Traveling with baby

Today, Tom and I are leaving for our first vacation since our honeymoon.
Wait, that’s not quite right. Let me try that again.

Today—wonderful, marvelous, glorious, splendid day that it is—is the day that Tom and I are leaving for our first (!) vacation (!!) since our honeymoon (!!!!). Cue the hallelujah chorus and pass the biscuits. (!!!!!)

Yes, that was much better.

As fate would have it—a fate whose name happens to be Jacob—we weren’t able to take a trip to celebrate our one-year anniversary last October. Instead, we brought our sweet little boy home from the hospital that day. Though I wouldn’t change the timing for the world, I have been feeling long overdue for some R&R.
And, now, it’s finally here. Thank the Lord. It didn’t come a moment too soon.

I’ve always loved going on vacation, but now that I’m a mom, I can appreciate the concept all the more. It will give Tom and Jacob a chance to reconnect after all the long hours Tom’s been putting in at the office. And, it will give me a chance to recover from all the packing. Packing for two is a breeze. Packing for a baby? It’s not nearly as simple.

I’ve decided the main reason why people with kids are so thrilled to go on vacation is because if you didn’t really and truly need a vacation before you started packing for your vacation, then by the time you’re done packing, you certainly do.

It’s one of those unwritten rules of the universe that the smaller you are the more “stuff” you need when traveling more than a block from home. I think Newton came up with an exact mathematical equation, but since we’re leaving for vacation any minute (did I mention we’re going on vacation soon?), I don’t have time to type it all out. So, just trust me on this one: Babies need a lot of stuff.

There’s the high chair, the jumper, the toys to entertain him during the long drive, the pack ‘n play, the umpteen changes of clothes, the toys, the bathtub, the teethers, the blender for making baby food, the containers for storing baby food, the bibs, the toys, oh, and did I mention the toys? This, of course, is beside the true necessities—a trunk full of diapers and a car-size case of wipes.

The list of “essentials” baby requires when traveling, I imagine, is why NASA used monkeys rather than infants during the early days of space exploration. The rocket never would have got off the ground with all of baby’s paraphernalia on board, and Russia would have beaten us to the moon, no doubt.

Speaking of the moon, I think we have enough things packed for the three of us to make it that far and back no problem. But, I don’t mind really. I’m over the moon for the idea of spending the next four days alone with my two favorite guys no matter how much stuff we have to lug around.

Now, what happens when we get back and I need a vacation from unpacking for vacation I’m not so sure. Maybe another vacation? Hey, a girl can dream, right?