Sorry about the longer-than-expected hiatus!

Last week, we took Posey on her first vacation.  I’m never one to make things easy on myself, so instead of driving to Wisconsin, we flew to London. I’m so glad we did it– it was a wonderful week with great friends. But not all went smoothly. Since no one wants to hear about the things that went right, I’ll count down the things that fell apart. Let them be a warning to you before you travel with your baby.

5. There is a weight limit for carry-on bags.

There is? I had no idea. I spent two days carefully packing the ESSENTIALS we’d need for her on board: American diapers, American formula for the week, two changes of clothes, blankets, toys, books, wipes for the week, and a big-ass laptop. At the desk, I was given 60 seconds to reduce my 20 lb. bag to 12 lbs. It threatened to undo me.

4. Even if your baby sleeps during the flight, it doesn’t mean you will, too.

Virgin has these amazing in-flight infant bassinets that attach to the bulkhead, meaning that not only did my under-2 lap-baby not need to pay a fare (just the taxes), but she also got her own bed. This was totally necessary, as she doesn’t like to sit still. Our flight left at 6pm, and when she finally went to sleep around 9:30, I just stared at her. For like 5 more hours. There was something unsettling about nodding off while my infant was strapped to a wall 35,000 feet in the air. In retrospect, I don’t know what my problem was.  If someone had kidnapped her on board, there wouldn’t be too many places to hide her.

3. European cars don’t all have those bar thingies to clip the car seat base to.

If your poor husband has to lug a car seat AND ITS BASE 4,000 miles, you’d best hope you can actually use the thing. PS, the base also didn’t fit in the Snap N Go under-basket. Oops.

2. Things that your baby never does? She’ll do them in a foreign land. 

These include, but are not limited to: waking up screaming in the middle of the night, pooping up her back several times in one day, refusing solid food, and losing toys.  Considering that Sophie le Giraffe is French, you’d think she’d be everywhere in the U.K.  Not so!

1. Hotel beds are ripe ground for rolling off.

It finally happened.  She rolled off a bed.  In a 100 square foot room, with both of us right there. One second she was right there, the next– we looked over, and she was wedged between the bed and the hotel’s Pack ‘N Play.  I cried.  She didn’t.

And the last one is a bonus:  I was so worried that she would start teething while we were away and off her schedule that I didn’t even notice that she did, in fact, start teething while we were over there.  My mom discovered Posey’s first tooth Monday. I had no idea. I feel like she’s a totally different baby now.

Shout out to the lovely family we sat with on the way over. Elsie, Loveday, mom Caroline– I hope your visit with Grandpa, the Cadbury factory, and the ponies under the piano were grand.