Remember when vacation meant sleeping in late, relaxing, and was stress free. Well add a baby to the mix and you can forget all those things--at least in my case. Earlier this month Baby Em and I traveled to Minnesota to visit family. This trip was just the girls. Dad stayed home.
I figured I could handle it all by myself because I would have tons of family support. And I did but to a certain degree. Everyone wanted to hold Baby Em when she was in a good mood and everyone wanted to play with her when she was smiling. However, when it came to fussy times or changing time or sleeping time it was all me. Just me. No Dad to help out. It was tiring! Super props to all the single Moms who do this everyday. I was having trouble with just a week--not sure how you ladies do it.
Baby Em did pretty well on the trip. She was very flexible with all the traveling, all the attention, and different sleeping arrangements (of course until we got back home but I'll save that for another post). We discovered her new love for water. I took her swimming and she just thought it was the greatest thing. The pool would just calm her down in an instant.
It was also great to see her with all the family, especially my grandmother. Baby Em's middle name is her great-grandmother's first name so they have a very special connection. All the cousins were so fascinated by her but were all a little hesitant to hold her. They warmed up quickly though.
Despite not being very restful, the vacation was a lot of fun. It's these moments that make working during the week not so horrible. We want Baby Em to have the opportunity to meet and know her family, take adventures, and have family fun. I hope I'm helping make that possible for her.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
This baby wearing Mommy and the FAA do not see eye to eye
Two weeks ago Baby Em and I (+ Aunt M) flew to Minnesota to visit our family. It was my grandmother's 75th birthday and she really wanted Baby Em to be in attendance.
I'll have more on the vacation in a later post but first, I need to start out by saying Thank Goodness!!! for Southwest and their two bags fly free because packing for a week long trip with a baby requires a lot of stuff. Baby Em's stuff was packed into the large suitcase while I took the smaller one. There was also a car seat, a stroller and a diaper bag. Forget about my personal carry on--it was all about Baby Em. Luckily, Grandma was able to borrow a Pack-N-Play so ours didn't have to make the trip.
Baby Em has proven to be a very good traveler, whether in the car or on a plane (haven't done a train yet). I think she takes after her Dad in that respect. As soon as we get on the plane Baby Em falls asleep. Her Dad does the same thing. He can sleep anywhere. To help keep her asleep on each leg of the trip, I wrapped Baby Em in the Moby (cradle hold). She wanted to come out on the leg to MN so I spent the whole flight just holding her in my arms. On the way home she was sound asleep by the time we got on the plane and stayed that way while everyone was boarding. Right before take off I was told by a flight attendant that this carrier wasn't a FAA approved safety device and I needed to take Baby Em out. I think I gave her a look of disgust because she said "Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just following regulations." I told her that hopefully regulations require her to rock Baby Em back to sleep after she wakes up--sort of--Isaid it under my breath but I was very annoyed.
Apparently, according to the flight attendant, carrying Baby Em in that matter would inflict more harm on the baby than just having her in my lap during an on-flight incident--like having to stop suddenly or strong turbulence. I still didn't understand her explanation because my thinking is that having Baby Em close to me would provide more security than just holding her on the lap. What if the turbulence caused me to let go or the deceleration threw her against the seat in front of us and me against her. I wouldn't be able to stop because my hands would be around her. However, annoyed as I was, I did take her out and just held her for the rest of the flight.
I've done some research into this issue because I was still wondering what the FAA regulation said. What I was able to find was that, first, it seems this regulation is very antiquated. It was set for situations a long time ago when seat belts were different and airlines were trying to prevent parents from buckling their lap baby in with them. Second, the regulation only requires that during take-offs, landings and taxing that the baby not be restrained by the seat belt or by any type of carrier (unless FAA approved). However, during the remaining portion(s) of the flight it is OK. So, what I should do is wrap the baby to get on the plane, unwrap the baby for take-off, wrap the baby back up, and then unwrap again for landing. Yeah, right. Never gonna happen.
