DC Trip and Tips for Traveling with a Baby

We finally made our trip back to the East Coast after delaying the trip due to the power outage/heat wave that hit DC during the July 4^th week.  Instead of being in DC for 6 days we were only there for 5 and two of those were spent traveling. :(  Boo.  BUT, we had such a GREAT TIME seeing family and friends!  Riley had a blast visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Emery and they didn’t disappoint; lost of new toys and books for Riley were waiting on her.  Matt and I caught up with everyone we possibly could and were so happy for that time.  Although we miss aspects of DC, there are some things that we are glad to do without: Traffic, bugs, and heat!  There was a ton of traffic on the beltway, the bugs were in full out attack and poor Riley got a pretty bad bite on her thigh (poor baby!), and wow…holy hotness, Batman!  I was not prepared for the over 100 degree temps that smack you in the face once you step outside!  But all that aside, the trip went pretty smoothly and it was something we definitely needed. 

So with that, I thought that a blog post on traveling with an infant/toddler would be appropriate since we have flown with Riley so many times as a little baby and as a high spirited and energetic toddler.  So here are some ideas/recommendations/tips for those that are thinking about traveling with your baby:

Streamline: I know babies come with a TON of stuff but when traveling it is best to resist the urge to take every toy and contraption out there with you.  Keep it really simple.  I DO NOT use our BOB stroller when traveling; I use an umbrella stroller or one that can fold up nice and tight in order for it to go through security with ease.  Also, if you use an umbrella stroller, you can fit it in the overhead!  So that eliminates the time you have to wait once you land to get your large, bulky, unnecessary stroller from gate check.  Also, I only take two bags on board with me: diaper bag and a backpack.  Each one has specific uses;  1) diaper bag has food, snacks, diapers, changing pad, 2) backpack holds toys, books, blanket, and my personal stuff like wallet, phone, etc.  I do this so it doesn’t get confusing as to where things are that I need.  When it comes to food, obviously if your baby is under 6 months you are only worrying about breast milk/formula (if using formula, they have individual powder packs that you only need to mix with water..do this and DO NOT get the liquid cans!).  If your baby is eating foods, I highly recommend getting the squeeze bottles that have 3.14 ounces in each since they are under the 3.4 ounce liquid that’s allowed on carry on.  This will expedite the security process tremendously.  Then bring fruit and snacks for your baby to eat while on board.  You don’t want to pack any liquid (I cannot stress this enough).  You can get water, juice, milk once through security.

If you are going somewhere that doesn’t have a crib, I HIGHLY recommend the Baby Bjorn Travel Crib.  It is easy to assemble and disassemble AND fits nicely into a tiny sized briefcase which can be put in your suitcase instead of checking it separately.  This is vital if you have to pay for each piece of luggage checked.  Other travel cribs or pack n’ plays are very odd sizes and extremely heavy.  The baby bjorn is expensive but its worth it!

Seat vs. Infant in Arms: Now that I have experience doing both, my recommendation is to buy a seat for your baby if he/she is over 6 months of age.  After 6 months they need space.  Before six months they are fine sitting on mama or daddy but after that, they like to assert their independence and if you have to sit next to a stranger, they will probably be kicked, prodded by tiny fingers or who knows! Luckily we had a very nice lady next to us which didn’t mind this but most of the time people are very unhappy about having to sit next to a baby.  If you are flying Southwest you may get lucky and the flight isn’t completely full so you can bring the infant seat on board with you if they are under 22 pounds.  Also, you can check with the gate agent to see if there are any extra seats so that you don’t have to do infant in arms.  But we found that Riley really, really liked her own space and since flying can be very unpredictable, you may want to just pay up and buy another seat.  I say this because when we got on our plane at 6:45AM in San Diego to fly nonstop to BWI last week, we ended up not taking off until 9:00AM!  So we were just on the plane for over two hours with Riley and we were SUPER happy to have her in her own seat.  How terrible would that had been to just be holding her for two hours before the flight took off AND then for an additional 5 hours in the air?  Yikes…  So with that, if they have their own seat DO NOT bring the bulky car seat with you.  There is absolutely no point to that.  I feel so sorry for those parents I see lugging a huge car seat with them through the airport.  Really?  There is point to that.  We bought the FAA approved adjustable seatbelt for babies called CARES.  It was super easy to use and took up barely any room in my backpack.  Why wouldn’t everyone do this?  She barely used it too.  You keep them buckled in during takeoff and landing but mostly they are able to play in their seat with no restrictions. 

