Last night Justin and I discussed the possibility of taking a trip to Washington this fall. We both miss the Pacific Northwest terribly AND we miss all of our fall festivities even more. With Ava starting pre-school, trying for baby # 3, and our college commitments.. we've got a lot on our plate. Even still, Olivia has yet to experience Spooner farms, the girls haven't seen my family since they were so much smaller, and it would be nice to ACTUALLY experience the leaves changing, the cold weather, and all things family. After taking everything into consideration this morning... we decided that we are going to take the trip! I'm literally deciding on airfare as we speak. I keep reminding myself that picking a date and traveling whenever isn't always going to be an option for us. Ava will be in school full time (before we know it), airfare prices steadily increase after the kids turn 2 years old, and the commitments of our life won't always afford us multiple vacations a year. 

That being said, I feel really good about this decision. Ava is already talking about ferry boat rides, the "big, big, building" (Space Needle) and being able to see her Mama Lee + Aunt Regina. Nothing (and I do mean NOTHING) warms my heart more than watching my girls show love for their family. Also, and this is sort of high on the list of positives.. I am so excited to be taking my camera with us. I plan on doing some sort of family photos, extended family photos, and maybe some cousin photos for the kids! Being able to wander the green lush of the PNW is a definite priority for me, even if the weather doesn't fully cooperate! One thing I've grown to appreciate and miss is the outdoors back home - since we don't explore anything in our current state. 

So the official countdown has begun! Four months and a couple of weeks until we are Washington bound for a little while. How is it possible that I am already emotional about the departure? Gosh! We still have the entire summer to make memories through before fall even arrives. That's going to be my focus these next few months. Texas may not be Washington IN ANY WAY, but we are here and I am determined to make the most of our time.. now let's see if I actually stick to that! 


See you soon, Washington. 

♥- Leilani

Chicago Midway Airport

The Chicago Midway Airport is probably one of my favorite layover airports. We are familiar with this airport, it's never overcrowded when we are there, and it is so easy to find your way around. Once we got off the plane from Dallas, we got ourselves into a luggage carrier, picked up some lunch, and made our way to our next gate. We had enough time to use the restroom, get the girls changed/fed, and even watch a little bit of Ava's Frozen movie. I loved the timing of the layover + flight departures with this trip. It allowed us all to be comfortable at almost all times. We ended up boarding our next flight a little over an hour and a half after we arrived in Chicago. The flight from Chicago to New York was so incredibly pleasant. It was also less than two hours in the air, Olivia slept on the flight, AND SO DID EVERYONE ELSE. It was completely glorious to wake up to just a few minutes left in our flight time. 

Albany airport is so small, so baggage claim was a complete breeze. Justin stood in line for the car rental and we loaded it up shortly after. I honestly loved being able to rent a car from the airport. We were on our own time and we didn't leave anyone waiting. We were also able to surprise Justin's Nana when we pulled into her driveway. Overall flying was so much easier with two littles in tow than I ever expected. We utilized Southwest airlines and we will continue to do so in the future for our travel needs. 

♥- Leilani

Tips For Flying (While 36-37 weeks pregnant)

This has been a highly requested blog post since I traveled to New York while being a day shy of 36 weeks pregnant. I was so nervous when I got closer to our travel date, simply because everything on the internet talks about all the cons of flying later in pregnancy. There were very few resources I found that were actually helpful, but the amount of worries with a pregnant woman flying were abundant. I have mentioned in other posts that my flying experience was far from terrible, and that part was true. We had a couple contingencies while traveling that were airline related, but other than that, it was a smooth trip both ways for me. The two MAJOR things that really assisted me during our travels were:

1) Compression Socks
2) Hydration
3) Hygiene toilet seat covers
4) Comfy clothes/ loose fitting shoes

I was most nervous about dealing with blood clots and/or swelling in my feet from being so high in altitude and I really think the compression socks helped immensely. I had zero swelling, zero blood clots, and absolutely no pain in my legs what so ever. On the way back home, I didn't get up and walk around nearly as much as I should have, but even then, I had zero discomforts. I slept more on the plane ride home then I did on the plane ride to New York. I did get up and walk to and from the bathroom each time I had to go, but that wasn't nearly as much walking as some do. Each of our flights were completely packed (holiday travels, gotta love them), so I didn't like having to move my way through isles of toddlers, people sleeping with half their bodies in the isles, etc.

