Picnic

Yesterday, we went for a picnic down by the Yarra River at our local park.  Tabitha loves it there because it is a popular place for people to bring their dogs - to run around, or even to swim in the river!

The Daddy had worked very hard all week (as usual!) so decided to come home early, so we took down lots of yummy food and a brilliant bottle of Riesling (from my favourite winery, Freycinet Vineyard).

Because our park is so close, we can take hot food with us - I heated up some vegetable samosas and duck spring rolls (from the best deli around, in my opinion - Nick and Sue's in Camberwell).  We also took down some taramasalata and Turkish bread, crab claws, chili tofu, primavera olives, marinated octopus and rare roast beef (yep, all from Nick and Sue's)...

Tabitha loves picnics, because she can pick and choose, and wriggle around while she eats.  She likes feeding us too:

Her favourite was the chili tofu.  It's funny, the kid loves spice!  I have never been into very spicy foods, but I made an effort to eat plenty of spicy things while pregnant and breastfeeding, in the hope she would get used to the flavours (the chili never bothered her in my milk).  I don't know if it worked, but I will say that Tabitha adores anything spicy.

She spent much of the time watching the dogs.  She waved to each and every dog as they arrived at the park - and most of the lovely owners waved right back at her.

Hoovering the chili tofu:

See these three gorgeous little pugs?  Do not be fooled by their sweet faces and adorable curly tails.  Two of them ran over to us at great speed, and snuffled up some of our roast beef, just inches away from us!  "No!  No!" said Tabitha.  Never mind, they were terribly funny little things:

Keeping with the chili theme, Tabitha just loves dipping things.  Particularly into sweet chili sauce:

She also enjoys covering herself in taramasalata:

And using it as a fun, fish-scented finger paint all over her knees:

After we ate, Tabby and The Daddy went off to play with the ball:

And enjoy some great big 'whizzy dizzies'.  You could hear the shrieks of laughter from all the way across the oval.  The kid is a total daredevil.

Being a Mummy, I didn't think it was terribly wise to spin her around after a full meal, but she had a brilliant time, and tired herself out nicely.  Bed time as soon as we got home!

Have I mentioned how much she sleeps these days?  She has decided that 6pm is her bedtime (efforts to keep her up later result in a grouch, and she doesn't sleep any later in the morning.  So, every day like clockwork, Tabitha sleeps 6pm - 6am overnight, without a peep, then 12noon - 2:30pm (give or take) during the day.  I couldn't be more pleased, and she has worked it out all on her own.  Just goes to show - babies who co-sleep, sleep in the room, follow their own leads etc. can still turn into fabulous sleepers.  

She has not woken a single time overnight for around 5 months now.  The most we ever did to try and get her sleeping better was 'in and outs', that is, going in and patting or cuddling her, walking out once she was calm and sleepy, going back in if she got upset.  We did this for a few days when she was around 8 months old, with no distress - she actually seemed much happier once we started leaving her alone when she was tired!  From day one, we have followed her lead and it has worked really well for us.  Different things work for different babies, I'm sure, but the gentle approach worked for us, even when she was a terribly wakeful baby (until around 7 months or so), and has produced the most perfect sleeper I can imagine.  I just put her in her sleeping bag, sing her a song and a cuddle, lie her down, walk out, and she goes straight off to sleep.

Food... For a change...

If you cook a slow roasted lamb shoulder, you can make another fabulous meal out of the leftovers.  Piles of cold roast lamb, green tomato pickles, mustards, sharp cheddar, bread and butter, some re-heated parsley potatoes, and some steamed green beans.  Bottle of Shiraz optional.

Our dinner guest, when warned we were just having 'leftovers', commented that the cold leftover version of the lamb, with the cheese and pickles, is possibly even better than the original hot version.  I won't argue with that - particularly on a warm evening!

On Saturday morning, I made an enormous amount of beef stew to freeze.  I like to do this around once a month - it makes eight servings, which means we can eat it for dinner once a week for a month, then I make another batch.  I am a haphazard sort of cook - see below, I wanted to add some beef stock, I had some in the freezer, so I just sort of smashed it up and sat the frozen pieces on top of the stew before I put it in the oven.  Easier than bothering to defrost it, and did no harm.  Yes, I am that lazy...

