Aloha

Apparently this writing every day thing is going to be more difficult than I thought.  My hope was that by making it public I would feel more accountability.  You know, the whole 'workout with a buddy' concept?  Guess not.

Hawaii was, to use a bland, overused adjective, wonderful.  

I can't recommend the JW Marriott in Ko Olina enough.  We were lucky enough to have a room on the side of the resort opposite from Disney's Aulani.  One whole wall of the room was a series of sliding doors (glass, screen or louvers) and we slept with the screens shut, falling asleep to the shushing, suck of waves on the tidepools and waking up to the sounds of parrots screeching in the palm trees.  Heaven.  

But back to that whole waking up part.  Yeah, we did that. At 4am. Every. Single. Day.  The little dude never got the memo that we were on island time.  

He was a gem on the plane.  I tried to nurse on takeoff because I read it would help his ears adjust to the changes in pressure, but he had zero interest.  He was too fascinated with the window, and the tiny TV screen in the seatback that flashed to different scenes.  It didn't matter, because he fell asleep as soon as we took off, and literally never woke up again.  Until we landed.  I didn't have to deal with a diaper change and the stuffed animals, Sophie Giraffe teether and favorite book never made it out of my bag.  When we landed and were standing up to exit the plan, the ladies in front of us said, "Oh my gosh, I didn't even know you had a baby back there."  Told you, he was an angel.

The only part of the flight that required any finagling was food and drink for me.  With the sleeping baby in my arms, there was no chance I was getting my tray down, so I just commandeered the hubs.  He was nice enough to spork-feed me the yummy curry vegetable pasta they served for dinner, and I sipped my usual ginger ale using one hand.   

Gate checking the borrowed snap n' go stroller (it was actually a Jeep cruiser) and the car seat in the protective bag was a snap.  

All in all, as miserable as plane travel can be these days, I'd give Hawaiian airlines top marks.  Even the TSA security line wasn't too bad.  They had zero questions about my breast pump or ice pack that I carried on.  

Maybe because, per my usual nature, I was prepared for the worst, we actually had a really great trip over.

More to come later...

Hawaii or Bust

::Drum roll please::  We’re traveling!  To a tropical place!  With the baby!  When I said this wasn’t a mommy blog, I may have fibbed.

Thus far, the baby hasn’t traveled farther than 45 minutes away from home.  A trip to Costco with the little man is still kind of a big deal, so needless to I am nervous/excited/how many more minutes until we leave already!?

I am a planner in a major way.  I plan compulsively.  I don’t like surprises (although my last birthday was awesome!), or any last minute change of plans.  I have been mentally planning this trip for the past two months.  I must admit, it’s exhausting.  But it’s almost here!

Housesitter to feed and love the fur children?  Check.  Ride to the airport?  Check.  Laundry?  Getting there.  Packing List?  That’s right, I make a list of what to pack.  I start one as soon as I know that I’m travelling somewhere, and I then I tweak it until it’s actually time to start to packing.  I told you I’m a planner.  And it’s mainly because I hate to overpack.  Nothing drives me crazier than schlepping something along on a trip and never using it.  So yes, the list I need to pack is almost finished.  And it’s never been longer.  

As soon as we had the baby I gave up any dreams of carry-on only travel, resigned to pay checked baggage fees from here to eternity.  The smallest member of our family also seems to need the most stuff, but I’m hoping that between my suitcase and my husband’s, all of the baby’s things will fit and we can get away with only checking one suitcase a piece.  Wish me luck.  We’re going to Hawaii, not the Sahara desert, so I’d rather under pack and pick something up there if we really need it.  

The biggest ticket items that are new to our travel entourage are a car seat and stroller.  Day to day we use a Chicco Keyfit 30 Infant car seat (which I adore) and an Uppa Baby Vista stroller (also love).  Up until recently, we used the Chicco adapter to attach the car seat to the Vista frame for toodling around town.  I loved this arrangement.  But as the little man desperately wants to be a big boy and sit up now, we’ve transitioned to the ‘big boy’ seat attachment for the Vista and the car seat just stays put in the car.  

We’ll be renting a car on the trip, so we definitely need to bring the car seat along (baby will be flying on my lap, save your criticism), but I don’t want to risk the Vista getting damaged on the plane.  I kind of envision wearing the little man to be more practical in Hawaii as is (beaches, and hiking, and lava flows, oh my) but that leaves us trying to carry a baby, our luggage, and a car seat through the airports and security.  Yikes.  It makes me sweat just imagining it.

