Car Seats

I wrote a post years ago about how we will leave our kids in rear facing car seats until they are too tall or weigh too much. It is so much safer that I couldn't justify turning them around until needed. The law varies state to state and even more country by country. The best way to research is to look for the countries with the lowest car crash fatalities and find out their standards. Did you know a few countries don't allow for forward facing until kids are 6? Unfortunately, our seats weren't built to those standards so we didn't make it that long. However in a time when most kids in the US are turned forward facing at 1, we just continued rear facing. So when the kids turned 1, we changed nothing. Same at 2, 3, and 4. Here are pictures of the kids at 4 (a month before turning 5).

Sweet Daughter comfortable and happy.

All of these photos were taken in Wonderful Husband's car, but I assure you they were rear facing in both cars. These are Britax seats while in my car they have Radians. Even once we turn them forward facing they will be in a 5 point harness for as long as possible.

Sweet Son is sleepy.

So what did their friends say? What does everyone else think? First, who cares? My kids are safe and we are making the decisions for them not anyone else. Second, no one cared. Few people even noticed and those that did would often mention they have heard it is safer, but choose not to do that for their kids.

A side picture

The question we got most often, "Where do they put their legs?" Here they show you two different options, criss cross or over the side. Sometimes they stretched them out on the back of the seat. They never complained. When we traveled we would often travel without the bases so they would have to sit facing forward. They did know what it was like to face forward and didn't care either way. They were comfortable.

If you don't know about "extended rear facing" (what it's called in North America) please do your research. There are seats that go to 50 pounds rear facing. Yes, you will pay more, but if it saves your child from injury once (or possibly something worse), it's worth every penny. Also please find out the expiration date of any seat you buy. Many expire after 5 years while some last 12 years. That's a huge different when you are considering the price of buying a new seat every few years.

LegoLand Rides (2/3)

Like many kids, ours love the idea of driving. There are many options for them at LegoLand.

 No parents allowed on the track. They just let the kids drive around and earn their own Lego license.

 He's in the blue car wearing a blue shirt proudly declaring his "right turn" (well, it is a turn). She is in a blue car wearing a purple shirt watching everyone else and not where she is going.

 

Driving through the Lego safari offered more guidance.

This ride looked so exciting. They were so happy when they started.

The horse goes up and down as it travels along the track.

The ride was a bit long. She was ready to get off.

The ride clearly lost a bit of the magic by the end for him as well.

Epcot

Since we managed to do Disney World in just one (very full) day, we had to decide what other park we wanted to do. After a bit of discussion we decided on Epcot. We didn't figure this would take an entire day, which was perfect since Uncle A would have to leave early to catch his bus back home.

All happy even after visiting all of the "countries" and riding every ride they were tall enough for.

Many of the rides and attractions were dark so we don't have a lot of great photos. This one is classic though.

So after a great day at Epcot, we drove Uncle A to the bus station. Only the bus wasn't there. Turns out the bus had issues and wouldn't be coming for many hours. This would mean Uncle A wouldn't get home in time for work the next day. While we were trying to figure out how to solve this problem, the kids needed a place to play. The car has car seats and no room. The parking lot has cars driving around (the grass was behind a fence) and we were right by a street. So, we let them play in the trunk. I stood right next to them the entire time and the trunk was open. The kids LOVE playing in the trunk and still ask almost weekly if they can play in the trunk of one of our cars. Strangers often give us looks, but it's really not as bad as it sounds. Eventually, Uncle A found a car he could rent and drive back home.

Transportation in Europe

It's not just about airplanes and trains when taking a big trip to Europe. We traveled by many different forms of transportation.

 

 There was the bus in Venice (as well as the bus in Rome).

The gondola in Venice was one of my favorite memories. Not exactly romantic with the kids along, but it was one of those things you just have to do while you are there.

The trolley in Poland (various cities) was a big hit with the kids.

 Sweet Son loved that the doors opened automatically while Sweet Daughter loved talking to everyone (even if they didn't speak English).

I loved that everyone let me sit down with the kids when it was crowded. It certainly helped when the kids were over tired.

This is another of my favorite memories from the trip. We rented a car in Poland because we were going to so many cities, many without public transportation. In Krakow we went to visit the castle and dragon's lair. There were signs around the area that were white squares with a big blue P on them and an arrow pointing to these spaces. Turns out that means private parking, not open to the public. When we got back to the car we discovered the boot. That's also when wonderful husband realized he had forgotten his wallet (with his drivers license) at the home we were staying in. We were able to track down a police officer who said he would send over the parking officers in a few minutes.

While we waited in the car wonderful husband tried explaining the situation to the officer. That's when we discovered a couple of other issues. Wonderful husband doesn't have an international drivers license, which is required in Poland. Luckily the officer was impressed that my husband is still fluent in Polish (now with an American accent) and decided to overlook that fact. However, he couldn't overlook the lack of any license at all. So, since I had my license on me, the ticket was written in my name and had me listed as the driver. This was an issue because the car is a standard and I don't know how to drive a standard at all, much less in a crowded, foreign, tourist area. I'm happy to say the exceptionally nice officer looked away as my husband drove us away. There were also multiple fines. The first one had to be paid on the spot in order to remove the boot. The second had to be paid by cash or money order after the fact.

For future reference - get an international drivers license, don't forget your wallet, and always be polite and speak in the local language if possible.

Quality Time

 Everyone knows the importance of spending quality time with your kids. Time when you are enjoying their company and not just doing chores/errands/boring adult stuff. I've heard many parents complain that it's difficult to schedule quality time because of everything they have to do. We try to involve the kids in everything we do, from cooking to car repair.

