Baby (Ok, Toddler) Firsts

With a nearly one-and-a-half year old, baby firsts are becoming fleeting moments, rather than the everyday event they once were. Yesterday I took V for her first haircut. They were in her eyes and, for fear that my Grams would put a bowl on V's head a cut a shockingly straight new fringe (a la my childhood), we went to visit my friend Tracy at her salon.

V loved it. The mirrors, the tall chair, she was all smiles, beaming at her reflection the whole time. 

I have to admit, I wasn't ready for a full trim... It's not quite time to see those baby wings go (not to mention the pigtails i love putting in her hair!) Thankfully the new cut doesn't appear baby mullet-ish. And V looks so very sweet with her fresh new do.

Xo

Aloha! Our Family Vacation in Maui, Hawaii

I am still beaming from our recent vacation to Maui, Hawaii. We had the best time. Although it is much more challenging to travel with a monkey toddler on my lap, we had so much fun once we arrived there.

We stayed at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club on Kaanapali beach in Maui. We love loved this place! It had it all: tons of amazing pools; always an open chair in a good spot, no matter the time of day (I hate the "reserving chairs game" that you have to play at most resorts, although I would be really good at it now with my early waking child!); quick 5 min walk into town; mini kitchenette units (I'd say essential for when you have kids); right on the beach; and the list goes on...

V is a total water baby. We could not. keep. her. out. As soon as Mike put her up on the pool deck she'd race right back in, the kid has no fear when it comes to water! So we spent most of our time at one of the pools. She especially loved the pirate ship pool, the perfect water-playground for toddlers! Look at her little hula dance... so. cute. 

We had a kitchenette in our suite, but we opted to only use it for breakfast, some lunches and 500 snack-prep times, and always had dinner out. Our fave spot was Sensei Sushi, the best sushi we've ever had. This came recommended to us by a friend, and she gave us the heads up on making resos in advance (a must especially with kids). Get a hold of the tempura fried macadamia nut ice cream roll! Say what? I do have to admit it looks more impressive than it tastes, but either way, this place was a win!

Like I said we mostly stayed at the pool, with a few trips along the boardwalk into town each day. Miss V decided that she was going to own the boardwalk, and my was it hilarious! You can see her strutting her stuff in this pic below... she had everyone sitting along the boardwalk's attention, and if they weren't watching her, she'd go over and get their attention! Too cute. We knew we had a social baby, but we really didn't realize just how social she was until this trip.

V was also full of new words on the trip. Mike had her down at the beach one morning and a guy walked by with two Starbucks cups (also at the resort!) and V pointed at him and said "caw-fee! caw-fee!". Ha! I blame Mike. Just kidding, we all know it's me who has the latte problem--just look at the name of my blog ;) That is some pretty great marketing on Starbuck's part! Her other favorites were "side" (slide) she discovered the slides at both the playground and the water park; "uppppp pease" (her first two words together!), sa-set (sunset, come on, how cute is this Maui-influenced word?). Of course she won't repeat much of this to others, she's not one to perform so her parents can show off her new-found baby talents!

The weather was great, only one morning of rain, which we used to go to the Maui Ocean Center. V loved it! Although she may have been equally impressed with a fish tank in a Doctor's office. It made for a good morning rather than waiting out the rain at the resort.

We really didn't do much besides enjoy the sunshine, pools, and tasty food. Another must have in Hawaii is shaved ice-- and we aren't talking the basic snow cones drizzled with syrup. We went to Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice (at the Hyatt) and they had so many delicious flavours and combos with ice cream too! Unfortunately our visit ended early when V slipped on the bench and smacked her lip. Poor thing.

All in all an amazing family getaway... you treated us well, Maui! We will be back!

Away we go: 5 packing tips for holidays with your toddler

We love to go away somewhere warm each winter, and we are so excited to bring V into the travelling picture. Everyone and their dog will warn you that travelling with kids isn't the same... And they are right, it's not. Sure, it's chaotic, stressful, tiring... But, even more so, (in my opinion) it's rewarding, fulfilling, fun and makes your heart want to leap out of your chest. I say do it!

The key to making everything (or most things) parenting-wise easier seems to be organization and preparedness, or at least for us A type's it is :) Here are my top 5 packing tips for traveling with a toddler.