My father comes over most Saturdays - The Daddy works on Saturdays, my mother works on Saturdays (she has a ballet school), my sister does ballet classes on Saturdays.  Since I can remember, since I was very small, Saturdays have always been a day that my dad and I spend together - when I was young, he'd take me to spend the day with my horse.  These days, we hang out at home, go for a walk, do some cooking, eating, and play with Tabitha.  She adores her grandpa 'Gra'!

Dad made a pit stop on the way at Le Croissant, an excellent French bakery which is, conveniently, roughly half way between our house and my parents'.  He brought with him croissants, almond croissants, a baguette and some ficelles, a bread and butter pudding made from croissants, and some blueberry jam.  He also picked up some Camembert.

Yesterday evening, I went out for dinner and a movie with my best friend, Amy.  We went to one of my favourite restaurants, David's, which I haven't been to (except for lunch) since I was around eight months pregnant.

We had Peking duck - so, so good:

Really excellent fried rice:

Amy had something with beef.  I'm not sure what it was, but the beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender:

The whole reason for going to David's, for me, is their Mock Crab.  It is an unusual regional dish, basically sliced scallop stir-fried in egg white.  That is a very simplistic explanation.  It is like eating clouds,  delicious, scallopy clouds.  It also has black vinegar to pour over it.  It is making my mouth water to think about it - I first learnt of David's Mock Crab from John Lethlean, a Melbourne food writer, and it quickly became my favourite dish.  I could certainly eat it every week.

Here it is - it is not, it must be said, a pretty dish:

Covered in vinegar goodness:

Here is my date for the evening - we drank 2008 Chardonnay from Freycinet Vineyards in Tasmania, one of my favourite wineries in the country:

We then scurried off to see Harry Potter in 3D at the Jam Factory.  The movie was good, and I was proud of myself for staying awake through it, until nearly 11pm, even after two glasses of wine.

Oh - and I must mention, although I am afraid of jinxing myself, that Tabitha has been sleeping much, much better over the last week.  Almost every night, she has only woken twice for a feed!  So she's been going to bed at 7pm, then wakes for a feed at around 1am and 5/6am, then wakes for the day between 7 and 8am.  Amazing!!  Hopefully this continues.

What have I done differently to see this improvement?  A few things...

a) Under suggestion from my ABA counsellor, I stopped feeding her just before putting her to bed.  So, instead of feeding her in her room, then putting her straight to bed, I now feed her in the living room around 30 - 45 minutes before bed, then put her down later.  This breaks the 'feed sleep' association, so when they wake up they don't necessarily need a feed to get back to sleep.  Instead, I notice that she wakes, then makes a few noises, or cries out once, then goes right back to sleep on her own.

b) Now that she is walking - easily covering a few metres or more at a time - she seems to tire herself out a little more.

c) I decided that she might be a little cold at night - now she's past the first year, the high SIDS risk year, I felt comfortable dressing her a little more warmly.  I've added another long sleeve layer each night, and it seemed to make a difference.  I think she was possibly waking, and unable to get back to sleep because she was a little chilly.

d) She is certainly eating more, all of a sudden, over the past week or so.  She now eats, for example (taken from yesterday):

• one weetbix with milk, plus some yoghurt, plus a cube of melon, plus a one inch x two inch piece of toast with almond spread for breakfast;
• Some sultanas and half a pumpkin muffin at around 10am;
• a cheese and pickles sandwich, plus some apple, for lunch at 11:30am;
• Some baked beans (maybe eight teaspoons) at around 3pm;
• Some fruit at around 5pm;
• Some lentil soup (around ten teaspoons), some yoghurt and a few bits of steamed veggies for dinner at around 6pm.

I'm not sure which of the above (maybe all, maybe none) have contributed to her improved sleeping, but she is also sleeping more during the day (often 2 - 3 hours for her midday nap).  We certainly haven't done anything harsh, she has really made these improvements on her own, and I am thrilled!  I can completely cope with a couple of night wakings.  Like I said, hopefully this pattern continues...

Snippets

My aunt and two little cousins came to visit Tabitha on Saturday - they had been unable to make her party, so dropped in to wish her a happy birthday.  Tabitha is much smaller than my young cousin, who is years older than her, however she still tried to boss her and climb into her lap in the little car (which sadly has to go back to the toy library.  Tabitha will miss it a lot!).  Can you sense the alarm in poor cousin G's little face?  She is afraid she will be squashed by 9kg of baby!

