Packing A Baby For Vacation

OH DEAR!!  I have t-minus 3 days and counting until we leave for a much needed vacation to the beach.  Is anyone else out there as neurotic and OCD as I am when it comes to packing and being prepared?  I literally started YESTERDAY.  I know, I know...go ahead and laugh at my craziness, but to me, it's not crazy at all.  Especially when you have a 10 month old and all of the crap you have to tote along with him.  Now my husband... he's crazy.  He will honestly start packing 4 hours before we head out the door.  If he only knew how completely panicked and terrified that made me... well, he'd probably still do it anyway haha.  My heart is palpitating as we speak just thinking about it.  He calls me the Macgyver of Packing.  I must say, I get that from my mom.  We can make an unimaginable amount of stuff fit into the smallest of packages, and when it comes to packing the car, you'd be amazed at what all we can make fit.  There should be an Olympic event for packing.  Mom and I would take the gold for sure!  But I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  SPACE BAGS!  They are the best invention ever when it comes to packing for a vacation.  Just make sure that your destination has a vaccum that you can use when you pack to return home. 

I always use the large bag to pack my clothes, but I can fit Layton's in a medium one.

Yesterday I got all of Layton's food that I'd be taking with us packed and frozen.  If you didn't know already, I make all of Layton's food on my own.  It is honestly so easy to do, (I'll share recipes with you all on another post one day) and it doesn't gross me out like jarred baby food does.  I can make his food for a whole 3 months in about 3-4 hours.  A great friend of mine reccomended that I get the book Baby Love by Norah O'Donnell and Chef Geoff Tracy.  It's FABULOUS.  It is also geared twoard people who know absolutely squat when it comes to the kitchen.  It gave me some great bases to start with, and I've found myself adapting my own recipes from theirs.

Layton was happy as a lark playing in his bouncer while I packed his food. 

To store homemade baby food, you puree it and freeze it in ice cube trays.  Then from there you put it into freezer bags.  I knew that in the 10 hours we'd be traveling, the food cubes would more than likely thaw out a little, even in an iced cooler.  So here is my plan (who knows whether it actually is going to work).  I got out all of the food cubes I'd need for the entire week and placed them all back into ice cube trays and wrapped them like crazy with plastic wrap.  I figured if they thawed out a little, I'd be able to freeze them back once we got to the beach.  Sounds simple enough, but hopefully I won't end up with a pile of liquid mess.  I have everything from blueberry apple, strawberry banana pear, apple raisin cinnamon oatmeal, spinach broccoli, spinach green bean, chicken soup, sweet potato, cauliflower, carrot, and yellow squash all in the same trays.  Imagine if all of that combines!  YIKES!

I promise it's easy to do.  If it weren't, no mom would be able to do it. 

So today's task (along with getting Layton used to sleeping in the pak-n-play, which by the way he is snoozing away in as I type *fingers crossed*) is to get my clothes ready. I can already tell this is going to be a long week.  I'll need a vacation just from getting ready to go on vacation!   At least the sweet bunny rabbits are coming back to visit our backyard again.  Spring is finally here!  Oh, and don't worry, I promise to share what I did with the Swiss meringue buttercream that I made once vacation is over.  Until then, I hope everyone has a blessed  and safe spring break.  Take time to enjoy all God has given us.