A Bundle of Myrrh

 

 

*This is one of those “More for me than anyone else” posts. My blog helps me remember things that need remembering so if you snooze through this one come back another day, you’ll probably snooze again, but there could be better pictures.

I love vacations. I love being able to get away from normal and do something else even if for no other reason than to be able to look forward to getting back to normal again. We all need time to get away and relax, reboot, refresh.

But vacations with babies aren’t really those kinds of vacations. Vacations with babies is doing all the same stuff you do at home just with different scenery.

On vacations with babies a simple diaper change can become one of the most frustrating things you’ve ever done. You can’t just grab a pack of wipes out of the drawer you keep them in at home, you’ve got to remember which bag you packed them in, then hunt down that bag, hopefully it’s not the bag you left in the van, the van that’s locked, cuz then you got to go look for the husband who has the keys to unlock the van so you can find the bag that has the wipes in it.

And as you hunt for the wipes you have to tote the baby because this is a new place with new people and if you put the baby down for a second she screams, making the hunt all the more frustrating. Then after you’ve found the wipes you have to dare to put the baby down and make the diaper change through more screaming.

But after a couple days in one place things settle down and we settle in and it can start to feel more like the vacation you hoped for…..until you decide to run to Walmart. Then the screaming will start again.

We do it all anyway. We do it so we can get away. We do it so we can see our family. We make this trip so our babies can make memories with their Grands their aunties and onkles and cousins. Memories they wouldn’t make if we didn’t. And we hope they’re good memories! It’s just an oh so hard trip to make. It was hard with three babies, harder with four, almost lost my marbles with five. I was very worried at the thought of this trip with six!

I think I told Phil 30 times I couldn’t do it. Thankfully he has little patience for my crazy talk. He knows this vacation is good for all of us. It’s not easy, but it’s a good thing to do. So we make it once more and look forward to the days when this trip might actually feel pleasant. The day when our babies are “kids” and not helpless tinies that need every bit you’ve got plus a million other things.

This year I tried to simplify this traveling with babies bit. One of the worse things about such a long trip is all the stuff we need to take or feel we need to take. It overwhelms me, not just packing it up, but keeping up with it once we land where we’re going. Too much stuff in too many bags all over the place makes me crazy.

So I packed the least amount of clothing I could. All six babies stuff in one duffle bag, one small diaper bag for outings and church. It helped knowing the the Grandmothers had clothes and provisions waiting for them in Texas, but I think this will be my new policy regardless.

I brought less of everything this year. Less bottles, less cups. No juice, no milk on the trip, just water. Now I wouldn’t have to worry about rotting sippies under my feet. Or crawling to the back of the Van to get into the cooler.

I used boxes for everything we’d need in the Van, instead of bags. I loose things in bags. They’re dark and deep and I hate them. Boxes slide nicely, boxes allow you to see more in one glance. I love boxes. Love baskets. Hate bags.

I filled a box for the girls with all the things little girls could ever need on a long car trip and put it near them, *note wrong box (too deep), wrong spot, do better next time! Clara hordes, Clara exacts taxes for things from the box, don’t allow Clara to be sole accessee to box! Same with the Middles, basket near them with all their goodies. And one with junk for the babies. Oh and videos. Show time on trips, very helpful. But the girls love being read to. I should have left room on their bench for my Bum so I could have sat next to them for reading time. *Note for next trip!

Almost a week into our vacation I am happy to report that the babies have adjusted very well. There is minimal crying, there is crying but it’s manageable and not much more than we experience on the daily.

I’ve learned to stay put in one place as long as you can with littles, they don’t do well with lots of here and there. Also, let myself stay put. I come to the big city and suddenly remember a lot of things I like doing in big cities. But minimizing that is wise, better for the babies, better for me.

I’m also happy to report that for my good behavior Phil rewarded me with a little break from vacation with a vacation!

We’re at the coast, yes Phil is fishing, but it’s been nice to see the ocean, hear the waves, lean back and read half a book in one sitting, sleep late, sip my coffee, make a blog post, and hear birds instead of crying.

I miss my babies though. Because as hard as vacays with babays are, this is the time I can actually allow myself to just sit with them for as long as possible and read or laugh or watch them play instead of having to get the next meal ready or get the diapers in the wash or all the other things home demands of me. (The tug of housework and baby time is a whole other subject for another day!!) I’m still Mama and still bear the brunt of the Need Meeting but vacation makes it lighter.

And I’m still Negative Nancy about the whole thing but I’m learning, well trying to learn, to not be such a Vacay Hater. Baby steps!

Any of you have tips on vacations with babies? I’d like to hear those.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, June 13th, 2014 at 9:16 am and is filed under Figuring It Out, Vacation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.