The cousins brought gifts for Tabitha - including a cute pink corduroy cat - and some beautiful yellow tulips for me.  They are sitting, in their pot, on my windowsil, adding cheer to the kitchen:

Look at all of Tabitha's lovely birthday cards!  She is such a lucky girl, and loves her cards - in fact, I am having to work to stop her climbing up the bookshelf to pluck down some cards to play with.

When Tabitha was born, we recieved more cards than you can imagine - well over 100.  I bundled them up with some ribbon, and they sit on her shelves.  I hope that one day she will enjoy looking at them.  I have done the same with her Christening cards, her first Christmas cards, and will also with her birthday cards.  I can't bear to throw them out - people have written such nice, kind things.

Here are her birthday cards, and behind them in a frame, a gorgeous postcard of a young ballerina sent from Paris from her honorary great-aunt Penelope (who I used to call Pelepone, and the name has stuck):

For her birthday, Tabitha recieved lots of beautiful, special gifts, including some of her very own jewellery - a pearl bracelet from The Daddy and I, a silver 'Little Lamb' fawn bangle from my parents, and a divine little ladybird charm for her Pandora bracelet, given to her by her Godmother Sophie.  She also received beautiful soft toys, fun games and puzzles, lovely books, pretty dresses and shoes and even a song, written - music and lyrics - and recorded for her by her talented 14 year old Godfather Noah!

Here are some of her new toys - at the back, a gorgeous wooden cart with the nicest little handmade animal 'bowling pins' and a wooden bowling ball, as well as several handmade felt and wooden farm animals for playing with:

She received two pairs of shoes for her birthday - some stunning metallic pink ballet shoes (in the box) and some super-cute Marc Jacobs 'mousie' shoes, back right, with pale pink leather 'ears' and little spiky whiskers.  With over ten pairs of shoes, Tabby has more nice pairs than her mummy!

My favorite shoe brand for baby shoes is Bobux.  They are designed in New Zealand, and the quality is superb.

You are not supposed to put MCNs (modern cloth nappies) such as our Itti Bitti nappies in the dryer - the heat degrades the waterproof fabric and the elastic.  You are allowed to dry them on 'low heat' however I generally line-dry them to save power.  But since our cats destroyed our indoor clothes airer (naughty cats!) I put her nappies into the dryer (on low).  WOW!  They are so, so soft!  I don't know if I can go back to line drying...  I will, I know I will, but I will be sure to give them a turn in the dryer every now and again to soften them up.

In Tabitha's nursery, she has a large wall unit of shelves - the top shelves house books, the middle shelves house delicate things (such as porcelain money box, jewellery, small toys, photos and the like), and the bottom shelves house basket storage, and also toys she enjoys playing with.  Often, I hear her go into her bedroom on her own, and start playing her little xylophones!  I snuck in a took a couple of photos - here she is enjoying making some music:

In feel-good news, I received a package in the mail today.  A woman who I had donated breastmilk to had posted back my containers, and had so generously included brilliant Peter Rabbit 'buggy book' and a kind card.  What a lovely surprise!  But - why oh why does the postman always press the buzzer (for about a minute!) when Tabitha is asleep?!

Well, it seems that Tabitha has officially transitioned to one nap per day.  She hasn't yet decided exactly what time she would like to sleep - she has been going down between 10:30am and 3pm, depending on the day - but overall, we are trending towards a nap from roughly 12pm - 1:30pm or 2pm.

She has also really stepped up a level with her monkey climbing skills - not only can she now climb up onto the sofa, bookshelf and our bed (dragging something like a tissue box or a boot to stand on, if required), she can now climb up her high chair and onto the dining table!  Goodness!  Dangerous and alarming.  I cannot take my eyes off her anymore!  Apparently at the same age, my mother caught me half way up a ladder against the side of the house.  I cannot imagine what a fright that must have given her.

Today is a lovely day.  Sun is shining, house is clean, baby is giggly.  I have been laying on the sofa reflecting on how much I adore being a full time mother - I can honestly say that I am completely fulfilled by our days together.  At so many moments through the day, I find myself getting almost teary with the complete love and adoration I feel for my sweet, funny girl.  The overwhelming 'motherly love' is almost like a drug, rushing through my entire body.  I know that things will get harder, no doubt, when more children come along, but being a mother is simply the most wonderful thing I could have imagined.  Not a day passes when I don't feel this way, even when I am tired.  I cannot tell you how lucky I feel.

