We're leaving for Portland to visit Franny and her family on Friday, and I've been mentally sorting the must-packs from the can-do-withouts. Fortunately Franny's got two little kids of her own and is thus owns a crapload of baby gear we can borrow. Unfortunately, that doesn't include car seats, my least favorite item to travel with (unless, duh, it's a car trip).
So we're bringing two monsterous car seats. Z's will be strapped to Josh's back with our Pacback carrier and checked with our luggage. Baby A's will be hooked onto our neighbor's Gogo Kidz, which converts your car seat into a stroller that you drag behind you like a pilot's suitcase. We'll wheel her right up to the plane and cross our fingers that there's enough room for us to bring the car seat onto the plane. We didn't buy a seat for her, so if the flight's sold out the car seat-on-wheels will be gate checked and I'll be testing out the infant safety vest Baby B'air so kindly sent me on my lap baby.
Since the car seat will be wheeled, we're not bringing a stroller. If Z whines about the walk, she can sit in A's car seat and I'll carry A in my Ergo. We're also not bringing a diaper bag. I've given up on diaper bags and prefer to throw this SkipHop Pronto into a regular backpack.
We're not bringing a Pack N Play, booster seat, baby utensils or sippy cups. Hell, we're barely bringing any toys! But we will tote along snacks, stickers, markers, a coloring book and a portable DVD player that's seriously on the fritz. If Z's lucky, we'll replace it tax-free in Oregon. In the meantime, Princesses with lines through them are surely more distracting than no Princesses at all.
And we'll see if it turns out to be huge mistake, but I'm packing clothes for all four of us in one wheeled suitcase. Less stuff to maneuver, but we'll be a creek with no paddle if Southwest loses it!
