Travels with Baby

You might remember my post from late March when I lamented knowing what to pack for our first trip with baby.

Well...we basically ended up taking everything but the kitchen sink. My poor husband...I was in charge of baby, baby carriage/car seat, baby bag, purse, and 1 other bag. He schlepped the rest.

Today, as I'm traveling for work all by my itty bitty self, I'm left thinking about how we will do things differently in our next trip, which will be later this month or early June. Here is some of what I learned:

• I don't need 2 outfits for every day of the trip. There are washing machines even in Pennsylvania.
• I don't need to take enough food/juice for the entire trip. I need enough to travel with, and the rest can be bought/made there. That alone ought to save LOTS of room.
• I don't need enough bottles and spoons and bowls for a week. Texas isn't the only state with running water.
• I don't need 20 different baby toys. Baby doesn't notice if she has to play with the same, say, 4-5 toys over and over again.

I'm hoping to eliminate at least one carry-on and one checked bag for our next trip...and then when we go camping in Idaho in July, I hope to make do with just 2 checked bags and 2 carry-ons.

What travel-with-baby tips have you learned along the way that you'd like to share?

Shout Out to Lansinoh

As a nursing mom who works full time, an absolute essential in my life is my breastpump. Without it, I'd swell up like a balloon and baby wouldn't get fed.

Over at "How to Have a Baby," I've written of some of my initial struggles to get a breastpump that really worked for me. My Lansinoh double electric was my third option. (The expensive Medela pump I had at first was a total failure for me. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.)

So when my pump crapped out earlier this week, I panicked. My budget doesn't include buying a new one. But I need one. And then I remembered...the warranty.

I got on the phone to Lansinoh, and the line was ANSWERED by a REAL PERSON on the second ring. I was almost too shocked to respond to her cheery hello.

After a painless 5-minute phone call, I had a return number, and was promised that if I overnighted the broken unit to them, they'd overnight a new unit to me in return and I'd be back in business. Off to Fed Ex I went (thank GOD for my work discount) and off the broken pump went.

Yesterday afternoon, my new pump arrived. Not only is it a new pump, it's their new design. (My old one was purchased a month before their new design went out.) And it works like a charm.

Many, many, many props to Lansinoh for their awesome customer service. I only had to "make do" with my old pump for 2 days before moving back to a much preferred format.

I cannot say enough good things about this company.

YAY for Lansinoh!

On Sleep and Exhaustion

I'm pretty sure that every friend that I have who has children has managed to find a way to tell me over the last few months that their child/children slept through the night by the time they were 3/4/5/6 months old.

So here I am, with a six month old. Almost 7 months old, really. Not sleeping through the night. Still up 1/2/3 times. Completely inconsistent bed times. Completely inconsistent nap times. Completely inconsistent get up times. We've tried to do the same things at the same times every day...and we've been consistent in trying.

Side note...if you know me, you know how type A I am. Trust me when I say that we've tried and tried and tried and tried.

In any case, if she's not ready to get up or go down, she completely resists. Like we're talking flat out fits. Screaming, shaking.

So she ends up going to sleep at night, napping, and getting up in the morning when she wants, resisting all scheduling attempts.

And naps for *maybe* 45 minutes at a time. Sometimes stays down for up to 4 hours at a stretch at night...but sometimes half that or less.

I'm feeling a little frustrated. Anyone have any advice to offer?