Milestones and Eating Update

Since I started this blog, partially, to keep a record of Tabitha's activities (since my handwriting is too dreadful to keep an attractive baby book), I ought to update things.

She has been 'walking' around with a walker/pushing a pram/holding our hands for a couple of months now.  She can do this for great distances, and does not tire easily.  She can also stand on her own for a little while - up to ten or so seconds, sometimes - but at this stage, has expressed no desire to walk on her own.  She will once she's ready!

She loves to point.  She extends her Pointing Finger and bunches up the rest of them, into a proper pointing gesture. It amazes me how they pick these things up.  She then likes to point at all sorts of things which interest her - people, balloons, dogs, pictures on walls.  She generally does this with a frown, and a 'UHHH' noise.  I like this stage - it is fascinating to learn the things which interest her enough to point.

She likes copying things - you can teach her new games or tricks quite easily.  My little sister taught her to wave and 'high five' many months ago, but more recently, she has learnt things such as blowing kisses, and the 'blinking game' which involves blinking back and forth at each other.  It is most amusing, because she tries to watch you the whole time - so her face contorts as she tries to blink with her eyes open.

She was given two toy cars for her birthday - an eco-friendly, ethically made pink race car, and a fancy plastic car which has one of those clever, battery-free motors which propels itself along if you give it a good push.  With both of the cars, she will push them around on the rug, making 'BROOOM BROOOOOOOM' noises.  It seems terribly grown up.

Like most other modern babies of her age, she enjoys taking a mobile phone - or, indeed, anything vaguely mobile-phone-sized, such as a block, remote control or piece of cardboard - and holding it to her ear, yelling 'YAYAYAYAYAYA!' into the phone.  It occurred to me, after watching this, that I must speak very loudly into the phone, since she seems to be under the impression that one must YELL into the phone.  Hmm.  Food for thought.

With regard to eating, Tabitha seems to have turned a corner.  While she has generally been an adventurous eater (as most babies are), she has always had a bird-like appetite, picking and nibbling but rarely making much of a dint in her meals.  This is fine by me - Baby Led Weaning says that food is just for fun, until the child is one, and the ABA and my MCHN have both reassured me that Tabby gets almost all the nutrients she needs from breastmilk.  However, in the past couple of weeks (since she turned one, roughly), she has started to eat slightly more heartily.  For example, yesterday for lunch, she ate:

• A small piece of veggie burger (roughly the size of a nugget)
• Half of a wedge of pear
• Half of a corn thin with cream cheese
• Half a piece of cheddar cheese
• A nibble of toast with green pickles

Her diet remains mostly protein, fat and carbohydrates (this makes sense - she is getting all her vitamins and minerals from breastmilk, so what she probably needs is more calories, protein and iron).  I continue to offer her a variety of fruit and vegetables, but she generally prefers to eat meat, seafood, pasta, breads, cheese, eggs and the like.  She sits at the 90th centile for height and the 30th centile for weight, so, as my MCHN says, "she is a clever little thing and knows not to bother filling up with apples when there is schnitzel on offer!".  I have faith that Tabby's body knows exactly what it needs - and I am grateful that she gets so much goodness from her 'milkies'.

At occasional care (which she goes to for an hour or two on a Friday morning, to practice having some playtime without mumma hovering over her), we are required to send a snack:  a sandwich, and a piece of prepared fruit.  The first time I picked her up, the lovely ladies told me, "she ate all of her sandwich, but she showed great disdain for her fruit!  She tossed it across the room!"  Yes, that sounds like my babe.

Here is Tabitha enjoying some pear:

Tabitha will still not take a bottle of expressed milk - she took one beautifully when she was younger, until around 4 months, so don't believe what they say about needing to introduce one early so they will always take one.  She knows her milkies is just as much about a nice special cuddle with 'mum-mum', inhaling deeply the scent of my skin.  She gets quite cross if anyone tries to give her a bottle!  Regardless, I do keep pumping and expressing milk, keeping some in the freezer.  For one thing, I have to admit, I just love the fact that my body can produce milk!  It seems so awesome that my boring old body can produce so much food for another human being.  I saw a bumper sticker which read, "I make milk.  What's your superpower?" which made me smile.  I might get one.