I brought my filtered Brita bottle on board, and I made sure to take advantage of the complimentary drinks that were being served by the flight attendants. When I wasn't drinking, I made sure to suck on ice cubes. It was a pain in the rear to continue to get up to use the bathroom so frequently, but it did work out. I also made sure to bring my own toilet seat covers that I ordered from Amazon... Boy, am I glad I did this. Not only are airplane restrooms freakishly small, but NONE of the Southwest bathrooms came equipped with toilet seat covers. I seriously would have lost my marbles if I hadn't brought my own. I am a germ FREAK when it comes to public restrooms, and airplane bathrooms are not exception. That really isn't pregnancy related, but for a woman that already feels huge and would like to use the restroom with added comfort... yes, those toilet seat covers are golden.

Dressing comfortably was also the smart way to go. I think everyone who travels for the most part, dresses comfortably. I worse a lose fitting sweat outfit that I bought a week before we left, I also wore really loose Roxy boots that I could slip on and off really easily. My feet never hurt, but they did get a bit sweaty at times from the compressions socks. Justin took care of Ava bug pretty much during the entire time we were actually traveling and I can't rave enough how much of a saving grace that was. I got sleep when I wanted to, Ava and daddy got to have some quality time together, and when we were landing... I got to glance at them looking out the window at the pretty city lights.

If I had to mention a couple other tips or discomforts.. I would say to sit on the isle row. With a family of 3 in our own seats, it was so nice not to sit next to strangers. I sat on the outside so I could access the bathroom a lot easier. My pregnant belly was too big for me to put my table down in front of me (huge bummer), but either Justin or Ava sat in the middle, so I just used their table. We had a lot of luggage during our travels as well, but the only thing I carried was Ava's gate checked carseat from time to time. Justin was such a trooper with gathering all of our carry on bags, and checking the huge luggage bags that needed to be checked. Walking through the airlines wasn't completely ideal either, but if we were early enough to our seats, I got to sit and relax and put my feet up.

Overall, that's all I took into consideration while flying just days away from my due date. When I got home, I did head to Labor and Delivery triage to get myself and the babe checked out, we both got a clean bill of health. This pregnancy has also been low risk and uncomplicated, which allowed me to receive the green lights from my providers. Had there have been some concerns, I most definitely would not have risked traveling at all. Every pregnancy, every woman, and every situation is completely different. I would still recommend discussing travel plans with your provider, assessing the risk factors for flying, and then making the best educated decision from there.

If you have any further additional questions, or if there was something I didn't list that you were eager to know, feel free to email or message me!

Happy Monday all!

♥- Leilani

Traveling Southwest: Part Two

While on the phone with a rep, they suggested I check the Baltimore flight leaving Seattle towards Albany.. that flight only had one seat available. That is a definite downside of traveling during the holidays. All flights are full. We waited around for awhile longer and finally heard our names being called over the intercom. Because we were going to miss our connecting flight from Chicago to Albany, they decided to reroute us through Baltimore. They gave us a voucher for a hotel in Baltimore, and then a flight that would leave in the morning for Albany. Personally, that wasn't the route I wanted to take. I was extremely upset that we wouldn't be arriving on time, but we didn't really have too many other options.

10am rolls around and we were FINALLY able to board our original flight that departed to Chicago. Departing almost 4 hours late, you'd think the staff would be understanding to the frustrated passengers, right? NOT. AT. ALL. I am a stickler when it comes to poor customer service, so I was less than pleased and already had the notion in my head that we would never fly Southwest again. During the flight I ordered wifi so I could browse the web a bit and track the connecting flight in Chicago. A small part of me was hoping it'd be late so we could still get on that plane to head to Albany... that definitely didn't happen, but I did think up another plan that would get us to New York a lot sooner. There was a flight departing from Newark, New Jersey from the Chicago airport that was leaving about an hour after we arrived in Chicago. All I had to do was check and see if there were seats available on the flight. If we were able to use this connecting flight, we could rent a car from Jersey, drive the 2.5 hours to New York, and drop the rental car off in the morning.. The only other problem was actually retrieving our checked luggage so we could recheck it for the Jersey flight.. Yeah, this part not so easy. I wouldn't suggest ever asking a flight attendant about anything with baggage, as they proved to be completely clueless.

