Someone chided me for the lack of blogposts this year, and I had to sheepishly say “well we haven’t travelled anywhere fun this year to be able to write about it!” But I suppose this blog has evolved into more of a lifestyle update than a fun adventurous guide, anyway, so here’s some updates for the past few months…

T turned 1 last month, and I must admit that things feel pretty stable as a family of 4 (5 including Panda, of course). It took a while to get here, but I feel pretty good about switching off with both kids so that either of us gets some time to ourselves or make social plans. Bedtimes and mornings with both of them isn’t so overwhelming, and even for an afternoon it’s not so bad since T has been walking since he was 9 months old. We had a few months of intense sickness in the winter, which was awful navigating going back to work. I’m not sure if it was a seasonal thing or if now the kids are a bit older and their immune systems have developed, but outtages from school definitely are much more rare these days (knock on wood!) I feel like we have a good bench of babysitters nearby that we can call upon for date nights, and we have been going out as a couple much more than I see a lot of other parents going out. I think this is due to our kids being good sleepers (plus the fact that we just like doing things in the city a lot more than the average person I guess…it’s a problem); it’s just the cost that we have to be thoughtful about. For example, last week we had one night where we had an 8 PM show in the city, and were able to put the kids to bed at 7 PM and hire a high schooler to sit at our house while we went to the city. Since she wasn’t really doing childcare, we pay her $20/hr (I know, it’s a lot for just sitting on our couch!). The next day we had dinner in the city with friends that we needed a sitter for, so we hired our favorite nanny to put the kids to bed. Since she was actually doing childcare, we pay her $30/hr. Babysitting fees add up! But they’re important to make sure we have some semblance of real life. I keep telling my neighbors / local friends to let us swap houses now that our kids have good sleep schedules, so that we can save the $$ on date night if we’re just monitor-watching after the kids go to bed.

All to say, our lives are relatively stable now. It took a while to get here mentally, especially with an intellectually intense job as mine, but I completely understand why people have just the 2 kids now – it’s not easy, but definitely very manageable. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for us we were never going to do 2 kids…so if we’re able to, this will probably be the tiny stretch of time of stability before another pregnancy happens again (who knows how long that’ll take!). So I’m taking advantage of this summer to get my health back in shape, say yes to all the social plans, get our finances back in order, and maybe do some child-free trips!

I was reflecting that with 2 Taurus kids 2 years apart, the rhythms of the years are pretty similar. When S turned 1, we had a big roadtrip in the PNW after a wedding and covered a few national parks. Later this week, we’re heading to CA for a wedding (that’s on the exact same day as that wedding 2 years ago) and going to swing by a few national parks afterwards (Pinnacles, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite) since we have to bring the kids to that wedding. Finally I will have something to blog about 🙂

We also did a Florida trip with S when she was around 9 months old, and did the same with T this past winter. This time we stayed at a friend’s family house in Sewall’s Point, brought a grandparent, and also went to Disney! The extra hands and the relative chillness of a beach vacation made it feel almost like a real vacation. As people who would much rather plan an adventurous trip on our own than doing a planned or all inclusive trip, we finally got a taste of why people just go to Florida or the Cape in the summer for family vacations. So easy, and there’s not much to do besides go to the beach or hang out, so there’s no FOMO on all the cool stuff we should be doing. I do sometimes miss the days where we would just jetset around the world with our two backpacks (Africa! Southeast Asia!) without a second thought and stay anywhere we wanted, but I feel peace that we did so much of it before we had kids, and will be young enough once they’re grown up a bit where we can pick up right where we left off. (My ~15 year wedding anniversary trip will definitely be 2-3 weeks in New Zealand!! Which will coincide with our…40th birthdays. Wild.)

We spent a few days at the beach, going to the local museum, and playing card games after the kids were in bed at Sewall’s Point. M, his mom, and our friend flew together from NY with the kids, while I met them from my first extended girls trip after T was born. (This was to Cabo, but since I went for a bachelorette, I just followed along what the plans were…so separate blogpost for that trip, except here are a few pictures. Cabo is extremely touristy and expensive, at least the places we went to, but perfect for a group girls trip! My favorite day was when we did a boat tour and saw whales.)

From Sewall’s Point we drove to Orlando and spent a few days at Disney. This time we just did Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Epcot was great to meet all the princesses (lunch at the tavern next to Frozen is such a underrated way to meet a ton of princesses! They come right to the table.), and we SPRINTED towards Frozen Ever After since Sophie’s obsessed. We stayed at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge for the first time, which might be one of my favorite “adult” resorts – not too themed, but good location and felt pretty relaxing. S is at the age where she actually knew what was going on, and she LOVED meeting the princesses. T just came along for the ride.

Got some date time post-bedtime thanks to Mimi and otherwise had a great time at MK with the kids! Parks in the morning and pool time after nap at the hotel was great to give us enough downtime to recover from the craziness of Disney.

