Traveling with a Baby

I am no expert by any means, but in the last 9 months we have sure done a lot of traveling with our little miss (26 flights and some road trips) so I thought I would share some tips and products that I found helpful while flying!

Harbor's first flight!

1. Give yourself plenty of time to pack and get to the airport. I am such a last minute person sometimes and it definitely helps to go to bed the night before knowing everything is packed and ready to go! I lay out what I am going to wear for the flight, Harbor's outfit, have our bags packed and have the diaper bag packed the night before. Of course, make sure to get to the airport with plenty of time to check in for your flight. Traveling with a baby you have a lot more baggage and baby equipment to check.

Let the packing begin!

I can't even handle that face!! :)

2. Always pack extra in your diaper bag! We ended up having one of our flights delayed and ran out of diapers! Not good. In my diaper bag I always pack an extra outfit for Harbor, burp cloth, lots of diapers and wipes, diaper cream, a little plastic bag (just in case she has a blow out and we can seal it up), hand sanitizer and nursing cover. I also pack a couple snacks, but nothing too messy. I usually bring some puffs and rice crackers for her to chew on. I also pack her Sophie giraffe and a baby doll. No toys that are really small because chances are she is going to drop them on the plane and I want to be able to find them! I always pack a large ziplock baggie filled with the things I will need DURING the flight for Harbor (snacks, pacifier, toys) so that way it is easier to have them all in one place & to be able to pull them out easily! One of my favorite products to bring on the plane for Harbor is the Glitter & Spice Silicone Teething Necklace. It is a silicone teething necklace that I wear around my neck. Harbor sits on my lap during our flight and will sit and chew on it. It's great!

You can shop their adorable pieces at www.glitterandspice.ca

3. A great traveling stroller is a must! It makes such a difference. We have our Bugaboo Donkey for our everyday stroller, but I am SO glad we purchased the Recaro Easylife Ultra-Lightweight Stroller for our traveling stroller! It only weighs 13lbs, has a multi position reclining seat, folds small enough to fit into the overhead compartment and can be folded up/assembled with just one hand. It is so great to be able to hold Harbor with one arm and use the other to pop open the stroller.

We purchased ours from www.toysrus.ca

4. Find your gate. Go to the nearest restroom and change babe into a fresh diaper. Pre board! Take this time to pre board, get to your seat and pull out everything you need for the flight. I always pull out my nursing cover and the ziplock bag that I pre-pack before the flight with Harbor's goodies in it and put them in the seatback in front of me.

5. While at the gate you can talk to the customer service agent and kindly ask, if possible to move you to a seat where there is no one sitting in the middle seat. It's not always a guarantee they will be able to do so, but it doesn't hurt to ask! Having the extra room between you and another guest can really make a difference. 

6. It might not work for every mom & baby, but I always nurse Harbor for take off and landing. It helps her ears to be sucking and it comforts her so that is what we have always done. If you're not nursing have a bottle ready to feed or a pacifier to help them suck. 9 out of 10 times Harbor falls asleep and then sleeps most of the flight!

7. Last, but not least book your flights with WestJet when possible! ;) They are the best airline to travel with and are so helpful to parents traveling with little ones!

PS. They have a two day seat sale going on now!
www.westjet.com

Safe travels!

xoxo

Ashley

Mini Babymoon

I have been wanting to do some posts for awhile and now just finally have the time to! The 

last month has been pretty hectic. I am going to reminisce back to our mini baby moon we 

went on back in the beginning of September. We decided to do one last trip just the two of 

us before we moved into our new house and before everything got crazy busy!

 We took an early flight to Vancouver and took the skytrain downtown to our hotel. The 

skytrain is so convenient to be able to catch it right from the airport and take you to so many 

different locations! 

Sean booked us an amazing room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim and wow was it a beautiful hotel! 

Our room had a whole wall of huge windows looking over downtown, a comfy king bed and 

a stunning bathroom! I could have lived in this bathroom. From the bathroom we had a 

pretty view of Coal Harbor and the ocean.

Sean had booked a prenatal massage for me and it was honestly one of the best massages 

I have ever had. I was in preggo heaven! To lay on my belly with a belly cutout pillow and

 have my sore back rubbed hard was amazing.

After the massage I felt so relaxed and just so grateful to have had such a lovely massage. 

We hung out and relaxed in the spa area that was a rooftop lounge with comfy beds, a rock 

fire place and 2 hot tubs. We laid on the comfy beds, nibbled on snacks and just soaked in 

the sun. The weather was wonderful while we were in Vancouver! Hot & sunny!

We relaxed quite a bit in our huge tub in the room and enjoyed the view while Sean sipped 

on champagne and I enjoyed my sparkling water :) We walked around downtown, lounged 

by the pool, enjoyed the spa lounge more, had naps before going

 out for dinner, walked to the Cactus Club and Tap & Barrel for dinner (we can't go to 

Vancouver and NOT go to Cactus Club! We love that place) and just took our time

 enjoying it all. Oh and we took the skytrain to the mall to do a little shopping and purchase

 things from Babies R Us that were on our list!

