How to travel with a 9 month old

Wow. When I knew that I was driving 5+ hours all by myself with an infant, I was not terribly happy about it. I was worries that he would cry the whole way, I would stope every hour, everything would go wrong. And I am not going to lie, it was not the easies trip that I have taken, but I have learned some lessons that will make it  go easier in the future.

1. Plan the start of your trip around baby's nap, and be flexible. 
2. Make sure that all of your "to dos" are done the day before you leave, so you can leave around baby's first nap
3. Fill bottles with water and pack formula for bottles, so it's easy to grab, shake and feed. {I have a munchkin brand formula holder. It holds 8 oz each in 3 sections. Perfect for traveling}
4. Do not stop at the store and buy things you need for the trip while actually on the trip. Remember step #2? You have already bought everything you need the day before {or earlier}. 
5. Attach paci to the car seat straps. So when you are stuck in Seattle and there is no where safe to stop you can reach back and pop that sucker back in so you are not listening to a screaming child.
6. Also attach one toy if possible to the car seat straps. One of H's favorite toys is a teething style ring. I kept it attached to him so he could easily grab it when he got bored. 
7. Only place one toy in the car seat. Place all other toys within reach so you can pass them back one at a time until you can get some where safe to stop.
8. Map out locations within a half hour of each other to stop. You will not hit most of them, but you don't want to A)stop in the ghetto or B) be feeding your baby in the parking lot of a gas station. It will be creepy and you will be wishing that you stopped in either A) a Starbucks or B) a McDonalds or Target.
9. Stopping at a big name company is best. They will most likely have a changing table in the bathroom so you are not stuck in the gas station parking lot changing your baby in the car.
10. Buy a mirror so you can see your baby BEFORE you go on your trip. I had never used one before because the angle wasn't right. My best friend's roommate taped a large binder clip to the back and the angle was PERFECT. I could see him in my rear view mirror and could tell if he was just back there talking to himself or back there freaking out. Made it easier to determine what was a "we need to stop NOW" and "we still have a little bit keep driving." Also, when he was really quite, I could see that he was sleeping and not back there not breathing =)

Unfortunately I did not do all of these things on the drive there. It was not peaceful, it was not fun, and I was calling my husband telling him that never again will he get out of a road trip. However, the drive back was so much better. And no joke, it snowed the whole way home. And that drive was much more peaceful. 

Mid January

Oh my gosh... It is past mid January..... Seriously? Where on EARTH has the month gone? And I have a feeling I haven't even THOUGHT about my monthly goals. Let's see how I'm panning out:

January Goals:

• Clean up closet and dressers. Set all of my hangers backwards so I can get rid of things that don't get warn. Fill one dresser drawer with things that I possibly don't use and get rid of after 3 months. 
• Sneak in two boxes from our Ikea trip to use as storage under the bed. Fail. Totally not done. Speaking of, I'm going to switch my hangers right now so I don't have to think about it again.
• Take old living room items to the thrift store. Done! But not how I thought it would get done. One of our friends ended up moving out a little abruptly and we gave the things we were going to donate to her. That's like the thrift store with out the tax benefit, but makes my heart feel good. 
• Stay on budget - especially groceries and Costco! Good so far. We are on budget for groceries and for Costco. However we still need to make one more Costco run for diapers and formula before the end of the month. Fail that January was supposed to be a no spend month. $90 for a table husband? Grrreat! However, we will now do No Spend February!
• Make more baby food - I've bought apples and pears that need to be made. I would like to make green beans as well. Plus he needs more sweet potatoes and squash. Mostly done. Made the pears and apples. Tried peas. We are still mostly good on sweet potatoes and squash.
• Save for a chest freezer. Done! We sold our extra couch and I have my bonus. My goal is less than $300 for a brand new one, or if we can find one on Craigslist under $200.
• Start getting together our tax forms (Call the hourly provider used and get a receipt!) Fail on the hourly provider. Can't find her number.
• Blog more! (Thinking two days a week for sure.) Comment more on other blogs. I read all of the blogs I follow, but almost never comment. Eh... I'm gonna go with fail. I am not commenting, and am not posting as much as I like. 

So I am about 50/50 for my goals. Still some work to be done. I love this accountability thing!!! 

9 Months Old

Wow.... Nine whole months. Can I confess that I still think of my baby as 6 months? Maybe I am wishing that he would slow down a little bit.

Little Ninja, you are changing so much! This month you have really started to get around. Not only are you rolling, but you are army crawling all over the place. You are also figuring out that you can reach things that aren't on the ground. It was so fun to see you figure out how to position your body to reach the diaper cream on a ledge that was just above head level. You would scoot closer, to the side, reach, move a little and keep at it until you were able to grab it. So much fun to see your little mind work.

As for eating, you are eating solids two to three times per day about 4-8 ounces each time. Plus puffs. Oh dear, we cannot forget the puffs. That is the best part of meal time! You are addicted to those things. I think your favorite thing if probably rice cereal with pears and prunes, and also peas. But there are not a lot of things you don't like. You also still like yams, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, bananas, mixed veggies, mixed fruits, mac and cheese, chicken with noodles or rice, and turkey with noodles or rice. Pretty much, I am saying you love food. We are working on more finger foods. You love plain toast! That was a big hit. You are also still eating about 32 ounces of formula each day. 6 ounces or a little less every 3 hours.

