I think it’s time for list making. I need a list for what we need in this house to get us through til moving day. (This month!!) I was going to try and just use up every last bit of meat in the freezer and not buy anything new, but it only took one Sunday experiment with “frostbite stew” let me know that we will be buying groceries, probably til the end. Then of course we just HAD to run out of things we probably won’t finish before we go, fabric softener, shampoo, etc.
I need a list of what I need to do to get my applications into school. The GRE, applications, letters of recommendations, etc. Due date: January 1st. I need a list of packing procedures. We’ve got a lot of stuff in this house, and there is a need to plan out what we do with baby stuff, what will go in the cars, what will be in the van, and what (if anything) we’ll send ahead. I’m officially calling all baby travel advice. If there was something that made traveling with an infant easier for you, let me know!
Then there is the paperwork, we’re still dealing with the NICU bill. Fun. Apparently because we are students and because I decided to stay at home after having the baby, we are eligible for help with the bills. We’ve paid a TON of them already, but there is still a huge balance remaining. The thing that is SO interesting to me is that we had it all planned, we had enough money to take care of the 20% after insurance of a regular labor/delivery outright. No problem. But Camper threw us a curveball and spent a week in the NICU resulting in an itemized bill reaching almost $30, 000. Yup. I keep threatening to put it in his baby book as a record of his first week of life. Thankfully we DID have SOME insurance (albeit school insurance), but the paperwork to receive more financial aid is in the works. So there is that to deal with, as well. All I know is that our Camper is worth it. He came to us at the exact right time, and I wouldn’t go back and change a thing. Except for maybe insisting the nurses give me antibiotics earlier.
So yeah. A ton of things to do- so today will be list making, some grocery shopping, some cleaning and organizing, and for John: SCHOOL. School and school stuff. And some baby cuddling, of course.
Oh! Last night, after my backfire post, Camper was playing and dancing like a crazy little man until about 1 am. He was making us laugh so much, until he started screaming. We swaddled him up, put on the white noise and he passed OUT. Slept from 1:30am to 6:15!!!!!! I am not even kidding. Then he went back to sleep until 9. Why does he tease us?
PS: I want to see MARLEY!
Tags: All About Baby, moving, plans, travel
Cutter and I traveled to CT from VA shortly after he was born numerous times. A couple times with help and the final trip just him and I. With all of these road trips under our belt we had a pretty good routine going. During these trips he was eating about every 3 hours. I would always pull over and have everything ready to go by the time the 3 hours hit, even if he was sound asleep. It def makes the trip much longer having to stop so much, but a sleepy well fed baby is much better then a tired starving baby. I learned that from experience of letting him sleep and not pulling over until he woke up. Bad idea. I also learned that feeding him is much easier if done in the car, close to his carseat. A majority of his feedings I would sit right in the backseat and hold him or move to the front, but we rarely wandered from the car. Unless a trip to the bathroom for me was an order. Keeping him close to his carseat and not stimulating him too much made his falling asleep much easier. I loved when he fell back asleep during the 15 minute burb session that was needed for his acid reflux. Hmmm, lets see what else I learned….You can not plan too much when traveling with a baby. Dont get it in your head that you will make it to a point on the map in such and such time, because you probably won’t. I never gave anyone a block of time to expect me, I would keep them updated on where we were but that was about it. You never know when a stop to help burb a bubble out is needed, or for some reason a horrible explosive diaper has ruined any memory of an air freshner, or the little guy just wants to look at your face. All he’s been seeing is the fabric on the carseat or maybe the same blue sky for hours. When I did travel with other people it seemed to go much smoother if I sat in the back with him. I’m not saying you have to be right there, in his face, the entire time. But just holding his hand when a whimper comes out can most of the time stop a full blown scream from coming. It’s all about knowing you’re still around. He can’t see anyone in the front and he’s probably bored as can be.
I’m sure there’s more I could tell you, but it’s 1am and I am exhausted. A tip for the later years…..no matter how cute he is, do NOT let him try the candy for the gingerbread house. One piece turns into 2, then 3 and so on. Then when you’re not looking a tube of icing is hanging from his face. I’ll just say his adorable cousin Kayla did that tonight. And instead of sending her home with her exhausted sick mother I offered to have a slumber party. I stuck myself with a child who would not fall asleep until 11. haha
I’m excited you’re finally coming back to the east coast. We all miss you. Drive safe and dont stress. Don’t plan too much, because Cy will probably rearrange everything to his own liking. Boy do I love our little guys!
[...] we just need to start packing (Erin has a plan for that) and then loading and then driving and we are good. I also looked up shipping costs of getting a [...]
WOW that is a huge medical bill. My little guy’s was around 8 grand (2 days in NICU), but mine was well over $20 g’s. And I also have terrible insurance.
Not quite what was planned, eh? We’ll be paying this off for the next year. But of course, a healthy baby is well worth it.