This trip was a mini babymoon I will never forget. It was the most relaxed I had felt in a 

really long time! From packing up our house, selling our house, buying baby stuff and 

traveling to see our families it was just really nice to spend some time just the two of us and 

do nothing but relax. I am so grateful to be able to go on these nice trips with my husband. I 

love him so much. We really enjoy our time spent together, but oh man are we excited to 

add our baby girl into our lives!

xo Ashley

Baby Shower

During my trip to Minnesota my mom & sister hosted a baby shower for me! It was pretty surreal to be at MY own baby shower! I was very excited to get together with some very special ladies in my life to celebrate our baby girl. The baby shower was hosted at a park in my mom's neighborhood under a cute gazebo. 

My sister know's exactly my style & did such a cute job with all the details at the shower! She ended up having a lot of pieces at the shower that I would be able to use again in the nursery and I absolutely loved that!!

It was a nice August summer day, but man oh man was it windy!

From the pink bow paper straws...

beautiful pink roses...

all the precious baby clothes & goodies on the clothes line...

to the adorable baby rattle cupcakes I was overjoyed with all the cuteness!

Eek! I had been trying to order one of these precious piggies for SO long and I was so surprised to see one hanging on the clothes line!! I just have a feeling our little girl is going to love pigs as much as I do! :)

Now my mom & sister definitely know me because they had Chipotle catered for the food at the shower and oh my goodness was this preggo a happy gal!

It was so yummy! And what a great idea right?!

After chowing down on Chipotle we played a cute game of "Mommy or Daddy." Everyone was given 2 popsicle sticks which had a pair of lips on one representing me and another that had a firefighter hat representing Sean. My sister asked questions and everyone had to hold up their answer with either the lips or firefighter hat. I was pretty impressed with how many ladies knew all the answers! I guess that's a good thing with how well they know me ;) It was a really cute game. She also planned a cute game with little babies frozen inside ice cubes. Everyone got a baby ice cube in their punch and once the ice cube melted and the little baby was floating inside their cup they had to yell "My water broke!" first to win! I then opened all the lovely baby gifts and wow did baby girl and I get spoiled! 

My sister had asked guests to bring a baby book instead of a card and I really loved that idea! Now I will have all these adorable baby books in the nursery & will be able to read the sweet notes from who purchased it for us every time we read their book! 

I am so grateful for each and everyone one of these ladies that are in my life...

(sorry missing a few!)

 

(Sean stopped by at the end just to say hello!)

I had such a great time at the baby shower and felt so blessed and thankful. It's moments like these that are a huge reminder to just how lucky I am to have these close friends in my life. I do not get to see or stay in touch as often as I would like to with everyone with being so far away, but they are always there to support me and for that I am so grateful. I can't wait for everyone to meet our baby girl!

Oh and I had a lot of fun with the fabulous giant confetti filled balloons...

 '

Thank you mommy & Did for a wonderful baby shower and thank you again to everyone who came to celebrate our baby girl!

xoxo Ashley

Lake Louise

This past Christmas we went down to Cranbrook, BC to spend it with my husband's side of the family (we take turns every year spending it with each sides of our family). We were going to fly down, but we decided to drive so we could make a stop through Lake Louise and stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise! We have driven through Lake Louise many times, but we have never stayed to enjoy it. The drive from Fort St John to Cranbrook is about 12.5 hours so it was a great way to break up the drive. Let's just say our stay at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise was even better than we had imagined! 

Quick stop at Tim Horton's and our road trip begins!

The drive from Northern BC to Lake Louise was so beautiful!

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is just stunning

Upon arrival we had a cute box of chocolate covered blueberries & a sweet note in our room...

and a dog bed & food dishes for Lilly!

The view from our room was so pretty!

Our view from one of the restaurants while enjoying drinks.

Time to go ice skating!

Recognize this ice castle from The Bachelor by chance?? It was on the season with Sean when him & Catherine had their date in Lake Louise! 

Keeping Lilly warm haha (don't worry he was skating super slow & extra careful)

I was trying to act like I knew what I was doing ;)

We had so much fun!

What?! Well this didn't make me feel safe!! 

Sleigh Rides

They had such a cute ice bar set up near the lake. 

They had a few ice sculptures that were pretty amazing.

Exploring! 

Drank some champagne in the room while getting ready for dinner!

Yummy!

Dinner was AMAZING. Sean and I love Indian food and the chef's at the restaurant we chose for dinner happened to be from India. So of course we had to order the Indian dishes on the menu! Sean had the lamb vindaloo & I had the butter chicken. Delicious!

During dinner we had a "pet sitter" watch Lilly because pets are not allowed to be left in the rooms alone. It was so nice they offered this for a little extra charge & we were able to enjoy ourselves while Lilly had a friend to walk around the hotel and hang with.

Relaxing by a fireplace after dinner... 

and playing with Lilly! 

The Christmas tree in the lobby was so pretty! The whole hotel honestly felt a bit magical with all the Christmas decor & Christmas activities going on.

Walking around the hotel... Lilly was loving it!

Another cute Christmas touch in the lobby... Gingerbread houses!

Everything was amazing about our stay! I feel like it was the ultimate Canadian experience during Christmas time :) I hope to stay there again during the holidays and have my family come stay with us. I know they would love it! Sean and I also agree that we will have to visit again during the summer time. Lake Louise is definitely something to see!

xo Ashley