Chicago Trip- Days 3, 4, 5, & 6

We are back from Chicago! It was a great trip! Chicago is a great city with some of the nicest people I have ever met. Everyone wanted to help and get to know us. I didn't get a chance to update very much while we were in Chicago, because our second hotel charged almost 15 dollars a day for Internet. Here are the recaps of our trip.

Day 3:
Thursday turned out to be a very beautiful day. Brayden and I got ready to go to the outdoor pool. Again, he loved being in the water. I attached a shade that came with his floatie so he wouldn't get burned. He kicked and talked the whole time we were out there. A lady and her grandson ended up coming over and talking to us. Her grandson was adorable! He was 18 months old. His mom was in the same training as Justin so his grandma was taking care of him. We talked and played with them for a while, and then went inside to rest. We were supposed to go to the Rainforest Cafe the night before but the rain messed those plans up so we went this night. The restaurant was in the mall so we looked around at the mall for a little bit. It was huge and very nice. The Rainforest Cafe was great! They had great food, and Brayden loved looking at all of the animals and fish. He was very entertained to say the least. His favorite part of the restaurant was the fish tank. After we ate, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for some dessert. Justin got the Tuxedo Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake (he loves chocolate) and I got the Original Cheesecake (I am plain Jane when it comes to cheesecake). I packed when we got back to the hotel.

Day 4:
Friday was very crazy! Justin's training didn't end until 5 pm, but we had to be out of our hotel room by 1 pm. Instead of waiting at the hotel all day, Brayden and I left without Justin to go to the new hotel. We called a cab and met the nicest cab driver. Thankfully she was nice because it took forever to get downtown. President Obama was in Chicago and Lollapalooza was there as well so traffic was even more crazy than usual. It was so exciting being downtown! There is so much to do and see. Brayden and I checked in and relaxed until Justin arrived. He didn't get downtown until around 6:30 so by then we were starving. We walked around and decided to go eat at Weber Grill. The wait was crazy, but it was a great place to eat. It was late by the time we finished eating so we didn't walk around the city for too long. We went to Jewel Osco to get some snacks and water for Brayden, and then went back to the hotel.

Day 5:
Saturday was the best day of our whole trip! We started the day off walking the Magnificent Mile and site seeing. For lunch we stopped at Gino's East for deep dish pizza. It was very good! We walked around a little bit more, and then went to the bus stop to head to Shedd Aquarium. It was a nice aquarium. It was Justin's first time going to an aquarium and of course it was Brayden's first time as well. After the aquarium, we walked to Soldier Field where the Bears play then we headed back to the hotel. Our friends Ryan and Bekah visit Chicago quite often. We were craving sushi so I called Bekah to find out if they knew of a good sushi place. She told us about Ra. Bekah said it was walking distance from our hotel, but when we asked our concierge about it, she told us that we would need to take the bus or cab to it. We called Ra to find out if we needed to take the bus and they said the same thing. We didn't want to get back on the bus so we decided to walk to it despite what the locals were saying. It was pretty far from our hotel, but the walk was not bad at all. We enjoyed being out in the city....walking allowed us to see much more than if we caught a ride. We got to Ra and ordered one of the specialty popular rolls and the Shrimp Tempura roll (we asked for them to make it spicy). Both rolls were amazing! We even ended up asking them to make another Shrimp Tempura roll. Everyone was so nice there and the atmosphere was great! All of the waitresses went crazy over Brayden. One even asked if she could take him home with her...I told her no...of course. We walked back to our hotel just in time to catch the fireworks at the Navy Pier. They were beautiful! There is so much more we wanted to do in Chicago but time just got the best of us. We want to come back when Justin isn't in training.

Day 6:
Sunday was an early day for us. We left the hotel by 7 am to get to the airport. We were so thankful that we did this because the lines were ridiculous at the airport. Our flight wasn't until 9:30...we got to the airport around 7:30 and didn't get to our gate until 8:45. Brayden ended up doing #2 while we were in the security line. I felt so bad for the people around us. One child asked his daddy why the security line smelled so bad...the dad just shooshed the child. Brayden did great on the plane, again. He fell fast asleep as soon as we got in the air and didn't wake until we landed. Now we are home and back to reality. I have washed clothes and sanitized everything of Brayden's since we have been home. The city was dirty and his toys and stroller and carseat touched all of that filth....I couldn't wait to get to cleaning. Well, that is our trip...I hope everyone has a great week!

