Dear Hannah: what I am learning
To my joyful and newly independent girl:
Dear Hannah,
It seems like you are changing and growing at rapid speed. Honestly. I try to put shoes on you and they are too small, I turn my back and you are climbing on things I didn’t know could be conquered and you are speaking, mostly in your own language but loudly and often.
All signs that you are coming into your own. Again. Let it be known that you still fill our days with so much laughter and joy but we have added a new dynamic. Your own will. Your dad and I are accepting our fate with knowing smiles because we too are known to be a tad independent.
Rather than squelch that chutzpah in you, we want to help direct it well. Dennis & Emily were with us in Ann Arbor this weekend and as we sat on the porch late Friday night talking about being parents, we shared with them what we are experiencing and thinking about. At the end of the day, we want you to be passionate about life. It just plays out in dangerous and difficult ways sometimes when you are little and don’t know your boundaries.
Scratch that, it is something that continues well into adult hood.
Your Dad & I are learning about that this summer as well. When to explore and take big risks and when to submit and listen. We sang an older song yesterday in church “Take my Life and Let it Be” and it made me cry. I want that so bad for me and even more for you. That your moments and days would be God’s and that He would use you in whatever way, even if it is hard for me.
As a grown up sometimes you have to wait when you want to push forward, to listen when you would rather make plans and to be vulnerable when it would be easier to be strong. I don’t know how to translate that to telling you to sit on your buns for the 432,340he 432,340
English: World English Bible - WEB
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja!
WP-Bible plugin time in one day or how to teach you to make the right decisions. Maybe it doesn’t and it just means loving you well at this point in your life.
All I know is that I am learning right along side of you and will continue to do so happily.
love,
your Mom
Read Moretraveling with a baby 101 (the before she can walk version)
We don’t usually write about these types of things over here but I am going all out in the hopes that it will help another family realize that it is possible to go on vacation with a little one. I’m no expert on this topic but you can bet that while packing last week I referenced two of my favorite blogs & their guides to traveling with a baby (as seen here and here *the second one, Cup of Jo, travels TONS with her baby).
Here are a few things I picked up along the way and some things I will do differently next time.
#1 Simplify. You won’t need everything you think you do so streamline your packing. Example, Hannah has a rotation of toys that regularly get touched our house but I didn’t want to lug along a whole extra duffel of those. I went with the few she loves and counted on plastic cups from the stewardess and brochures picked up along the way to fill in the gaps.
#2 Prepare. Assume that your child will need a change of clothes, multiple change of diapers and an extra meal while you are traveling. After telling you to simplify I am telling you to bulk up. But with specifics, the things that will leave you high and dry if you don’t have them at hand. More of the things you might need and less of that you won’t.
#3 Schedule. All bets are off when it comes to traveling by plane, train and automobile. Be flexible. Your child might surprise you and you will have wasted all of that time and energy worrying when you could be enjoying your vacation. Something that was helpful for me was to put the extra effort forth to keep Hannah occupied until we got on the plane, letting her crash at that point. When it came to bedtime and sharing a hotel room, we had to let go of our normal routine in exchange for what worked for all of us. That meant keeping her up later so we could go out to dinner but it also meant she got a second wind and didn’t want to go to bed as easily.
#4 Transportation. If you aren’t in the regular habit of wearing your baby in a wrap or sling but want to do that while you travel, practice a bit at home before your trip. My favorite is the moby wrap. So comfy for mom & baby alike. As far as carseats & safety gear, a few thoughts there. We were able to check Hannah’s car seat and stroller base for free so we used them to transport her through the airport and the huge basket under the stroller also helped us out a ton. We even joked about using it every time we travel, baby or not because it was so nice to roll rather than carry multiple bags. Check your airline’s policy about checking safety gear and if it makes sense, you can always rent a car seat at your destination.
#5 Sleep. If you have the option, book a place that has a separate room for the baby. At hotels your best hope is that they provide a nice pack & play and that the closet is large enough to hold it. If that isn’t the case and it fits in the bathroom, you might have to enforce a no liquids after 6 pm policy for the adults as to not wake the baby in the night 
On a more serious note, if you can find a place to rent like a condo or a VRBO with a place for the baby to sleep it will be worth it to pay a little more. That way you have space to hang out at night rather than hiding under the covers watching hulu on your laptop in order to be quiet.
#6 Odds and Ends. Anything you can do to make your life easier while traveling is worth it. We didn’t budget in an extra seat but I can see how helpful that would be if you have the money to do that. I also know that if you are staying for a longer period of time and don’t want to cart all of the supplies you need with you that diapers.com will send a pack of diapers to your destination next-day & I believe they do free shipping. When you hit up the local grocery store once you have arrived, be sure to pick up a little container of dish soap to rinse bottles & spoons & such at night.
Those are my best tips from our first flight with baby in tow. Would love to hear if there is anything that worked for you because I am hoping this is the first of many family adventures.
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