The flight attendant allowed me to sit in the 10th row of the plane to get off quicker so I could ask the people that were in charge of our baggage to pull our luggage off, so we could take it up the terminal with us. NOT.POSSIBLE. for several reasons.
# 1 Southwest does NOT track their luggage
# 2 Just because you check your luggage, that doesn't mean your luggage will end up on your flight
# 3 The goal is to send the luggage where ever the destination tag says to go

Aside from the luggage fiasco, I had my fingers crossed that things would work out that way.. and they did. When we touched down in Chicago, I immediately went to the help desk to see if they could get my family on the Newark flight, and they were! All set there. I also got the phone number for Albany luggage at the airport in New York and was able to describe our bags, have someone present to check to see if our bags came in on an earlier flight, etc. They called the Chicago airport luggage department to make sure they were tracking the situation. Our luggage was said to be on the last flight from Baltimore to Chicago. I was so nervous about our things getting lost, but was hopeful that it'd be in Albany once we got there. We made our way to the gate for the Newark flight and found out that the flight had been delayed.. that wasn't too terrible because we were able to get in some dinner before our plane took off.

About 20 minutes after we ate, we boarded the flight when family boarding was called, gate checked the carseat yet again, and made our way onto the plane. This plane was a little smaller than the first one, and it was fully packed. The flight was suppose to be just under two hours, but apparently the arrival airport in Jersey wasn't ready for the plane to land yet... so we spent like 45 minutes doing these circular motions in the air. I was completely annoyed because instead of arriving at 830pm Eastern Time, we didn't end up getting into the rental car until almost 10pm. The ONE thing I was grateful for throughout this entire experience was my child. She was so, so good. We received multiple compliments on how calm, easy, and relaxed she was through each hustle and bustle.

After getting our rental car just before 10pm, we started our commute to New York. Ava knocked out as soon as she got in the car, and I was in awe of the New York City skyline, like i was the first time I saw it. Since it was late at night, traffic was minimal and the only thing that separated us from New York was the open road. We did stop for a bathroom break and a coffee break (Justin has been raving non-stop about having Dunkin Donuts again), we drove straight through to Albany to pick up our baggage. Justin's step mom actually ended up arriving at the airport before us, and she was there when our bags arrived. We didn't end up actually getting to the airport until after 12am, and we dropped off the rental car with the rental agency at the airport.


♥- Leilani

Traveling Southwest: Part One

Okay, I'm not entirely sure that the airline is to blame for our traveling fiascos to New York.. but they definitely won't be receiving future business from me, that's for sure. Let's start out with the entire morning. I woke up a little after 2am to shower before six hours of flying. I woke Justin up at 3am, and we woke Ava up when it was time to get her dressed and ready. Everything was going smoothly, as we packed our bags entirely the night before, printed out boarding passes, and stocked up on some of the foods that we could take with us during our travels. Our ride arrived around 4am, and it was less than an hour drive to the airport. Once we arrived at the airport, we noticed how long the lines were for checking luggage for Southwest. We opted to go inside as the line was moving quite faster, and we had two bags that needed to be checked. Our flight was due to take off at 625 am, and boarding began at 555am, so I thought we had plenty of time to get through everything that needed to be done... which we did. After checking our bags we headed over to the TSA lines. Justin had this preconceived notion we could all go through the pre-approval TSA line... which actually wasn't true, and apparently had to be done when we were purchasing the tickets. This meant we had to go to the overly crowded TSA lines that literally wrapped around the entire section of this airport.

This is when Justin started to panic. He thought for sure we weren't going to make our flight. We stood in line and again experienced the fast paced ease that had been the pattern for our morning in the airport. We got through TSA in no time, and aside from taking off my shoes and having a rep stick some odd stick in Ava's chocolate moo moo (testing for the bad chemicals, potentially?), it wasn't too bad. Mothers and children are allowed to go through the less invasive metal detector, while Justin had to go through this extremely large portal looking detector. After we got our things from the TSA belt, we dashed off to our boarding gate. We had a few minutes to spare before 555am hit, and even though I had to use the restroom, I opted to wait until we boarded on the plane.

