Traveling with a Fussy Baby

Noah is a huge traveler and I started him off young. We went on a long road trip when he was two months old. He enjoyed riding in the car most of the time. Occasionally, he would start to fuss. He didn't want to be in the car anymore. He wanted to stretch and be held by me. It's hard because you just want to hold them. It's not safe to hold a baby in the car, even though it's so tempting. If I could have just held him on long car trips it would have been easier. Thankfully I am creative and have a knack for making up songs. It helped some when we were in the car.

Even just sitting in the backseat isn't enough. I honestly think it can make it harder sometimes. If you have a snugly baby, just touching them is not satisfying. They can see you and almost beg to be held. It makes the temptation to slip them out of the seat worse. You really have to know what to do to soothe your infant in the car. It's important for everyone's sanity especially if you are traveling far. Trust me when I say this: picture it it's like nine pm we can't find our hotel and everyone is tired from driving. Noah starts crying and his toy breaks. This toy is the only thing that is stopping him from crying. I was a new mom as he was two months old. It was time to get creative. I sang rattle rattle thunder clatter boom boom don't worry call the car-x man for a half hour straight.  I tried to only sing it a few times but well Noah really loved it and he was done with the car that night.

I wrote a post about soothing your infant in the car to hopefully help other parents manage long car rides

Music about Cars

You can find songs about any topic or thing. You can think of anything and I am sure there is probably at least one song about it. That includes love, heartache, animals and even cars. There are so many songs about cars. Songs you sing in the car, songs about cars, songs dedicated to their cars and even songs that are metaphors using a car. You can also find songs about tragic car crashes and death. Really if you think about it, being in a car is a big part of everyday life. All kinds of things happen while riding in the car. Noah has lost a couple teeth in the car, which ended up lost. Thankfully, the tooth fairy is really understanding. One of my friends recently delivered her great niece in the front of her truck less than a mile from the hospital. I can definitely see why cars are often the topic of songs. I now wonder how many hours of our lives are spent in the car. My mom has spent the last month driving all over the place visiting. I know that she has spent many hours driving her car just traveling. You may have had your first kiss in a car after a date when you were younger. My first kiss was when I was seven, but I don't count that as a real kiss. Everyone has car memories, just some put them in artwork and some put them in songs and share it with the world for us to enjoy.

I compiled a list of some songs about cars that I really like, be sure to go read it.

Teaching Noah in the Car

I love to travel so much. It's definitely a passion of mine. If I won the lottery, I would travel extensively with Noah. I am always looking for ways to teach him new things and share experiences. He's older and really smart, he doesn't like being quizzed on things. When he was younger, I could just ask him questions. He just gets annoyed at me now. He is really curious about things. I want to take him to Williamsburg again, we went when he was two months old. We didn't really do much but go to Yankee Candle.  He's learning about Paul Revere in school and that would be a fun trip or Washington DC. He seems to be very interested in history. I asked him about who Paul Revere was. He told me that it was a guy who told the people that the British are coming.  After that he was talking about different wars today. He wanted to know if any of our family was in either the Civil War or the Vietnam war. My mom explained that our family on her side wasn't in the United States yet. I also told him that  his grandpa side wasn't either. I told him how I am the first generation born in America. He is the second.

When I named him Noah, I didn't know how fitting his name would really be.  He loves aquariums and zoos. We want to go to every major aquarium in the U.S. some day. He has been to quite a few already.  He loves to learn and experience new things. I have discovered that you can make anything a learning experience.  It doesn't have to be complex, it can be as simple as just counting miles or shouting out different colors of cars. Starting young is a great idea. It helps build a foundation and a love for learning.

For more ideas check out my post about educating in the car.