Finally you are about sleeping thru the night!! We have stopped feeding you at night and just been coming in to put in your paci. About a month ago, we were coming in twice a night to put that darn paci back in. Now, we are only in once a night and you are sleeping longer and longer. Last night, daddy went in to put your paci in at about 5:00 am. The night before I was in at about 4:30am. Lovely! We are getting there! You still go to sleep like a champ. Bath or no bath, you go in your pj's have a little bottle, and it's into bed you go. There is no tears and you are down for the night. Putting you in your crib early, and keeping with a general routine has worked wonders for you. You are down for the count somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00 pm and then up for the day around 6:30.

You are still in 6 month clothes but quickly growing out of them. You weigh about 19 lbs and I have no idea how long you are. You are almost grown out of your car seat. I am still wondering when you will sit by yourself because you have 3 more pounds. Still, you will sit in my lap, and sit when you want to, but stick you in a cart? You slump to the side. Silly baby!

Oh my lanta... you chat all the time. I can always tell when you are uncomfortable with new people, because you are so quite, then about 5 minutes later on and on you go! And you make this "seagull" noise that is a happy squeal.... not my favorite noise, but you love it! You have said "mama" to me, "papa" to your grandpa, and "baba" to your bottle. But in general, you just chat. It may be a coincidence that you have said those words to the right thing. In your own time. Still no "stranger danger" you are happy to be with anyone. The only exception was when you were crowded by all of my family and I was no where to be seen. Big tears for that one. But after a few minutes back with mama, and introducing you to people one at at time, you loved being the center of attention! You are also quite the little ham. You will do things, make sure we are looking, then laugh your little head off. You want to make sure we see all of your antics.

Oh my baby boy, I love you so much. My life has forever been changed. I can't wait to see the toddler and child you are to become. You are such a joy in our lives.

We love you baby!!

Traveling with an infant

Oh my lanta.... Friday I will be driving 5 hours... with a 9 month old. {and that is without traffic} By myself.

Doesn't that sound like fun?

Nope, it sure dosen't.

I am going to try and plan this drive around Hyatt's nap. And I can tell you with certainty, he does not nap in 5 hour stretches.

For sure I will have to stop at least once for a bottle. And I am hopping that if I pack enough toys within his reach, attach his paci to the car seat {totally not so I can reach back while I am driving and pop the paci back in his mouth...cause that's safe}, and keep him fed it will be an enjoyable trip.

I thought about giving him some tylenol to help his sleep a little more, but just can't make myself do it. Drugging my child is a definite no-no in my book {unless he is actually sick}. Plus tylenol doesn't make him sleep that much longer. But thanks to everyone who's already suggested it...

Oh - and then I'm going to turn around and come home on Sunday.

Who wishes they were making that trip..... LOL!

Any one have any ideas on how to make it a little more enjoyable?

Bobble Wobbles....

I have two dogs. One is a beautiful lab and the other is a large doxie mix. Doc, our lab, is always healthy. He is smart, pretty, and perfect {although he is a little...shall we say blonde}. He's the girl in high school you wanted to hate because she had her life together and looked beautiful doing it. Bob, our mix is the exact opposite. To be cute, we have to shave him. He is stubborn like none other, and has a personality all his own. And to top it all off, he has an Auto Immune Disease.

Fabulous.

He was diagnosed about two years ago, when he was only a year old. Very young to acquire this particular disease {so the vets say}. Two years ago, we thought we may have to put him down because of how bad off he was, and how far he was from the playful puppy we used to know. Fast forward two years, and he is a happy camper once again {although he is heavily medicated to be this way}.

Our current vet recommended that we come in to update his blood work and check his levels. Make sure that his pills are still working and his body is still thriving. And I probably wouldn't be writing this if the vet came back with good news. Nope, not good news at all.

Basically, Bob's body attacks his blood. A normal dog has about 50% red blood cells. Anything under 20% is considered anemic. Bob is at 22%. His blood is flowing very slowly. His blood pressure is extremely low. His body is trying to save it's self. And right now, it is a losing battle.

The new game plan is to up his steroids and discontinue his AID's meds to *hopefully* kick start his body into producing more red blood cells. And, should this not work J and I need to be ready to take him to the emergency vet should he relapse or should we need to put him down.

There are two things I hate about this whole situation. One, that my quirky little companion has been suffering from this stupid disease that he (or we) couldn't prevent. And two, I don't want to think about the financial or mental costs associated with the new game plan not working. Sadly, financial decisions do come into play here. I can't justify paying thousands of dollars for an animal who is not going to live the life he deserves.

Right now, I can already see some of the affects of him relapsing. Lethargic, mainly. Unless there is food involved, he is quite content to lay on the dog bed and nap. I am hoping that the steroids help him soon.

Oh Bob... You wormed your way into our hearts. I hate seeing you sick.