Here my husband is working on his car. In order to make this a family activity, we got out the kids tool box and their cars. You can see both kids diligently fixing their cars near Daddy. They would often trade for a new tool when he did as well. 

We also alter our schedules to get in quality time. Each child attends a Montessori program 3 mornings a week. Sweet daughter goes M,T,W and sweet son goes T,W,Th. This means on Mondays sweet son gets a "Mommy Day" and the same goes for sweet daughter on Thursdays. This is a morning they get to choose what we do and get my undivided attention. Something that doesn't happen very often for twins. Usually sweet son wants to "play with toys, no share Sister" while sweet daughter wants to go shopping (grocery). 

Sweet son informed me one day of what he wants to do on his next Mommy day. He wants to ride in a passenger car, go over a trestle that's high in the air, go through a tunnel that is dark inside, and see a locomotive that's black. um... Specific much? No, I didn't find a way to make that happen on a Monday morning, but we did make that happen a few months later in a much more exciting way.

Traveling with Babies

We traveled a lot before having kids. We knew this would slow down, but hoped to continue traveling some. With family spread across 3 countries and friends spread out even farther, this is a reality for us. I don't think we realized how much we would be traveling in the kids' first year. Between holidays and weddings, we went on 4 road trips and 3 air trips all in the first year.

Our first trip was to a wedding in Chicago. We debated going up until the last minute because the kids were only 7 weeks old, but we really wanted to be there to support our friends. We flew and it went well. We bought everyone a seat on the plane and the kids slept in their car seats during the flight. We wore them anytime we went out to keep them safe, happy, and away from germs. This was one of our easiest trips with kids mostly because they were so young. It also helped that we were so sleep deprived to begin with that the extra stress of traveling couldn't push us any farther over the edge.

Chicago

Our second trip was to visit family for Thanksgiving. The kids were two months old and it was a car trip. Somehow this was more complicated. We had to stop multiple times to feed/change/entertain kids. A trip that before kids would take 3.5 hours, took around 5 hours. We had planned it to leave during nap time thinking they would sleep the entire way. They didn't and it wasn't fun.

Thanksgiving with Grandma

Our third trip was for Christmas to the same place. So kids were three months old and another driving trip. This also didn't go well. In fact, it was this trip that made me say we were never going to travel with the kids again. While it was great to see family, it was stressful. The kids didn't travel well. They didn't sleep well. We were still in protect the kids from germs mode and sick people wanted to touch and hold them.

Christmas with great-aunt and great-grandma

Our fourth trip was for Christmas to the other side of the family. So a week after the last trip, we went for a plane trip. This time the flight was not direct and we were going out of the country so we had the added fun of customs. Once again we got the kids their own seat and they were really good for the flights. We had scheduled a long lay over and needed every minute of it. Trying to schedule everything around feeding/changing/nap time is difficult, but possible. It was great seeing family and friends that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Father, Son, Grandson

Our fifth trip was six months later. The kids were 9 months old. We went to Florida for a family wedding. Another plane trip and we used the same plan. This time we had the added fun of a car trip in Florida for part of the vacation. Once again, the kids were better in the plane than in the car. We had a ton of fun on this trip and I started to think about more vacations again.

Florida Keys

Our sixth trip was the next month. My wonderful husband surprised me with a road trip to do something I had always wanted to do (trapeze lessons). This road trip also didn't go well. We were stuck in traffic, the kids were hungry and dirty and we couldn't exit. There was a lot of screaming and the kids ended up off schedule. Some kids are fine without a schedule, but our kids are miserable and make everyone around them miserable if we get off schedule. While it was an incredible trip and I'm so glad I got to go, our kids aren't great at road trips.

Sight seeing

Our seventh trip was when the kids were right at a year old. This was another wedding trip and a long road trip. We planned more breaks and changed our timing and it went better. By this time we were getting good at knowing what to pack, what we needed to buy when we got there, and how to manage the kids in a hotel.

Babies on an oil rig

Here are some of our tips for plane trips:

• Get the child their own seat. It's more expensive than having a lap child, but it is so much safer. If your child is hurt it will cost you more than the ticket in the long run. Your child will also be more comfortable in their own car seat. If you are going to need a car seat once you get there, this way you know it won't be damaged by baggage handlers.
• Feed during take off and landing - sucking helps keep the ears clear and pain free.
• Attempt to schedule your flights during nap time.
• Look up family bathrooms at the airport before you leave home. If you only have one baby this might not be such a big deal, but with two infants and needing to pump breast milk this was a must.
• Have a "new" toy for the flight in case your child is awake. We would take away a toy for a month before and then give it back on the trip.
• Know the regulations for traveling with milk and read online stories of how babies are treated at security at that airport. This varied widely and even changed because of an attempted bombing a couple of days before one of our trips.

Tips for car travel:

• Know if your child will sleep in the car and plan around that.
• Plan on each trip taking almost twice the usual amount of time. If you get there earlier, no big deal, but this will hopefully keep you from being late!
• Have a plan for feedings. We used the back of the car, but a park or restaurant would have worked also.
• While we got better, we didn't figure this one out for infants.

Tips for hotels:

• Call and ask if they have a crib you can have in the room. We have used small cribs, folding cribs, and pack-n-plays. Not having to bring your own (or two of your own in our case) saves a lot of time and trouble.
• If possible get a room with a blocked off area. This helps keep the kids area dark while allowing us to be close by without having to tip toe around them.
• Get a room with a fridge.
• Once the kids were eating solids, we would have them sit on a clean sheet rather than on the floor. 

Try to relax and have fun. If you are stressed, your child(ren) will feed off of it and make everything worse. It's a great adventure and go into it knowing things will go wrong.