our road trip adventures

Sorry things have been pretty quiet around here.  We recently got back from a road trip, and then took on a house project.  Needless to say, I've been wishing for more hours in the day to get things accomplished!

We accomplished our first road trip with a baby and we would both call it a huge success!  One of Daniel's friends from college got married in Northern California so we decided to make a whole trip out of it and visit Napa, my best friend, and my college town.  I won't lie, I was having some mad anxiety about being on the road for so long with Nathan.  He generally does pretty well in his car seat, but I was nervous it would take us so long to get up there from all our stops to feed and change him.  Well, we made do and I have some tips I'll share in just a bit that helped.  To say Nathan was amazing is a HUGE understatement, he deserves "baby of the year" award for how well he did on our trip!  In 6 nights we slept in 4 different places, he adapted to wherever we went, and didn't cause too much of a fuss albeit his schedule (used very loosely) was totally off.  He was the life of the party wherever we went, and made many new friends thanks to his adorable smile and happy demeanor.

We've decided that Northern California is truly gorgeous!  Everything was so green and lush, a far cry from our very dry and brown mountains in San Diego.  Napa was just splendid.  I had some great recommendations of where to go from some friends.  We visited the Oxbow Market twice, and one trip included picking up some of the most delicious fresh cheese and baguette to take with us on a picnic.  We visited Frog's Leap, Hagafen, Mumm Napa, and Clos de Val wineries.  We had the most phenomenal dinner at Farmstead, and are still dreaming of our meal.  Nathan went wherever we went, enjoyed stretching on the grass lawn while we picnicked, and tried to get a sip of wine on multiple occasions.

After Napa we went south just a bit to visit my best friend who moved up there last summer.  It felt so good to sleep in a house versus a hotel for a night, and we were just so relaxed.  From there we visited Daniel's cousin on our morning as we headed south to the central coast and went to my "happy place", San Luis Obispo.  That town just gets me every time. The charm and quaintness of it all made me reminisce of college days and miss how simple life was back then.

Along the way we had a few hiccups, but soon figured out how to do things differently.  Daniel and I never argued once, and we worked really hard to be as flexible as possible (which is a huge necessity with a baby).  I don't have the most cohesive list, but here are some of the things that worked really well for us to have a happy baby and enjoyable trip.

• I sat in the back seat of the car for the long stretches on our drives up the coast.  This kept Nathan entertained and happy.  I also took my pump, which came with a battery charger, and pumped him a bottle and gave it to him while in his car seat to avoid having to stop one more time.  This worked out really well!!!
• The ergo was my very best friend!  Nathan went wherever we went, and being able to strap him in and go was a breeze.  This is what we used at wineries or even just walking around.  He is able to fall asleep in it, and I've also mastered how to nurse him while in it as well.  Since we couldn't always be at our hotel for him to take a nap, the ergo really helped him get the sleep he needed. 
• Since we stayed in four different places, it was crucial to be organized when packing up and knowing how to load the car efficiently.  I would typically make sure everything was in the proper bag, and Daniel would load the car up in the mornings.  Mine and Nathan's clothes were together in the same suitcase, which helped a ton in the mornings when deciding what to wear.  
• Having a stash of plastic bags is essential!  When we pulled up to our dinner one day, we quickly realized we had a very big diaper situation on our hands and I will definitely spare you the details because it was just awful.  Anyways, the plastic bags were our life savers!  They also were great to quickly throw trash away in and keep the car clean as we went along. 
• Babies eventually sleep.  Nathan's schedule was totally thrown off.  Normally he goes to bed at 7pm, and we wouldn't get back to our room until 9pm most nights and he would still be wide away.  He adapted and eventually fell asleep, and also slept in till 8:30am (which was much needed for me).  I couldn't stress about his naps so I just tried to listen to his cues, and when I noticed he was tired I'd put him in the ergo to ensure he got some sleep throughout the day.  

We still are so surprised how great Nathan did, and now we are crossing our fingers he is just as wonderful when we embark on another new adventure for us...beach camping!!