Anyway, in the meantime, I am thrilled to be able to donate our excess breastmilk.  I use the website Human Milk 4 Human Babies, which operates through facebook.  I have donated to a couple of mothers who have problems with producing enough milk for their babies - both are working like no one's business, trying desperately to increase their milk production, but in the meantime, they prefer for their babies to drink human milk from another mother, instead of cows milk or artificial soy / goat formulas.  I am in awe of these mummas, who are working day and night to build their supply - pumping, taking medications, drinking teas - as well as driving all over Melbourne to pick up donated breastmilk for their babies.  In the early days, I donated a fair bit of milk to other mothers via my midwife.  I am most passionate about human milk donation.  I attended a panel discussion on the ethics of milk donation a few months ago.  Fascinating stuff!  But too complex to go into on this post.

Now that she is a Big Girl of One, she has, a few times, cut out her morning nap.  I have tried to put her down, as usual, at 10 or 11am, and after half an hour, she is still merrily chatting in her cot.  On these days, I have fetched her back out of bed, and she has managed to stay awake until 1pm or so.  So, on these days, she has only had one nap.  I guess she is transitioning to a One Nap Age, however apparently this can be a gradual process, so we are playing it by ear for now.

As a general rule, Tabitha is a 2-4 hourly waker overnight.  She tends to feed at roughly 10:30pm, 2am and 5:30am, then wakes for the day around 7:30 or 8am.  However, on the day she turned one, she slept an eight hour stretch!!  I do not lie.  She slept from 11pm until 7am.  It was amazing.  My breasts were dreadfully engorged, hard and lumpy (Concrete Breasts, as I call them), but goodness I was thrilled.  Unfortunately, the event has not been repeated, however I am quietly confident - she did that all on her own, so I believe she will do it again once she's ready.  For now, I am making sure I relax and just enjoy the middle-of-the-night feeds.  This stage will pass, and I know that I will miss the time alone, in the darkness, just Tabitha and I, with her sleepy hand patting at my bare skin.

In other, more worrying news, Tabby can now climb up onto the sofa by herself.  She has also been able to climb stairs - quite rapidly - for a couple of months.  This is terribly cute, but alarming, because she can not yet safely get down.  So we have to watch her like hawks.  

In cuter news, Tabby loves to dance and bounce away whenever music is on.  Some of her toys play jaunty tunes, and whenever they come on, she grins and bounces her whole body up and down, poking her little bottom out.  Her favourite song is currently 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands'.  We sing this together, and clap our hands at the appropriate times.

Finally, two and a half molars are in.  Jeepers creepers, these have been nasty.  We didn't really have problems with her previous eight teeth, but the molars have caused her some grief.  She has been thoroughly cranky.  I will be pleased when they are all in!

Here is a picture of Tabitha rooting through my wool cupboard.  Her and the younger cat, Possum, like to do this together.  Between the two of them, they can make quite a mess in an alarmingly short amount of time:

Packing for Overseas

In one week, we are leaving for a one-month long holiday in the US.  We are spending a week in Boston, two weeks in New York, 2 nights in Lancaster County, PA (Amish Country), and 5 days in Washington, DC.

We are flying Melbourne to LA, then LA to Boston, with around 5 hours in LA airport.  We will catch a train from Boston to NYC.  We are hiring a large car in NYC, to drive to PA, then on to DC.  We are flying out of DC to LA, then on to Melbourne directly.

We chose to fly Melbourne - LA and return, with no stops in NZ/Asia.  While there is certainly an argument for breaking up the flight, and allowing a young toddler some time to roam around an airport, we elected to do the direct flight, trying to just get it out of the way!  By flying direct, we will arrive at our hotel in Boston just over 24 hours after leaving Melbourne.  That's right, 24 hours of non-stop travel.

I will write another blog post, this week, on the actual air travel element.

How much luggage are you allowed?  A lot!  In fact, flying to and from the United States, you are permitted to travel with far more luggage than you could easily manage with a baby in tow, I think.  Each adult is permitted two suitcases, a carry-on, and a ladies handbag.  The baby is allowed one piece of luggage, such as a car seat or a pram or a travel cot.