We sat for about 10 minutes or so before the flight attendant started boarding the "A" crew. After the A's, pre-boarding passes, and disabled passengers boarded... things came to a halt. I want to say 30 minutes passed before someone told us that there was a small cut of some kind down below where our luggage was stored. They contacted maintenance to have someone come out to fix the minor issue. Even though the issue hadn't been fixed, they allowed the remaining passengers to board the plane. The next group called was family boarding and we were the first family to have our tickets scanned from that group. Once we were all seated the Captain explained the minor issue in a little more detail and assured us they were working hard to get the problem fixed. 20 minutes later a flight attendant announces that we'd be taking off no later than 710am (almost an hour behind schedule at this point), as the problem was fixed and we were preparing for take off.

About 15 minutes later, The captain tells us that the problem wasn't fixed and that Southwest has decided to have their own contractors come down all the way from Boeing (near Seattle), to have the problem fixed entirely. This meant all the passengers that had boarded had to get off the plane...To say we were irritated is an understatement. They left us with no updates, no ETA's, and no alternate travel options. I called Southwest on my cell during our wait, and they were pretty much no help at all. I was so infuriated. Our tickets were still showing that they'd been scanned and that the plane was still scheduled to take off at 710am, which was definitely not the case at 8 in the morning. I can't tell you how many reps on the phone I talked to, how many reps at the Southwest gate that I was brash with... i was entirely stressed, especially with a two year old that had been up since 3 in the morning. They had no updates as to when the flight was actually going to leave and they gave little help with assisting those they could with getting them an alternative connective flight.

♥- Leilani

Travel Prep & Ultrasound

My toddler actually went down for a nap today, so this mama has a free moment to blog out this past week. And, yes. Sadly, Miss Ava has decided to completely kick her beloved nap time... and while it's taken a bit of an adjustment for our family, we are working out the kinks. I shouldn't say she's gotten rid of naps entirely, she just no longer prefers to go down at the "normal" time. We've had to push up lunch time so she eats prior to a nap, and now she goes down around 1-2.. but we don't allow her to sleep past 3pm. Sleeping past three means no bedtime at 8pm... and our bedtime routine CANNOT be changed. Ava gets the perfect amount of sleep at night when she goes down accordingly. I should probably write up a 2.5 year old update on my little girl, I'll make a mental note to do that sometime before Olivia arrives.

Anywho, like always, this week has been mega busy. More busy due to the fact that we are prepping for our trip to New York for the holidays. We've been on the go and shopping much more than I'd like (surprising, right?), and getting our travel gear squared away. I ordered a snowsuit for Ava from OshKosh.. only to find out that my toddler is indeed officially in everything that is 3T clothing.. including coats and heavier clothing items. I was floored, but we had to exchange it. We picked up some super cute festive clothing, the new snow suit, and various other items for Ava for her new size of clothing. We also bought her a new carseat for traveling purposes. Don't get me wrong. I ABSOLUTELY love our Chicco Nextfit Convertible Seat, but it is huge, heavy, and bulky.. not truly ideal for traveling. Since we made the decision to gate check her seat, we also had the risk of damaging her expensive seat.. I wasn't okay with that. After talking to a million traveling parents, reading online, and calling the airline for help.. we finally decided to buy an aircraft approved, lighter, more manageable seat for our travels.

We made a list of food items to pick up this week for our plan ride, and we loaded up Ava's tablet with fun movies, apps, and games to keep her well entertained during our airtime. We even purchased headphones specifically for younger tots. I love how comfortable they seems and Ava's ease with them. I feel like I've called the airline a million times just to make sure I've got everything correct. I was really pleased with the fact that there is such a thing as family boarding with this airline. With it being the holiday season, I was worried we wouldn't be able to sit together, but right after the A class folks board, they call for families! We will be boarding well before 100 other passengers.. that eased my worries a ton.

The last time I flew with Ava bug, she wasn't even 8 months old... can i just say how relieved and excited I am to be traveling as a family? I know having Justin with us will make this trip even smoother than I'm imaging. My main goal is to stay hydrated during the flight, keep my compression socks on to help with swelling and such, and walking as much as I can. I absolutely DO NOT want to go into labor while we are on vacation, so I will definitely be taking OVERLY good care of myself while we are away and during our plane rides.

