Traveling for a week with a one-year old isn't the hardest thing in the world...but it's not always the easiest/most enjoyable thing either. I've been reading along with some mom's in a Facebook group I'm in, and it seems like everyone struggles in one area or another when it comes to managing kids + Christmas.
So here's 'how we do' when it comes to Christmas gatherings, parties, festivities, traveling and all that family stuff that can get tricky if there isn't clear communication in advance and throughout the season. Maybe it will help you with whatever Christmas-ing you have left or maybe you can file it away and be prepared for next year. ;)
1. We drive whenever Mav is happiest.
Some would say this means we're letting Maverick rule our world...but what sensible person doesn't chose to drive in the morning after breakfast and a good night's sleep? A happy kiddo = happy parents. If we have an evening committment in Manson or Ankeny, I try to arrive before lunch time so we're not driving during naptime or late in the evening. Plus, I get to spend more quality time with my mama's organizing their closets or watching Fixer Upper during naptime. This takes some planning ahead, but I'd say it's worth it.
2. I snap at my family...Josh can snap at his.
This is our rule, unless there is something that really needs to be addressed. If my dad slams a door, you better believe he gets snapped at (with love ;). I'm not sure why Wes Keil is prone to slamming anything that will open and close but sometimes I think he is the loudest person on earth. Bless his heart. He's getting much better.
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| Someone is happy to be home after a busy week. |
3. We stick to our regular routine.
With so much craziness and junk food and over stimulation...I do everything in my power to keep our routine the same. Wake times, naptimes, and meal times are at their usual times (or within a half hour). Bottles, sound machines, and Maverick's normal sleep sack are all packed so he can adjust to his environment (within reason). I like to make his room as dark as possible too. I inform everyone of his schedule throughout the day and if that means we miss out on something happening between the hours of 1 and 4...that's what happens and it's ok!
4. Overpack and overprepare.
I never want to be caught somewhere without extra diapers or a spare outfit. It's like one of my biggest 'mom things.' In the winter being prepared also means packing boots and mittens and hats and big winter coats. We each have a suitcase and my rule is that we do not re-pack dirty laundry. I keep up with laundry when I'm at my parents house and/or dirty laundry goes in a clean garbage bag. I pack everything for all three of us, and it's easier for me to think through each person this way.
5. BEDTIME IS BEDTIME.
At home I like to start our routine by 7:30 so Mav is IN bed by 8. That fluctuates a little when we're busy with family but for the most part, he's down right around 8, give or take 15 minutes. This is key to all of us surviving...Mav keeps a good bedtime and mommy and daddy get to enjoy games and movies without constantly making sure Maverick isn't trampling the 3-month old cousin or getting trampled by the older cousins. Or climbing stairs (this is a big one since we don't have Mav-accessible stairs at our house). Even when he's the happiest little man on the planet at 7:50, his bedtime is still the same.
6. We do bedtime at home as much as possible.
This Christmas season we've had a couple events where we could have laid Mav down somewhere and then come home at 11 or 12 but chose not to. Simply because WE don't like doing it. Besides feeling awful for waking him up when I've worked so hard to get him TO SLEEP TWELVE STRAIGHT HOURS AT NIGHT, it's just not something I feel is necessary all that often. We did it when we went to visit new-cousin-McKenna and watch a movie with her parents...and we did it again when our favorite buddy Justin was in town. But those were both important occasions that seemed worthy of the whole transferring mess.
***This is made easier by our favorite babysitter (who also happens to be Aunt Jamie) being willing to spend the night at our house on occasion...meaning we can stay out as late as we want because BOTH of our babies are at home sleeping. We're all pretty blessed by this amazing Auntie.***
7. Don't be Uncle Eddie.
Our mom's have enough to plan for and deal with over the holiday's...now that I'm a mom I understand that better than ever before. We make sure we bring fresh fruit, snacks, Mav's 2% milk (my parents are skim milk drinkers), and anything else I specifically like having 'on hand' and I know might not be readily available. I also throw in snacks, drinks, chips, and whatever else I can to contribute. Holiday's with a kid are still a full-time job at this age...I feel like it's a constant dance of keeping our crap picked-up/contained, feeding Maverick, cleaning up the floor/chair after each meal...and doing it all over again. I just try my hardest not to expect our parents to help us with that kind of stuff. Because cleaning up the floor after Maverick's mealtimes SUCKS and it's not their job. They did their time on their hands and knees under a high chair. ;)
8. Wash hands. Wash hands. Wash hands.
I wash Mav's hands at every diaper change and before/after each meal. I also like to try and do a bath on the nights where we've been somewhere with lots of kiddos, with cousins on the farm, or around runny-noses in D6 at church. I do my best to make sure Mav is the only one drinking out of his sippy and that he's not putting dumb things in his mouth (like other sippy's, paci's, etc.). I'm not quite this obsessive during the spring/summer...but during sick season it just makes sense to be more on top of this kind of stuff. And they're all good things to get in a habit of doing regardless. Maverick has had a realitively healthy year and a half of life thus far and I'd love to keep it that way.
9. It might snow. Plans might change.
I remind everyone on both sides of our family of this a week or two before Christmas. And then again when we're a week out. If you have a husband with a job like this, it's a good idea to give everyone worst-case scenarios! Last year Josh pushed snow on Christmas Day, meaning we left Boersma's early and he got to my parents house late. One year he pushed snow on Christmas Eve and got to my parents house well after midnight. What I've learned is that my main priority is OUR family. Whatever the circumstances (snow, ice, or otherwise), we try to do what is best for the three of us as a family...communicate that clearly to everyone on both sides...and go from there. This is like, my mantra heading into 2017.
10. It's a short season.
There will come a day when we can say, "go play downstairs" while I drink wine and play Banana Grams with my mom or "go outside a build a snowman with your cousins"...but this was not that year. And that's ok! Christmas week was fairly exhausting, but that's what the week after Christmas is for...pajamas, leftovers, naps, and hiding in our house recovering before the excitement of the New Year.
In other news...I got a Christmas Countdown on sale at Target last week and I've decided to start counting BACK UP to 25...at which point I will allow Christmas to be 'over.' It's going strong at our house until then because I want to cry a little when I think about the spring cleaning that lies before me once it's all taken down.
MmB
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