January Goals

I have to first start with how I did for December:

And my goals for December are:

• Stay on budget for Christmas + December birthday gifts. Christmas went perfect... except I bought the wrong cover for my MoLaw's iPad... so I need to buy her a present. 
• Any bonus money goes to our Ikea fund. Ikea is done... We have all new furniture! And $150 under budget. We rock!
• Put up Christmas Decorations Done and done. The went up, and then came down Christmas day. My house is mine again.  
• Make goodies for people I can't buy for (co-workers, extended family) Fail. However, we did host two holiday get togethers that I cooked for. Oh well. You can't win them all. 
• Do at least 2 Christmas-y type activities with my little family We did a Christmas party here, and a lot of Christmas get togethers at home. However, unless you count seeing Christmas lights as I drive by at night, this was a fail.
• Make a travel budget and stick to it Done! And we had enough money left over to fill up my gas tank and put $60 to our Costco envelope. 
• Cancel Aflac!  Woo hoo! I am free! This is $20 extra a month that can go towards savings!
• Figure out how to make our printer print Have not touched the printer... Fail.

So... Not all wins there, but that's okay. We haven't needed the printer so it's been on the back burner. The Christmas activities? I could have pushed a little harder to get this done, but all in all I really enjoyed the season so I'm okay there. And the goodies? Honestly, I have had so much sugar that I can't even think about making something for someone else. I need some health food!

January Goals:

• Clean up closet and dressers. Set all of my hangers backwards so I can get rid of things that don't get warn. Fill one dresser drawer with things that I possibly don't use and get rid of after 3 months. 
• Sneak in two boxes from our Ikea trip to use as storage under the bed. 
• Take old living room items to the thrift store
• Stay on budget - especially groceries and costco!
• Make more baby food - I've bought apples and pears that need to be made. I would like to make green beans as well. Plus he needs more sweet potatoes and squash.
• Save for a chest freezer.
• Start getting together our tax forms (Call the hourly provider used and get a receipt!) 
• Blog more! (Thinking two days a week for sure.) Comment more on other blogs. I read all of the blogs I follow, but almost never comment.

There it is. All attainable, all possible, but needs to be taken care of. Goal is to have all of our tax stuff together before February, plug it into the tax website and then be ready to go to the actual tax preparer on base some time late February. 

Ahh... I love goals!

There it is.

New Year - New Ideas

Wow, we have started the year off right!

New Years day was spent driving 2 hours to Ikea, buying 2 car loads full of furniture and things, driving 2 hours home, setting up said furniture, and then relaxing in our brand new living room. There are a few things that make me so happy with our new space. First - it was cash only. We purchased the things we HAD to have - a couch and two chairs. Then loaded that into the 4Runner. We counted up the remainder of our cash and stuck to our budget. We walked out of Ikea $150 under budget and bought everything we wanted. Including two new floor lamps, a new duvet and cover, a wicker "trunk", a new cheese grater, and two storage cubes. We have completely transformed our living room. We scrimped and saved and took our time finding exactly want we wanted. I AM STOKED!!!Especially because this showed my husband how cool it is to delay gratification. To walk into our house and know that everything is bought and paid for. No credit card payments. This had got him on board with some other financial decisions. =) {I.E. saving every month for something we want... hello chest freezer here I come!}

I am starting the new year trying to do more things at home. Make more dinners from scratch (take out style dinners) and make more things at home (laundry detergent, hand wash, eye makeup remover). {I love pintrest - all of these things have come from that website. In love. No joke}

Financially I have tweaked our budget around. Gotten rid of some cash categories and condensed some envelopes. Added some money for haircuts for the dogs every 2-3 months. And I know that on a regular 40 hour week schedule we can easily stay within budget for our month. And then with bonuses, over time, and J's new pay (woo-hoo for ranking up!!) all of the extra will go towards saving and then paying off our last credit card. Which I know we can pay off within the next year. And then we will be consumer debt free! We will have 1 car loan and a mortgage that is never going away. {I love me some budget and cash envelope action}

For our little family.... we will probably start talking seriously about expanding it in the next year. Thankfully we don't have to have and serious talks until our little ninja is 1 year (3 months away!!). And the only major impact to the budget will be day care... and I don't want to think about that yet. And I really want to enjoy our little man in the here and now. He is growing and changing every day. And his personality is so much fun. He is such a joy. {OMG... I can't even think about another one right now. My parts are scared!}

Personally I have a few things I want to do over the next year. I want to spend more time with God. I want this to be the year that I am drawn closer to him. I want to actually read my devotional every day. I want to blog more. Yes, I may be boring but maybe blogging will help me complete more things (like my monthly goals!!). {Maybe I can become less boring =)}

In 2012 I want to enjoy my family. J will probably deploy, and I have an idea of what it will be like. And it's not easy. So I want to enjoy the sense of normalcy we have right now. I want to enjoy how much fun my son has with his dad. {2012 will be a year of changes}

So there we are.... No no resolutions, but ideas for how I want the next year to go.

Oh how I love new years and new months! It's a fresh start =)