Packing

We've never traveled with a baby before. Like ever. I'm pretty sure the farthest we've gone with Ellie Jo was in the car to North Bend, and that was me with Leah & Ashley. I had reinforcements. I had more than one other adult.

This time, we're going to Las Vegas. And it's Robert and me with the (now mobile) baby.

The trip is next week, and I'm nowhere near ready. We have everything set up for house sitters, work absences (of course, this is a business trip for me, but Robert is using 4 days of vacation time to accompany me with our still-breast-feeding baby), ministry absences (we aren't actually missing much, since it's Spring Break for Awana), etc. Packing, on the other hand...that's a different story.

I've spent the last week reading blogs, scouring Pinterest (Google was absolutely no help for this), and absorbing as much information as I can about traveling with babies, packing light for travel, babies and planes - you get the idea.

Now it's time to get down to business. I'm putting everything in Excel, since I've already scrawled out my lists on paper (and it looks horrible).

Next, I have to figure out if our suitcases/ travel bags are even accessible (we are only checking one bag between all 3 of us; everything else will be carry-on and personal bags), and lay everything out. My Excel lists have everything from quantities to which items go in which bags, and they are separated by each of the three of us. I went to the store already to get pretty much everything we needed, and all I have to shop for is our plane snacks.

But seriously....

We're less than a week away, and I feel like the only thing I've done is read. My house is a mess, my kid is cranky (and she can tell we're doing something different, because there's stuff all over the house), and we still have to get on the plane and get to Vegas.

There's a saving grace or two in the mix:

• Shannon and Mike are meeting up with us for dinner on Wednesday (Robert's cousin and her hubby - they live there), and Shannon will be meeting up with Robert again during the trip
• Steve and Stacy are traveling with us (my co-worker and her hubby)
• I've got all the arrangements made with the airline and the hotel for the baby 

And I'm out.

Any must-haves for traveling with babies (11-months old) that you want to pass on? Post here, please! 

Preparing for baby's first plane ride

In a short amount of time, we'll be taking Elizabeth on her first flight.

Yikes. 

Tonight, I started looking up everything from "tips for traveling with baby" to "FAA Approved Car Seats," and everything in between. I just got done making sure our carseats were both approved (even though we are obviously only taking one).

I want to back up for a minute, and say thank you to our friends, family and neighbors, who will be driving our cars and house-sitting for us while we are away. We very much appreciate these kind gestures, and we feel so much better knowing that our home will be in good hands while we're gone! (Even though it's only a few days).

As for the packing - and if you know me, the lists - that are imminent...I'm starting to feel apprehensive.

I've got some lists started, and my goal is to complete them by tomorrow, specifically the ones for Elizabeth.

Here are my goals for packing:

• Pack light
• Don't forget anything (duh)
• Keep baby happy on the plane

I've read some horror stories - I mean really scary stuff - happening to moms, and I've also read some really encouraging stories about moms who travel with their babies (alone!), too. I've also found that Google has nothing on Pinterest when it comes to preparing for baby plane travel.

I've made a list of the items/ ideas for traveling with baby that I thought were genius, and that I hadn't thought of:

• Baby's birth certificate copy (to prove she's under 2 years old) 
• Ask for the bassinet seat on the airplane so she can sleep (I doubt she will; it's only a 2 1/2 hour flight, but I know it's available if we need it) 
• Bring 1 new toy, 1 familiar toy and a soft book for the plane
• Pouches of food (not containers) and plastic spoons

There are always the obvious items: diapers, wipes, sanitizer and comfort items, plus clothes (layers) for all.

So I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

Since this is a business trip for me, I'm having to do literally all of the planning and preparing myself. I am booked literally from 7:15am until 9:00pm every day of our trip. Thankfully, the only expense that we've had to incur so far is Robert's plane ticket, and I was able to get it for the best deal I've ever seen, directly through the airline. (Ellie is flying as a "lap infant," and is free.) We were smart, and booked our seats with one empty one in the middle, and have been checking every day to make sure that middle seat is still available. Since it is, (and if it remains that way), we'll be able to use her carseat on the plane. But because all carseats have to be FAA approved in order to allow the baby to use it on the flight, I had to look into all that. And it wasn't as easy as you'd think: The FAA doesn't actually stamp their "approval" on carseats. It's just the red lettering that says it's certified for motor vehicle and aircraft transportation.

I'm exhausted already, and I'm calling it a night.

More notes and details on our travel later, hopefully after I figure out what bags to take and such.

Hits Deep Tour Concert - Part 1

For Valentine's Day, Robert got us tickets to see Toby Mac! His parents had Elizabeth for her first sleepover that night, and so we got an actual married date night! (This has happened less times than I have fingers on my right hand since Ellie Jo was born). It was a needed night out! And we splurged way too much, lol. But we felt it was investing in our marriage - and music, tee-hee - so it was worth it!

It was the Hits Deep tour, which literally meant that all the artists he had with him were not only his "wish list" tour artists (and all said yes), but they played all hits! Capital Kings (whom I'd never heard),  Ryan Stevenson (I also didn't know), Matthew West, Matt Maher, Mandisa and Brandon Heath were all there - and they were all incredible! Not only was Toby Mac's band "Diverse City" there, but they backed up every single artist. 