I wonder if Baby Em had not wanted to get out on the flight to MN if that flight attendant would have said the same thing to me. It seems, from reading similar posts, that some attendants will say something and some will not. Either because they don't fully understand the regulation themselves or maybe they just don't notice.
I think the people making these regulations need to better understand baby wearing and the carriers we use. I still plan on carrying Baby Em in a carrier next time we fly. So far it's been the best thing for both us. She can get to sleep and I can read a book. We'll just leave it to the luck of the draw and hopefully our next flight attendant won't say or notice anything.
I'll have more on the vacation in a later post but first, I need to start out by saying Thank Goodness!!! for Southwest and their two bags fly free because packing for a week long trip with a baby requires a lot of stuff. Baby Em's stuff was packed into the large suitcase while I took the smaller one. There was also a car seat, a stroller and a diaper bag. Forget about my personal carry on--it was all about Baby Em. Luckily, Grandma was able to borrow a Pack-N-Play so ours didn't have to make the trip.
Baby Em has proven to be a very good traveler, whether in the car or on a plane (haven't done a train yet). I think she takes after her Dad in that respect. As soon as we get on the plane Baby Em falls asleep. Her Dad does the same thing. He can sleep anywhere. To help keep her asleep on each leg of the trip, I wrapped Baby Em in the Moby (cradle hold). She wanted to come out on the leg to MN so I spent the whole flight just holding her in my arms. On the way home she was sound asleep by the time we got on the plane and stayed that way while everyone was boarding. Right before take off I was told by a flight attendant that this carrier wasn't a FAA approved safety device and I needed to take Baby Em out. I think I gave her a look of disgust because she said "Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just following regulations." I told her that hopefully regulations require her to rock Baby Em back to sleep after she wakes up--sort of--Isaid it under my breath but I was very annoyed.
Apparently, according to the flight attendant, carrying Baby Em in that matter would inflict more harm on the baby than just having her in my lap during an on-flight incident--like having to stop suddenly or strong turbulence. I still didn't understand her explanation because my thinking is that having Baby Em close to me would provide more security than just holding her on the lap. What if the turbulence caused me to let go or the deceleration threw her against the seat in front of us and me against her. I wouldn't be able to stop because my hands would be around her. However, annoyed as I was, I did take her out and just held her for the rest of the flight.
I've done some research into this issue because I was still wondering what the FAA regulation said. What I was able to find was that, first, it seems this regulation is very antiquated. It was set for situations a long time ago when seat belts were different and airlines were trying to prevent parents from buckling their lap baby in with them. Second, the regulation only requires that during take-offs, landings and taxing that the baby not be restrained by the seat belt or by any type of carrier (unless FAA approved). However, during the remaining portion(s) of the flight it is OK. So, what I should do is wrap the baby to get on the plane, unwrap the baby for take-off, wrap the baby back up, and then unwrap again for landing. Yeah, right. Never gonna happen.
I wonder if Baby Em had not wanted to get out on the flight to MN if that flight attendant would have said the same thing to me. It seems, from reading similar posts, that some attendants will say something and some will not. Either because they don't fully understand the regulation themselves or maybe they just don't notice.
I think the people making these regulations need to better understand baby wearing and the carriers we use. I still plan on carrying Baby Em in a carrier next time we fly. So far it's been the best thing for both us. She can get to sleep and I can read a book. We'll just leave it to the luck of the draw and hopefully our next flight attendant won't say or notice anything.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Mommy and Daddy are always learning...
This past weekend my husband and I each had Monday off to celebrate the 4th of July. We decided to drive up to Providence, RI from Baltimore, MD to visit some friends. We brought Baby Em along with us. She had been on road trips before; a driving one to OH and a flying to one MA. Both were taken when she was just over a month old and she proved to be a good traveler--she mostly just slept during both of those trips. Now that she was a little older we were worried that this drive would be a LONG one. We were gladly proven wrong. Even though there were a few fussy moments it was nothing that a quick climb over the center console to the back seat couldn't fix.
