Sunday, January 31, 2010

Theme Parks


During our vacation last week, my mother and father in law took my 10-month-old daughter and myself to 3 theme parks in Florida.  We visited Busch Gardens, Sea World and Universal studios.  We had a good time at each park.  We rented a stroller at Busch and Sea World and took our umbrella stroller to Universal.  The nice thing about the rented stroller was the large canopy that kept the sun off of my daughter. I took Germ-X wipes and wiped down the stroller before I placed her into it.  I also put some 50-block sunscreen on her to prevent her from burning her sensitive skin.
Each day was in the 70’s and had a little breeze.  I put a bucket hat on her head each time that she went outside.  She has very little hair and I was afraid she would get sunburn.  One thing that I learned about hats is to try to find one that has a strap under the neck.  We had one gust of the wind and it blew over the fence.  Thanks to a helpful employee at Busch, the hat was retrieved.  We packed a bottle, some formula, puffs, juice, bottled water, sippy cup, diapers, wipes, changing pad and a change of clothes.  It was a long busy day, but lots of fun!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Time to fly

     Last week I took my 10-month-old daughter on vacation.  Her and I flew to Florida.  I had no idea what to expect and was extremely nervous about flying alone with her.  I spent the week prior packing.  Every time I fed her or dressed her, I put that article in the suitcase so that I would not forget.  I packed away a few toys early in the week so that when she was on the plane they would seem like new toys. 
     I decided to take a stroller on the plane.  This was perhaps one of the best ideas.  I was torn between using a stroller or a baby carrier (Bjorn).  The stroller worked out great.  I packed a diaper bag and a carryon for myself.  Some things that I packed in the diaper bag were night diapers, extra diapers, bottle, formula, baby food, baby spoon, bib, wipes, gas drops, wipes for her nose, blanket, toys, books, extra pacifiers, pacifier holder, puffs as well as a change of clothes.
The flight went well.  My daughter played with her toys for a little while on the first flight and fell asleep until we landed.  I changed her to a night diaper in between flights.  On the second flight, she played with a few other toys, ate some puffs and some of my breakfast.  A little while later, I gave her a bottle.  She played for a little longer than fell asleep until we landed. 
     Next time I travel, I would only take the diaper bag.  It really became difficult navigating a stroller diaper bag and carry on.  It would not have been too bad if it weren’t for the fact that I arrived at one end of the terminal and departed out of the complete opposite end and had 50 minutes to get to the next flight.  That was a little nerve wracking.