Peanut is a very easy baby (as long as we stick to our routine), but these are a few of the things that made our trip easy.
Toddler food pouches
These delicious organic pouches are amazing when you’re on the go. We brought one with us almost everywhere. Peanut, not unlike her mother, gets very cranky when she’s hungry. One of my worst nightmares is to be stuck someplace when she’s starving and hot, so we chilled these in the fridge, stuck them in a cooler, and went on our merry way. If we were going to miss or delay a meal, if Peanut didn’t seem to like her meal, we just gave her one of the pouches and she was a happy camper. Above the nutritional value, Peanut loves squeezing these pouches and then spending a few minutes twisting the cap on and off. All-in-all this is a great trick to occupy her for 15-20 minutes, which is a lot in toddler time.
Puffs
We absolutely love these! Although we’ve moved away from these, they still make for great travel companions. They’re flavorful and Peanut loves them. When we were stuck too long, waiting for food at a restaurant we offered P some puffs and she waited happily while munching on her snack.
Enticing, new toys
I know that every kid is very different, but I’m not sure how we could have made it through vacation without this toy. Since Christmas and Peanut’s birthday are back to back to each other, we stashed a few toys in the closet for “emergency” situations. Well, I think vacation is one of those situations! We packed this toy that she’s never seen before and let her have it when we got to the condo. I’ve never seen this kid spend so long with just one toy! Not only was she enticed with the shapes and the newness of it all, she loved stacking them and figured out most of the order all on her own by the third day on vacation. I was impressed.
Portable crib
Before packing up our pack and play, Jon asked his dad if there was a crib at the condo. Lucky for us, Bonnie’s mom had one for her grandkids and she let us borrow it. This small crib was a life saver! It rolled (which means that we could move Peanut without waking her up if we wanted to move her to our bedroom at night), it folded up flat and small enough to fit in our trunk, and it kept our little kid safe and sound. We don’t mind bringing our pack and play with us when we’re taking a drive some place, but this was a wonderful thing to have to avoid flying with yet another heavy piece of luggage.
Portable high chair
We asked for one of these chairs for Peanut for her birthday and my parents obliged. Usually we travel to New Jersey or Massachusetts with Peanut and meal times are pretty messy without a high chair. We knew we wanted one of these to simplify things, but I never expected just how much use we could get out of it. First of all, the high chair folded up and we easily packed it into one of the suitcases and were still able to fit a full package of diapers and all of Peanut’s belongings for vacation. You can hook this on to a chair (and later use it as a booster seat), but we just sat it in the lounge chairs or on the floor on top of a blanket. Meal times were a synch and Peanut loved being in her chair. Even farther than a high chair, we removed the table portion and let Peanut use this as a chair. She loves climbing, sitting, and climbing off chairs (is my kid the only weird one?), so this brought on a whole new level of entertaining her while we washed the dishes or visited with family.
Baby Sunblock
We actually bought two types of sunblock for P – this one for her face and a foam one for her body. (I’m pretty sure that our block is SPF 75 or something equally high, but I’m way too lazy to get up and look.) The California Baby block is kinda really pricy, but it’s super thick (which means you only have to apply a tiny bit), super safe for the sensitive baby skin, and protects them well. The only downfall, other than price, is that it’s super hard to apply. But when your kid (well, at least my kid) rubs their eyes because they hate the feeling of block on their face, I feel confident that this won’t sting her eyes. The foam block was was easier to apply, but after P got a little in her eye on one of our first days and ended up with a super inflated eye for almost 2 days, I tried to only stick to applying it to her body, not her face or hands.
Umbrella stroller
We bought this stroller on sale at Burlington Coat Factory a couple of months ago when we tried to fit our (awesome but super big) Bob stroller through a small isle in the mall. Since then we’ve used it for weekend trips away from home and for the mall. When it came to packing up a stroller for the trip, there was no question that we wanted something lightweight and portable. Let me tell you how much we love our Chicco stroller! The only problem is that we forgot the cover that attaches to the top! In CT, especially in this weather, we never use it so we remove it to keep the stroller super lightweight and portable. Almost immediately after landing in Florida I realized my mistake. We tried everything (even bought a regular umbrella and tried to tie it to the stroller…yes, people stared), but with no luck. We ended up just covering Peanut with a super thin blanket and a hat during our long walks outside and stayed out of the super hot sun during the middle of the day. Still, for traveling, I couldn’t think of a better stroller (just don’t forget the essential cover when you’re going some place warm)!
What helps you survive a long trip away from home?
{A quick disclaimer about Amazon links – this post was not sponsored by Amazon.com in any way. In fact, because I live in CT, I don’t even qualify to be an affiliate. But since it’s the place I shop the most and it’s got pretty much every single thing, making searches and posts easier, it’s what I use. Amazon.com doesn’t always have the best price and we don’t always buy our stuff there, but we shop there a lot (like a real lot), so there you have it.}
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