A quick call to a seasoned mom friend, and bam, we have the answer.  We are going to borrow her Snap n’ Go stroller frame.  That gives us an easy way to transport the car seat, with the baby sitting in it or not, the option to have a stroller in Hawaii if we need it, and the ability to wear my little guy in his snugli when he’s in the mood, which I prefer.  

I am waiting for this to be delivered tomorrow to protect the car seat enroute.  We’ll gate check the car seat and borrowed stroller frame for free, and be relatively luggage light on the flight itself.  

We’re a happy bed sharing family (again, not interested in criticism, we’re responsible parents), so we’re not worried about sleeping arrangements or pack n’ plays and such.

First-world, mom problems?  We’ll see how this all plays out.

The Art of Pumping

Day 3, entry #2...oh, the irony of the daily writing plan.  I am better than this.

I suppose I should just write about what’s on my mind, which, to be fair, is approximately 1 million and ½ things.  Today I think it’s mostly about pumping.  That’s right, pumping breastmilk.  Run for the hills folks.  

Is this a mommy blog?  I don’t think so.  It’s a life blog.  And what’s going on in my pedestrian life right now is pumping.  I had a baby at the end of last year, and just recently returned to work, so that’s what’s on my mind.  Milk.  My milk.  Making enough of it.  Keeping it cold.  The thousand details and planning that go into a working mom’s breast milk routine.

I rented a hospital-grade pump for a month after the baby was born and although the suction was great, it was too bulky and heavy to make it portable.  I am now using a Medela Pump-in-Style purchased from a very lovely lactation consultant.  It’s not as efficient as my little man, but it definitely gets the job done.  Zero complaints so far.  

My routine goes something like this.  I try and nurse right before I leave the house.  My little guy is a good morning sleeper, so this doesn’t always work out.  I fret over whether or not I should wake him and make him eat, or just let him snooze.  I’ve done both, and I’m still not quite sure what the best choice is.  Since I’m usually running late these days, I prefer not to have to shut my door and pump and soon as I get to the office so I try and get him to eat if I can.  

If all goes well and he nurses right before I head out the door, my first pumping session is sometime between 10-10:30.  I get the most milk from this first pump of the day, usually 5-6 oz.  This milk goes straight into the fridge, and I rinse my pump parts and bottles and store them back in the lunchbox style cooler bag I bring to transport the milk home at the end of the day.  From start to finish this whole process takes me 15-20 minutes, and it’s definitely getting easier with practice.  Repeat at 1-1:30, and then 4-4:30.  I get 3-4 oz each time.  Boom.  Done.  I feel like I have mastered the universe when I come home at the end of the day with 12 oz or so of freshly expressed breast milk to feed my little guy the next day.  Hooray for me.  

Right now I’m liking the 5 oz Medela bottles that came with my pump for expressing and short-term milk storage.  For long-term freezer storage I love, love, love these Snappies containers that I was introduced to when my little guy did a brief stint in the NICU.  I have no alterior motives here, I found these containers on my own and it’s been freezer milk storage monogamy every since.  I don’t trust storage bags because I work too hard to make and express my milk to lose any to faulty bags, and I’ve heard horror stories.  The Snappies lids are permanently attached, so there is no fumbling for a lid and you can snap them shut with one hand.  They hold about 2.5 oz which is perfect for individual feedings, and you can write the date on them with a sharpie and then rub it off with a paper towel to re-use.  I have these guys stashed all over my freezer.  Like I said, love.  For feeding, the only bottles I’ve ever used are Dr.Brown’s, both glass and wide-neck.  If it ain’t broke, why mess with it?  

And if I could give one piece of advice it would be this: drink water.  I find the amount of milk I’m able to pump is directly related to the amount of water I drink.  If I get busy and don’t remember to drink as much, the amount of milk I’m able to pump nose dives.  So, yeah, another reason to drink water.

I also recommend that you start pumping a few weeks before you return to work to help build a little freezer stash of milk.  I pumped in the morning, after nursing the baby, and sometimes in the middle of the night when the baby started to sleep for longer stretches between feedings.  You’ll need it to feed your baby the first day you return to work before you start pumping full-time, and it helps to take some of the pressure off in case of emergency.  You know, like the you-have-one-too-many-glasses-of-red-wine-to-nurse-the-baby kind of emergency.  It was a long 9 months.

All in a day's work

Well, Here Goes Nothing

A writer whom I respect very much told me that I needed to write.  Every day.  Whether I felt like it or not.  Please bear with me while I get my sea legs.