Wait, what? We have a dog?

Although Luke, the golden retriever, has been long suspicious of this little thing that cries, whines, screams, and gets all of our attention, Eli has not yet reciprocated the concern...

Until yesterday...

Joseph was holding Eli on the couch and he was munching on something.  Like normal when we have food, Luke comes and stands beside us and begs like the well-trained dog that he is! Ha.  And then the ah ha moment happened.  Eli looked at Luke like he had never seen him before and kept reaching out to grab him.  Unfortunately, we were so distracted with the moment that we didn't snap a picture!

Then this morning, while playing on his mat, Luke came up beside him, and Eli was touching his paw and in aww with him. It was so cute. I can just see a beautiful friendship in the making! :)

Life in the fast lane...

We travel... lots... We are very blessed with lots of flight miles, my husband having Companion Pass (AKA I fly free on Southwest), and hotel points, so we are able to travel very frequently.   We also have lots of family out of the state, so that also contributes to our traveling addiction.

Eli is 4.5 months old, and he has been on 16 flights.... And he went on his first flight after his 2 month shots, so it's safe to say that he has been a little busy bee the last 2.5 months!

I have just a few tips that I would like to keep handy when baby #2 comes along (even though I know I will need a whole new list travelling with two kiddos, but oh well).

1) Always have extra milk.  I typically bring 6-8 oz of breastmilk just depending on the flight length, and I also bring 2 emergency 2 oz ready bottles of formula.  Just in case we get stuck on the plane forever and we run out of milk, I have these backups.

2) Check the carseat in a bag at the front.  I can't even count the number of times I have seen carseats come out of baggage claim without bags on them, and I throw up a little in my mouth everytime.... DISGUSTING! Also, use the extra room in the carseat bag for a Bumbo, necessary toys, diapers, etc.

3) Take the baby through security either in a small umbrella stroller or the infant carrier (I prefer the BabyZen YOYO and ErgoBaby360).  The YoYo is awesome because it fits in the carry-on compartment on the airplane.  No losing it.  No worrying about it getting broke.  And most importantly, it stays nice and clean.  It's a win win!

4) Book the baby a seat if you are flying over 2 hours and if your wallet can afford.  Like I mentioned before, we typically use flight miles, so if we were paying out of pocket for this seat, we might just be holding him on our lap and squishing next to a stranger.  The good thing about having your child a seat on the longer flights is that you can bring your carseat on board.

5) In regards to bringing the carseat on the plane if you buy your kiddo a seat, make sure to put their seat by the window!  We have been told last minute and seen it happen to others where the airplane has to stop for you to move the carseat. Annoying, but whatever...

6) Plan to breastfeed, give your child a bottle, or give them a paci during takeoff and landing.  I particularly notice that my ears hurt worse during the landing and Eli whines/cries/sometimes screams more during the landings, so I prefer to make sure I have food ready for the landing.  When they have you bring your tray tables to the upright position and put away all laptops, it's time to get the food ready! :)

Most importantly, if you stay calm, your child will be more calm, and remember even if your child screams the whole time and somebody gets annoyed, who cares?  You will never see them again, and most people have been there and understand! :)

Sorry SW1968 Passengers

Eli Kyle is ready to go to Seattle!

Flying with a Newborn: Survival Edition

Well, we officially took E on his first flight, and all three of us are alive.  So I call that successful.  Yes, he had a major blowout as soon as the airplane took off, yes he peed all over his daddy, yes we had to change outfits 2x in a 1 hour flight, and yes my flip-flop broke so I made my hubby take his socks off and let me wear them through the airport.  But hey, we survived.''

So our first flight was a little last minute.  And by last minute I mean we booked the flight 3.5 hours before we had to leave for the airport.  It was an emergency trip to Kansas to see Joe's grandmother who is in the hospital and is very near and dear to our hearts.  We decided we wanted to go see her, booked the flight, and off to packing we went.

We had planned our first flight to be 5 days later to Seattle and we had little different travel plans, so we weren't prepared for traveling with a lap baby.  So off to Buy Buy Baby, E, the pup, and I went.  First up on the shopping list: carseat travel bag.  I looked at a few different options and landed on the Brico because it A) had wheels B) could be worn as a backpack and C) because it fit our carseat now and will fit future carseats even when we purchase a front-facing carseat.  The only thing I did not love is that they did not have a matching stroller bag and the bag was gray.  However, I actually love the gray now because it doesn't show dirt as much as black bags after traveling through the checked luggage process.

Next up, stroller storage bag.  After little convincing from the nice man at Buy Buy Baby, I settled on  this stroller storage bag.  However, we got home, the stroller didn't fit, so we ditched the plan to bring the stroller and we decided to do without.  (Side note: We did discover that the stroller will fit, Baby Jogger City Select, BUT  you have to take off the back wheels as well as the carseat attachment and put it in the bag separately.  However, it will all fit in there separated.)

