Good morning friends!  How was the weekend?  Ours started out at the park- someone was a happy camper on the swings!

Dude, I love the iPhone.  The camera on it has no delay so it is quick enough to capture all of her cute expressions

This weekend also brought quite the adventure- a road trip!  Audrey is no stranger to long car rides- when she was six months old Brian, Audrey, Bailey and I drove from Charleston to Upstate New York (with a stop in Virginia along the way).   One week and two thousand miles later, I felt like we were seasoned road trippers!  Audrey slept a lot of the way and it a great trip.

The road trip this past weekend was a bit different- shorter (600 miles and ten hours total in the car) AND it was just me and Audrey.  No Brian.  No distraction in the backseat!

Road trip ready.

Audrey and I headed to Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday morning for a whirlwind overnight trip- one of my best friends (and Audrey’s godmother), Nicole was in town for a conference. I haven’t seen Nicole in almost a year and she hadn’t met Audrey yet so we needed to make the trip!  The hotel we were staying at didn’t accept pets and Bailey seems to be too fragile to leave behind with anyone (most of my friends have big dogs) so Brian stayed home with Bails.

I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous to drive ten hours alone in the car with Audrey.  Long car rides are bad enough for adults- what about very curious, mobile babies that just want to play?!  Here are some of the things I did to make the trip go as smoothly as possible:

• Pack lots of snacks (for you and for baby).  Now that Audrey is almost a year old, she doesn’t need to eat as often as she did when she was a smaller baby.  That being so, I was hoping to keep the number of stops on the five hour trip to one- a quick feeding session, diaper change and tank fill up and we would hopefully be on our way again!  I snacked on trail mix, almonds and cheerios (although the cheerios were meant for Audrey, heh).  I purchased a snack catcher for Audrey to play with on the trip- I filled it with a few puffs since they dissolve easily.  She just liked to pull at the top and it kept her occupied for a bit!   The snacks come in handy once you get to your destination- I scattered cheerios and puffs on a blanket on the floor and Audrey loved scooting around to snack.

• Pack light.  It might seem impossible with a baby (they require so.much.stuff) but it is helpful to have to carry as little as possible with a little wriggly munchkin in tow.  We were only gone for one night so I was able to keep packing to a minimum:

On the left are Audrey’s essentials and in the suitcase I have Audrey’s items on the left (pack n play sheet, burp cloth, two pairs of pajamas, socks, a few outfits) and my clothes on the right (I only packed boat shoes and wore flip flops so it was easier to pack light!).  In addition to those two bags I had the pack n play and stroller.  The trunk was almost full, and I packed light!

A closer look at Audrey’s essentials-

At the top of the photo are all of her toys, then her snacks, bibs, diapers (I didn’t want to cloth diaper in the hotel so disposables for the weekend), wipes, teething tablets, tylenol (for teething pain), daily vitamin, brush, thermometer (just in case) and books!

I put the essential bag within arm’s reach during the trip- this was clutch.  As soon as she got bored/fussy I just tossed a toy back in her general direction and that kept her occupied for another five minutes.  :D

• Use the stroller during rest stops!  Now that Audrey is in her big girl car seat, I carry her (instead of the heavy carrier) everywhere with me).  That makes it difficult if, say, I need to use the bathroom when we are out and about.  Using the stroller, I just wheeled her into the largest bathroom stall with the changing table in it- this way I could change her diaper and use the facilities myself.

• Brush up on your children’s songs.  If the toys weren’t occupying Audrey, all I had to do was sing a song and she would be happy (apparently she doesn’t have high vocal standards).  My current repertoire includes the itsy bitsy spider, the wheels on the bus, the ABC song, hush little baby, row your boat and an Audrey song that I made up.  Let me tell you, these songs get old after awhile!  I need to learn some more songs!

View from our hotel room.

• Use white noise.  I was nervous that Audrey wouldn’t sleep well in the hotel room- she doesn’t have the best track record with the pack ‘n play!  I tried to stick to our normal routine (bath, books, nurse) and added in white noise using an app on my iPhone.  She fell asleep instantly and stuck to her usual schedule- nurse at four and up at six.  I was expecting a lot worse, so I was stoked!!
• Relax!  I brought lots of toys to keep Audrey occupied, forgetting that most often it is the simple things that babies love.   Don’t get me wrong- the toys were clutch in the car.  Once we got to the hotel suite, there was so much for her to explore that she barely looked at her toys.

