Packing for an infant

The first weekend our good friends got married. We were very excited to attend the wedding which was in Houston.

On the other hand this was the first trip we were taking Emily on and it was going to be her first time flying. I was crazy anxious. And of course my way of dealing with this: planning. Yep I am totally my mother daughter. 4 weeks before our trip I started making lists. I continued to tweak and change my list. I asked other moms I knew, I ran the whole thing by my mother, I read the whole thing off to my husband (who was not listening).

My list was 4 pages long. yep. 4 pages. One for me. One for my husband. One for Emily and One page with all the baby things that needed to be in our carry-on. I excessively worried about my lists because it was the only think I could control. We flew after Emily's bed time and I was sure she was going to scream the whole time and flying just makes me nervous anyway so I concentrated on what I had a direct effect on. What we packed.

We were flying Southwest so we had free checked bags which is the way to go when you are traveling with baby, they need a lot of stuff.

Here is what I packed and then what I learned:

Emily's checked bag

Checked bag:

- Lotion, body wash, Emily's medicine and dropper in ziplock

-2 9oz bottles

-1 5oz bottles

-Bottle brush

-4 pairs of socks

-4 sets of pajamas

-1 sleep sack

-2 pairs of pants

-1 2-piece outfit

-1 long sleeve onesie

-8 short sleeve onesies

-2 pacifiers

-1 thermal blanket

-1 blankie

-1 flannel blanket

-1 lovie

-1 book

-1 travel case of wipes

-4 bibs

-4 burp cloths

-2 ziplock bags

-1 coat

- wedding outfit (dress, onesie, tights)

- 2 pairs of shoes

-sleep sheep

-1 hat

It looks like a lot of clothes and it is but Emily has major reflux so we go through a lot of outfits a day. Also, we used disposable diapers on this trip and she tends to leak with those. 

Emily's Carry on

Carry on bag (diaper bag and backpack):

-2 pajama outfits

- 1 8oz bottle with powdered formula in it

- 1 5oz bottle with powdered formula in it

-Tylenol and dropper

- 1 shirt for me

- 1 ziplock bag

-1 lovie

-2 pairs of socks

-pacifier wipes

-diaper pad

-2 pacifiers

-1 taggi book

- 2 onesies

-1 hat

- 2 5oz bottles with prepaired liquid formula (in cold bag)

- 10 diapers ( i think i stuffed a bunch in extra places too)

-travel wipes

-2 burp cloths

-1 bib

- copy of birth certificate

-blanket

- J.L. Childress carseat bag

We also took: 

snap and go stroller

Ergo carrier

Carseat

carseat base

On the way there we gate checked our carseat and stroller. On the way back we checked it, this is the way to do it. I carried Emily through security in our Ergo, she slept the whole time. The carseat bag got bad reviews but I am happy with it. I paid $12 and it is dirty and has 2 small holes but I would rather the bag have them than the carseat. My in-laws arrived before us so they bought formula and diapers which was very helpful and I did not have to pack it. We ran out of the formula when I was packing to fly back. I ended up buying the ready to feed 8oz bottles. These are so much better for traveling. All you need is standard nipples, it is faster through security because they are sealed and you can trash the bottles once they are empty. 

The main thing I learned: 

THERE ARE WAL-MARTS EVERYWHERE!

Yes someone tried to impart this knowledge on me but I was too anxious to really listen. Everything could go wrong and you can just go buy more clothes, formula, diapers, wipes, or other needed baby item. This can be done 24/7, stop worrying.