Sasha's First Road Trip!

We just got back from an 8 day trip with 3 days driving with our little 3 month old. Let me tell you....it is not easy traveling with a little one, and being that I am exclusively pumping, that adds an extra layer of complication to the whole ordeal. But, it was a lot of fun.

The TLDR version:

- 5 days in Houston
- big party for Sasha
- didn't pack enough diapers
- bottle sterilizer broke
- super fun getting to meet up with friends and new babies
- 3 days in Austin
- baby's first wedding (and of course she woke up crying right when it started....sorry Nick and Tiffany!)
- one sleepy (but really good) baby

For the details and pictures, read on.

We took my little Corolla on this road trip because hubby's car is still "new" to us and we're keeping the mileage low in case we ever do want to sell it/trade for a minivan or something bigger. Believe it or not, we fit everything into my little car: a bouncer, a pack and play, a baby bathtub, bottle sterilizer, drying rack, her suitcase, my duffel, hubby's duffel and backpack, stroller caddy, diaper bag, extra diapers and wipes, boppy, and a small bottle of laundry detergent. I may have left off a few small things.

We are really good at tetris.

And of course, 30 minutes into the drive, I realize I'm missing the second bottle bag with the extra milk in it, so we turn around to go home and spend about 10 minutes looking for it. Because what actually happened was we were getting her ready (and trying to get her to finish a big bottle before driving) and it took forever so I had the milk packed in the bottle bag. Well, I put the bottle bag back into the fridge to keep it colder longer and then in the chaos of getting her and everything else loaded up, forgot to get it out of the fridge to bring. So of course when hubby did our "final walkthrough".... he didn't see it. Oops.

We still made it to Houston in good time which included a pitstop at Buc-ee's! Perfect timing because she pooped and needed to be changed. Usually we were able to both use the restroom and both finish about the same time. Not so with a baby. Hubby held baby and changing supplies while I went. Then I went back in with her to change while he went. We always thought the stuffed beavers were cute before, but they're even cuter when you have a little one!

Fist Bump

Fist bump?

Sasha was really good during her big party. There were tons of people and she got passed around pretty much the whole time she was awake. It really helped her nap schedule because she would go to sleep, wake up and eat, and then be passed around again for an hour. This happened about 3 times until the party ended and it was time for her to get ready for bed.

The star of the show also happens to be the tiniest.

This trip was extra special because it was also when we got to see some of our close friends for the first time in over a year! Since the last time we saw them, they had their baby boy who is now almost 10 months old and we had Sasha (who didn't even exist in cells yet!) It was so nice to be able to spend time with them, see their cute baby, Judah, and hang out together. Of course it was different than the last time we were able to see each other sans babies, but this is our new normal, and it's much cuter, more fun, and so worth it to be able to share the joys of raising babies even when we're many many states apart.

Mix and match mommies and babies.

To be honest we didn't do a whole lot in Houston. Besides the party and seeing our friends, we mostly spent our time staying at home with minimal trips out just to run quick errands or go shopping, like when Mommy doesn't pack enough diapers and we need to get some and pay twice what we normally do for diapers (oh well...). Hubby's parents moved across town recently, and I can totally see why. Getting to wake up in the morning to quiet breakfasts before baby woke up and winding down our days after she went to sleep to this view was so worth it:

After leaving Houston, we went to Austin for a wedding. Before the wedding, we had some time during the day and decided to explore UT campus with her. I don't think I'd ever enjoyed campus as much as I did walking through it pushing Sasha in her stroller. I did have to find all the wheelchair friendly entrances to push her easily, and when we didn't, we lifted the stroller over small flights of stairs. I have serious respect for those students who require wheelchairs to get around campus. Although the wheelchair accessibility is there, it is not easy to find!

The original plan was to have her awake during this visit so we could take some pictures while carrying her. We even put her in her UT onesie. Of course, she woke up later than usual, took a little longer to eat, and then fell asleep right when we got ready to leave. So you can't really see her pink UT onesie at all. Babies...I think they're much more keen than we give them credit for and know how to ruin all their parents plans, don't you think?

I think with the exception of my extra defined eye-baggies, I could totally pass for a college kid with a baby. I'm pretty sure I have a picture with a near identical expression from 6 years ago.

My oldest burnt orange tee with the youngest longhorn.

We visited my favorite (aka: most frequented) building on campus. Guess where!

Mommy used to live there, pre-renovation and all!

We were going to visit the SAC as well because I remember them putting in the filtered water fountains that you could refill water bottles with. Unfortunately, we visited on a Saturday morning and the SAC did not open until 12 during its summer hours on Saturdays. Fortunately, there was a water refill station outside the building...along with lots of new fountains. At least, I think they're new. If they're not, please humor me and let me think they're new.

Of course, when traveling with a baby (and scheduling everything around my pumping schedule), sometimes you just end up sitting in your expensive hotel for the afternoon and letting baby roll around on the bed. Which results in some pretty cute pictures:

Seriously. Where did you get all this cuteness from?

Staying at a hotel for the first time with a baby made me realize that to keep some of my sanity and to keep life relatively easy, I had to break the majority of the rules I learned growing up. As a child traveling with my family, my mother always told me, when staying at a hotel:

- First thing you do is to check the bedsheets to make sure they're clean.
- Don't ever walk around barefoot in the room.
- Try to minimize the number of things on the floor - keep them on chairs, tables, bed as much as possible.

Sorry mom, I definitely forgot to check the bedsheets until after we were all moved in and getting ready to sleep. (They were clean, thankfully.) I definitely walked around barefoot because when your baby is waking up 2x more than normal due to new surroundings and messed up schedules, it's just easier not to fumble with shoes, even slip ons. And we definitely put things all over the floor (except the baby!) because things are just better when you're not carrying them in your arms.

The wedding was fun. It definitely wasn't what we're used to - go to the wedding, sit and enjoy ceremony, socialize during cocktail hour, enjoy a four-course meal, dance, etc.

We still clean up pretty well.

It went something more like: go to the wedding, hope baby doesn't wake up, baby wakes up right when ceremony begins, whisk crying baby away, come back and sit while bouncing baby on shoulder for 15 minutes, feed baby, push baby around stroller to fall asleep during cocktail hour, baby falls asleep so you go in for the reception, baby wakes up immediately during reception because sudden loud noises like the microphone wake her up, baby stays up all through dinner, hubby cuts wifey's tenderloin so she can use one hand to hold pacifier in baby's mouth so it doesn't keep falling out and cause her to cry, take a few photos at the photobooth with friends you see once a year, stay as long as possible to finish dinner, leave and go home so baby can sleep because she's been awake for almost 4 hours straight which is 2.5 hours too long, drive home hoping baby falls asleep, baby doesn't fall asleep, starts wailing in the last 10 minutes of car ride (but thankfully stayed quiet for 25), baby falls asleep finally when you get back to hotel room.



I guess one perk of having a wide-awake baby at the end of the night was to snap a cute photo for their guest book:

Our family representative.

Am I glad we were able to get away for a week? Yes, most definitely yes. It was a great change of scenery for us compared to the simple day to day. And it was so nice not to worry about cooking or meal prepping. Would I do this again? Um...not any time soon. And if you're a mom and have breastfed before, you'll understand that exclusive pumping is almost harder than being able to breastfeed your baby and/or a mix of both. We definitely want to travel and take her places, but I think we'll wait until after she's one :)