It. Was. Awesome. 

 Here's Brandon Heath and Matt Maher. On stage. Together. I was literally jumping out of my seat when they started playing! 

We saw Aidan, one of our Trek students there with his mom! It was Aidan's first concert, and he was a little nervous. Halfway through, we turned around to see both he and his mom totally rocking out! We thought he had a pretty good time, judging by the smile on his face! 

While I absolutely love music - playing it, writing it, performing it, listening to it - I didn't imagine that my life would be changed by this one concert. I'm not really talking about spiritually (sorry!), but I suppose that was part of it. 

What I'm talking about is that I had a renewed love of music. I haven't had that in a very long time. It was just one of those special moments where I went, "I want to do this. I want to make music. I want to share music. I want to live music." 

It started with a "meet Brandon Heath" incentive where you buy his latest CD "Blue Mountain," and you get an acoustic sessions CD as well as a meet and greet. (We didn't get to meet him. Security cut the line off about 30 people ahead of us. I was really, really sad!) So anyway, I bought the CD. 

Since then, two things have happened every single day in my life: 

I've woken up. 
I've listened to this CD. 

No joke. It's amazing. It's folk, country, modern, celtic, eerie, haunting, lovely, deep and amazing. If you haven't heard it, listen to it. Now. The song, "Dyin' Day," broke my heart. It's about a man on death row in prison. The entire song is just literally haunting. I would go into more details here, but I just can't. Talk to me in person or something, if you want the full story on this song. 

I also have become totally enthralled with learning the music on the album again. I actually got my guitar out again last week and started playing. I played guitar in church last week - if you were there, don't get used to it, lol. I'll leave the guitar skills to the experts, and stick to what I know (piano, vocals, violin, flute). Although I am very grateful for those of you who have approached me and said that you loved the song I chose, and the way that I played it. I cannot take credit alone - Paul and Kelton were very helpful! Currently, I know how to play piano, flute, clarinet, alto sax, guitar, violin, and drums. I'm not great at all of it, but I love to practice and improve. Practice makes progress! I was so inspired by all of the artists at this concert! (And, to my band - you're about to be inspired, because the entire song list we've got for this summer was from this concert, haha!)

Anyway, here are some pictures from that concert! We had the worst seats in the house (well, maybe not the worst... those were only 4 rows above us!), and paid a small fortune for them, but you'd never know it from the pictures! I love my 75-300 lens!

Capital Kings

They had a lot of electronic music!

Ryan Stevenson

Matt Maher!

Matt Maher and Brandon Heath!

Brandon Heath singing "Jesus in Disguise" (this
is now on the list for Shepherd's Praise this
summer - yup, my band is going to play it!)

"You are looking for a king you would never
recognize..."

I can't remember which song he did with Mandisa,
but it sounded so cool!

They really had amazing harmonies!

Acoustic and awesome!

Mandisa. That girl moves. I swear she did an
entire Zumba workout while she was performing!

I actually missed this next part, and Robert tried to keep
up with pictures for me. I was walking
the entire perimeter of the Key Arena venue
to find the Brandon Heath stand (and then all the
way back again), only to find out that the section
I needed was literally one over from the one
we were in. Sigh.

Matthew West!

Blurry, but rocking out!

Hehe. I included this one only because it
made me giggle!

Toby Mac & Diverse City!

His band was amazing! They had so much stamina!

Getting loud!

Toby. Dude cuts rugs like nobody's business.

Everyone was into it!

They were great!

Drum solo!

A SECOND stage!!!!

...a second stage WITH MATT MAHER! AHHH!!

Toby & Matt duet. Musical genius.

Mandisa joins Toby!

Mandisa hugs Toby!

Toby and his band kept going!

See the guy in the green cargo pants? He played
7 different instruments on stage. I counted.
I told Robert, "He plays a bunch of instruments
like I do!" He said, "Yes, but he plays brass." To
which I stared at him blankly and then said, "I want
to learn trumpet!" LOL

I loved the bright colored clothes. Made it easier
to keep track of 'em! They were everywhere, haha!

Moving!!!

Brass trio!

And just when we thought it couldn't get any
better...Toby busted out of his jacket to reveal....
his 12th man jersey.

Well done, Toby; well done. Seattle was thrilled to have you! 

At one point, Toby said, "You all know my wife. She's a Jamaican woman, and she can be....well, scary. Sometimes, things don't always go well. Sometimes, we argue and fight. We go to separate ends of the house. And you know what? She is always the first one to come crawling back to me! She finds me in the bedroom and gets down on her knees and says, 'TOBY! GET OUT FROM UNDER THE BED AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!'" AHAHAHAAHHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHA! I seriously laughed so hard, my sides hurt! He then introduced the song, "Hold On," which he wrote for his wife. Aww!

I love how all of the artists that were there were so real. It's what made the concert so great! 

I'll try to get part 2 blogged later this week, but for now, I'll say this: We had an amazing night out on the town after the concert, too! Pictures to come of our downtown adventures!