big fan of Christmas time, but now with Dax it makes it even more exciting! I've got him one gift so far (a book of course) but have def. done my fair share of online browsing for him. Daniel and I decided that since Dax is really too young to enjoy the surprise of Christmas presents that we are each going to get him something and keep it a surprise for the other. That way on Christmas morning at least someone will be surprised when we open the gift! I'm really excited about this! lol. With Christmas comes traditions! My best friend who has a little one a month and a half older than Dax had a wonderful post on her blog the other day about traditions they want to start now that their family has truly began. This got me thinking... and I'm sort of a sucker for holiday traditions... so I've come up with all sorts of ideas that I can't wait to start as soon as Dax gets a little older. One thing that I started last year with my niece and nephew was baking and decorating homemade Christmas cookies Christmas Eve morning. We had so much fun watching a Christmas movie in our pjs with a fire in the fireplace, Christmas tree lights on, and making cookies and I would LOVE to continue this tradition. Maybe I'll borrow my niece and nephew again and do it again this year... since I don't think Dax would be much help in the kitchen :)

 Notice the "mouth of concentration"... it's hard work playing with toys :)

yes... that's a thumb in his mouth!  Forgive the crazy hair... mommy was having fun playing with it during bath time!  He rotates between fist, rag, and thumb during bath now!