Speaking of, I got to see my littlest girl this morning.. and it was just amazing. Seeing her weigh in at 5 lbs 3 oz was foreign to me.. due to the fact that her big sister nearly weighed that at birth. I truly think we are going to have a 7 lb 6 oz babe... and if that's so, she'll weigh as much as her mama did at delivery. I could tell the discomforts I've been feeling lately came on a lot sooner than I remember them with Ava. I had a photo session yesterday and got really low to get great shots of the baby boy I was taking photos of.. yeah, I'm paying for that today. I'm achy, I have a bruise, and I am so incredibly tired.  Justin is pretty much off work for the rest of the week, so it's so nice to have his support and helping hands.

I have a 35 week OB appointment tomorrow, since I won't be in state for my 36 week appointment, and my fingers are crossed that everything will still check out amazing with my pregnancy. My biggest worry at this point for my pregnancy has been my potential gestational diabetes.. with my numbers being so excellent, Olivia's growth scans being so perfect, and the fact that I have no other risks.. I'm feeling pretty cloud 9 right about now. Here's to the last five weeks or so I have of pregnancy. I still can't believe how quickly these last 9 months have flown by, but I am most certainly ready to be a family of four.

Here's the best profile pic they could snag of our sweet Livy bean! 

Happy Monday all!

♥- Leilani

Leavenworth

It's almost midnight and instead of sleeping can you guess what I'm doing? If your guess was packing, you are absolutely correct. We are taking our first annual trip (as a family) down to the good old city of Leavenworth, Washington to watch the lighting of the tree. I feel like I'm packing for a week long vacation and it's kind of ridiculous how much stuff we are taking with us. Ava came down with some type of stomach bug and she threw up like three different times yesterday. It's not been concerning to me (or else we wouldn't be going), but I am a little nervous to see if the bug let's up, or if it's going to be problematic. She kept down all of her solid foods yesterday, but she threw up when she consumed large amounts of water. We didn't brave any milk products, so we are going to be monitoring her super closely during our trip. Surprisingly this kid didn't even have a fever.. she's behaving normally, but she has been wanting to cuddle MORE than the norm lately.. I basically haven't been detached from her in almost 24 hours... I love it, but I hate that she's probably not feeling the best.

The trip itself is almost three whole hours.. I'm not looking forward to that in the least. I used Ava's cute little luggage bag to pack away books, toys, and lots of coloring materials. I'm hoping that between me sitting in the back with her and all the entertainment I brought along, that we will have a decent trip. We are also leaving during her nap time and I'm hoping she sleeps well over an hour and a half of the trip. She's a really good kid in the car, but these last couple months have been a little trickier with her rear facing. I know she absolutely hates it most days, but we have been firm on not switching her until... well, I'll like to keep her turned around for as long as possible. The lowest goal I've set is 24 months, and we are only five months shy of reaching it. She fits the height and weight requirement for front facing, but I'm really not ready to take that leap quite yet. If any of my parental readers have yet to educate themselves on extended rear facing, I highly recommend doing so right now! It's important to know all the ways we can keep our tiny humans safe.

Because Ava has this stomach thing, I've packed a lot of bland foods for the trip. Zero milk products, saltines, chicken broth, and chicken noodle soup. I did stash some gold fish and I plan to bring blueberries.. I just don't want her stomach to get upset on the road. I packed plenty of throw up bags and about four different outfits.. can you tell I'm a mama? Always planning for the unexpected. I actually remembered to charge my camera battery (whoop whoop), and I'm just super excited to start this tradition with my daughter and her daddy. This time of year is my absolute favorite, and with all the emotions whirling this week, this family definitely needs a fun distraction. I plan on posting pictures of our "mini road trip" on instagram (which I never do), since I won' be on a computer for a little while. If you don't already follow me on instagram (and I know you personally), use the link on the right side of my blog. Hopefully I'll have great news to report about our trip and all that we learned in this cute little German town. Take a look at where we will be:

Happy Sunday all!