Brayden's First Plane and Cab Ride

Day 2- Chicago Trip

Today has been a very nice and relaxing. It is raining here so the plan to go swimming outside was postponed for another day. Thankfully, this hotel has an indoor pool as well. Poor Justin has been in class since 8 this morning. We will be happy when his training is over and he can enjoy the trip with us.

Brayden slept like a log last night and this morning. Justin and I couldn't believe it. He woke up at his usual 5 am but went right back to sleep after his bottle. This traveling must have worn that baby down. He finally woke up around 8:30. We played and giggled at each other for 30 minutes then I kicked it into high gear. My goal was to find the pool and make sure it wasn't too cold for my little man. We tested the water temp and it felt great. We headed back to the room to put on our swimsuits, and then off to the pool we went. I bought a floatie at Target for Brayden. He loved it! He had a great time swimming. He kept laughing and kicking his legs and talking. I was so excited that he liked it so much. We swam for a little while but not as long as I had planned due to the water being colder than I thought. After swimming, Brayden was exhausted. Even the ladies on the elevator commented on how tired he looked (and how cute he was...of course). I laid him in the bed and he fell right asleep. I didn't have to rock him or anything. Swimming can wear a fella down!

Tonight we are going to the Rainforest Cafe to eat. We are excited, because we think Brayden is going to love looking at all of the animals and forests. I am not sure about their food but you can't beat the atmosphere when you have a 5 month old (well almost 5 month old) who loves looking at everything. It is so amazing experiencing life through a baby's eyes. Everything is new and exciting. Everyone and everything is funny. Justin and I are so lucky to be able to experience these things with Brayden. Also, it is amazing to see how much a baby brings joy to others. Everywhere we go, people are going crazy over Brayden. This one lady was not smiling at all but when she saw Brayden her face just lit up.

Also, I have more pictures to share, but the Internet is very slow. I will keep trying to post them.

Traveling with a Baby Tips

As I have said before, I am not an expert mom by any means. I am fortunate to be surrounded by great moms who give me amazing advice. I thought I would post some tips that helped us during our trip to Chicago (see below this post for our Day 1 update about the trip).

Items to Pack that may be Helpful:

• Water to mix your formula- (you have to worry about fluoride amounts in your water and when you are traveling you don't always know the fluoride amounts) I usually buy Gerber baby water or generic baby water (whatever is on sale), but I was worried about the jug being too big and bursting in our bag. I ended up buying a few big bottles of drinking water (they are big but not too big for your bag plus the plastic is thicker so bursting is less of a risk).
• Shout or some type of stain remover- Brayden sometimes has accidents that leak out of his diaper. These accidents can stain so the stain remover helps until you can get home and wash and scrub, scrub, scrub.
• Dish washing liquid and bottle brush- unless you are breastfeeding you will need this to clean bottles, pacifiers, bowls, spoons, etc.
• Clorox wipes- I hate germs! I love bringing Clorox wipes with me on trips to wipe down the room (especially the bathroom....toilet, sink, shower or tub)
• Newk's or Bulldog Deli or some type of cup of that size- Instead of cleaning your bottle nipples in the bathroom sink, you can put soap and hot water in the cup and soak anything that will fit in it.
• Medical Supply Kit- Some suggestions of items to include in the kit: thermometer, Tylenol, gas drops, Benadryl, Band-aids, and anything that you may need if something were to happen
• Carseat- Depending on what city you are traveling to, most cities require a child under a certain age to be in a carseat while in a cab. I looked this up before we left and Chicago and New York both require this.
  

Flying/Airport Security Tips (some of these may be for Southwest only):

• Call your airline company before your trip to discuss rules and regulations for babies (Southwest allows you to have your purse as a carry-on and a diaper bag. You can also bring your carseat and stroller on the plane)
• Get to the airport extra early especially if it is a busy/big airport. Allowing yourself plenty of time to get through security and the airport will help minimize stressful situations.
  
