Rylie and I had a girlfriends getaway last week. Sounds relaxing, right? NOT! Traveling alone with a 7 month old is quite a task. We went from sunny Arizona all the way to NJ to introduce Rylie to her east coast family. I have never been so exhausted in my life.

When I prepared for this trip I did a lot of research trying to figure the best way to handle certain situations on the plane and in the airport. It was really difficult to find one good place that had all the info I needed. So I am going to get pretty detailed in this multi-part series about our journey.

Preparing for the Trip

Here is an overview of some of the items I purchased to help us along the way and a short review of each. Buying for baby is a lot of trial and error…we’ve made a lot of errors. So hopefully my reviews are useful to others who are also new parents.

Plum Organics Peaches

We planned our flight to leave around noon, also Rylies lunch time, so I was looking for the best way to feed her on the plane. These peaches looked like the perfect solution. Just screw on the spoon and voila. A meal on the go. Had we traveled a few weeks ago when Rylie was just discovering food and wasn’t quite as grabby, this might have worked out. The first few bites worked great, but then she got curious, grabbed a hold of the pouch and squeezed. I was covered in peaches. No good. I highly recommend just bringing a bag of Cherrios along and enough bottles to keep baby full.

Baby Bjorn

I had previously purchased an Infantino carrier but I didn’t like it at all. My back hurt when I used it and it didn’t feel very secure. The Baby Bjorn is the Cadillac of baby carriers. It’s easy to put on, easy to adjust on your own, and provides A LOT of support to your back. My posture felt so much better wearing this. The only difficulty I found with this carrier was getting Rylie’s legs in the holes but we are getting the hang of it.

Timi and Leslie 2 in 1 Diaper Bag

I was looking for some type of cross-body bag that could also double as a purse. My shoulders just don’t hold a purse that well and I needed easier access to items when I’m carrying Rylie in my arms. When I purchased this bag on Amazon it looked a lot smaller than it actually is. This bag also doubles as a backpack, I have not yet tried that feature. I really like the straps that make it easy to attach the bag to your stroller, however you need to be sure to remove the straps from the stroller after use. There were a few times that one of the straps got loose and ended up under the car, on the floor, etc. The bag has a lot of pockets and held everything that I needed to get through our 5 hour trip. However, I don’t like that the main compartment of the bag does not zipper. It has a flap that folds over and snaps, but when your bag is filled with as much as mine was, things tend to start falling out the sides. The bag was very deep and difficult to access things in transit. It does come with a changing pad and has 2 bottle holders on either side of the bag. I don’t know if my difficulties with the bag were due to the construction of the bag, or the fact that it’s just not that easy traveling with a baby. I really do like this bag and I received many compliments on it but I do still need a smaller cross-body bag for every day use.

Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case

I bought this thinking that Rylie could enjoy her favorite movie Rio while flying. I think the case itself is a great idea when at home but didn’t work so well for us on a plane. In order to put the phone in the case you need access to a quarter or something skinny you can twist the back lock open with. I wasn’t really thinking ahead when we boarded the plane and didn’t have anything available to me that would work. Rylie did enjoy looking at herself in the mirror that is on the back of the case. Also when using this you need to make sure to have your movie playing and in a mode that it won’t turn off while watching. Otherwise you need to unlock the back of the case again to restart it. The baby can touch the screen and use apps on the phone but there is a hard case that covers the button on the bottom. Fisher Price offers two baby apps through the iTunes Store but we found a number of glitches on them and haven’t used them since our first try. One more thing to keep in mind with this case is that if your phone rings, you cannot easily answer it.

So those were some of our bigger purchases. A lot of people had recommended I bring some toys for the plane that Rylie was not familiar with. I visited Target and cruised through their dollar section where I found a few Elmo baby books and then picked up a new rattle and a fun teether that also made noise. Rylie particularly enjoyed gnawing on the books.

So this ends part one, the preperation. Stay tuned for part two…the 4 hour and 9 minute flight (oh you know I counted every minute of that flight!)