Getting ready for the trip

So this won't be the most exciting thing you've ever read, but I thought it was useful when I read about it in a magazine a while back. I can't give proper credit for the idea because I tossed the magazine a looooong time ago, but I believe it came from Parenting? Or Parents? American Baby? I dunno, I get a sleighload of these free baby magazines and I can't remember for the life of me where this idea came from. BUT! I do remember that it was from a section on moms of multiples who were giving their advice on little tricks they have to make things easier for them, and obviously, a lot of them will work for singletons too.

So! When we are getting ready to go on a trip and I need to take baby food with us (yes, we are still working on the textures of real food....), I make out a list of what Sam might eat at each meal every day.

Then I tally up the totals so I know what to buy at the grocery store.

Then I go to the grocery store and buy loads of baby food and I get a lot of questions from the cashier about whether or not I'm on WIC and how I could probably qualify if I would just do the paperwork and then I start realizing that I should be putting forth a little more effort in the Appearance Department.

I bring six metric tons of baby food home and sort it all out according to what I had written down for each day.

Then, since I am a bit neurotic and worried that I will lose the Master Plan with all the days written on it, I get little sticky notes and write each meal on them and place them in gallon-size ziploc bags.

All that's left to do is to put the baby food in its corresponding baggie and seal it up.

Sounds like a LOT of work, I KNOW. But it makes the shopping part and the figuring out what to feed baby part SO much easier. And to know that you have plenty of food for the entire trip and you won't have to go to some random grocery store for more during your VACATION makes it worth the extra effort, in my opinion.

I do the same thing for his clothes too. To have his outfits picked out each day (in case, HAHA, I'm not the one tasked to dress the squirmer that morning) and not to have to dig for matching socks in the bottomless bag is so nice. I don't have to worry that he will come downstairs dressed like a hobo, and the convenience factor is, once again, huge.

Another little tip from one of those magazines was to store baby utensils in a toothbrush holder so that your diaper bag doesn't start growing a mysterious mold due to the fact that you wrapped up a plastic spoon covered in baby peas in a napkin and then forgot about it for a month in the bottom of the bag and then you finally find it and gag in your mouth and have to chuck the spoon and sell your diaper bag on craigslist. Not that any of that has ever HAPPENED to me before, it's just a hypothetical situation..

Anyways, maybe that will help someone's travels become a little easier and slightly less stressful if you happen to be schlepping around a small person this holiday season.