Travelling With Kids... Breastfeeding & Cloth Diapers.
NOT a pretty combination of words...
Over the holidays, My family and I (Accompanied by my lovely In-Laws)
Embarked on a 8 hour+ Road Trip, From our home in the Fraser valley, to theirs in the Kootenays, for a real Small-town Country Christmas. The days Leading up to the trip it's self were completely
full of anxiety. I had never been there before so I really didn't know what to expect.. I could NOT seem to prepare enough and the morning of the trip I felt nauseous. (Though maybe it was the 4am Wakeup time?)
would Big T be bored on the trip? How would the kids ears be through the mountains? How and when would I feed the baby?
Honestly. the trip wasn't bad at all... as many times as 'Dad' has made the trip he is only human and knows his passengers to be as such too, meaning Pitstops! Though she was (Surprisingly) awake for most of the trip, Baby K made due with only being fed during our Scheduled pit stops ( The first one was about 3 hours after we hit the road ... )
Since I fed her right as we left, this was feeding time for her anyways, I changed K and used the restroom while daddy stood in line and got our lunch...I ate most of my lunch, went back out to the car (being sure to give myself enough time to feed her without holding up the show ) and gave baby K her lunch... I can eat the rest of my lunch on the road... She can't.
During the trip we went through
Manning Park ...which is known for it's wildlife... squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, pika, coyotes, beaver, muskrat, deer, bear, moose and most members of the cat family reside in this protected provincial park as well as more than 200 bird species that have been spotted there. Through the entire expanse of Manning park (58km) Big T watched Vigilantly for any Sign of wildlife... and though we didn't see any (I was on the lookout as well) he was elated to see the 'Manning Park' Signs ... one with a huge carving of a marmot and one of a bear.
I am happy to say that Big T was not bored at all during the trip ... his Grandma & Papa on his Mommy's side got him a V-tech Tablet which was AWESOME, it has an Alphabet App as well as a drawing one (Similar to a high-tech Etch-a-sketch) My favorite feature though ... the VOLUME setting :)
it kept him very entertained and independent. Other helpful sources of entertainment we packed were;
- I-spy book - he needed help as he can't *quite* read yet, so Nanny Read him the pages, but he was able to find *most* of the items
- Math flash cards... again he needed help, ...and some extra fingers to count on, but he was doing pretty well.
- His gameboy - This, surprisingly was left untouched, Big T voted for the more educational options.
We stopped again for a potty-break and some Drinks at a 7-11 in Osoyoos... in retrospect, I probably should have Changed K... But Didn't ... though she didn't fuss I still felt it to be a 'MomfailMoment'
this was about an hour and 45 mins later, So she didn't need to eat.
Our next pit stop was another 3 hours after our first (again, lining up PERFECTLY with K's feeding Schedule...) We stopped at Extra Foods in Grand forks to get gas, some groceries, and of course EXTRA BATTERIES! for my camera...it IS baby's first Christmas afterall! ...
We got in about 7 pm, I set up our room, fed baby, and we all had some dinner.
All-in-all we arrived. we survived. we thrived (Ok, that doesn't really makes sense, but it rhymes... just gimme this one 'kay? We got here in one piece, and I.LOVE.IT.HERE. Love the snow, love the beautiful home, love the dogs and LOVE the small-town feel.
*** I should also note, I have a 'stash' of frozen breast milk, and brought a 4oz bottle (Since I usually feed on-demand and knew that WOULD NOT be the case, ... I just fed it to her in little increments when she started getting fussy ***
... I wonder how the return trip will be?
Peace, Love & Happy and safe Travels