In total, this gives our family:

• 4 suitcases, up to 23kg each
• 2 international sized carryons, up to 7kg each
• Our Bugaboo Cameleon in its large hard travel case
• A large nappy bag / handbag.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think we would struggle to cart that much luggage around (plus a baby) - and of course, our luggage needs to fit into taxis, and the car we are hiring.

With this in mind, we are taking one large suitcase, one medium suitcase, a large international carry-on, a carry-on toiletries case, our Bugaboo, and a large nappy bag.  Our small Phil&Teds travel cot fits within our large suitcase, or we could check it in separately.  This should be ample to take what we need on the way over.  If we need more space coming home (shopping!!), I will use spacebags to condense our clothing, and will purchase one or two cheap, soft duffle bags to fill with soft items (clothing, grobags, bunny rugs etc) which can be checked in as luggage.

For our clothing, we needed to consider the weather.  In Boston, the weather is likely to see maximums of 18 - 23 degrees, so we will need closed shoes and light coats.  Scarves, beanies and gloves should be sufficient to keep us warm in the mornings and evenings, if there is frost.  In New York, the weather is likely to be pleasant, with daily maximums of low 20s.  In DC, the weather could easily creep into the 30s - so a couple of light dresses, shorts, tshirts and sandals will do.

If we are confident the weather in NY and DC will be warm, we may decide to send home, via slow post, our heavier clothing, coats and shoes.

We will not need dressy clothing such as heels, elegant dresses or suits, as we won't be dining anywhere fancy, nor will we be attending shows or musicals (sad, I know, but we have done these things before, and we are not comfortable leaving Tabitha with a babysitter we don't know).

Travelling to a developed country like the US is, of course, much easier than travelling to many parts of the world.  We don't need to pack too obsessively, since anything we may need to buy - shampoo, bandaids, bathing suits, razors, toothpaste - will not only be readily available, it is also likely to much CHEAPER than if we bought it at home!

There are some things, however, which I strongly recommend packing.  We are planning on using some disposable nappies while travelling, since I'm not confident about the availability of secure washing facilities.  I know Huggies work for us, and I know that many brands out there are rubbish, leaking, with dodgy closure tabs and strange fits.  Because of this, I am taking enough nappies for our use, rather than risking having to try out unknown brands.

The other things I would recommend packing enough of are items which your baby or child is 'used to', and may have trouble adapting to - you really want to minimise the stress factors when travelling!  I would include artificial baby milks, bottles and teats, dummies, pain relief medication, and also skin products like shampoos, soaps and lotions, particularly if your baby has allergies or sensitive skin.

Of course, if you practice Baby Led Weaning, you will not need to take along special baby foods, however if your baby is used to eating cereals and purees, you might like to take along your normal brand - those suckable organic tube squeeze things seem to be popular, and I imagine they would be relatively easy for travel (though not as easy as feeding your baby normal food, I think, though I admit I am biased!).

To assist with settling into a sleep routine once you reach your destination (with jet-lag, new surroundings, change in climate and all that), I recommend packing a number of sleep aids.  We have included a number of 'sleep triggers' into Tabitha's bedtime over the past few weeks, and will continue to use these on arrival, to help her adapt.  This includes:

• A scented travel candle in a relaxing fragrance.  Hopefully this will signal 'bedtime' to Tabby, and will also help to camouflage all of the strange and new hotel smells.
  
• Music for Dreaming CD played overnight - the sounds will, again, hopefully signify bedtime, and having gentle music on overnight is also good for canceling out hotel / street noises.
  
• Badger Night-Night Balm is a marvelous product.  All natural, filled with beautiful natural sleep and relaxation oils such as lavender, chamomile and sandalwood, I rub a little of this on Tabitha (wrists, neck, forehead, chest, soles of feet).  Not only does it help her relax and sleep, but the scent has formed a nice olfactory association with sleep for her.
  
• The rest of her bedtime routine - putting on a clean nappy, clean pyjamas, evening breastfeed, reading a couple of short books, then zipping her up in her Grobag - will remain the same when we are overseas.

There are several herbal gentle sleep remedies for babies and children on the market, which we may try (depending on how Tabby goes).  In the hotel, as with anywhere, it is best to have a calm, quiet sleep environment (NO television on within an hour or so of bedtime, enough quiet time in the room before bed) and to keep the room fairly cool (around 18 degrees is ideal for sleep) and with some fresh air if possible.  

