Traveling with Baby: The Night Before

Getting ready to go out of town is always stressful. I thought that doing so with a baby would be doubly stressful, but here I sit relaxing on the eve of our departure. Tomorrow morning myself, mom, and AB are flying to West Virginia (which will always be our home base) to visit family.

Our bags are packed, save for a few toiletries I need in the morning. Diaper bag is fully stocked with diapers, wipes, a spare change of clothes, towel, and plastic bags for dirty diapers. My gigantic purse is stuffed with baby books, snacks, toys, towel, wallet, lip gloss, and sanitizer– quite different from its usual contents! AB and I are sharing one suitcase– an amazing accomplishment for a notorious over-packer.

Somehow I’ve managed to get the house in good shape, finish all the laundry and clean the turtle tank. It’s so nice to come home to a clean house, so hopefully hubby will keep it that way while we are gone.

Speaking of hubby, this will be the longest we have been apart in over three years. That will be the toughest part of the trip for me, though I know it must be worse for him since he will be home alone! I’ve told him it will be like a mini-vacation and he can sleep as late as he wants, but somehow I think he’d rather have his girls around.

My number one travel tip and what I think made such a big difference in my level of preparedness is a packing list. I started earlier in the week and within 30 seconds I had filled an entire notebook page. At first it looked daunting, but it was a breeze to go down the list and tuck everything into my big suitcase. I also made a to-do list of household and administrative tasks I needed to get done before leaving, as well as a couple of things for hubby to take care of (don’t worry, just minor stuff like taking out the trash on pickup day.) I think I’ve become the queen of list-making!

I’m still rather impressed that I’ve gotten so much done– I actually feel like I’m ahead of the curve– I’m hoping it doesn’t mean I’m forgetting something! And when I think ahead to tomorrow and the unknown of flying with a little powerhouse who might not want to sit still for three hours, and WILL need to nurse at some point whether it be airport or airplane, and always takes an afternoon poop, well, I think that tonight might have been the easy part!

10 Brilliantly Simple Packing Hacks for Traveling with Kids

Author
Recent Posts

Stacey aka the Soccer Mom

Stacey is the creator of The Soccer Mom Blog, a Houston Texas mom blog that focuses on positive living for women and families. She loves to share real food recipes, money-saving tips, parenting encouragement, kids activities, DIY tutorials, home hacks, fitness, and so much more! To get to know Stacey even better, click here.

Latest posts by Stacey aka the Soccer Mom (see all)