It was a great weekend up North and we had fun visiting our friends but our big take away from this weekend is all the lessons learned.
1st Lesson: Even your baby will hate driving through Connecticut
Surprisingly the driving on I95 was not too bad for most of the trip. Maybe it's because we got an early start (left the house at 6:30 am) or because everyone decided to drive on Friday instead of Saturday. Whatever the reason it didn't matter once we entered CT. This state is the worst. It doesn't matter what day it is or what time it is there will always be traffic in CT. Baby Em has learned that being stuck in traffic is no fun and she wanted Mom & Dad to know this too. She spent most of the ride through CT just crying. I tried feeding her a bottle, I sang songs to her, I tried telling her stories, I tried everything. All I wanted to do was take her out of her car seat and rock her back to sleep. The next drive through that state I might just have to do that.
2nd Lesson: Even minor league games sell out (especially when there are fireworks)
One of the friends we were visiting bought a bunch of Pawtucket Red Sox tickets. Prior to buying them he asked if Baby Em would be okay at a game. She had already attended her first baseball game (an O's game) weeks ago and did fine so we thought it wouldn't be a problem. Well, if you factor in 90+ degree heat, the fact that we needed our seats to in the shade, the sold out game, and the fact that our seats were first come first serve it turned out to be a big problem.
When we arrived at the game, the majority of our level of seats were already taken. My husband and I needed to sit with each other and we needed the seats to be shady for Baby Em. The only seats available to fit our whole group were the bleachers out in center field under the hot, hot sun. So my husband and I grabbed a couple of the reserved seats and took our chances. We got through one inning before we had to move. We moved across the aisle. At this point it was feeding time. So I said a little prayer to the seat Gods asking them to let us finish the feeding before we had to move again. Luckily we got through the feeding but Baby Em was having a hard time with all the cheering and clapping so we left the game after the 2nd inning. We had hopes of getting through until the 7th but it didn't work out this time.
3rd Lesson: When you say you have to change a diaper, change the diaper
This is probably the biggest lesson we learned over the weekend. Diapers nowadays are so super absorbent that when Baby Em pees she barely notices. She never complains that we don't change a pee filled diaper in a timely matter and so we don't usually notice/remember we have to until it's really full and heavy.
Sunday morning we headed to the beach with some friends. On our drive over to the beach I noticed Baby Em's diaper was full. So I mentioned to my husband that we needed to change it after we park and before we get o the beach. Due to a mix up with directions and some other things, we forgot. We headed to the beach with Baby Em in her stroller. While we were hanging out Baby Em had to poop. When she did there was no where for it all to go so it came out over the top of her diaper staining her onesie and out through the sides getting all over the seat of her stroller. I notice all the wet spots on her onesie and my husband and I try to take hold of the situation. He is cleaning Baby Em while I am trying to clean the seat. Of course this all made worse by the fact that we are at the beach. While changing Baby Em, she is reaching for the sand and wiggling around and getting sand everywhere. We finally get her clean enough to put on a diaper and another onesie and head back to the house.
Time at the beach = one hour.
4th Lesson: Don't change your baby's diaper in the dark
On our last night of the trip, Baby Em wakes up for her usual late night feeding. I know the light in the room is really bright so I don't want to turn it on. I figure the bright light will stimulate Baby Em too much and we'll have a hard time getting her back to sleep. I ask my husband to turn on the bathroom light while he changes her diaper. We lay down the diaper bag mat down on the bed. As he is changing her, we both notice some wet spots on the mat. Baby Em has decided to pee during the diaper change and it is now leaking all over the mat. I don't think any went onto the bed but it was all over her. I take one of my shirts to dry her off and my husband grabs another diaper. She of course just wants to eat and doesn't care what the problem is. And that bright light that I didn't want turned on, ha! so much for that.
It WAS a fun trip and we have tons of great Baby Em stories but is the real lesson in all of this that next time we travel for a long weekend we ask Grandma to babysit?