Luggage tag?  Okay!

Lots of cool stuff to look at out the window!

I was a little nervous before we left on Saturday morning- I was driving 600 miles with Audrey all by myself!  Now that it has come and gone, I’m so happy that we did it.  I got to catch up with a bestie, Audrey got to meet her godmother, and I’m more confident in my abilities as a parent  A good trip indeed!

What are your roadtrip essentials?  Pre-baby I was all about food, coffee and books on cd.  I love books on cd!  Have a good one, friends!

Katie

{ 18 comments }

Good morning friends!  The last time I did a day in the life post, Audrey was only 3.5 months old- so tiny!  Needless to say, a lot has changed since then!  Here is a typical day in our life

4:50 AM- wakeup call!  Audrey wakes up once a night to nurse, generally between 4-5:30 AM.  In the next month or two I am going to try to wean her from this habit.  I’m not really sure how to go about doing it- I need to read up on it!

5:10 AM- back to sleep!  Audrey goes back down and I collapse into bed.  I debate just staying up and doing things around the house and tell myself to stop being foolish.

6:40 AM- I think I hear Audrey stirring so I get up, let Bailey down off the bed, brush my teeth, bring the cloth diapers to the washer, start my coffee and get Brian’s lunch together (I try to do this if Audrey wakes up happy/babble-y instead of screamy )

6:55 AM- the princess has risen!  I walk into Audrey’s room to find a smiley, happy baby standing up banging on her crib railing.  So cute.

7:00-7:40 AM- play time!  I change her diaper and then Audrey plays, first on the floor and then in her jumper once she starts terrorizing playing with Bailey.  It seems like her newest mission in life is to GET BAILEY which doesn’t bode well when he is a delicate four pound diva.

Mmm, puzzle.

She makes the cutest little squishy face when she is super happy (I used to do that when I was little and I mayyy still do it if I’ve had a few glasses of wine)-

Climb.

Bounce.

7:40-8:25 AM- breakfast time!  Audrey chills in her high chair and eats cheerios (thank god for cheerios) while I prepare our breakfasts- yogurt and oatmeal with cherries for her, waffles with greek yogurt for me.  She is in this stage where she is starting to refuse to eat from the spoon, which makes it hard when the food involved is yogurt.  I distract her with a drink of water and some of my waffle and get her to finish her yogurt .  I clean up the kitchen and run the cloth diaper wash again before getting her out of her high chair to play.

Serious yogurt face-

8:30-8:55- more playtime.  Her new thing is to pull up between the pack n play and bouncer and dance.  So cute.

8:55-9:10- change diaper/nurse.  Her nursing sessions during the day have gotten a lot shorter!

9:10-9:30- get dressed for the day.  First I put Audrey in her child containment device walker and I get ready, then I dress her and fix her hair.

Ready to get going!

First I must get your coffee.

Are we leaving or can I dance all day?

9:30-11:20-we venture out for our first outing of the day- story time at a local independent book store!  The owner is super friendly and Audrey loves to see all of her little friends.  I like to go because I see a bunch of my mom friends and have some adult interaction She sat and listened to the book for a little bit and mostly spent her time pulling herself around the shelves.  We had a diaper change at the bookstore since she wet through her cloth diaper- first time that is happened in a long time!  Must be all of the water she had with breakfast. I stopped to get gas and as I drove away I looked in my side mirror and realized I left the gas door open.  This is not the first time this has happened since having Audrey.  Oops :p

Story time

11:20-12:00- lunch time!  Audrey plays in her walker while I make her lunch- whole wheat pasta with organic tomato basil sauce and goat cheese.  It is her first time having pasta and she loves it!   A girl after her mama’s heart  I eat a bowl of pasta while feeding her.

Yay pasta!

12:00-12:15- I change her diaper then we head to her room so she can crawl around and look at her books before nap time.  Her naps have been absolutely treacherous lately (on Monday she was awake from 5:30 AM until 7:00 PM) so I’m hoping the shift to one nap will help her sleep longer.