On the airplane, I will fill her water bottle with cool chamomile tea for her to drink, instead of water, which will hopefully help her stay relaxed and calm on the flight.  Of course, breastmilk is perfect for helping your baby to sleep - it contains natural hormones designed to put baby to sleep, and indeed to put mum to sleep as well!  So a nice long breastfeed, somewhere dark and quiet, with skin-on-skin contact is ideal for just before bed when you are all adjusting to a new timezone and sleep environment.

I will also be taking a small tube of Vegemite (never travel without it!) and several packets of Australian stickers.  When traveling, I think it's nice to have little Australian souvenirs on hand to give to any children you meet - this applies even if you don't have children of your own.  I like sheets of fuzzy Australian animal stickers.

Finally, it is of utmost importance to consider your travel documents.  Of course you must take your passport, photo ID (license), credit cards, tickets and other travel documents.  In addition, take copies of your insurance details, and any applicable telephone numbers such as your airline, the airports you are travelling through, and your local embassies (in case of trouble or lost passports).

You should also take photocopies of every document (store them separately to the originals, and leave a full copy of all of your items at home with someone you trust, such as a family member).  Take spare colour passport photographs of every member of your family, including babies.  As awful as it is to consider, if your child goes missing, you will want an up-to-date, clear photograph of them.

I like to create a comprehensive travel document - sort of an extended itinerary - which includes all details I could possibly need:

• The name, address and contact number of each hotel.  The dates we are staying there.  The time of checkin and checkout.  Any details such as room requests made or breakfast package inclusions.  Our booking numbers.
  
• A list of nearby amenities to each hotel - the closest supermarket, chemist and park.
  
• All flight details, including frequent flier numbers, flight numbers, seat allocation requests, special meal requests and records of request dates, time of each flight arrival and departure (in both local time and the time zone we left from e.g. body clock time).
  
• Car hire and train travel details, including booking numbers, times etc.
  
• Travel insurance policy details, inclusions and contact numbers
  
• International contact numbers including foreign embassies.
  
• Other information such as passport numbers, international travel visa or visa waiver numbers.

I take several copies of this - one for home, one to keep in each suitcase, one to keep in my handbag. I also email a copy to myself, so I can access it from anywhere in the world.

For your wallet, I recommend making a card (the same size as a credit card, in heavy weight cardboard) which includes all the details you will need when filling out forms such as immigration paperwork - each family member's passport number, issue date and expiry date, the address at which you will be staying, dates of arrival and departure.  This will save lots of time and rummaging when you suddenly need these details.  Add a few handy numbers such as your insurance policy, embassy and hotels.

We arrive at our hotel in Boston in the evening.  The next morning, I will be walking to the nearest supermarket (Shaw's in the Prudential Centre, a three minute walk from our hotel) to buy fresh fruit, bread, butter, nut spread, museli and milk.  This way, no matter how tired or ratty we get, we know we have healthy food available in our room in case we hit a wall suddenly, later in the day.

Now...  The packing lists.  I have divided this into Checked Baggage and Carry On Baggage.  Note:  I have not included The Daddy's items.  Off the top of my head, I predict the list will be:  jeans, jeans, half a dozen tshirts and light shirts, shorts, a couple of jumpers, a coat, scarf and beanie, sneakers, thongs, a book, razor/toothbrush/deoderant, sunglasses, phone, wallet.

Checked Baggage:

• Bugaboo Cameleon pram in its travel case
• Phil&Teds Traveller portable cot

Baby Items

• 2 pairs of warm weather PJs, 2 pairs of cool weather PJs
• 4 muslins
• 2 bunny rugs
• 1 large lightweight muslin for shade / sleeping cover for pram
• Fitted sheets for portacot
• 2 Grobags – 1 TOG and 2.5 TOG
• Room / bath thermometor
• Lamby (sleep toy)
• Vatanai wrap
• Ergo
• 6 bibs
• HandySitt portable high chair
• A few books and toys
• Travel candle
• Music for Dreaming CD

Nappy Items

• 150 nappies
• 500 wipes
• 150 scented nappy disposal sacks
• Barrier cream
• Lightweight waterproof change pad

Tabitha’s Clothing (allowing for washing every few days)