It was a great weekend up North and we had fun visiting our friends but our big take away from this weekend is all the lessons learned.
1st Lesson: Even your baby will hate driving through Connecticut
Surprisingly the driving on I95 was not too bad for most of the trip. Maybe it's because we got an early start (left the house at 6:30 am) or because everyone decided to drive on Friday instead of Saturday. Whatever the reason it didn't matter once we entered CT. This state is the worst. It doesn't matter what day it is or what time it is there will always be traffic in CT. Baby Em has learned that being stuck in traffic is no fun and she wanted Mom & Dad to know this too. She spent most of the ride through CT just crying. I tried feeding her a bottle, I sang songs to her, I tried telling her stories, I tried everything. All I wanted to do was take her out of her car seat and rock her back to sleep. The next drive through that state I might just have to do that.
2nd Lesson: Even minor league games sell out (especially when there are fireworks)
One of the friends we were visiting bought a bunch of Pawtucket Red Sox tickets. Prior to buying them he asked if Baby Em would be okay at a game. She had already attended her first baseball game (an O's game) weeks ago and did fine so we thought it wouldn't be a problem. Well, if you factor in 90+ degree heat, the fact that we needed our seats to in the shade, the sold out game, and the fact that our seats were first come first serve it turned out to be a big problem.
When we arrived at the game, the majority of our level of seats were already taken. My husband and I needed to sit with each other and we needed the seats to be shady for Baby Em. The only seats available to fit our whole group were the bleachers out in center field under the hot, hot sun. So my husband and I grabbed a couple of the reserved seats and took our chances. We got through one inning before we had to move. We moved across the aisle. At this point it was feeding time. So I said a little prayer to the seat Gods asking them to let us finish the feeding before we had to move again. Luckily we got through the feeding but Baby Em was having a hard time with all the cheering and clapping so we left the game after the 2nd inning. We had hopes of getting through until the 7th but it didn't work out this time.
3rd Lesson: When you say you have to change a diaper, change the diaper
This is probably the biggest lesson we learned over the weekend. Diapers nowadays are so super absorbent that when Baby Em pees she barely notices. She never complains that we don't change a pee filled diaper in a timely matter and so we don't usually notice/remember we have to until it's really full and heavy.
Sunday morning we headed to the beach with some friends. On our drive over to the beach I noticed Baby Em's diaper was full. So I mentioned to my husband that we needed to change it after we park and before we get o the beach. Due to a mix up with directions and some other things, we forgot. We headed to the beach with Baby Em in her stroller. While we were hanging out Baby Em had to poop. When she did there was no where for it all to go so it came out over the top of her diaper staining her onesie and out through the sides getting all over the seat of her stroller. I notice all the wet spots on her onesie and my husband and I try to take hold of the situation. He is cleaning Baby Em while I am trying to clean the seat. Of course this all made worse by the fact that we are at the beach. While changing Baby Em, she is reaching for the sand and wiggling around and getting sand everywhere. We finally get her clean enough to put on a diaper and another onesie and head back to the house.
Time at the beach = one hour.
4th Lesson: Don't change your baby's diaper in the dark
On our last night of the trip, Baby Em wakes up for her usual late night feeding. I know the light in the room is really bright so I don't want to turn it on. I figure the bright light will stimulate Baby Em too much and we'll have a hard time getting her back to sleep. I ask my husband to turn on the bathroom light while he changes her diaper. We lay down the diaper bag mat down on the bed. As he is changing her, we both notice some wet spots on the mat. Baby Em has decided to pee during the diaper change and it is now leaking all over the mat. I don't think any went onto the bed but it was all over her. I take one of my shirts to dry her off and my husband grabs another diaper. She of course just wants to eat and doesn't care what the problem is. And that bright light that I didn't want turned on, ha! so much for that.
It WAS a fun trip and we have tons of great Baby Em stories but is the real lesson in all of this that next time we travel for a long weekend we ask Grandma to babysit?
