Hi. I'm 32 years old and married to my best friend. We just had our first baby, Gray. We really, really love him. This blog has been the escape for my feelings, questions, excitement, fears and the joy I felt in my ten months as a pregnant lady.

Now I'm a mom....who knows what's next.

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In addition to the things I learned on our trip out, here are my takeaways from our return flights.

• If your child is under 12, they don’t have to remove their shoes to go through security.
• According to a flight attendant, they should always hand you an infant life vest before departure. Of our four flights, this only happened twice (you can ask for it).
• Always, always change your little one’s diaper in the airport, before take-off. Changing a diaper mid-flight in that tiny, smelly plane bathroom is horrible for both of you.
• Pack more snacks and books/activities then you think you’ll need. If it’s not a sleeping flight (which you can never count on even if it is over naptime/bedtime), I guarantee you’ll need them.
• Time the treats. We didn’t pull out anything until we’d taken off (because he was so entertained by everything happening on the runway), and then it was just one activity/treat at a time. Book…toy…snack…etc.
• Give your kiddo something to eat for departure and take-off to keep their little jaws working and ears happy.
• Fill up your sippy cup before getting on the plane, because inevitably your child will be SO THIRSTY the moment you can’t get up to get water during takeoff. We also asked the flight attendant to fill up his sippy cup with water before landing, so that it’d be full for the layover.
• Speaking of, there’s only one thing to do during layovers. Run. Treat each layover like bootcamp where you’re sole purpose is to tire your kiddo out. Gray ran up and down the moving walks, through terminals, pushing his stroller (sorry, Chicago!) or just sprinting. We took turns running after him, giving him the chance to just run and explore.

With all that said, we’re happy not to be getting on another plane for a little while! That was our last flight, most likely, where he’ll be on our laps which will also save the circulation in my legs but also mean much pricier airfare next time around and more to learn about how you keep a toddler in his own seat.

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Know what this is?

A pile of adorable spring/summer clothes for the little man, procured in one quick trip and for less than $60.

How, you might ask?

One word…Target.

Though a Vermonter through and through who despises chains and franchises, somehow Target is my one exception and true love. I love it.

And I really love that I literally just stocked up on just about all of G’s needs in one quick, inexpensive trip.

Yes, of course ideally I’d always love to shop locally and buy only organic threads for Gray, but that’s just not always possible.

It’s truly the one shortcoming of VT, no Target.

Lucky for me we have family in CO, which not only provides the excuse to visit some of the most fun, interesting, hilarious people in the world, but also allows me to sneak away to my beloved Target for my beloved boy.

And if I happened to pick up a thing or two for me while there, how can you blame me?

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And we’re off!

We’re making him wait about two hours for his nap so this should be interesting.

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Colorado love.

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We got to introduce G to one of my all-time favorite books…how fitting that it belonged to one of Gray’s favorite people in the world, little Margo!

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We did it.

Well, half of it.

We’re on vacation, miles and several plane rides from home.

What helped? Well I’ll tell you.

• Snacks, snacks and more snacks. Especially foods G had never tried before or were a big treat.
• Hiding some of his favorite toys and books in the weeks before our trip so that we could pull them out at choice times on the plane and he’d be happily distracted.
• Window seat. G could not get over the fact that we were on a plane, and started to grasp the fact that we were flying, in the sky, above houses and cars and people.
• Pack PJs if your flights overlap with bedtime.
• Hand sanitizer and wipes, always within reach. Airplanes and airports are dirrrrrty.
• A sippy cup that can be closed and thrown into a bag without leaking.
• Take out the essentials and have them tucked into your seat pocket. 
• Make your carry-on his go-to bag, so that it’s right at your feet and you can grab whatever you need (food, books, diapers) instead of having to get it from the bin above.
• Sit together, and if you can request/move to a row with an empty seat (duhhh).
• Bring a neck pillow. Yes, this seems ridiculous, but knowing that G was going to sleep on our flights it was an easy way to keep him comfortable without rolling up jackets or having our arms fall asleep from contorting to his sleeping wishes.
• Bring a blanket to cover up your (hopefully) sleeping babe. Airplanes are cold.
• Pack a change of clothes in your carry-on for your little one, just in case.
• Umbrella stroller.
• And in case of emergency, wrap up a brand new book/toy…I’ve got this on reserve (left over from Christmas) for our flights home in case we need it.