12:15-12:30- I nurse her and put her down for a nap.  There are no tears, hooray!  I’m hopeful that she will take a decent nap.

12:30-1:20- I scramble around to get things done while she naps- hang up cloth diapers, sweep the kitchen floor, clean up from lunch and start to prep dinner (turkey quinoa loaf again).  I’m in the midst of prepping dinner when I hear the monitor.  A measly fifty minute nap!  Ah well, better than Monday, right?

1:20-2:00- I keep Audrey entertained with mum mums while I finish prepping dinner.  I change her diaper and get her dressed and we head out to Target to pick up a few items.

2:00-3:05- Target trip!  Audrey loves to sit in the shopping cart.  I had to pick up some thank you cards and food pouches for Audrey- she and I are taking a girls trip soon for a night and homegirl has to have some food!  And some cheerios.  Yay Cheerios.

3:05-415- Back home.  Normally I would try to put her down for another nap since her last one was so short but she has been fighting them so hard the past two weeks.  Before that I could get at least two one hour naps out of her.  I’m thinking the earlier nap is the only one we will have so we play for awhile.  She checks out an amazon box, chases Bailey and plays with me in the living room.

You know she’s tired when she takes a break from playing to rest her head on my leg.

4:15-4:30- Diaper change and nursing.  Her fourth nursing session of the day.

4:30-4:50- she chills in the kitchen eating mum mums while I finish prepping dinner. I catch her sneaking mum mums to Bailey a few times- so stinkin’ cute!

Dinner prep.

Thank goodness for walkers.

What, I wasn’t giving him a mum mum-

4:50-5:20- more playtime!

5:20-6:00- Audrey’s dinner time.  I heat up brown rice and sauteed zucchini for her- she eats whatever doesn’t end up on the floor!  For dessert she has blueberries and bananas.

Baby dinner.

6:00-6:30 grown up dinner is ready!  I take the okra out of the oven, leave the turkey in to warm (for when Brian gets home) and clean Audrey up- she seems to have inherited my childhood tendency to have rice attacks  Afterwards we play in the playroom, where she goes back and forth between her zany zoo and her light up table.

6:30-7:00ish- bedtime routine time!  Every night around 6:30 (sometimes later if she naps well during the day, which doesn’t happen very often), she has bath time (which she is currently loving- there were around two weeks there where she hated getting water in her eyes and it made bath time pretty hairy), story time and then she nurses before bed.

My little bear.

7:20-8:45-  Audrey finishes nursing and I head downstairs.  Today is an off day working out wise so I have time to eat dinner and clean up- if it’s a crossfit day I’m usually rushing around to get changed and get things cleaned up.  I take care of Audrey’s cloth diapers, eat dinner and put aside a plate for Brian (he was working late), put leftovers away, wipe down the kitchen counters and do my normal nightly tasks- sweep the kitchen and living room/entry way, wipe down the bathroom sinks, put away Audrey’s toys and fold and put away laundry.  I find if I do those things every night the house stays a little neater!

8:00- Brian comes home!  We decide we need cookies so he goes out and comes home with a cookie cake.  Works for me

8:45-10:45 I sit down to relax- watch the Olympics, type up this post, look at first birthday invites for Audrey, create a fantasy football league and go through the circulars that came in the mail.  Typing this up took longer than I thought it would- first birthday invites (what!) and couponing (kind of) will have to wait until another day!  Damn, I need to get to bed earlier.

4:40 AM- I hear the familiar call over her baby monitor.  Time to start the day!

So, there is a pretty typical day for us.  We meet up with my mom friends once a day usually (after this post is published this morning we are going to have breakfast and then go to my friend’s pool) and maybe an errand a day.  It is good to get out and about!  When it is cooler out we go for jogs in the morning and lots of walks during the day.  During her nap time I planned on cleaning a bit more and making fruit purees for her yogurt, but one fifty minute nap didn’t give me much time.  Today it is back to two naps- we shall see how it works out!

By the numbers-

• diaper changes- 7 (3 had presents)
• nursing sessions- 5
• meals- 3
• outfits-2
• spit up- 0 (quite the change from the three month post!
• Shrieks of joy- lots
• Shrieks of drama- lots (fun new stage, ha)

Katie

{ 10 comments }