Mom Blog and Baby Blog | Baby Bunching

baby bunching Q/A: hotels

Q: Anyone attempt vacationing at a hotel with your bunch? Which hotel chains let more than two little ones stay in your room or have great yet affordable family suites? Any other tips or alternative suggestions are so welcome.

A: This answer will differ depending on your budget, the age of your kids, where you're going and who's going with you. If you're able to spring for a suite, great. If you're able to get two rooms, even better! Sometimes bringing an aunt, uncle or grandparents help because then you can spread the kids up a bit and still have a place to hang (with adjoining rooms) after 8 p.m.

Places like an Embassy Suites or Homestead Suites give you a little more wiggle room since you can at least put the kids on the sleeper sofa, pack 'n play or the floor (depending on their age) and you and hubby can escape (into the other room) to actually watch a movie, read or hang out without having to tip toe around too much. Embassy Suites usually throws in free happy hour and breakfast which is a bonus. Even a hotel with a balcony often give some options for after you put your kids to bed.

Unless you're staying at someone's house, and many times that can be even worse, you're going to be crammed it and you're going to have to be flexible and have a sense of humor.

Remember that lodging away from home, in the long run, is a growing experience for everyone. Kids need to learn how to adapt to new situations. If you anticipate it will be a horrible experience for all, stay a brief amount of time and head back. Sometimes being on the road is better than being crammed into a small space with multiple kids....at least until they're older.

Get your gear loaded up because you probably need extra equipment to lodge your Bunch for the night or two. Bring the bed. We're big fans of the pack n' play. But we just saw this inflatable toddler bed featured at Cool Mom Picks. Genius! It might help reduce the number of portable cribs you have to stuff in the car. Sleeping bags are great too. The roll-away beds can be more uncomfortable than you think and kids think sleeping on the floor is an adventure. Then you can get away with sleeping more kids. And don't forget the Noise machine. If you don't have one, get one. It makes sleeping away from home easier if you can drown out the noise.

We'd love to hear from those who travel around which hotel chains you always rely on for your Bunch.

summer fun: kids' book club

I can't claim credit for this brilliant Baby Bunching summer idea, but I can thank Baby Bunching friend Cassie for not only coming up with it, but leading the whole project. While my kids (now 7 and almost 6) are at the perfect age for a kids' book club especially since their reading levels are within a year apart, this idea can work for kids down to age 4 and up to any age that's willing to read the assigned book.

We picked four books for the summer all around the same reading level: Judy Moody and the Not So Bummer Summer, Mouse and the Motorcycle, Mr. Popper's Penguins and Nim's Island.  The age of the kids are from 4 to 7. We have about 3 weeks to read each book. In our case, my son can read them on his own, and I read them aloud to my daughter.

During the afternoon of the book club, we have a very short discussion about the book (including talking about the author and illustrator), the characters, the basic plot and why each kid liked the book. This certainly could be expanded to a related craft. We had the kids make posters to illustrate their favorite parts of the book or do a commercial to try to sell the book to someone. But the possibilities, depending on the book, are endless. 

The nice part with these books is we are able to see the related movies. Books such as LIttle House in the Big Woods, Stuart Little, or Pippi Longstocking would be great for kids of all ages and have corresponding movies to make it fun. Even shorter titles like Babar or choosing a few Madeline books or Fairy Tales would make for a fun summer project.

Best part of this: the closer your kids are in age, the easier it is to orchestrate and get consensus on a title.

remember to give yourself a break

By Palak

I went back to work after having my son, but decided to stay at home after having my daughter. I lost quite a bit of precious sleep over the decision to quit; but eventually I decided to give staying at home a go.

When I was a working mom of one, I had quite a few delusions of how perfect my life would be if I wasn’t working—and how I’d be the absolute perfect mom. When I came home from the hospital I was completely overwhelmed! Caring for two kiddos so young required a brand new set of skills. Now that my youngest is 5 months old, I finally feel like I can take a breath! Here are a few things that helped me along the way:

Maintain consistency for Big Baby. Babies who are welcoming a younger sibling are going through a huge transition that they can barely comprehend. If you are also planning on moving from work to staying at home at the same time (or even just maternity leave) consider trying to keep his schedule as consistent as possible. We were lucky enough that our sitter stayed on for a few weeks after my daughter was born. My son still has the same naptime/eating routine during the day as he did before I quit my job. It’s made everything much easier.

Get help. Especially at the beginning. Bringing home a newborn is hard. Bringing home a newborn when you have a baby at home is even tougher. Even if you are no longer working, line up support from your spouse, neighbors, your mom—heck even your mother in law! (desperate times….) One great thing about having two kids so close in age is that your older baby is still a grandma-magnet. Milk it for all it’s worth. The extra hands will help ease those bumpy first few weeks.

Plan some time away every day. I was told over and over how much I’d crave social interaction when I was a SAHM; but I find myself wanting the absolute opposite. I crave the quiet. I now refuse to shower with either of my children. I take the 15 minutes (or more, if I can stretch it!) and just relax and listen to the sound of nobody whining. If you can swing it, try building a little time to yourself into every day.

I thought long and hard about what advice to give another mom going through this transition. As you can tell it all really boils down to "give yourself a break." I had hopes of going to every library story time,  getting all my laundry folded, and never forgetting a single thing at the grocery store. Many of those dreams have been deferred-- just for a bit. Whether I'm working outside the home or not; I've come to realize it's just not my season for perfection. I'm learning to respect and enjoy the time of life that I'm in right now.

Palak is a brand new, stay at home, Baby Bunching mom to two beautiful babies aged 5 months and 21 months. If you want to read more about her adventures, hop on over to www.strawbazies.blogspot.com.

new crib regulations

Recalls are important. Obviously we want our children to be safe from products that could cause our tots harm, but I had to giggle at this latest article about the latest crib recalls and recommendation to use only fixed-sided cribs.

For those of you who no longer have kids in cribs or those of you who are using your heirloom cribs that all three of your kids slept in just fine, the latest thinking is that drop-side cribs are harmful. Now, I will admit that I never used the drop side for my kids except at certain stages. When they are super little the mattress was up high enough that it wasn't needed. When they were older any rattling of the crib after I got them fed, swaddled and soothed startled them so once I heaved them over we just left things as well. And oops....I will admit to even forgetting to not lifting the railing back up as they got older. And, yes, this prompted the discovery of how to jump ship.

I think of all the ways we, our parents and grandparents slept as kids. Probably many of your grandparents started out in a drawer somewhere. Our kids are now in cribs not near windows (mini blinds), without blankets (suffocation), not near wires/monitors, no bumpers (OK, we all ignored that one!), sleeping on their backs in a crib that forces parents to hurl themselves over or throw baby in. I'm starting to think perhaps the drawer is the better and maybe even safer option.

What do you think about this latest recall?