our trip! the flights.

On the way out, Nate and I had 2 flights on Wednesday night/Thursday morning and 2 flights on Sunday.

Flying short distances (4 hours or less) with an infant is actually not so bad. The worst is probably maneuvering through the airport.

Long haul international flights with an infant are hard. Nate slept during our overnight flights. The daytime ones were harder. It really is best to have an extra seat even though the baby can't sit by his/herself. If it weren't so expensive, I would almost wish that we had bought a seat for Nate for the long flights. We lucked out a few times with an empty seat. On the overnight flight that Rodgers was with us, we had an empty seat, put Nate on it between us, and he slept almost the entire flight. When I had an empty seat next to me on flights by myself, I used it for easier access to my carryon.

We sometimes got water from a flight attendant for bottles, but it was really best if I bought a liter of water in the terminal before boarding, then I could make bottles without waiting for someone to help me. I took extra formula in case he slept less than usual and wanted to eat more, which he did. I took just enough formula, there was none leftover at the end of the flights.

During his awake times, Nate occupied himself playing with the airsick bag and/or a plastic cup rather than any of the toys and teethers I took for him.

All in all, it wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't want to make that trip with a 6 month old again.

Next: our trip! stories from England.

night before

It's the night before we leave. We are going down to my parents' house tomorrow after work. I'm hoping that after I stop to get myself some dinner and feed Nate, he'll sleep the rest of the trip. Last time we went down there, I had to get in the backseat with him for the last 45 minutes or so because he was DONE. But I can't do that so much when I'm the one driving.

I loaded up the car tonight. I'm kind of worried that I'm forgetting something. I made the lists, adjusted them, packed by them, added a few things, and checked everything off. We would appear to be ready.

I will see you all again when we return from our whirlwind vacation!

Nate and socks

Nate loves playing with his socks, whether on or off. If he sees one on the floor, he gets excited, scoots over to it, grabs it, and shoves it in his mouth. He also chews on them while they are on his feet:

This afternoon, he was carrying a sock in his mouth as he was scooting around on the floor. I failed to get a good, in-focus picture, so I give you: The Film Strip.

41 lbs

Our suitcase weighs 41 lbs. We have a 50 lb limit! All I have to add to it is 3 empty bottles and a few of Nate's medicines. It is a marvel.

Months ago (a year+?), I got these lovely packing cubes from Avon. I'm kind of a packing nerd, so I knew I'd use them as soon as I saw them. They're great! You can squish a lot of soft stuff in them, zip them up, and it takes up less space.

The boxes are a gift for Mama Esther. We sent her a Christmas gift, but it was stolen by postal workers. Before we sent it, I asked Rodgers if we should use FedEx, but he said no because it's so expensive. But what a waste to use the postal service when you're 85% sure your stuff will be stolen. Anyway, these are photo mugs, with pictures of us.

That's what's under the big packing cubes. Nothing is under the diapers.

And on top, the travel bed. The lid has some depth to it, so even though it looks too full...

...it closes!

The carryon in progress. It's less than half full, despite how it looks in the picture. There are several things to add to this, but we're still using them in Nate's diaper bag.

Front pocket with passports (in a beautiful passport cover made by my father - big enough for Nate's and mine both), liquids (Mylicon and Tylenol), and some "no jet lag" homeopathic remedy recommended by our good friend Trish.

cleaning!

I like a clean house. I've been more of an "as needed" type than one who cleans on a schedule. I would clean everything on the same day, when it seemed like it had been a while or the place was starting to look like it wasn't clean. Then, I'd collapse in my chair with a glass of iced tea and smell the lovely aroma of my clean home.

After getting married, Rodgers would join in the cleaning when I cleaned. If he saw me doing the bathrooms, he'd bust out the vacuum. He's awesome like that. Then I got pregnant and would collapse in my chair with a glass of iced tea at the mere thought of cleaning anything at all. Rodgers graciously took over cleaning duties while I was busy being an incubator. The whole apartment would be cleaned over a course of a month or two, though, rather than a week or two. I was dissatisfied, but not enough to do anything about it.

After Nate was born, cleaning became not a priority at all. I was looking through pictures one day and saw a picture of our living room a week or so after we moved in. It was beautiful. Then, I looked at is as it was that day. Gross. It was then that I decided our willy-nilly cleaning style needed to change.

I like having everything clean on the same day, but, short of hiring a cleaning service, that just can't happen when Rodgers and I are both working full time and have a baby at home. Ideally, everything would be cleaned every two weeks, but laundry needs to be done weekly. I drew up a Cleaning Calendar (CC) (I alluded to this a few posts back):

Every Wed: Nate's laundry
Every Thu: Our laundry

Mon A: toilets, bathroom countertops, mirrors
Tue A: scrub showers/tubs, sweep/mop tile floors (bathrooms, kitchen, dining nook)
Fri A: kitchen (clean out fridge, scrub microwave, wash stove drip pans and rings, scrub oven [if needed], run coffee pot cleaning)

Mon B: tidy living room and dining room (this used to be a daily task, but no more)
Tue B: vacuum all carpet
Fri B: laundry (towels and sheets)

Daily/as needed: cook, dishes, take out trash, buy groceries (usually on the weekend)

Chores are generally done after Nate's in bed. We don't have to do anything besides groceries on the weekends. There have been weeks when we needed laundry earlier in the week, so we swapped days. We are halfway through our fourth rotation (this is our seventh week under the CC) and still going strong! Rodgers likes to clean, but doesn't always know what I want to be cleaned. I don't like to always be telling him what I want cleaned because then I feel controlling or like I'm nagging him. One of the biggest benefits of the CC is that Rodgers knows what I want to be done without me asking him to to do a chore every day. Some days the chores are split evenly between us, some days he does it all, some days I do it all. It's a good 50/50 split. It may not work this way forever, but for now, I'm happy with it!