This was a big week of firsts for us. We took our first road trip as a family- to Hilton Head! The trip is about three and a half hours from home and we were curious to see how she'd do in the car that long. I had a hunch that if we left late morning and got there early afternoon she'd do ok since I already know I have her out during the day a lot at that time and she usually sleeps through car rides, lunches, and even play dates, sometimes almost three hours. Still, she's older now then when I first got away with those long stretches and sometimes she's not asleep for that long, so I wasn't sure she'd make it without some kind of meltdown on the way.
Aside from worrying how Allie would do on the ride there, I also wondered how I would go about feeding her. I decided to just wing it instead of bringing a pumped bottle like I often do when I'm out with her for a while. She slept til the halfway point when we stopped the car for lunch. The stop had a good back area where we could park, so I breast-fed her in the car since she woke up when we pulled off the exit and I figured she was hungry. That was my first time breastfeeding her in the car. I've actually gotten more comfortable feeding her with no pillow now, so I just draped a blanket over us and she did great. We didn't even make a big mess! Feeding her halfway worked well and she slept the rest of the way after I fed her. Success! Later during the visit, I also took her out during lunch out to feed her in the car when she got cranky, and that also went well. It's nice knowing I can do this now.
Allie got to meet her Aunt Ashley and cousin Avery for the first time this week.
 |
| Avery read a book to Allie :) |
We took some really cute pictures of the girls in matching outfits that Ashley got them. They are exactly a year and a half apart in age and I think someday they'll be good buddies. We may have added major confusion to our family name situation though. We were constantly calling Avery, Ashley, or Allie the wrong name all week. Oops!
We also took Allie to the beach for the first time. She spent most of the time in my lap or in the Ergo walking the beach.
 |
| Yes, we still have a dog... |
I had worried about the trip disrupting what little sleep pattern we do have, but she was the same on the trip as she is at home- up about once a night. We brought our Pack N Play so her sleep spot would be the same as usual, that probably helped. I think also filling the day with stimulation from my family helped her to sleep well at night.
The trip was a pretty big success. I would say Allie was happier and less fussy than usual. I swear no one believes me when I say she can be fussy because she rarely is when she's around people. It probably helped having her G-ma (my mom) around a lot to dote on her.
We only had two nights there because of Greg's schedule, but I definitely plan on going back down to spend longer now that we know she can handle the car trip and slept okay away from home, so I plan on going back in a couple weeks. I want to take advantage of the extra Hilton Head time while I'm on maternity leave!
Allie also did her first Gymboree class this week. Some of my friends mentioned Gymboree classes and I thought it was the perfect thing for me to do with Allie while I'm still on maternity leave since they have classes for babies Allie's age.
They have Play and Learn classes for babies 0-6 months and you can try the first class free. We did some sensory things, sang, did tummy time, puppets, and other baby friendly activities. Allie really seemed to like the first half then had kind of a meltdown during the second half. I didn't time her feedings very well, so she may have been hungry. I tried giving her a pumped bottle, but she wasn't really into it. I think it will still work out though if I plan my morning feedings more strategically next time. I thought the class was great for Allie and really enjoyed doing the activities with her. I signed us up for a membership. I am looking forward to seeing how she progresses with it.
I also discovered that Allie can grip and shake her rattle this week! She loves getting her diaper changed now (oh how things have changed), and I handed her a rattle and she was holding and shaking it. I was so excited I did Facetime with my parents to show them!
I think I only got one run in this week and no yoga because of the Hilton Head trip, but I did walk a lot including a long 4ish miler in Hilton Head, which was glorious. I loved showing Allie my favorite place :)
One other thing- we have a jogging stroller now, but I need advice on when I can start using it. It works with our car seat, so I was hoping I could click it in and go for a run with Allie sometime, but my pediatrician recommends waiting til she is NINE months old. This seems like a long time to wait to me. At that point I can probably have her in it without the car seat, which kind of defeats the purpose of the stroller we chose (since it's compatible with our car seat). I was hoping to run with her while I'm still on maternity leave. I obviously don't want to injure her in any way, but I don't see how it would be any worse for her than the car as long as I run on a flat surface and am careful. It would greatly increase my ability to run more if I could use the jogging stroller with her, since right now I can only do it like once a week when Greg is home. Thoughts/experiences?
0 comments:
Post a Comment