We got rained out from Epcot one afternoon, but we felt like we had done enough in the parks that morning. For a 3 year old and a 9 month old, just a few hours at Magic Kingdom were more than enough to satiate our interest. Plus we’ve been so many times that we didn’t feel like we were missing out on much. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge this time because we wanted a 1 BR suite, and we loved the resort! It’s well-connected to MK and the bus to Epcot wasn’t too bad. We loved being able to take both the monorail and the boat to MK in the morning. And of course, adult dinner at Disney Springs after kids’ bedtimes, thanks to Mimi holding down the fort at the hotel!

S loved her Frozen dress and purse and was so happy to meet the princesses! We went right before she turned 3 so her admission was free, but she still knew what was happening. It was awesome! Funny comparing T to S since they both came to Disney at 9 months, but S was a little overwhelmed and overstimulated by all the things happening while T was completely unfazed. We also were lucky enough to meet up with some old friends who live in FL on a few nights.

The only real difference with adding another kid to our travels is figuring out the sleeping arrangements. T screams bloody murder when he wakes up (after 11 ish hours of sleep, but still! A cruel awakening) so we tried to keep S and T in separate sleeping quarters when we could. This meant springing for the suite at the Wilderness Lodge. But just last weekend we went camping as a family, which meant the kids definitely had to share a room. That actually went really well, so we’re hoping that we can migrate the kids to share a room at home soon and when we travel, go back to just getting one normal sized hotel room if we’re staying at a hotel! Of course, houses are much more family-friendly (even if eating out, the extra space and the kitchen are invaluable with young kids) so we will definitely try to continue staying at Airbnbs when we can.

This was yet another disjointed and poorly written blogpost, but I do find the older I get the more I look back on these with fondness thanks to all the pictures I take…so in 10 years when we’re finally planning our kid-free trip to New Zealand, we can look back on these posts and laugh at how crazy this stage of life was. Now onwards to our first big family trip (without extra hands to help)!

S is now at a good age to fly – she can be entertained by movies, snacks, and activities! T was more difficult to fly with, but thankfully I was still nursing at the time so he was able to fall asleep on boob quickly. The 7 month – 2.5 year stage is the trickiest to fly with, since they are too young to be entertained by screens but still are incredibly mobile. A little nervous for our 7 hour flight this week, but we’ll survive!

A few more tips for traveling with toddlers to Disney:

• Plan for naps – try to stick to the normal nap schedule for your child. When ours was 5 months old she was napping 3-4 times/day. She could easily nap on the go and so we carried her in a baby carrier during the normal nap times. That gave her some snuggle time, down time, and time to rest up and sleep a bit while we shopped or ate. When she was 14 months and 16 months she really needed that long afternoon nap so we took a break, went back to the hotel and let her nap in her bed. It really made a huge difference to let her have that quiet time even if she didn’t nap as long as she does at home. An overtired baby or toddler does not make for a fun vacation. The parks are overstimulating as it is, make sure they get the rest they need so that everyone enjoys the trip.
• Online check in– I have mixed feelings about online check in but if your first priority is getting a room as early as possible on check-in day, then checking in online can be helpful. There is a preference you can list that lets the resort know that getting a room as soon as possible is your top priority. It would trump any other preference you have for location or room type so be aware of that. Driving in or flying in from a long day/morning of travels can wear everyone out. We have found if the baby can rest well that first day, it sets the tone for the rest of the week. We usually do online check in and then still stop by the front desk as soon as we arrive to let them know we are here, with a baby that needs a nap, and ask for the first available room.
• Bring a carrier and a stroller. Not every baby will nap in a stroller but it sure is helpful to have one- and Disney can really wear the little ones out. Your child that never naps in a stroller at home may very well doze off in the stroller when needed at Disney. Our Lillebaby carrier has been invaluable for our travels. We can easily carry our daughter in the front or on our backs and she really enjoys the view from up higher as opposed to the stroller. This last trip, our toddler spent more time in the carrier than the stroller, but the stroller was nice to have to ‘carry’ all of our other park “stuff” and purchases.
• Shop and eat while baby sleeps. If baby will sleep in a carrier or stroller, plan to shop and/eat during those times. We all know shopping and eating with a baby or toddler is tricky. It’s been a much more pleasant experience for me in a gift shop if I can peruse quietly while the baby is sleeping in the carrier rather than trying to wrangle a curious toddler wanting to touch everything.
• Get some rest for yourself. I never really needed naps at Disney before having a baby. We would go all day from open to close to Extra Magic Hours and only need some short meal breaks. After a few hours in the parks with a toddler, the nap is a welcome break for all of us. Take some time to rest while the children nap. You may not be able to rest everyday but try. It’s also a good time to do laundry at the resort or take turns lounging peacefully by the pool.