Also, always feed them during takeoff and landing so their ears don’t pop.  Some kiddos have a terrible time with this.  Riley has no issues at all but I hear horror stories of shrieking babies that gets terrible ear pains so its best to give them something to suck on or drink while cabin pressure changes.  We also bring the ipad for her which has a ton of baby apps for her to play with.  I know this next one may gross y’all out but when it comes to changing her diaper; I ONLY change her diaper in the bathroom when she goes #2; not when she pees.  I change her right in the seat (since we bought one for her there is room to do this).  I keep plastic bags with me and just take off the dirty one and slap on a clean one (another good idea is to buy pull up diapers which make this super easy).  I have hand sanitizer and diaper wipes with me so why not, ya know?  No one pays attention and if I wasn’t able to do this I would have been in the bathroom over 5 times on our last trip!  I only do this on the flight and never at the airport...Oh and always bring more diapers, food and extra clothes than you think you will need just in case flight plans do not go as scheduled (not that this happens, right?).  You never know!  I hope this helps you guys!  Believe me, I learned the hard way on all of this.  Make it as simple as possible since traveling is already stressful. Happy traveling!


Here are some of the latest pics of Riley having a blast in our back yard.  She loves bubbles!

Summer Time!

It's been such a fun Summer so far.  Both Matt and I had some work travel but we found time to still explore San Diego a bit more.  We started out the month of June going to an ACC Pig Pickin' event down in Mission Bay Park where we got to meet other ACC Alum's (mostly UVA peeps...I think I was the only one representing FSU).  But it was still fun to get out and see fellow East Coast peeps. 

Riley absolutely LOVES to swim.  She took some swim lessons at the YMCA and ever since she just can't get enough of the water so in our backyard jacuzzi we let her get her energy out with a bunch of splashing.

Matt had a great Father's Day hanging with Riley.  We have a park up the street that she loves to go to and so does Hershey.  There is always plenty of friendly dogs for Hershey to run around with there. 

A few of my favorite things.

I had to go to Southbridge, MA for work and so I extended my trip by a day to hang with the Sakraida's!  Brooke and Mike were in the middle of the move to the 'burbs while I was there but it was a wonderful visit!  I helped them pack up a bit but also got to see their North End neighborhood in Boston before leaving the city.  I LOVE Boston!  It was my first time ever being there and I have to say its one of my favorite cities.  I can't wait to meet lil' Sak when he or she is born!  Good luck to the Sakraida's!!! :)

While Matt had to travel for work to Paris and London (yeah...don't feel too sorry for him), I headed to the San Diego Beer Festival that was at the Del Mar Fairgrounds with my coworker Francesca.  We had quite the commute there (took us two hours to travel 15 miles) so we ended up only being at the actual Beer Festival for an hour (boo).  But we still had a good time.  There was alot of beer to try and we did our best to get as many in before we had to leave.

To make up for Matt missing the Beer Festival, we headed on a Brewery Tour of our own to the Port Brewing/Lost Abbey in San Marcos and Stone Brewing for his birthday celebration.  We went on a Sunday so let me just say...it was a TOUGH day at work on Monday.  We may be a bit too old to be bar hoping on a Sunday night.  But we had an awesome time. 