• Bathers and swim nappies
• Sun hat
• Soft beanie
• 4 singlets
• 2 cardigans
• Coat with hood
• Shoes
• 4 pairs of socks
• 4 pairs of pants
• 4 tops
• Tracksuit

My Clothing (allowing for washing every few days, and shopping as we go.  No heels or fancy outfits required, since we won’t go anywhere without baby)

• Woollen coat
• Jeans
• 4 Spring-weight tops
• 4 stretchy camisoles (I wear these under everything, good for some coverage when lifting top for breastfeeding)
• 2 cardigans
• Leather short jacket
• 2 t-shirts
• 2 skirts
• 2 pairs of black leggings
• 2 casual dresses to wear with leggings
• Socks and underwear
• Footware – Thongs, sneakers, ballet flats
• Bathers
• PJ pants / tracksuit pants
• A few silk scarves
• Sun hat

Toiletries Bag

• Medicines – Panadol, baby Panadol suppositories, Antihistamines, multi vitamins, Ventolin, bandaids, Soov burn and bite cream, antiseptic cream, ear thermometer, small pair of scissors, light crepe bandage, sterile gauze.
• Travel Hairdryer
• Hairbrush and hair ties
• Shampoo and conditioner
• Nail polish and file, and handcream
• Basic makeup (tinted moisturiser, mascara, eyeshadow/blush cream, lipgloss)
• Breastpads
• Eye drops
• Deoderant
• Lunette
• Baby nail clippers
• Baby shampoo and wash
• Facial care – cleanser, exfoliant, moisturiser, eye cream, hydrating mask
• Sunscreen
• Toothbrush and paste
• Razor
• Body lotion

Miscellaneous Items:

• Ear plugs
• Small handbag
• Glasses and sunglasses
• Electrics (phone charger, adapter, laptop and charger, camera and charger, compact camera and charger)
• Boston Pocket Umbrella
• A couple of books
• Knitting / crochet (small projects like socks, beanies etc.)
• Vegimite
• Aussie souvenirs for kids – koala stickers etc.
• US approved padlocks
• Maps / guidebooks
• PHOTOCOPIES of passports, licences, credit cards and travel documents.  Leave a photocopy at home too.

 Tabitha Carry On

• 12 Nappies
• 80 wipes (everyone says to guess how many wipes you might need, and double it)
• 12 scented nappy sacks
• 2 wet bags for soiled clothes, muslins, bibs etc.
• 6 breastpads
• 6 bibs
• 4 muslins
• 1 large muslin
• 2 bunny rugs
• 4 – 5 snack meals (sandwiches etc) and baby food
• Water bottle containing cool chamomile tea for Tabitha (most airlines will allow you to bring aboard a ‘reasonable quantity’ of food and drink for a baby.  I will bring organic chamomile teabags in case.)
• 1 TOG Grobag
• 2 – 3 pairs pyjamas / tracksuit
• 1 additional travel outfit including socks and singlets
• Ergo
• Small toys and books
• Lamby sleep toy
• Dummies (even though she hasn’t used one since around 4 months, they might be worth a try if things get desperate)
  

My Carry On

• Tickets and travel documents, including master itinerary
• Passports
• Wallet with local currency (including plenty of $1 bills, as you will need to begin tipping well before you unpack).
• Glasses and sunglasses
• Pen
• iPhone
• Tissues
• 2-3 pairs socks
• Chinatown beaded slippers (I hate going to the bathroom on planes in socks, these are perfect for padding around with swollen feet).
• Neck pillow
• Pashmina / light blanket
• Silk eye mask
• Ear plugs
• Hairbrush and ties
• Multi vitamins
• Small camera
• Book
• Full change of clothes and underwear
• Medicines (antihistamines, panadol, baby panadol)
• Noise canceling headphones
• Snacks (fresh fruit and vegetables, cut up.  Muesli bars)
• Toothbrush
• Clear plastic bags, less than one litre per adult, containing (each less than 100ml):

o   Cleanser

o   Moisturiser

o   Moisture mask

o   Eye cream

o   Toothpaste

o   Rosewater spray

o   Mascara

o   Hand sanitiser gel

o   Tinted moisturizer

o   Deoderant

o   Lip balm

o   Hand cream

o   Eye drops

o   Barrier cream for nappies

o   Sleepy balm

o   Rescue Remedy