Turner Times

My parents are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary this year & my dad wanted to celebrate big by fulfilling a life long dream of his to visit Rome. Dad travels for work & most trips are to Japan & Guam, but this particular trip took him to Naples Italy so it sealed the deal for an amazing family vacation.

First off, I want say a big thanks to everyone that encouraged me to go on this trip! You were all right, it was amazing & worth all the planning. Davis was an excellent traveler &
did so much better then I even expected.

The decision to take our 9 month old on a 9 hour plane ride with a 6 hour time change wasn't made lightly, but we didn't want to pass up this opportunity to visit Rome with my parents. After reading blogs with advice on how to travel overseas with an infant & others saying not to never take a baby to Rome, I decided to blog about my personal trip in detail with tips on what worked for us in hopes to help others in my shoes. I hope to inspire anyone thinking about traveling with their baby to DO IT! Life doesn't have to stop when you become parents...instead you get to share your life, your passions with this amazing little being. My pastor growing up often said, "blessed are the flexible for they do not get bent out of shape" & traveling with a child requires some flexibility on your part, but with the right mindset you can have an even better trip then you dreamed of! Not every minute was glamorous & the first night John and I both thought, "what have we done!?!?" as we tried to console an overtired screaming baby, but that was the worst moment of the whole trip. We created some special, lasting memories & we would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I'll share more about where all we went in a different post(s), but I wanted to dedicate this first post to the logistics of the trip, which could be pretty boring if you aren't thinking about traveling international with a baby.

Deciding what to take took some time, but overall we were happy with our choices. Taking our mutsy stroller was a must since it reclines completely for D to nap on the go. He never had to nap in his stroller before, but the cobble stone streets lulled him to sleep and before long the loud clatter of Rome with zooming scooters & honking horns were no match for his heavy eyelids. We thought about buying a smaller umbrella stroller, but I'm glad now that we didn't. Although the mutsy is wide at the bottom, it's large base & wheels helped tremendously with Rome's uneven pavement & cobblestone street. I thought we would stand out with our monster stroller, but we saw plenty of locals with similar brands. It got a pink tag for plan side check on each flight so we had it through the airport & security didn't take long even with the extra pat down on the stroller.

We decided to check 2 large backpacks, one with all of D's stuff and one for John & I. For us it was worth taking a rolling suitcase to carry our bjorn pack &play. We didn't have to pay for luggage b/c we each were allowed 1 checked bag 50lbs. or less. International flights with an "infant in arms" still require you to pay 10% of the adult cost of the ticket (you need a passport too), but you are allowed a bag for the infant. The hotel provided a crib, but we knew Davis would be more comfortable in something he was used to sleeping in & I had him take naps in the bjorn to get used to it for about 2 months prior to leaving. If we weren't staying in 1 hotel the whole time we prob. wouldn't have done this.
We planned to bring our bjorn baby carrier since some museums don't allow you to take in a stroller (too many people have stolen things this way), but since we had an entire rolling suitcase with a ton of room left, we took our hiking backpack. It came in handy on the day we went to the roman forum, but overall we didn't use it much & hindsight we would have left it at home. I'll post more on my thoughts about taking a baby to the roman forum later.
You can buy diapers in Italy, they even sell Pampers, but we brought diapers to save a trip to to the store & to insure souvenir space on the way back.


(plane sleep on pallet of blankets & pillows		)

We took 2 small bags for the plane, but were allowed 3. Besides the basics we made sure to include Clorox wipes for wiping down the germy plane & wet ones for our hands. We had D's blanket, pj's, toys (put a few away weeks before you leave & it's like new again) & plenty of snacks/solids (used the squeeze packs). Taking pacifier clips not only keeps the paci from hitting the street or nasty airplane floor, but we tethered his toys to them as well. We had anything we would need for him in case our luggage didn't make it including oragel for teeth & benadryl that our pediatrician recommended.
I put D's outfits for each day in a gallon size ziplock bag & purposefully chose "layers" to accommodate the weather. Each day had a main outfit, socks & an extra pair of pants. The ziplock bag with "extras" came with us everyday in case I needed the plastic bag for dirty clothes. This made life super easy in the morning when all I had to do was grab a bag! Taking an outfit for each day was more then what we packed for ourselves, but with a baby you never know. I was a little "over prepared" in this dept, but his tiny cloths barely made a difference in the packing. I only brought 4 PJ's for 8 nights since there isn't as much wear & tear on clothes at night.