1. Packing the bag

This is going look seriously O.C.D., but I pack most of V's clothes in Ziploc bags inside our suitcase. I know, crazy, right. Or is it? I did this for our trip to Hawaii last year when V was only 4 months old (read: even tinnier clothes) and it worked out fantastic. Generally she is sharing a bag with one of the two of us, or this trip we packed one big bag for all of us (look at me shedding my over-packing ways!) It helps to keep their stuff manageable, especially once you start going in and out of the suitcase. Again, ignore my craziness, but I did outfits (i.e. dress and diaper covers) in little bags-- which is a huge help (especially for Dads) rather than rummaging through a suitcase trying to find a little matching pair of baby bottoms for a teeny dress! I put things like all the shorts, sleepwear, shoes, etc. in larger Ziplocs. Call me crazy, but this works like a charm! (And it's not entirely wasteful, when I'm unpacking I put all the Ziplocs into one and toss them in one of the baskets in V's room for the next trip).

2. Snacks, snacks, snacks

Anyone with a toddler knows how crucial this is, so I probably don't even need to say it, but snacks are essential. We have this little snack cup pictured below for V that works perfect to mix a bunch of dry snacks in and is less likely to end up all over the car, plane, you... I've tried lot's of different snack contraptions, this cheap Superstore find is the best. For toddler age I'd also recommend bringing a few fruit squeeze pouches. I brought some on our last trip, but didn't have enough. You can now bring liquids over the allowable amount in kids' items (at least between Canada and the US, including sippy cups or bottles full of water). I also have been known to accidentally smash a jar of baby food in the security line, this can't happen with a squeeze pouch!

3. (New) Toys & Entertainment

I'm not suggesting that every car ride needs new and exciting toys, but if you have a day of travel ahead of you, expect your child to get bored. For our most recent trip some things that went over well were a bunch of little toys packed into little Frozen purses. She happened to get two of these purses given to her, so one I filled with a set of 12 wooden animal characters, and the other with a handful of Little People. This goes back to #1 and is easy to keep organized. I've seen kids' travel kit making ideas on Pinterest, but found V is probably too young for this yet.

When we arrived in Maui we rented a baby monitor from a local company and needed to up our $ limit on the total for delivery. So we added in a bin of toddler toys to mix things up when we were there. This is such a great idea. We ended up calling pretty last minute, so I think we got the bottom of the barrel when it came to toys, but V didn't seem to care and I used this opportunity to pack away the toys I brought her mid-week so they would be new again for the ride home. She literally squealed with excitement when her baby made an appearance on the flight home! I totally recommend scouting out the options in your destination and renting those items you don't want to lug along with you.

One more note- we don't tend to buy a lot of souvenirs, but I found a ton of kids "Hawaii-themed" books in the shops there that I've never seen here. Since V loves books this worked out perfectly and is a great addition to her baby library! We also got her this beach house as a Valentines gift and waited until she was just about to lose it on the flight before busting it out. It too was a huge hit!
 
4. Purse Must Haves

A little collection of things for your purse or diaper bag: Johnson's hand and face wipes (I don't go anywhere without these, particularly after a recent puking-in-the-car incident, which I was entirely unprepared for); Bath and Body Works travel hand sanitizer; Skip Hop Pronto Diaper Change Station; A few bags or Ziploc bags rolled up (you really never know when you will need these). Whatever will make your trips to washrooms etc. more efficient and less chaotic. :)

5. Expectations

Last-- but probably most important-- expectations. This is something we learned on this trip. Let go of them. Our V is a great sleeper, and given we had an evening-ish flight, the fact she was sick (could swing either way), and also exhausted, we figured she'd conk out on the plane ride over. We were very wrong. Granted this was mostly due to her plugged nose and not being able to get herself to sleep because she couldn't breathe, but there were a few moments of pure frustration from either or Mike or I. Like I said to Mike after, had we gone into the flight thinking she'd be awake the entire time, we wouldn't have been so frustrated when our expectations didn't play out as we'd hoped.

On the way home we went into the flight with NO expectations and were pleasantly surprised when she fell fast asleep in my lap after only a few minutes and proceeded to be an amazing traveler the rest of the way home, delays, late-night flights and all.

Happy travels!