Back from Vacay (with a vengence)

Hello (Again) my four dutiful readers!

We are back from a relaxing (out of the car) and stressful (in the car) vacation that took us from Florida to Virginia and back again seeing old and new friends along the way. We rented a giant Sherman Tank (aka a Tahoe) to get two adults, a 65 pound dog, and a 10 pound baby to our destinations.

Who required the most room?

If you guessed the 10 pound baby, you, fine sir, are correct!

What I learned about traveling with a baby after my first trip traveling with said baby:

1) Baby travel requires an inordinate amount of thinking ahead. I'm incredibly proud to say that during our two week trip I did not have ONE single emergency purchase. Not one. Although I will have to give my mom credit for providing more formula and diapers at our longest destination stop and for having access to laundry on most days. I'm totally diggin' being forced to think ahead. It has slowed me down a bit and made me take stock (more on that in another post).

2) Car seats are made by sadists. My baby hates her car seat. Seriously, Hate with a capital H. HATE with all capitals really. Which made the long drive days seem endless. And also gave her a bald/slightly flat spot on her head. Which makes me mad. I've successfully avoided the dreaded flat spot now for 3 months and the dumb car seat is how she gets it?

3) Nap schedules are incredibly important. Because of her car seat disdain poor 'Lil D never really slept a wink during the day. When she got home she slept for about 15 hours (almost straight).

4) Babies love activity. The days where we met cousins or family were the days 'Lil D seemed the happiest. She loved the hustle and bustle.

5) You can never have enough distractions. Even at her young age sometimes her one pull down toy and her friend bar were not enough. One moment the panda was telling hilarious jokes the next the lion was being mean. Also, 3 month olds are hard to distract.

6) The family pet gets ignored more than ever before. When you make a thousand stops an hour due to feeding the baby, changing the baby, changing the baby again after she poops 10 minutes down the road and all of this because you have to pull over to take the baby out of her travel torture chamber, paying attention to the dog's walks and drinks becomes an unfortunate casualty. Issa happily taught us a lesson by drinking about a gallon of water when he got home and then throwing it all up in two different rooms 10 minutes apart. On carpet.

7) I think I'll fly next time.