Ahhhh! Theres nothing quite like that feeling you get on the first day of a vacation. Am I right? It’s as if you’re standing on the edge of a week full of freedom ready to dive in head first. That’s how I felt this morning as my family and I embarked on our first vacation as a family of three. But boy is it different with a baby. So let me paint a picture for you…
It’s 9am on a Saturday morning in late June. The sun is shining brightly, the air is calm and still and it’s officially the first day of summer. I’ve been running around like a crazy lady for the last two days doing laundry, packing bags, gathering toiletries, cleaning, locking windows, shutting shades… Did I forget anything? Probably. But I won’t remember until we’re halfway there. My husband has been packing up the car all morning. As one bag goes out the door another one takes its place waiting to get stuffed into the CRV. “Honey, there’s no way in hell we’re going to fit everything! We packed everything but the kitchen sink!” There it is. The cliche that holds true when traveling with a four month old. “Honey, don’t worry, we have plenty of room. What else is going?” My husband calmy and excitedly responds back as I hand him a huge box of diapers and baby wipes. In the midst of packing I somehow manage to find time to shower, get dressed and throw my wet hair up in a messy bun. After I feed and change our daughter, I strap her into the car seat and smile back at her sleepy eyes as I clip toys to the handle of her seat so she has something to play with on the long drive ahead. I hand her off to my husband, run to the bathroom and take one last walk around our house making sure all the lights are off. I grab my purse – the last of about 20 bags that are already firmly jam packed in the car, and I walk out the door. As I stood in our driveway starring at our car I laughed out loud and immediately pulled out my phone. “OMG!” Is all that came out of my mouth. “What?!”, my husband responds. “I have to take a picture of this! How on earth are you going to see backing out of the driveway?!” Then my husband reminds me we have a backup camera… Thank goodness for having the latest technology and features in our new car. It was literally full to the roof. We had two bikes on top and what felt like everything but the kitchen sink inside. My daughter was snug in her seat between suitcases, pillows, beach bags and baby toys. We jumped in, put the car in reverse and headed out.
I kept looking back at how much we packed. Since my daughter was born, we’ve taken her to Vermont twice on weekend getaways, but packing for a whole week proved to be a game changer, especially now that she’s starting to play with toys. For such a little lady, she certianly comes with a lot. And I knew that she would, but the difference is, now I’m experiencing it first hand. Between a jogging stroller, a baby backpack, a tent for the beach, a suitcase full of baby clothes and burp pads, a box full of diapers, a bag full books and toys this kid could furnish her own one bedroom apartment. I kept thinking to myself, what happens if and when we have another? We’ll have no room for us in the car! My husband and I reminisced that in years to come, those baby bags full of infant sensory toys and books will turn into added bikes on the roof racks and hoola hoops and jumping ropes in the back. We realized, it doesn’t matter how old our children are when going on vacation, they’re going to require a lot at every age, but much like them, what they need will constantly be changing.
Gone are the days of packing for two and only worrying about the needs of just me and my husband. From here on out, family vacations will take a lot more planning, several more bags, cost more money and undoubtedly be enriched with much more love and laughter. So as we made our way to our family beach house on Cape Cod, I looked back and smiled at our sleeping baby girl and everything but the kitchen sink that was packed in our car, and I looked forward to spending an entire week with my little family making memories full of firsts that will last us a lifetime.