Traveling with baby in tow

Tomorrow I am flying with Charlotte up to see my grandma at the farm in Illinois. Just her and I. A few weeks back Hubby and I flew with Charlotte up to New Jersey for Jessica's wedding (see pictures here), so it's not the first time Charlotte has been on a plane... this is just going to be the first time that I fly with her by myself.

I just know that I am going to have one doozy of a time trying to get through security; I pity the people behind me. Since Charlotte is still little, we have the car seat snapped into the stroller, and I can bring that whole thing all the way to the plane to get "gate-checked" (which is great so I don't have to pay for another checked bag). This also means that when I get to security, I have to put everything on the belt to be scanned (minus baby of course), and then take everything back off the belt... all while trying to hold onto a squirming baby.

Here is how I figure I will do it:

a. Remove shoes, belts, jackets, etc... and put on scanner

b. Put diaper bag on scanner

c. Put car seat base on the ground

d. Remove car seat from stroller and snap into base on the ground (with Charlotte still in it)

e. Fold up stroller and lug onto scanner belt (notice I say "lug", these things aren't lightweight)

f. Take Charlotte out of car seat

g. Struggle to get car seat onto scanner (and flipped over so it fits, etc) with baby in one arm

h. Walk through security

... THEN reverse the process to get everything put back together again... all this time without annoying the passengers behind me who are late for their own flights. Phew... wish me luck!

I'm sure it won't be too bad; I have faith that some decent soul will help me out.

I'm sure the flight will be good (knock on wood), she was fine last time. This flight is 2.5 hours long so let's hope she is asleep most of the time, or at least in a pleasant mood.

But back to the whole traveling with baby thing... let's talk about packing for them. I swear, I pack 3/4 of my suitcase for Charlotte, leaving the measly 1/4 for myself (ok that is an exaggeration... it's more like 50-50). Oh, and the diapers! I am going to pack like 40 diapers for my 5 day trip so we don't run out... which I have done before. When we went up to New Jersey I only packed like 15 diapers, figuring that we could run to the store to pick some up. I forgot the fact that I was IN the wedding meaning 95% of my time was taken up... so when on the second night Hubby  tells me we are out of diapers, I just about panicked. We had to stop by this ghetto Kmart the next morning on our way out of the hotel so our poor baby wouldn't be hanging out in a dirty diaper much longer. Lesson learned. Bring enough diapers, or remember you have to pick some up once you get there.

Well, it's time to go finish packing - wish us luck and I will let you know how the whole thing works out.

Introducing Rice Cereal

Last week we introduced rice cereal to Charlotte for the first time... and it went pretty well actually. We gave her Gerber Rice Cereal; we haven't tried any other brand yet. The following is a video of our second time giving her rice cereal (she warmed up to the idea).

Honda Odyssey

The Moore's are now proud owners of a navy 2009 Honda Odyssey with leather interior. Yes... at the ripe old age of 26, I have a minivan. (don't worry, my mom has already made fun of me).

Here's our reasoning behind it -- my car was 12 years old and the radiator had just died (boy did I love that explorer). We didn't want to get a new little car because we were planning on expanding the family shortly and it didn't make sense to buy a small car that would be upgraded in a few short years anyway. Secondly, we couldn't justify spending 35K + on a brand new explorer (tear).... SO that lead us to the minivan.

In fact, when we set out that day, we weren't even planning on buying a car... we were just getting all of our ducks in a row for when my car REALLY died, and the cash for clunker went into effect. The Honda dealership was the last one of the day and we got a great deal! This guy was trying to sell 2 more Odysseys by the end of the month so they could get their quota in for some award for their dealer (... or something). So he was motivated. We told him that if we waited a few weeks, we would get at least $3,500 for my explorer for the cash for clunkers. The salesmen said, "what if I give you $3,500 for your old car?" (sure). They we told him that we typically get a military discount from other dealers. He replied that they don't do military discount there at Honda (what?! That is messed up.... but not part of the story) but he would give us the discount. Then we told him to take off a few thousand more, since they REALLY wanted to sell the car... and he did.

After he "went to the back to talk", in other words... make us sweat a little bit, we got it... and we drove home in our new minivan.

I love it. I really do.

It seats 7, has in-floor storage, the stow-and-go seats in the back so they fold straight down, cup holders galore, dual sliding doors, .... and I could go on.

All I need to do now is figure out when the front and the back of the car are so I don't end up hitting something (side note - almost hit the barrier leaving the airport because I didn't know where the front right corner of the car was... woops).

It was bound to happen...

Well hello, I knew that one of these days I would start blogging. Now that I am a stay-at-home mom with nothing else to take my time... wait a minute, nothing else to take my time? That's a lie! I have PLENTY to take my time, I have a 5 month old.Anyway, here we are -- we have a place for you all to keep track of The Moore's.

Side Note: The title of the blog is "Moore Babies", even though we only have Charlotte right now... Hubby is optimistic in filling up the mini van we just bought!