• You are allowed to bring any size bottle with formula or juice or water in it (I was concerned about this b/c of the liquid rule). Just make sure you are prepared to take all liquids out of the diaper bag for security to inspect.
• Brayden was asleep in his carseat/stroller/travel system while we were going through security. They make you put the carseat and stroller (folded up) through the X-ray/conveyor belt machine. We didn't know this so it kind of held us up at security check point. Now that we know, we are going to make sure Brayden is out of the travel system and have everything ready for X-ray (at Jackson airport this hold up wasn't a big deal but at a larger airport people in line may get impatient).
• Pack a few extra Zip-lock baggies in your purse just in case you packed something that is considered a liquid.
• If you get a flight that isn't full make sure to ask if you can have an extra seat for your baby. Brayden was considered a lap baby (lap baby is a child under the age of 2 who will sit in your lap instead of the actual seat). Since our flight was not full, he got to sit in his carseat.
• We brought formula and Pedialyte water (both were already in the bottles ready to go) for Brayden to drink. The most important thing is to keep them sucking and swallowing so their ears don't start hurting. Pedialyte water was actually a lifesaver, because it tied Brayden over until it was time to eat.
  
• Make sure to bring a blanket (it was really cold on our plane and Brayden would have froze), an extra pacifier or a soothing mechanism that works for your baby, and toys to entertain.

Things that We Did Not Expect or Think About:

• Our hotel does not have a bathtub. It only has a shower so we are going to have to either give Brayden a spit bath every night or figure something out.
• There is no refrigerator or microwave so make sure to bring formula that is not mixed. We knew our room didn't have these items, but we were surprised at how hard it is to find a hotel with them. Some hotels provide things upon request such as: Crib or pack-and-play, microwave, and refrigerator (I would call in advance to request these).
• The delays at the airport. Like I said above, the Pedialyte was a lifesaver during this delay. We planned Brayden's feedings around take-off so he was hungry while we were waiting. The Pedialyte will help you prolong a feeding. The water also helped during our landing. It wasn't time for Brayden to eat, but he still needed something to swallow to help his ears.
• Travel System was very helpful- We bought a small umbrella stroller but later decided to bring the travel system so Brayden could ride in a cab. It was a lot easier to stroll Brayden rather than carrying him. You will have enough to carry with your luggage and carry-ons and such.

Well, that is all I have for now. If you have any travel tips or suggestions, please share it in the comment section.

Day 1- Traveling to Chicago

I am going to try to post our Chicago trip ever day so I can keep up with everything. Our first day was spent traveling (I will get to the traveling part in a bit).

Normally, I pack stuff and don't worry about what I am packing. This was not the case this trip since Brayden was coming on this trip. I wrote out a list of everything he will/may need. I packed the usual baby stuff, but I also had to pack extra things since we weren't staying in a hotel with a kitchen. We ended up buying Playtex Drop-In bottle specifically for this trip. The bottles are easier to clean since you just throw away the drop-ins after each use. I just washed his bottles and they never touched the sink....yay for me! I will probably post a traveling with a baby tips after this post to help you know what to expect. I really think that being prepared helps make things run smooth.

Now, to the traveling part.... We arrived at the Jackson airport at 5 pm to provide us plenty of time for our 6:35 flight. Everything went great through security. Our plane didn't arrive on time, but Brayden was having fun laughing at his daddy so it was okay. Finally, we boarded the plane, but to our dismay we found out there was a malfunction on the aircraft and a mechanic would have to take a look at it. We waited forever. We had planned to wait until we were going up in the air to feed Brayden so his ears wouldn't ache. Brayden waited patiently and never got upset during our wait. We finally took off after 7. The plane was not full so Brayden got an actual seat. This made me happy, because it is so much safer for a baby to travel in a car seat. He ate, and then slept the rest of the way. He was so good! Our flight attendant brought him a certificate signed by all of the crew and his first set of wings. We landed at 9:05. Brayden woke up and was all smiles. He smiled and laughed while we waited at baggage claim...again...he was so good! We couldn't have asked for a better baby. Once we got our bags, we caught a cab that drove us 45 minutes to our hotel (Midway Airport to Schaumburg takes 45 minutes). Brayden talked, drank, laughed, and slept in the cab.

As soon as we got into our room, I began unpacking us and getting things settled. We ordered a pizza and bread sticks (they were delicious) and just took it easy since we had such a long day. Brayden ate and went right to sleep. It was a long day for him and he did great!

The hotel is very nice. We are staying at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg from Tuesday until Friday afternoon. Justin's trainings are at this hotel. After his training on Friday, we will move to the Marriott hotel in downtown Chicago on the Magnificent Mile and stay until Sunday. Since Justin will be in classes all week, Brayden and I are just going to relax and go to the pool. The weekend is when we are going to actual do Chicago stuff. It will be fun....can't wait to post about it! If you have any suggestions on what to do in Chicago, please post a comment.