"We are not bringing the pack and play", Mark told me two days before we were leaving for our 5 day adventure in and around San Francisco. I agreed that it might be a bit excessive since we only really would use it for one night at my aunts' place. The other nights would be at hotels with cribs and at our friends' house where I was sure they had some kind of vessel for sleeping babies since they had two of their own. I managed to pack a small suitcase with Zoe's and my clothes including two extra pairs of shoes and small packets of oatmeal for Zoe's breakfast. Packing light has always been one of my strengths and I take pride in it.
It turns out that buying some contraption for tying a car seat to a suitcase for easy rolling around or simply buying a cover the car seat for checking in, is completely unnecessary if you have a luggage strap and a suitcase with a straps on the outer pocket for hanging bags on the outside of your rolling suitcase. I was able to just strap the car seat onto the suitcase for easy rolling around. At the airport we checked in the car seat and South West provided us with a plastic bag which meant the car seat made it through the journey just fine. The only mishap happened when Mark clicked the car seat to the suitcase with a twisted strap and did not support the seat with the broader luggage strap (which goes around everything, under the baby's safety belt to hold). After 20 minutes of a heavy car seat pulling in the twisted strap, walking up San Francisco's hills, the strap broke off and the car seat fell off. It was possible to strap it on with just the lose luggage strap though and we managed with that for the rest of the trip.
We also managed just fine without the travel crib, except for the last night. At my aunt's I put Zoe to sleep on the middle of the low guest bed and we went to sleep early anyway. She did wake me up a couple of times with a foot in my eye or an arm on my ear but overall we slept fine. The final night at our friends' house, it turned out that they only had a baby crib, not high enough for a toddler. Instead I put her to sleep on the sofa bed upstairs in the guest room and went downstairs to rejoin everyone for desert. I knew I would be able to hear her if she woke up, which she still occasionally does at night. After about an hour we all heard a cry and I rushed up so she wouldn't get scared that we weren't there. I went in but couldn't see her on the bed. I looked around but couldn't see much in the dark. "Zoe, Zoe, where are you?" I called out and started panicking slightly. Had she walked out? But the door was closed. Could she have fallen out the window? I brushed the wall up and down to find the light switch and finally found it. I walked over and looked at the other side of the sofa bed and there she lay, with her little duvet still around her, on the floor, snoozing. She must have had fallen down and cried, but then fallen asleep again. I sighed from relief but immediately felt the mommy guilt rushing in. How could I have just left her to roll down? I scooped her up and made several 'bumpers' with blankets around the bed. She slept through all the commotion and in the end I lay down next to her for some snuggles. "I'm so sorry sweetie I whispered" and stroked her hair.
It turns out that buying some contraption for tying a car seat to a suitcase for easy rolling around or simply buying a cover the car seat for checking in, is completely unnecessary if you have a luggage strap and a suitcase with a straps on the outer pocket for hanging bags on the outside of your rolling suitcase. I was able to just strap the car seat onto the suitcase for easy rolling around. At the airport we checked in the car seat and South West provided us with a plastic bag which meant the car seat made it through the journey just fine. The only mishap happened when Mark clicked the car seat to the suitcase with a twisted strap and did not support the seat with the broader luggage strap (which goes around everything, under the baby's safety belt to hold). After 20 minutes of a heavy car seat pulling in the twisted strap, walking up San Francisco's hills, the strap broke off and the car seat fell off. It was possible to strap it on with just the lose luggage strap though and we managed with that for the rest of the trip.
We also managed just fine without the travel crib, except for the last night. At my aunt's I put Zoe to sleep on the middle of the low guest bed and we went to sleep early anyway. She did wake me up a couple of times with a foot in my eye or an arm on my ear but overall we slept fine. The final night at our friends' house, it turned out that they only had a baby crib, not high enough for a toddler. Instead I put her to sleep on the sofa bed upstairs in the guest room and went downstairs to rejoin everyone for desert. I knew I would be able to hear her if she woke up, which she still occasionally does at night. After about an hour we all heard a cry and I rushed up so she wouldn't get scared that we weren't there. I went in but couldn't see her on the bed. I looked around but couldn't see much in the dark. "Zoe, Zoe, where are you?" I called out and started panicking slightly. Had she walked out? But the door was closed. Could she have fallen out the window? I brushed the wall up and down to find the light switch and finally found it. I walked over and looked at the other side of the sofa bed and there she lay, with her little duvet still around her, on the floor, snoozing. She must have had fallen down and cried, but then fallen asleep again. I sighed from relief but immediately felt the mommy guilt rushing in. How could I have just left her to roll down? I scooped her up and made several 'bumpers' with blankets around the bed. She slept through all the commotion and in the end I lay down next to her for some snuggles. "I'm so sorry sweetie I whispered" and stroked her hair.
No comments:
Post a Comment