1st Trip with a Newborn & a Toddler

Just got back from arguably the most miserable trip of my life (New Orleans and Dallas are top contenders for very different reasons). The whole thing was fewer than 48 hours (from San Antonio, Texas to Logan, Utah for a family wedding) and completely wore out my husband and me. 

My daughter is 33 months and my son is 11 weeks. My general advice for traveling with a newborn and toddler would be: DON'T. 

I see lots of families do it on social media and thought, "I have sweet kids and a very helpful husband, how hard can it be?" 

We flew out on Thursday morning directly to Salt Lake City then drove 1.5 hours to a huge Airbnb with 6 bedrooms that my husband's parents rented for their 8 kids (3 of them with babies/toddlers). My sister-in-law was getting married. There was a rehearsal dinner that night at a fancy restaurant with the groom's family. Then Friday morning was the temple wedding ceremony with the ring ceremony and reception that night. We left for the airport early Saturday morning and arrived back in San Antonio that afternoon.

Looking back, I wondered what made it so freakin' hard. Here's what I came up with and my tips on how to avoid my catastrophe:

• Hard to breastfeed comfortably or modestly on the plane >>> hungry screaming baby, sore muscles from all the straining
• TIP: Sit in the middle seat so you're not squished by the wall but still have some coverage from people in the aisle
• Baby drank much less milk > painfully engorged, leaking milk everywhere 
• TIP: Bring a manual breast pump and milk storage bags so you can save the milk for a few hours and give it to your toddler
• Toddler got sick > major tantrums, can’t sleep 
• TIP: Don't leave on the trip if your kid shows signs of sickness!
• Sharing a room with baby and toddler > more sleep disruptions, awake most of the night (more than at home!)
• TIP: Bring earplugs or get separate rooms
• Scheduled formal events > waking up kids who are already exhausted and sick, we're all cranky & stressed, I didn't even attend any of the events I traveled there for!!
• TIP: Don't plan to go to formal events where you have to look nice and show up at a specific time! 
• Rental car seat didn’t fit securely in the car > wasted over an hour struggling at the garage with whiny crying kids while we're all tired, hungry, and need the bathroom
• TIP: none, this was unexpected added misery to our exhausting trip

We ordered pizza to takeout on the way home from the airport and all stayed home the next day to recover. 

So just stay home from the get go. Travel later when the kids are older and you're getting adequate sleep and none of you are sick. Send apologies to people whose events you can't attend.