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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Travel Plans to Spokane

We will be taking the girls to Spokane for Laurie's services. The services will be the weekend of the 22nd. Dave is trying to arrange so everyone can be there and since Laurie will be cremated, we have time to push out the services a few weeks.

We will probably be flying out on Friday the 21st and returning on Monday the 24th. US Airways has a non-stop flight from Phoenix to Spokane so at least we don't have to switch planes and have a layover. This will be an exciting/difficult trip and we have no idea how the girls will react to the change in environment.

We plan on borrowing Brea's pack and play to have the girls sleep in although I did see those little travel beds that you can buy and that way the girls will have separate sleeping quarters if you want to call it that. I'm not sure what we will want to use. I also need to buy slings/carriers for the girls so we can have free hands if needed.

We will probably bring the double stroller and check that at the gate so we can get through the airport with them easier.

I'm totally freaked out about all the things we need to pack and bring. I feel like we will forget something and have some meltdowns because of it. I guess I will be making lots of lists and checking them twice to make sure we have everything.

If you are reading this blog and you have some suggestions on how to travel and what works and doesn't work, feel free to leave me some comments. I need all the help we can get in this situation.

Now on to the girls sleeping habits. Riley has done much better as of late. Last night we put her to bed around 6:30-7:00 and she slept until 1:00am, got up for a bottle and diaper change and then went right back to bed. She then slept until around 4:30am, had another bottle and diaper change and was going back to sleep when I left the house at 4:45. Addison was asleep the whole night from 6:30pm and was just waking up at 4:45 when I was leaving. This is a much better pattern than we have seen out of Riley and Addison has been pretty consistent with her sleeping so we are so proud of both girls. Lets just hope this type of sleeping schedule continues with both girls.

5 comments:

  1. Hug hun! It will be an interesting trip on the airplane but you will get thru. Just think I did it with a toddler and a newborn!!! Alex was 3 months for his first trip! And you can each have a baby so that's good. I posted a bunch of ideas on SK so hopefully some of them help :) Good luck and I send my sympathy!

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  2. Good luck! Not much help since yet to travel but hopefully it all goes well. Yay for a non-stop flight though.

    The sleep will get better a bit at a time. (I hate saying that because when they wouldn't sleep at all at night I hated hearing it) Sounds like it's going in the right direction.

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  3. I'm sorry your first big trip isn't under happier circumstances but I'm sure you guys will make the best of it! I'm sure it would have been less stressful if you had time to prepare, but you guys will do it together! Everyone in the airport will be going crazy over those little girls! I don't have travel advice but wanted to wish you luck!

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  4. Traveling is scary. Definitely make lots of lists. I found that I packed 2 outfits for each day, and I only brought 2 outfits for nighttime. I brought 1 or 2 toys (it changes with his age and what entertains him the most) and we actually bought some "travel" toys - things that fold up or squish well. I kept his music on my ipod and I have travel speakers, but we also found that you can remove the sound machine from the sleep sheep, so we travel with that now for his bedtime music. We call it "sheep guts." He has a little blanket he sleeps with, and we bring that. Pacifiers were important for us at first. Plenty of pumping stuff and fridgies and a cooler so you can bring whatever you need back with you. I would only bring enough for the first bottle or two. Since you pump so much, you'll want bags/bottles to store the excess (and if you bring too much from home, you'll have a LOT of milk coming back). I just kept it refrigerated and brought it back in a cooler pack with the freezer things. I managed with only 2 bottles for traveling. You can bring a bottle brush if you don't think one is there, and even a travel packet of dish soap. We also bought the Medela microwave sterilizer bags (they are reusable, so you only need 1 or 2) for the breast pump, and we used that to sterilize the breast pump stuff and bottles everyday.

    When you go through the airport, you should be able to go through the family/medical line. You can bring breast milk through, and even water for you to drink as a breastfeeding mom so you don't dehydrate. Drink LOTS of water - traveling by plane can affect your supply (temporarily). If you have the kind of stroller that allows you to attach the car seats, I'd bring that. Take the strollers and the car seats all the way to the gate, and gate check them. They'll bring them to you at the other side, and it will be so much easier. Also, ask if the flight has empty seats - if they do, they will probably let you bring the carseats on, and you can strap in the carseats and it gives you one more place to plop the girls on the trip (even if they only let you bring one). You can also bring trash bags to dump the carseats in to protect them.

    I use the pack n play - works great! As for carriers - we have a bunch. We really liked the Ergo carrier when they were younger because it has much better back/hip support. We now use the Bjorn because it is forward facing, but you can't really use it very long. My vote would be to buy the Ergo (or use the sleepywrap - I loved that with Micah).

    I'm trying to think what else...feel free to ask me any questions. I traveled with Micah a lot at 7 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months and 7 months.

    When he was 3 months, we brought a blanket instead of the playmat. I had these dangling toy chimes, and we'd bring those and the animals from his playmat to dangle above him for playing. I think we also brought his winkle (kind of a combo rattle and chew toy). We did not bother with the bouncy seat, but we did have a swing we were able to borrow from a friend living out there for 2 of the 5 days that trip (Micah was exclusively napping in the swing at that time, so the days we didn't have it, he napped in the stroller on walks). Good luck with the traveling. It will be okay, and you can always buy things you forget. I think we also traveled with a bunch of diapers and wipes, and one of those folding changing pads. The key is to have a very well-stocked diaper bag. - Tkeys

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  5. TKeys had a lot of great advice. Do what you will be more comfortable with but I would take the snap-n-go with their carseats up to the gate. I have a travel bed and one of the close and secure sleeper things and I prefer the pack and play. You will be able to put them in it like they are in their cribs. If you can fit their playmat in the suitcase, great. If not, just take the dangly toys off. You can attach those to their carseats (not when traveling) to help keep them entertained. I wouldn't worry too much about any more toys because they don't seem that they are too into them. I agree with Tkeys about milk. I would probably just bring enough to get you through the first day. I know you are worried about the timing between pumping because of the flight but you pump enough that you should be fine. I would start making a list now of everything you use on a daily basis so you can see what is used the most and what you could get away with not having.

    You'll be fine. It seems scary but people will be really helpful especially since there are two of them :-)

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