Healthy Snacks for Traveling

It's no secret I love food. I love going grocery shopping. I love cooking and baking. I love to eat. When I am traveling for the holidays or just in general, it's all about the food. We used to bring snack bags on trips with us. My Grandma Rose always made the best snack bags. She would have one waiting for us and have one for us to take with us on the way home. It was one of my favorite things. I would give anything to have one right now. When Noah was about three, I started making Noah a snack bag for when we travel. It is a great way to give him healthy choices while saving money. Buying snacks every time we stop is not practical or affordable. The choices are not the best and well Noah is extremely picky. I have to make sure while we are traveling for the holidays, he has good choices for snacks and drinks. Gas stations don't really offer much when it comes to kids' drinks. He likes some juice and keeping gas station milk ice cold can be challenging even with a cooler. I am teaching him about healthy foods and that treats are fine in moderation but when you only have junk as a choice something needs to be done.

Be sure to read this post about what I put in our Holiday Snack Bag for Travel

The Adventures of Traveling with Noah

Riding in a car can be boring. Noah's been traveling in the car his whole life. When Noah was two months old, we went to Virginia Beach. We had been in the car for hours and hours when Noah had enough. Right at that moment, his toy broke and that was the one thing that stopped his crying. I couldn't hold him because we were riding in the car. We were almost to the hotel so I tried everything I could think of. I started singing the Car-X commercial jingle over and over again and he stopped crying. When he was three, we would go visit my sister often. She lived three hours away. Noah started saying Wanna go down the road and asking are we there yet? I had to come up with things to entertain him in the car. Thankfully, I grew up going on vacations in the car. I was able to use my experiences and had an advantage with ideas. I didn't have my mom's smart phone, my mom doesn't have a smart phone, or a tablet, so my ideas were good old fashion fun. I didn't have any screens to watch movies, now kids have it easy. I try and limit Noah's screen time so I don't let him have it in the car. I prefer games, reading and other things that help his brain develop. It's also extra stuff to lug around. We have some fun times in the car together. I use this time together to make fun memories with him like my mom did. I still love to sing Billy Joel and Carly Simon like I did many times throughout the years. 

Be sure to check out my post about How to Entertain Kids in the Car.

Noah was Sick and Child Health Tips

This past weekend Noah hit two milestones. I am not happy about these milestones but I knew it was going to happen at some point. The first milestone that makes you a worried parent was his very first ear infection. He also had Pink Eye.  It’s common to get an ear infection and Pink eye at the same time because everything is so close together. He was miserable. His eyes were so red and he screamed about his ears hurting. I had to take him to the doctor after keeping him home two days from school. Sure enough he was sick. The doctor basically looked at him and said he has pink eye and looked in his ears and he had an ear infection. That was that. She handed me a prescription for Augmentin aka the super expensive antibiotic, that no store includes in free antibiotics.  So this is milestone number two, he had his very first prescription. Any other illness he has had was treatable with over the counter stuff. He is extremely healthy. *Knocks on wood twice*. The two different places I went the pharmacists were impressed when I said it was his very first prescription when they asked me if he had been there before. 

I thought I would share some tips on keeping your children healthy.

Wash hands after going to the bathroom and before you eat. You can also wash your hands when you come home from the grocery store.

 Parents you are the example, if you start a routine your child will follow

If you are eating something with nuts wash your hands after, so you don’t accidently make someone else sick.

Take multivitamins every day

Eat healthy and drink a lot of milk and water

Keep your hands to yourself, don’t share hairbrushes, lip balms etc, with your friends. They may be sick.

Be aware of what sicknesses are going around where your child goes to school

Keep doctor’s appointments and well checkups.

If you choose to vaccinate, keep up to date on their shots

Don’t share drinks or share food with others

If your child gets sick, remind them to:

Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze and throw away used tissues.

Stay home from school or daycare until you don’t have a fever or at least a day or two with a cold.

Sometimes when you are sick you miss out on fun things like field day or a trip to the playground but you don’t want to make your friends sick too.

Rest as much as possible, even if you think you feel better, you still need rest.

Even if your mom pays extra for them to flavor your meds and it tastes bad, you still need to take it.

Parents don’t stress, sickness happens. It’s usually just a germ they picked up. Remember the more
children your child is in contact with, the more likely they will get sick.

For more health tips and great information about health check out Molina Healthcare.

The opinions in this article are my own. I do not work for, or with, any brand mentioned in this article, nor do I have any official relationship with them.  I have a relationship with GigaSavvy, for whom I create original editorial content.