Friday, July 2, 2010
First week back
5 hours, 15 minutes and 23, 22, 21, seconds remaining until it is the weekend for me. I'm sure lots of people have started similar countdowns today. It's Friday. It's a long weekend. It's the weekend of the 4th of July, so everyone wants to get out of the office, start the grills, grab a cold beer, and relax. Though, for me the weekend isn't just about the holiday or the traveling to visit friends or the fireworks. For me, the weekend means I get to spend lots of time with Baby Em again. You see this is my first week back to work after 12 wonderful weeks of maternity leave with Baby Em.
Yes, I am one of those mothers that made the tough decision to go back to work after having a baby. Reasons for doing so you ask? Well, part of it was for the extra income, part of it was because I needed to be able to do something everyday, part of it was because I wanted to have adult interactions again, and part of it, well, there are a million different parts to my reason for choosing to go back. But on the flip side there were also a million different parts for wanting to stay home with Baby Em all day too. Parts like Baby Em is the most adorable baby there is (not biased or anything), Baby Em is just starting to coo and talk, Baby Em has the cutest smile, who likes work anyways, we can make things work on one salary (maybe) and the list goes on and on. However, in the end, work won out (for now).
So how was the first week? It mostly went as expected. I was a little overwhelmed during the first few days of the week. When you're gone for 12 weeks there is a lot of catching up to do. There are emails and phone calls to return, you need to learn all about the company changes (if there any), you need to answer a million questions about your baby (these are questions I don't mind answering), and in general just get into that work routine again, which is extremely different than the Mommy routine. I also had the added stress of having to reorganize my office. My department moved suites while I was on leave so I returned to find everything of mine packed away in boxes. It's very hard to answer emails when you don't know where files and notes are located anymore.
Do I miss Baby Em? Do I feel guilty for leaving her? The answer to both of those questions is yes, everyday!! But I came armed with framed pictures and I saved videos onto my work computer so I can "see" Baby Em everyday. And I tell myself not too be to hard on myself. I'm back working so that Baby Em and I and Daddy can do lots of fun things when we have long weekends like the one coming up. We know that we will just have to make the most of these weekends that I'm working for.
And look at that, only 4 hours and 45 minutes to go until the weekend.
Yes, I am one of those mothers that made the tough decision to go back to work after having a baby. Reasons for doing so you ask? Well, part of it was for the extra income, part of it was because I needed to be able to do something everyday, part of it was because I wanted to have adult interactions again, and part of it, well, there are a million different parts to my reason for choosing to go back. But on the flip side there were also a million different parts for wanting to stay home with Baby Em all day too. Parts like Baby Em is the most adorable baby there is (not biased or anything), Baby Em is just starting to coo and talk, Baby Em has the cutest smile, who likes work anyways, we can make things work on one salary (maybe) and the list goes on and on. However, in the end, work won out (for now).
So how was the first week? It mostly went as expected. I was a little overwhelmed during the first few days of the week. When you're gone for 12 weeks there is a lot of catching up to do. There are emails and phone calls to return, you need to learn all about the company changes (if there any), you need to answer a million questions about your baby (these are questions I don't mind answering), and in general just get into that work routine again, which is extremely different than the Mommy routine. I also had the added stress of having to reorganize my office. My department moved suites while I was on leave so I returned to find everything of mine packed away in boxes. It's very hard to answer emails when you don't know where files and notes are located anymore.
Do I miss Baby Em? Do I feel guilty for leaving her? The answer to both of those questions is yes, everyday!! But I came armed with framed pictures and I saved videos onto my work computer so I can "see" Baby Em everyday. And I tell myself not too be to hard on myself. I'm back working so that Baby Em and I and Daddy can do lots of fun things when we have long weekends like the one coming up. We know that we will just have to make the most of these weekends that I'm working for.
And look at that, only 4 hours and 45 minutes to go until the weekend.
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