So instead of being in DC for the 4th, we had to reschedule our trip back East since Matt's parents were still out of power by Wednesday.  Note to self: next year visit DC in Spring or Fall as those are the best seasons back East.  Invite friends and family to La Jolla for Winter and Summer.  We are very sad that we had to reschedule our trip.  We were SO excited to see all of our friends and visit with family.  But all can wait until July 25th I hope.  We stayed in town for the 4th which was pretty low key.  It was gorgeous weather here.  We just want to be outside all day!  Hopefully when we visit DC it won't be 100 degrees like it is right now.  We hope to bring the cool breeze with us when we visit in a few weeks! 

Spring Time!

We have finally found time to explore our city, San Diego.  We hear all about Riley's outings during the week with Joanna; she gets to see alot of our city while we have to be at work.  But finally the fam headed to Balboa Park to hang out at the Science Center.  They have this great area for kids 5 and under where kids can touch everything and explore.  Riley had a blast!  It was so much fun watching Riley move all over the place.

For Mother's Day we had brunch at Zel's in Del Mar.  It was awesome!  We walked along the coast for a bit which was picturesque. 

We had a surprise visit by Kenny, aka: Bagel (I swear for the first year I knew him I didn't know his real name!).  We got a night out so we headed to Mission Brewery for a few adult beverages and then on to the Padres game.  We had money seats!

For Memorial Day weekend we headed to Destin, FL.  We decided not to buy Riley her own seat on the flights there and back.  We were told by people that this was not a smart idea but it was too late; we had to just get through it.  Riley was a bit wiggly on the first flight but then slept for the second flight so that wasn't that bad.  She was a champ since it took us about 6 hours of flying to get there.  But once we were there, my mom picked us up from the local airport and we headed to their house.  Well, to our surprise, my parents put in a salt water pool and jacuzzi!  It wasn't exactly completed yet (the screen wasn't in yet) but the pool was ready for Miss Riley to enjoy.  Riley has been taking swim classes and so we were excited to see her moves in the water.

The next day after arriving me and my mom along with Riley met up with Tiffany and her mom for lunch.  Riley was a huge hit and the meal was fantastic.  We went to the Wine Bar by Chan's Wine World.  Yum!!!  It was great to catch up with my bestie.  :)

We also got to meet up with Hector down on the harbor for lunch the next day.  It was so beautiful but HOT!  Destin/FWB was SUPER HOT!!!!  So hot that it just didn't seem right to bring Riley to the beach but with the pool at my parents house we didn't need to venture down there with her.  She got her fun in the sun in for the Florida trip.

So the flights back could not have gone better!  She slept the entire first flight and then on our last leg of the trip the seats in front of us were empty so we took over that row.  Riley played and then napped for a bit of the trip.  We had no issues at all!  She was made for traveling!  It's been a great spring and we can't wait for the Summer!

Happy 1st Birthday to Riley!

Riley Elizabeth celebrated her first birthday on April 21, 2012.  It's hard to believe that its been a year already!  She has been such a blessing.  We had many visitors for her big day.  Both Grandma's and Grandpa's came as well as Aunt Cathy.  The festivities began on Friday when we all went to the San Diego Safari Park in Escondido.  It was so wonderful to see the animals run free. 

Then to quench our thirst and appetite we went to Stone Brewing.  That place is unbelievable.  What a great set up.  We ate outside and had some great beer plus we got a growler filled with some awesome beer!

For her birthday we had everyone over to our place along with Ann Dew and her Nanny Joanna and her boyfriend Johnny.  Riley got her first taste of sweets with a cupcake.  She didn't disappoint either...she ate the ENTIRE cupcake.  That's our girl!

For Sunday, we got to go to our first Padres game.  And Matt got hooked up with the owner's seats so we sat in Section 8, Row 1, Seat 1-8!  It was incredible.  Riley was on the big screen three times and Johnny got a foul ball for Riley to commemorate the moment.  She was awesome and enjoyed the entire game.  The Padres won the game (doesn't happen too often) against the Phillies! 

On Monday Riley had her pediatrician appointment and she did great even through the three shots she had to get in her thighs.  She's such a trooper. 

All in all it was a fabulous weekend with family and friends.  Thanks to all who came to celebrate and we cannot WAIT for what the future holds!