Learning Lessons: Vacationing with a 1 year old

Have you ever flown or gone on vacation with a 1 year old?! Well, this week I got to experience this for the first time in my life. Erin and I went to Kiawah Island, South Carolina with her family (John, Karen, Michael, Meghan, Olivia, Lauren, and Tommy) for our first family vacation. Leading up to this, there was A LOT of stress, trying to prepare for the unknown and a lot of debating whether we could fit everything into 1 suitcase and still meet the maximum weight requirements. Anyway, the trip was AMAZING… the weather was great, it was relaxing but there were several humbling lessons that I wanted to share with all of you.

If you’re reading this and have traveled with kids, I’m sure you have a slight grin on your face right now… maybe reminiscing your first travel experience with the little ones?! If you haven’t traveled with your kids or that is still in the future for you, hopefully, this puts some things into perspective.

I always think of the movie The Matrix when I hear the quote “ignorance is bliss” … sometimes it’s true and sometimes it’s best to over prepare. But not everything goes as planned… Charlotte turns 1 on July 4th (in a few days!) and like I shared, this was the first time we traveled on an airplane with her. We had a 700am flight, which meant we had to get to the airport by 530am, which meant we had to be up before 4am so we put her down the night before a little earlier anticipating she would sleep in the car on the way to the airport… wake up as we got there, feed her, by the time we get on the flight she will be ready for a nap, so feed her a bit more…totally the opposite happened. 

She didn’t sleep in the car, she was happy as a clam, she was wide awake through the whole process…as soon as we get through airport security she was even more fussy. Both Erin’s and my stress levels go up, we have 2 carries on suitcases, her backpack, my backpack, her stroller, her car seat for the flight… we get on the plane and she falls asleep right as we take off… RELIEF is what we feel but then 30 minutes later she wakes up and is ready to play!

Charlotte is a great baby, we are very lucky. She sleeps through the night, she eats well, she’s all smiles… but Erin and I were both stressed leading up to all of this. We thought we planned it all out and had it timed, spent a lot of time to sort through what we needed, toys/snacks/clothes etc…but it doesn’t always work out they way you think it will go. It’s funny being a parent, everyday things are changing, not the same as the day before I’m finding out. So being able to adjust and roll with it is a skill we are both still working on!

I think of this as the “in practice vs. in theory” debate. I’ve gotten a lot of advice over the years, more recently now that we are parents. Not necessarily “should do this, shouldn’t do that” but a lot of really thoughtful recommendations. It’s funny though, some things work and some don’t… Like I shared, we’ve been really lucky with Charlotte as she’s been sleeping through the night and hasn’t been fussy at all. But… she’s starting to get her teeth in, and not just 1 tooth, them all seem to be coming in at the same time. Which is really good because she can eat more whole foods and things we would eat. So the positive is when we go out to dinner (which was everynight), she can get some of the things off the kids menu. The hard part is, she’s waking up more during the night, it’s harder to soothe her and make her feel better. As an official “girl dad”, it breaks my heart when she’s upset… I want to do anything I can to get her to stop crying. This is where the theory vs. practice comes in… I’ve been VERY opposed to Charlotte getting exposed to technology (like the phone), but I’m finding out how hard it is to 1/ not let that happen and 2/ be that role model. When we are on our phones constantly for work she is totally picking that up. 

My judgemental side has come up before I had Charlotte when I saw kids playing with phones, my reaction is “how can you let you kid do that”… well… now I know lol. I’m not saying good or bad here, BUT more recognizing how hard it is. On the hour van ride to the airport from the hotel to the airport yesterday, Erin sang along and played Miss Rachel videos on her phone the whole ride for Charlotte as she was in that over-tired/transition time between naps. It’s one of those “do we let her cry and be fussy the whole car ride OR let her watch her favorite show (which is pretty awesome by the way). 

For me, I’m learning first hand some of the challenges being a parent. I think about when I was a kid…for me at least I looked at my parents as the ones that have it all figured out but I’m realizing how as parents we are figuring it out alongside our kids. Lots more learning to come…

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