I did a lot of research on where to stay in Rome with a kid. I didn't want to be on the main strip with a noisy party scene unfolding around us at night, but I didn't want to be too far away from main attractions in case one of us was stuck in the room with D, the other could still enjoy the sights. Plus staying close to the places we wanted to see keeps D from being exhausted before we even arrive. For that reason I ruled out a unique neighborhood of Trastevere & picked a place near Piazza Navona called Suite Art Navona. It turned out to be perfect for us. The minimalist modern decor wasn't my favorite, but it was clean & descent size rooms for Europe & their triple pane windows kept out the noise at night. The staff was what made this hotel so amazing, they were phenomenal! We didn't have AC the first night & when technician couldn't fix it they totally changed our room for us, moving our belonging while we were out sightseeing! The hotel had 12 rooms so it was small enough to feel personal, but large enough to have your space. Staying near the piazza Navona was a wonderful location. The piazza was full of restaurants and art & close enough to all the major sights to walk.
I'll talk more about how we managed Davis' schedule later, but our location played a big role. It allowed us to take shifts in the morning while D slept so John could go to a local cafe & enjoy breakfast while I got ready for the day then we would switch. This made it possible to hit the road as soon as Davis woke up. You pay more for prime location, but with a kid, it's worth it.

The highlights each day for me were where we ate b/c my main goal for this trip was to make my tummy happy happy happy. I got this Eat Rome app by Elizabeth Minchilli and used it every.single.day. I knew not to expect a highchair or changing station at the restaurants (again great to have the stroller), but was surprised by the warm welcome most gave towards the tourists with a baby especially since we aimed to eat like a local & avoid major tourist spots when it came to food. At one restaurant I was ushered into a coat closet where they pulled over a food cart & put down padding for me to change Davis! Almost every every place took the time to dote over Davis, interact with him, ask how old he was etc. Italy welcomed our little family with open arms & it warmed my heart. It's good to bring along a bike lock for times you can't bring the stroller inside. We only had to do this a time or two, but some restaurants are tiny and appreciated us leaving it outside or putting it away in a closet. I'll elaborate more on where we ate in another blog b/c it deserves it's own debut.

Stay tuned for more (with more pictures next time) from our adventure to Italy...

It's been so long since I've blogged, blogger has totally changed it's format. It took me awhile to just find the button to start a new post!

Oh so many places I could start...pregnancy, d-day, mommy-hood, postpartum, back to work blues. It seems impossible to catch up, so I won't. I'll just start right here, right now with the random thoughts in my head. Aren't you ~~excited~~ scared!?

I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes. I stomped my way through breakfast, cursed the world when I sat down in my office chair & rolled my eyes at the dark, foggy morning...how fitting. "kinda in a funk?" John said to me while we were brushing our teeth. Hum..was it the scowl on my face or the tears in my eyes that gave it away?

The truth is I feel like I'm failing in every area of my life. That's exactly what I told him and then rambled on and on about how messy our house is, the 1,000 errands I just can't seem to make happen, the medical bills I keep forgetting to call the insurance company about, pictures I have yet to edit, the thank you cards yet to write, the clothes that I hate or don't fit & my not-so-hot passion for my job. Quietly and sweetly he said, "you are not failing him" and pointed to the 12 lb. tub of joy sleeping in his infant swing. And finished me off with, "and don't you think that's all that matters."

I've had today to think...and I've come to the realization that I put way too much pressure on myself. Did someone hit repeat or have I not been here before? I've convinced myself that this or that has to be in place in order for me to "function" which is a fancy pants way of saying "if I don't have my way--I'm pissed." It just happens that "my way" is a clean house with nicely folded laundry and a new pinterest recipe in the oven. I think that b/c those are not selfish tasks, but just normal ones that I can get mad when they don't happen. I'm learning--slowly and painfully, that I've got to change or I'm going to be miserable. So...after that cutie wakes up for his nap & I feed him, change him, probably get peed on then change both of our outfits, I'm going to take him outside for a walk on this beautiful day. I've got a load of laundry in the wash that has been there since 6am & therefore probably spoiled. I've got fruit flies that have invaded every room in my house. I have a wedding card to mail that is floating around in one of these rooms under piles of paper that have nap/feeding schedules written randomly on them. I'm staring at shelves that still haven't been hung in over a year & despite my efforts, baby equipment is spread out all over every room in my house (seriously there is a swaddler on our kitchen table). I'll get to it...eventually and I'll try ever so hard to be happy until I do.

-Lisa