Is Traveling Stressful?????

Do I think traveling is stressful? Where do I begin?

Basically Keith is in charge of booking and arranging the places. I am in charge of everything else. He pretty much wants a trip about every 3 months. I have had to put my foot down on a few because truth be told, I consider myself a home body.

Our first trip ever with kids was in January when Macie was 3 months old. We were headed to the beach via plane. I was worried about everything! Germs, should I even take her on a plane so young? Good lord its flu season what am I thinking! Do I have everything? I was still breast feeding at the time, do I need my pump? What do I do with the milk. Do I bring a sound machine for sleeping? 

You get my drift kids need a lot of stuff and there’s a lot to consider. And to top things off it was winter here and we were heading to the beach, I didn’t even have any summer clothes in her size! My thoughts at this point is this is going to be more work than its worth….

But once we get wherever we are going and get into vacation mode things seem to get easier. Or the kids are more tolerable while sitting on the beach with a cold drink in hand. With every trip we take the more efficient I get at packing and being prepared. And yes I mean I. As much as Keith says he’ll help me pack and get things ready it doesn’t happen. Anyone who knows me I am very type A and would rather just do it myself so I know it’s getting done right.

Now that we are on kiddo number 3 and trip number who knows what, my biggest 2 stresses are packing and sleeping.

Packing:

I usually start packing a week before. As I do laundry I pull stuff I know I want to take and start piles in a laundry basket to help keep it organized. I usually try and pack similar outfits for each kid. Kind of like a theme for each day. For example we travel a lot in the winter aka football season. So we might have a buckeye game or Steelers game I can grab an outfit for each person for game day.

Or if it’s a day we will be at Disney or Orlando Studios I have a park themed outfit for everyone.

I lay out each day and stack everyone’s outfits for each day and so on. I pack for everyone but Keith. I usually pack a few nice outfits for dinners out and at least one warm and one back up outfit. Plus I bring laundry pods if our place has a washer and dryer. 

Depending on where we are going I bring different things. I usually bring a sound machine because sometimes hotels can be loud this also helps drown out sound. I’ve also brought a video monitor before when we rented a beach house so I could lay out during nap time. Sometimes I bring a highchair too depending on the type of place we are staying. Lately I’ve only been packing a few diapers and buying a pack when we get there. This saves a good chunk of space. I could on for days on things to pack but I truly feel like the more you travel the better at packing you get!

Sleeping:

This is my biggest stress and again if you know me, I love my sleep. Our oldest daughter could sleep anywhere; lay her down and she is out. Our son is brutal! He takes a while to fall asleep and will talk and talk and keep Macie up if in the same room. He also wakes up sometimes and will try and wake anyone up around him. And Emmy has just started sleeping through the night. So you can see why I stress about sleep.  I wonder will any of us sleep or will we all be miserable and crabby? I’m basically over a single hotel room. It does not work. 

When we just had Lincoln and Macie we would put him (the baby which ever kid it may be) in the pack n play in either the bathroom or a large closet if there was one. I have found it’s impossible to get most babies under 1 to go to sleep when you are sitting there awake. Having them in a closet or bathroom gives them a quiet dark space. I also run the sound machine in their little space. 

If we have a suite (which I almost always demand or I won’t go) we split the big kids up. One kid in each room or one on the pull out sofa. Keith and I split up and one sleeps with each kid. I usually call dibs on Macie, she’s much more of a tame sleeper. Lincoln is Crazy! We have to get creative with whatever room and layout we get but we usually can make something work as long as we aren’t in a single hotel room.  

Naps are a bit difficult. Macie stopped napping young and Lincoln stopped once we took his paci around 3 years old. When he was still napping we would hit the beach early then go up around 2 and try and get him to nap in one room while Macie watched a movie in the other room. Now with Emmy we try and get her to nap on the beach so we don't have to go up early. So far this has worked pretty well. 

When at parks we forgo naps and hope they happen in the stroller. Emmy napped all through Disney the big kids no way! No naps and possible rough nights of sleep can definitely effect behavior during vacation. At this point you have to try and wing it. I wish I could say my kids are always angels and I'm the most patient mom but that is not the case. There are times we all lose our shit but even still I wouldn't trade the memories and fun times we've gained during these trips. 

It’s not that I still don’t stress about all the other things listed in the beginning but I have found little tricks to help alleviate some of it.

Germs= Bring a little pack of the Clorox wipes and those sticky place mats for tables when eating out.

Crazy meals out= more meals in! get a suite with a full or mini kitchen. We buy breakfast, lunch and snack foods. Plus beer, milk and juices etc..

Enough space in my bag= Buy diapers on vacation, pack laundry pods to wash stuff there and not need to over pack.

Bored kids during travel= fun games, snacks, new little treats from the dollar spot in target.  See this post for more ideas.

Carrying everything to and from baggage claim= if you can’t figure out a way to lug it all your selves you can always make the kids pull some bags. They actually think it’s fun. But when all else fails, rent a cart.

Kids Behavior= I've yet to figure out the answer here but promise to blog about it when I do!

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