The last time my family packed our bags for a New York vacation - I was almost 36 weeks pregnant. Now, here we are, with our family of four... packing for a New York vacation less than a year after our last trip. To say I'm excited to spend time with family and have my husband off of work for a full two weeks is an absolute understatement. Granted, it's only been 90 days since Justin was last on leave, but this vacation will definitely be good for us. We get to experience a fall this year (since Northern Texas will not be affording us one) and we get to make some new memories with my in-laws. I think that is what I am most excited for. Olivia will be meeting the bulk of Justin's family for the first time, we will get to do so many autumn activities while we are visiting, and we will also get a break from this 80 degree Southern heat.

I think the weirdest part about prepping for travel is the necessities that are required. I mean, our last trip we didn't need any baby items because Ava was already a full blown toddler and Olivia was still safely in the womb. Packing a highchair, bathtub, and pack + play isn't exactly realistic for this trip. So, when in need - amazon, right? That's exactly what I did. I compiled a list of items that we will need for ourselves, the girls, and little things I don't want to pack (ie, loofas, body wash, etc.) to ship off to New York this week! I absolutely love amazon and the fact that I don't have to stress over that stuff makes this packing process so much easier. It's only Sunday and I started packing our bags for this trip on Friday! 

I think it helps the control freak that I am to start this process early. In my defense, it also saves us a lot of time. I'm almost positive that my husband has a four day weekend due to Columbus day (we don't celebrate this holiday, let alone remember it most of the time), which means if we get all our ducks squared away - it's smooth sailing until it's time for us to head for the airport on Saturday morning. I'm most curious to see how TSA is going to go with all four of us. I hate checking bags which always makes TSA lines super for for my husband. 

My main focus the next couple days is making sure the house is tip top, making sure our luggage is tip top, and allowing myself to R-E-L-A-X for the next couple of weeks. This is my favorite time of year and I plan on making every single second count with my sweet, beautiful family! 

P.S. 

** IF YOU HAVE ANY PACKING TIPS ** comment below or send an email my way. I feel like I always overpack, so if any mamas want to give any input - i would be elated to take some of that knowledge. 

♥- Leilani

Holiday Travel: Family Of Three... With A Pregnant Mommy

This will be our first time traveling by plane as a family of three, so I wanted to make sure that I document everything we did as a reference for future traveling. Hopefully other families can use this guide to help in their traveling process as well. Our tickets have been booked for pretty much six months at this point, so knowing the departure/arrival times haven't changed at all. I think buying the tickets and locking those in was obviously the most important step. Moving forward, I knew I wanted most of our luggage to be carry on, so we've been packing accordingly. I do believe we will end up checking one big suitcase, just for piece of mind and not having to deal with TSA stuff. I have called the airlines about a million times to verify what's allowed, pregnancy policies, and other little tidbits that are important to know when traveling with a child. I want to break this post down into three sections, one for Ava bug, one for me, and one for Justin. Basically just to show you how we plan on making this trip as smooth as possible.

Ava
Toddler Ava bug has definitely been my biggest thoughts with this trip. Not so much a worry, but making sure we don't miss a beat to keep her comfortable, safe, etc. Some of the things we have done to ensure this would be bringing the following items:

• Samsung Galaxy Tablet full of movies galore with toddler friendly headset
• Frozen luggage, frozen coloring books/crayons
• Frozen thermos with her milk (cold for up to 12 hours)
• Frozen snack container filled with cut up fruits she loves
• bananas, granola, fruit snacks, etc. 
• Princess Sofia toilet covers for toddlers
• comfortable clothes (layers)
• A few of her favorite books
• New convertible seat that's easy for dad to carry through our airport time

Mama

My main concern is comfortability. I want to make sure that this plane ride doesn't leave me full of aches, swelling, or anything that wouldn't be ideal for being (almost) 36 weeks pregnant. I debated on bringing my snoogle maternity pillow.. it truly is just too big for the plane and seating space. But here is a list of things I plan to bring that will make my trip easier

• Compression socks
• Brita water bottle
• raw almonds 
• hypnobirthing book
• travel pillow
• macbook (editing in the air)
• isle seat (closer to the bathroom)
• Comfy clothing/comfy shoes that aren't tight on my feet

Justin

My husband is by far the easiest to please out of our bunch, so his list is extremely shorter than both mine and Ava's. 

• Comfy clothes (sweats, sweatshirt)
• Book
• The tablet if Ava decides to fall asleep during our plane ride
• Sleep

In addition to everything I've listed I purchased a convertible seat bag so Justin can put Ava's seat on his back. I purchased Gohygiene toilet seat covers for myself, and I also made sure to purchase a waterproof case for my mac that I'll be carrying on the plane as well. Other than getting our ride arranged to and from the airport, that's pretty much all we've done to ensure the smoothest trip possible.

♥- Leilani

Mother's Day

I could not have asked for a better weekend with my loved ones. It felt great to vacation and separate myself from technology. One of our getaway rules was leaving technology behind, and I'm glad that we did. Saturday presented rain (and chilly weather), which was fine, but we got out and explored the outdoors. I was reminded of my love for the West coast during our getaway, and I am proud to say that I'm from here. There is no other place that takes my breath away like the Coast of Oregon or the lush Evergreen of Washington state. It's nice to see Justin appreciating some of the things that are so close and dear to my heart. I plan on bringing Ava bug back to Cannon beach this summer, and a lot of other hiking trails in Portland. The fact that Oregon is a tax free state doesn't hurt either. We love the state of Oregon and can't wait to return!

Ava has been able to spend a ton of time with my family this weekend, and that's always a good time. From the moment I woke up this morning, up until now, I have felt like such a Queen. I woke up to breakfast already made, I got the sweetest cards from Justin and Ava, and some of the sweetest gifts, including flowers from my daddy. Justin bought me these reusable, pink chevron bags, with photos of Ava and I plastered all over them (thank you shutterfly). It says Happy Mother's day mommy on the bags, and they seriously brought me to tears. His gift was so thoughtful and supportive of my "going green" movement. I will rock these bags everyone I go! I plan to use them on Wednesday when we head out to do Ava's cake smash photos. You guys have no idea how stoked I am for these photos. Chloe, has offered to do some nursing photos of Ava and I while we are in her studio, and I am getting so ancy for them. I'm almost positive Chloe Photography is going to be our new family photographer. She does some amazing work, and I'm delighted I found her. We got the cake ordered and all set up on Saturday, and I have a feeling it's going to be beyond beautiful. For those of you in the Puyallup area, make sure you check out Wanna Cupcake in downtown Puyallup. The customer service was excellent, and the cakes/cupcakes are even better!

Overall my weekend was great. I got a lot of great photos from our vacation, and a lot of photos from today. I have so much love surrounding me, it's completely moving. I couldn't have envisioned a better first Mother's day, and I am already thinking up a special Father's day for Justin. Justin will be in school over the next month, and I will be involved in a lot of FRG functions for his company. Hopefully that won't limit the amount of blog posts I put up. I still plan on blogging daily until Ava's big day. I'm really excited to be interacting with his new company, and even more excited for all of the toddler play dates Ava will have. I still can't believe we have just six days until Ava bug is one year old. I plan on sharing some of the photos we have taken from her session on Wednesday, so be on the look out.

Happy Sunday all, and happy Mother's day to all of the wonderful mama's out there!

 ♥- Leilani