While planning I did a lot of research on the best way to carry him through, and we landed on this.  And let me tell you it was a breeze compared to what I was expecting. Besides TSA insisting on testing my bottled breastmilk, it was easy! We checked the stroller and our luggage at the front (This was hard for us as we are usually carry-on people), I wore E in my front pack, I wore the diaper bag as a backpack, my husband wore my backpack, and he carried his briefcase.  Made it through security, got Chick-fil-a of course, then we boarded the airplane.  Besides the blowouts, diaper changes, and outfit changes, he was a peach! :) We had an extra seat next to us on the way just because people avoid sitting next to babies like the plague, so we had good practice to figure things out before we had an actual human taking up that seat next to us on the way home.  All worked out well.  We survived and we will be doing it again in less than 48 hours.  

No shoes.  No problem.

The Birth: First Child Edition

So Friday evening, April 17, I text my mom something along the lines of, "I am having contractions. Get ready."  When she asked how I felt and I said, "Great" she nicely said, "Honey, I don't think it's time yet."  A little annoyed that she didn't jump in the car to make the trek from Arkansas after I clearly just told her I am in labor, I walked the halls around our apartment, got tired, and ended up just going to sleep.  Shocked that I slept all night, so clearly I wasn't in labor, I woke up and was determined to get the baby out.  Like right then.

We had plans to do something with Joe's parents that day, so I suggested going to the zoo.  I was motivated to walk this baby out, and that is exactly what I did.  We walked at the zoo all day, my contractions continued to pick up, and by 4:00 pm that evening they were coming ever 5 minutes, and they were lasting 1 minute, and it had been at least an hour.  Exactly when they tell you to go to the hospital, so I was pumped.  We cooked out at our apartment that evening, I had a big steak, some sweet potatoes, and veggies, and I just knew this was my last meal before his arrival.

We packed up the bags, documented our journey with selfies, grabbed the yoga ball, and left the house to head to the hospital around 9:00 pm.  We got to triage, I was only 2.5 cm dilated, so they informed me that they would have me walk for an hour and then we would see from there whether I was ready to be admitted or not.  I walked for an hour, my contractions were still coming very consistently and the pain was picking up.  I just knew I had to be at like a 5 or 6 by now, so we made the trek back down the hallway, into the room, and I patiently waited to be checked.

My contractions were now coming every 3-4 minutes and lasting 90 seconds.  A good sign I thought. They checked my dilation and nicely told me that I was a "barely 3".  Great.  So I could either stay in the hospital, walk the halls and see if I progressed, or I could go home.  I chose to go home. My mom was already on her way from Arkansas since the nurse was convinced I would be back in just a few short hours.

We came home, I attempted to lay down and watch TV only to be jolted awake every 3-4 minutes for a contraction. My mom arrived around 6:00 am and after making some very rational comments about Eli only having animal siblings, I figured it was probably time to go.  We left the house by 7:00 am, and I was so excited because this is exactly how I envisioned this happening.  I wanted to go into labor in the morning, stop by Chick-fil-a for some chicken minis as my last meal and then head up to the hospital.  Wrong.  Chick-fil-a is closed on Sunday, so I settled for a granola bar.  This trek out the door was not as smooth as the first.  No elevator selfies.  No slow drives. No calm husband.  He was convinced I was going to have this baby in the car so he went 90 mph to the hospital.

We arrive at the hospital, again, and this time I was ready to refuse if they decided to send me home.  Fortunately, I was dilated to a 5 so I was there for the stay.  They moved us to our private room, I immediately got into the bathtub, and between there, walking the halls, bouncing on the yoga ball, and rocking in the rocking chair, that is where I spent the next 8 hours.  My dilation was super slow.  After two nights of practically zero sleep, 10 hours of contractions coming every 2-3 minutes and getting very intense, and only being dilated to a 7, at 4:30 pm, I caved and got an epidural.  As soon as I got it, I was able to turn on my iPad and catch some zzz's.  I finally started progressing and at 8:30 pm I was dilated to an 8, woo hoo.  Finally I had some progress.  The nurse said she would be back in at 9:30 to check me again.  At this point I had woken up from my nap and was comfortable so I was ready for visitors again.  I asked Joe to go get my sister and he went to the vending machine to get a drink and snack.  As soon as she walked in the door, at 8:45, I told her she had to get the nurse.  I just knew it was time to push.  She got the nurse who checked me again and was shocked that I was dilated to a 10.  From here everything went so fast.

Joe came back in the room, him, Chels, and the nurse helped me with some practice pushes, and then the nurse told me I needed to breath through the next few pushes while they called the doctor.  The doctor walked in, 3-4 pushes later, and Eli Kyle was born at 9:44 pm on April 19, 2015.  7 pounds, 6 ounces, and 21.75 inches of perfect.  As soon as he was born I forgot all the pain and was ready to do it all again.

Day 7: iPhone Edition

Off to the Farmer's Market we went!

Feeding in the car while daddy was grocery shopping.

Day 6: iPhone Edition

Day 6.  Eli rolled over, and yes we freaked out!  We kept laying him on his tummy and he kept rolling back over, so of course we had to google if this was normal!