RoadTripping with Baby: Weekend Getaway

This past week we took Jacob on a little two day getaway to Orlando to visit with family and relax. This was Jacob's first hotel visit, and first long car ride, so I knew I had some planning to do ahead of time. Here's what I came up with as far as packing: 

1. The hotel has a nice pool and Jacob loves to swim so we made sure to bring swim trunks, a rash guard, sun hat and sunscreen to keep him safe from the sun. We also brought a towel cover up to keep him warm when he is done and his pool float. Some pools have rules against floats but I wasn't sure if ours did so I brought ours just in case. Swimways made this one, which folds up into a flat circle for easy transport. Turns out no one at the pool had a problem with the float and Jacob had a great time!

2. I got a little stressed when I started thinking about the logistics of feeding Jacob away from home. Taking our homemade baby food with us would mean I needed somewhere to keep it cold and then somewhere to warm it up. I decided I didn't need the stress and bought some happy baby pouches. Boon makes little spoons that screw right onto the pouch and dispense food so you don't have to worry about bowls or spoons either. We brought along about three of our bottles for his milk as well. Since most of our meals would be eaten at restaurants we brought his high chair cover and his tiny diner place mat too. Turns out our room did have both a fridge and microwave, but the pouches were super convenient. The hotel also provided a high chair which was nice to have for breakfast in the room.

3. For the car ride, I packed two totes (this one by 3 sprouts is the perfect size) with snacks, a sippy cup, toys, and books for entertainment on the car ride there. I also added a changing pad, diapers, and wipes for quick changes during rest stops. Jacob ended up only wanting one toy (Sophie) and his milk and puffs. The wipes came in very handy though when five minutes from our destination he threw up all over himself and his car seat. Truth be told Jacob took a good nap on the way there and slept almost the entire trip back, for which I was very thankful.

4. And lastly, we brought along Jacob's pack and play. You never know what a hotel might deem an acceptable crib, and I've even heard horror stories of families requesting cribs and the hotels not having one available. Unless co-sleeping is your jam, bring one just in case. We also brought along everything we would need to complete Jacob's normal bedtime routine at the hotel, including - his bedtime lotion, a special book, his sound machine, and his lovey. We aimed to get as close to his normal environment as possible in a hotel room. The hotel had a pack and play which worked just fine, and thanks to us being able to complete his normal bedtime routine he had no trouble at all falling asleep in a new environment. We even got him to take a nap in a relatives bed prior to check in thanks to his lovey, sound machine, and some pillows set up to mimic the perimeter of his crib.

Now, two things to note:

1. At the time of our trip, Jacob was not yet mobile. In fact he started scooching for the first time while we were there. Had he been crawling I would have planned more for safety in the room with things like cord covers and socket plugs. 

2. Since we were only going to be gone for the equivalent of a weekend, we didn't bother with bath stuff. Had we been gone longer we would have brought along his bath seat for tub safety, as well as his shampoo and a toy or two. We figured if we needed too we could always wipe him down with some wipes and give him a bath when we got home.

Packing definitely required more thought than it did before kids, but I'm confident that our trip going so smoothly was a result of the prep we did before hand. It was a great trip! Can we go back please?