♥- Leilani

Flying with my (almost) eight month old

Where do I begin? My first plane ride with Ava didn't cause as much anxiety as I originally anticipated. And the anxiety I did feel wasn't from traveling with an infant. I'd say I was most relieved by that. We arrived at the Killeen airport an hour and a half before my flight was to take off. That airport is so small, and cute. It took about .5 seconds to get my boarding pass, bags checked, and get Justin a gate pass. Ahh, gate passes. Those things are a god sent (thank you Victoria). Justin was able to go through security with me and help me with Ava bug.. which actually turned out to be a good thing because I was selected for a random security check. I won't lie, I was actually shaking after being patted down, and touched. Granted it was a woman, but I have never had that happen before. I'm glad our airports are taking a much higher security measure though, it's making sure we are all safe. Other than that, going through security was a breeze. It seems like when you have kiddos all of their items are exempt to the "do not bring" list. After we got through security, Justin made sure to set our things right next to the gate, and we said our goodbyes. No tears from this mama (shocked), but he started his journey West as soon as he left us.

 Ava was so fussy while we were waiting for our flight. Another tooth has cut through her gums, and while I am thrilled for my Bug to be getting teeth, the pain seems to just be god awful. I ended up giving her teething tablets, and a little Tylenol for her fever. 225 pm came around so much sooner than I was expecting, and soon I was boarding with Ava on a smaller, charter plane. I gate checked the infant car seat and base, and I am so glad that I did. I definitely think giving Ava the tylenol helped a bit because we got minimal fussiness (and I chalk the fuss we got up to teething). I nursed her during take off, and she fell asleep almost instantly. It would have been nice for Bug to get a nap in, unfortunately the flight from Killeen to Dallas felt like five minutes. When we got off the plane, I waited on the bridge for my gate checked bag. It took all of two minutes for that to come up.

Going through the Dallas airport was like a maze. Initially I tried carrying my infant car seat on my back, my diaper bag, my checked bag, and Ava in the ergobaby carrier all at once. I did that when I went to the first incorrect terminal (thank you Expedia) for my flight. I really had to use the bathroom, (and I am SO GLAD I DID) because I started a conversation with a couple of really nice people that were also waiting for their flight to.. Longview, TEXAS! I figured out I was in the wrong place, and they kindly helped me load all of my things on a luggage cart, and directed me (in what they thought) was the correct terminal. I went back up to the skyrail, and I went to the second incorrect terminal for my flight, and by this point I was just fed up. Ava was an angel through all of this though. So curious, and content in the carrier. My flight was due to leave in like 35 minutes and I had been all over this airport. I finally just went up to a rep behind an airline counter, and asked her where my flight was. It was easy peasy for her to look that information up, and she told me not to listen to expedia in the future. Apparently they always have the wrong terminal information. I was then on my way to the third terminal, luggage and Bug in tow.

A kind couple on the skyrail held onto my luggage cart, all the way to my next terminal. I finally arrived at the correct terminal with just enough time to use the bathroom and board our flight. I gate checked the infant car seat, yet again, and this time they gave me the option of picking it up on the bridge, or baggage claim. I chose bridge, since that's what I had done the first time. Once getting in our seat, I felt so much better about this final plane ride. Until the person beside us sat down. Ava and I had the window seat, and there were these two huge military men who occupied the other two seats. I felt crammed, uncomfortable, and I thought the flight was going to be horrible. It was surprisingly entertaining. The military men kept Ava entertained. I was able to sit her on the tray that is attached to the seat in front of us, and I let her play with some of her toys I'd packed away in the diaper bag. I got her to sleep for a little over an hour, which was nice. When Bug was asleep I took that time to order beverages and something to snack on. When she woke up I pointed out our window and she was able to see Mt.Rainier, and the Seattle skyline. Though I know she was unaware of what she was looking at, it made my heart all warm knowing my baby was seeing something dear to me for the first time, home!I kept her in the ergobaby carrier the entire time she slept on the plane, and after we landed and made our way to baggage claim. This trip went so much better than I expected. 

