O My Family – This new mom's blog

Saturday, May 19, 2012

7 about that one time that we were spontaneous and I do an ugly cry but it all turns out ok thanks to the interwebs

It’s Thursday at 1:00. The blur of first birthday stuff, family guests, and news segment prep were finally starting to clear. DanO calls me from work. “Hey, I think we should drive down to Chicago tomorrow.”

(And those of you who just panicked that we’re rubbing elbows with the NATO protests, no worries. When we say “Chicago” in this family, we mean the incredibly suburban Wheaton, IL which is where DanO and I met and went to college. I haven’t seen but one skyscraper on this trip.)

Just like that we were less than 24 hours from a 7 hour road trip with two kids two and under (good thing I did that segment on family trips, huh?)

To be fair, we were planning on taking the trip already, but were going to leave Saturday. O and we had done absolutelyzero packing or planning. Thursday night I did laundry like a desperate housewife and after DanO worked a half day, we managed to get in the car and on the road by 11:45am on Friday.

With one entirely unexplained standstill of an exception, the road trip went fantastically. The boys were content and entertained themselves well, we were able to line up potty/eating/gas stops, and we made great time. We stopped and visited with friends first thing when we got into town and pushed our sweet boys to their bedtime limits. We headed to the hotel at 9.

Opening the door in the hotel parking lot, we heard ad loud HISSING noise, none other than the hissing of pressurized air escaping from our tire really, really quickly.

That, friends, is the hunk of metal that imbedded itself in our tire in the hotel parking lot.

This is where DanO deserves accolades from here to the moon because he took this set back so very well. We heard the hissing, accepted the reality of the situation, and went into the hotel to put the boys down. We’d deal with the tire (change it to a spare, make plans to have it fixed in the morning) after our very patient, very tired boys were sleeping.

“We’re out of cribs. I’m so sorry. There is a 24 hour Meyers down the street that may carry portable cribs you could purchase?”

Except for, you know, needing a functional car to drive to a store and buy a crib at 10 o’clock at night.

Cue: ugly cry in front of the customer service desk.

Again. DanO? Steadfast as a boulder. Me? A sloppy puddle on the floor.

So what do you do at 10pm when you’re 7 hours from home with a hissing tire and no way to contain your very mobile 1 year old in a hotel room?

(Right after tweeting your frustrations, obviously,) You wipe off your tears, decide against marching down to the lobby and cussing someone out, put every mattress in the whole dang place on the floor in your hotel room and you throw a big ‘ol slumber party. (Family bed for the win!)

Except then this happened:

True story.

This is the beauty of the interwebs to me. This is the give and take of the online community. The support and living-life-together that can happen when people share their lives in this world wide web of space.

I may have introduced you to sunscreen wipes and you might loan me your pack and play when we’re visiting your city. Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

(This is the part where we all have a big group hug of our laptops and braid each others’ hair.)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

13 preparing for a day trip with littles – my segment on Kare11 Today

Baby Gear, Family, Life in Minnesota, Parenting

Updated 10:00pm 5/16 – Here is the video of the segment today if you weren’t able to tune in!

Hi there. New here? It’s nice to meet you!

I’m Allison and I write about parenting and life in the Twin Cities with my husband and our two (very) little boys on O My Family. We touch on a little bit of everything around here… postpartum depression and kitchen remodels, running half marathons and wearing my babies (but not at the same time).

{Please appreciate how willing my 2-almost-3-year-old is to do anything to make people laugh, including but not limited to gooftastic smiles in otherwise idillic family pictures. Sigh.}

You might have caught a glimpse of me today on the Twin Cities’ Kare11 Today show (at about 11 am if it hasn’t happened yet) talking about how I prepare for a day trip with our young family. I have included all of the information here that I talked about in my interview, and then some. I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for and please – if you don’t, ask! You’ll find that readers who stop by my little corner of the interwebs here are, to me, friends I just haven’t met yet.

:: a day out with the family – must-haves for a day trip with small children ::

Planning ahead for your day trip is so important. I like to play the day out in my head, picturing different scenarios we might encounter – what and when we will eat, how the weather will impact us, etc. I then choose how I want to prepare for the day based on those situations – e.g. extra bug spray for if we stay out until dusk, extra water if we won’t have access to refills. Each trip will be unique in this regard, so be sure to tak the time to think through the day’s events.

I’ve also gathered a list of products that will make a day trip with little ones easier, cleaner, and healthier.

Hand sanitizer – Pretty self-explanatory.
Camelback Kids Bottle – Want to keep healthy? Keep hydrated. I love these bottles for my kids because they have a lot more volume to them than a usual non-spill cup and are easy enough for even my one year old to know how to use.
BabyGanics Cleansing Washcloths – These are disposable washcloths that you only need water to use. Great for extra dirty hands before meals or for an end of the day clean up of a (happy) messy little kiddo.
BabySilk Sunscreen – I would like to personally hug the inventor of sunscreen wipes. Sure, we left the goop stuff in the dust a while ago when someone came up with a spray bottle application, but have you ever asked a one year old toddler to “sit still while I spray this all over you?” Clever, clever people those sunscreen wipe inventors.
NurtureMe Dried Organic Baby Food – I especially love this for longer hikes with littles or situations where carrying minimum weight is ideal. These are pouches of dried baby food that you add water to and reconstitute. Much lighter than food jars and fantastic ingredients (this one contains “organic apples”).
Medifast Medibites – Remembering to keep Mom and Dad well nourished is paramount to a good family day trip. Medifast has a whole line of high-protein snacks that give me enough energy to make it though long days with the boys. And a large (…or ‘small’?) bonus, on the Medifast nursing mother’s program I have currently lost 30lbs!

For littles with allergies (my oldest has seasonal allergies that can be the pits) I can’t stress enough the importance of planning ahead. For food allergies, pack enough snacks to supplement for any questionable options that might be available, and talk to your child about what the day may hold as it relates to their food allergies. A MedicalID Bracelet may be something to look into if your child has severe reactions.

In the case of seasonal allergies, make sure your child or children are current on any doses of allergy medication they may take. If you have a go-to over the counter treatment, be sure to bring it along with you. One product that may help too is Maty’s All-Natural Cough Syrup which, although labeled as a cough syrup, can help with many respiratory issues. It is essentially buckwheat honey and treats throat and breathing problems for children over one.

I hope you are able to plan a memorable day trip with your little ones and that these tips help keep everyone happy and healthy!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

21 stop the presses

Blogging, Life in Minnesota, Shameless Self-Promotion

O friends and readers (who are friends I just haven’t met yet). I’ve missed you. Last week was profoundly busy: house projects, house guests, household appliances dying on me, OBrother’s first birthday, a big birthday party, an almost 3 year old struggling with it being someone else’s birthday…

You better believe I have pictures.

But here’s the thing. None of that is coming off my fingers into a blog post (no matter how hard I try) because my head is swirling and whirling about this:

Tomorrow I will be on TV.

The program is Kare 11 Today (on NBC) and I will be talking with the hosts about how to prepare for a day trip this summer with littles kiddos. The interview will be live and should air some time around 11am here in the twin cities. I am so very excited and so very nervous.

I know what I’ll be talking about and am comfortable with my talking points, but you guys.

WHAT DO I WEAR?

::discuss::

Monday, May 7, 2012

14 our marriage is a kindergardener

Marriage

My beloved DanO, 5 years now we have been married. I could start out by listing all the crazy things we have accomplished together in those 5 years – the children we’ve created, the house projects we’ve tackled, the places we’ve traveled – but you know all of those things (you were there, too). Instead, [...]