The DeCook Family Adventures: Sweet Home California

Last week we made our first journey with 9 week old Emmett. Uncle Rob (my brother) and Aunt Kacie were getting married, so the three of us hopped on a plane to my beloved San Francisco Bay Area. I say "hopped" jokingly. Those of you who have travelled with an infant know that there is nothing speedy about preparing for a trip with an infant this young. At one point while I was packing Todd asked if I would like to just bring the whole nursery. Yes, actually dear...that would be great! Our days of being able to travel with just carry-on luggage are long gone.

I will say that in all honesty, the preparation was the most difficult part of our trip. Flying was actually not bad at all and thanks to some words of wisdom from our doula before our trip I felt like we were well prepped for how to manage the trip, the travel process and what to bring. For us, the trick for flying was simply keeping Emmett under my "hooter hider" the majority of the flight. He nursed when his ears were bothering him and slept the rest of the time. On the way home, Hertz even gave us a special curbside drop off at SFO and the airline accomodated our request for an extra seat because the flight wasn't full so we were able to bring the car seat on the plane with us. We brought our normal stroller but used the car seat adapter and were able to check all of this big gear at the gate. The hotel provided a pack n' play, and we brought unwashed bedding from home so that Emmett would feel like it was still his bed because of the smell. Overall, it was a pretty successful experience!

The trip itself was wonderful. The wedding was beautiful, tear jerking (damn you postpartum hormones!) and a lot of fun. We were able to leave Emmett with a babysitter for the first time since he was born and it was a completely nerve wracking yet wonderful experience! We used a nanny service through the hotel and had Emmett and the nanny at the reception with us for the first few hours and then took him and the nanny back to the hotel while we went out to party with the rest of the wedding guests. First off, the nanny was awesome! So capable and sweet. Secondly, I say "party" jokingly. I think combined Todd and I finished three drinks but it was still nice to be out past 8 pm. Long gone are the wild days of Todd and Heather! Waking up to feed an infant with a hangover was just not appealing to either of us.

It was wonderful to be able to introduce Emmett to his family. It was the first occasion that all four of the Castellano siblings had been together in over 4 years, so it was a really special time for so many reasons. My only complaint would be that there wasn't enough time to spend with everyone. It was also great to be able to spend time in the bay area with my husband and baby. As Todd knows, my home is always with him and Emmett but I spent 31 years in California and when I go back there I feel oddly torn about calling any other place home. So I spent a portion of the trip taking Todd to a bunch of different areas and continued showing (selling) him the east bay. You never know what might happen one day. :)

Before we left, Emmett had his 2 month check up and his first round of immunizations. Our little guy isn't so little anymore! He is measuring over 23 inches, over 13 lbs. and has a head circumference of over 16 cms. He was over the 65 percentile for everything- not bad considering he was born a week early. The immunizations weren't nearly as bad as I expected them to be. I had Todd hold him and I looked away for the actual shots and then I nursed him in the doctors office for about 10 mins immediately afterwards. Luckily, he skipped the fussy phase that some babies experience and went right to the sleeping for 3 days part. It really wasn't bad at all. Dr. Meyer also said that because he is so healthy (and fat) that he should start sleeping through the night soon and that we don't need to feed him if he wakes up less than 6 hours after he went to sleep. As if by magic, last week he started sleeping 6.5-7.5 hours a night and even maintained this when on vacation sleeping in a strange crib! Yay, sleeping through the night!