Road Trippin’ & Jet-Setting With My Little One – Momma Blogger Feature

02/17/2017

Kayla is a 26 year old certified interior decorator that gave up a life of glamorous tile selections to pursue motherhood, co creating her own business (Cherry Creek Soap & Co.), and becoming a cliche #momboss!

Let’s start this out by saying that I totally wish I was going to be talking about taking glamorous vacations with my toddler but that is definitely not the case!

I grew up in the Okanagan and as some of you may know it is the one of the most amazing places. In the spring I would snowboard during the day, head down the mountain and then jump on a boat for an afternoon cruise catching the last rays of the day. Fast forward 10 years and here I am in the flatlands dreaming of those mountains and that crystal clear water!

The first time I attempted the 9 hour drive home to BC my son was around 3 weeks old! I honestly cannot remember if my mom or my husband came with me but there was no way I was going to do that drive alone with a 10 lb baby that loved the boob every 2-3 hours and liked to scream bloody murder when I took longer than 5 seconds to get it to him.

(See how impressed he looks about our infamous road trips to visit grandma & grandpa)

Survival Tip #1 – Do NOT travel alone if at all possible! It’s so nice to have the extra support, gives you a chance to maybe have a nap between feeds, someone else to pop the soother back in while you are driving or with older babies someone to sit in the back with toys for entertainment.

I can’t even count the number of times I have done this drive since (at least 10 times) i’m sorry to say that even if the first trip goes well that does not reflect on how the next trip is going to go. Once those teeth come in or they decide to have a wonderful little sleep regression (4 months & 8 months for my guy) things can get tricky when strapping them into a car for 9 hours.

Survival Tip #2 – Bring as many chew toys & age appropriate snacks as possible! I found that in between naps/feeding & diaper changes the best time killers were teething biscuits and those little rubber things you can fill with frozen bananas and stuff (messy yes.. but happy baby equals happy mom & dad).

Once I realized that I wasn’t a huge fan of these long a$$ road trips I decided to check into flights. Hallelujah, I was totally happy to attempt a 45 minute plane ride that would get us there at the same time we left due to the time change. Now there’s only one problem.. how am I going to pack everything I need for this tiny little baby.. bassinet, playpen, car seat, stroller, 500 cute outfits, blankies, high chair, soothers, snacks, sound machine, monitor, 500 pairs of adorable shoes even tho he doesn’t walk yet, okay you get it. IT’S ALOT!

Survival Tip #3 – When flying try to be realistic with what you need to pack. If you are lucky enough to have good support on the other end of where you are going maybe ask them if they can borrow some things or maybe even buy some things to keep at their place. I had so much anxiety about having to bring everything so my mom made sure she had a car seat, play pen, high chair & stroller so all I had to do was throw babes in my Tula carrier, put on my backpack (which I had condensed into a purse and a diaper bag leaving me hands free) and hit the airport sweating like a maniac praying to god my mostly whiney baby was well behaved that day.

(Note the basting brush and green solo shot glass.. the only toys I brought on the plane which were his favorite at the time)

I could go on and on about the many adventures we have taken with this little guy but honestly the best thing you can do when travelling with a baby/toddler/child whether it’s by car, plane or boat is to just relax and know that you are doing your best! Bring help when possible because we all know the more hands the better, bring lots of special yummy snacks because we all know how happy this makes them, once they are old enough to be obsessed with paw patrol don’t forget the iPad (Netflix now allows you to download episodes & movies to watch offline) and don’t over pack because we all know that we never use half the sh*t we bring!

(4 months old and we took uncles boat out for a cruise! The relaxing movement of the waves and the fresh air defiantly gave my arms a break and rocked the little one to sleep)

Thank you for reading and good luck with any future travels, you got this mama’s!

Cheers,

Kayla Kalisuk

To view Kayla’s Cherry Creek Soap & Co, visit her site here.