Tips for flying with an infant

• If you are flying alone, get a gate pass for whomever is present to help you get through security
• Use a baby carrier so you are able to have free hands at all times
• If you have a teething baby, bring teething tablets and/or feeders (whatever you use to help soothe baby)
• Make sure you know where your terminals are AHEAD of time. 
• bring baby toys to keep your little one occupied
• Try to get an isle seat (I wish I would have)
• Definitely nurse, bottle feed, or have a pacifier handy during take off and landing (I think nursing was the real reason Ava wasn't fussy during those times)

 ♥- Leilani

New York Part Two

Our trip was overall stupendous! We concluded our trip with a ride out to New York City, so Ava could meet her Godmother for the first time. Her godmother also happens to be my older cousin that I haven't seen in 4 months. It was nice seeing her again and having her see Justin for the first time in over a year. New York City was CRAZY busy! We were in stand still traffic, paid a toll that was almost fifteen dollars, and people were walking in the middle of the street like there weren't tons of cars driving by. It was definitely a different experience. We saw the statue of liberty, the 9/11 monument, Brooklyn bridge, etc. The skyscrapers were HUGE! I don't think buildings are even that big in Seattle.

                                 (This was a shot I got on our way into the city)

I tried to get as many pictures as I could, but there was always a building in the way, or people, or traffic! Parking was impossible and the parking garages were all valet. It truly is the busiest city I have ever been too. Great experience for our little family though! How many 9 week olds can say they've spent time in Manhattan? After our time in NYC we started our journey back home! After 14 hours of being in the car, we decided it was time to stop. I love technology sometimes. I was able to use my mobile hotspot on my Verizon cellular device to use my laptop our entire trip. I booked a hotel room for our family at the La Quinta Inn after researching the area of Raleigh, North Carolina on yelp. We had a fantastic experience. No pet fee for our dog, Cooper. The area around Raleigh had a great city feel, and the room was very decent. They even give out military discounts, which is always appreciated.

We took our time on the way home and stopped at some special places along the way. Ava was even better on the way back down. ZERO fussy moments. She was more awake this time around, but she was cooing and full of smiles, like always. The biodegradable diapers we used were a HUGE success for us on our trip, including her chemical free wipes.

NO leakage, Ava has had ZERO diaper rash in her 10 weeks of life, and they were super absorbent. Since we've been home she is back in cloth and Justin and I are happy about that. It's so weird, on vacation, my husband made a comment about how he missed her cloth! That made me so happy to hear! We've still quite a few days of Justin's block leave, so our vacation isn't quite over yet! We haven't made up our mind for our next destination. Atlanta or Florida... Either way I'm excited to have all this exploration time with my husband.

NEW diapering methods

I finally came to the conclusion that cloth is something I am extremely set on with my parenting styles. I didn't want to invest more money in my cloth diaper stash, but due to Ava arriving smaller than anticipated, it looks like I am going to have to. I'm investing in preemie prefolds from greenmountaindiapers. Perfect because the covers that we are using are bummis super brite. The covers start from 4 lbs to 9 lbs and I already have one or two of these at home from prior orders. Ava is an ounce shy of 4 lbs at 33 weeks 5 days ( already in size range)

                                           

I am confident these will work for our sweet girl. I'm really excited about my decision to expand my cloth diapering stash. & there is a bonus: If our next baby is on the smaller side then at least our stash will be set to go for them as well. I almost decided to take the easier route and use organic disposable diapers with Ava, because I found out she was going to be smaller. Cloth diapers are harder to find for super small babies and a lot of people actually use disposable until their babies can fit into cloth. I'm glad I was able to find a solution that works for us. I did however come to a decision about diapering while traveling. 

An ecological alternative to traditional disposable diapers. Made from renewable and compostable materials, they are also carbon neutral.

FEATURES

• Biodegradable: inner shell and padding
• Vegetable-based: materials from renewable resources
• CO2 NEUTRAL: no contribution to climate change
• Hypoallergenic: fragrance-free and chlorine-free                   

my budget for diapering until Ava is potty trained is $500.00 even with my current stash and expected preemie stash I will be well under this amount. I have currently spent $314.26. By investing in organic disposables for travel I will be spending $49.39 ( that's without coupons or promotional codes) for a total of 144 attitude diapers ( we will be on our trip for 10 days, giving us a total of up to 14 diapers per day) I still plan on bringing a small stash of pocket diapers as well. This still keep us in our diapering budget.