Wish us luck on our trip back!

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Saying goodbye…Gray’s a big fan of the group hug.

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Jackson and Gray always match their outfits.

I was flattered to be asked to try out some products for a green skincare line, Naturopathica.

When I first wrote about it, some people thought it was spam, while others thought it was silly. 

But me? I’m a recovering product junkie who is trying to simplify my life and skincare but who loves samples and good, clean care.

So here I am, on day thirteen, and I’m in love.

I’m trying four products:
Oat Facial Polish — a light exfoliator that I never would’ve picked out (exfoliate every day?) but really like
Beech Tree & Ginseng Moisturizer — lovely cream to put on in the morning, alone or under makeup
Chamomile Cleansing Milk — a really light cleanser that seems to be working, but truth be told I like using a cleanser at the end of the day that feels like it’s really cleaning off my day. However, this seems to work well. 
Plant Stem Cell Serum — holy crap, I don’t know what’s in it but I love love love this and will definitely be buying more when my sample size runs dry. 

I wish there was an eye cream in there, so I’m doubling up on the plant serum at night around my eyes.

What’s most important to me at this stage is my life is to use good quality, natural products that are good for me AND help me look less like the sleep deprived, overworked overrun crazy mom that I seem to be.

While I haven’t noticed a huge change in my overall skin’s appearance, my skin does feel smoother which I think I can probably attribute to the morning exfoliating (hello, that usually only happens once a year, if that) and the AWESOME serum.

More to come, as I’m not even halfway through the thirty days.

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That’s a happy aaaaaah, not an AAAAHHH!

I’ve given myself an unexpected break from writing…partly because being away from home means I’m without my computer and downtime to sit down and write because there are places to go and people to see. But also because it’s been nice to have a bit of a mental break and just enjoy each moment with Gray and Jackson and not be enjoying them while simultaneously writing them down.

Don’t get me wrong…it’s not like I’m always walking around the house with my computer typing notes when we’re at home. But somehow it feels different when we’re away, and it’s nice to just be here and be in the moment.

One amazing thing that happens whenever we’re out of our norm and on a trip…it feels like G changes and grows at five times the normal rate. He’s talking more, dancing harder, laughing longer, hitting more balls with his ping pong paddle and feeling more and more like a boy, and less like our baby.

Why does that happen? Why does traveling seem to speed things up?

Just now, as I was trying to get G down for a nap (which the last few days has been an utter failure as he goes hours past his normal naptime) and sitting in a chair reading, he stood up in his crib, walked over to my side, and said, ‘Mama whatcha doin’?’

Just like that. Like he’d been speaking in complete sentences for years.

So while there’s so many friends we haven’t gotten to see yet, and while it hasn’t been a total vacation as work has kept working, it’s also been incredible to just be away together.

It makes me sadly realize how much I miss out on in his life the four days he’s at school every week, and it make me truly appreciate this time together. Just us.

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Vacation. Is. Awesome.

This is what it looks like to stand outside your hotel room and listen to your son cry for you.

Torture.

Actually, ‘cry’ isn’t the right word. He was screaming ‘MAMA’ while banging on the door, which in time will probably be hilarious but wasn’t tonight.

Looking back, we had it coming. He’s really sick with a double ear infection and the worst cough I’ve ever heard come out of him. He got very little sleep last night from all of our flying and finally went to bed at 1am his time. We’re in a beautiful place for a fun weekend, but to him it’s all new and weird. And when he’s sick, all he wants is me.

I’m all for crying it out, but when he’s sick and somewhere new, we can’t do it.

We went back in.