Tasha+Scott said:
Now I have another question for all of you veteran moms on here. First of all, Dh and I always go to a water park every year and were planning to skip it this year but have been reconsidering since we now know Kylie loves water. We were thinking of taking her between July and August, when she will be between 2-3 months old. The dilemma is the water park is 2.5 hours away. If we do go we plan to stay overnight so we don't do 5 hours of driving on top of the water park. Don't want to overdo it with her. The water park is pretty "baby" friendly. It has a little beach area that is perfect for us to take her to. The problem we have is will she be too young to go on a drive that long and then to a water park? Have any of you taken your little ones to a beach or water park that young? Plus, we can't put sunblock on her that young so what would we do about sun protection? Would you even bother taking her or would you just skip it till next year? Any advice is welcome.
Madison has always loved the water too. Her 1st bath was around 2 weeks old also, in the baby bathtub, and then we drove to my mom's house (about 200 miles) that week and well, no baby bathtub there, so I took her in the real tub with me and she really loved it. She was so happy, plus she realized she could nurse at the same time so she was really happy then, and then fell asleep. She still loves the bathtub now, in fact sometimes she doesn't want to get out.
But anyway, onto your question. I'm sure you'd be okay at the water park, just will be a bit more challenging. We took Madison on a few long car trips to my mom's at 2, 6, 10, and 14 weeks (and many times after, but they don't relate as much to you), and though she might be an exception, all of them except the first were nightmares. We were there for a week each time, so it's not like we drove 4 hours there and then turned around and headed home, so that's not the problem. She literally screamed the entire ride. She hated her carseat. Generally short trips at home were okay, but anything over about 20 minutes and she would scream nonstop till we took her out of the seat. No sleeping in either direction. So those 4 hour drives to Jersey became 5-6 hour drives with all the stops we'd make to give her (and ourselves) a break from the screaming. We always got her a seat on airplanes, and we took 5 air trips with her between 3-6 months, and she was generally better in her carseat on the plane, very little crying, but the car was absolutely awful. When we switched her from her infant seat to the convertible carseat around 9/10 months, she really improved. I guess maybe the infant seat just wasn't too comfortable. In fact, I just drove to NJ Thursday and back Friday, alone with Madison, for a funeral and she was fine both ways, and it took 6 hours there and 7 hours back (soooo much traffic). So if it were me, and I had to make the 2.5 hour trip when Madison was that age, I probably would have done it, but just stopped many times.
About the sun, check with your ped. about sunblock. We asked 2 of Madison's drs about it for our Disney trip when she was almost 3 months old and both said it was fine to use on kids under 6 months. I know that opinion varies by dr, so check with yours, but it might be okay to use it. We tested a few types on her arm before the trip and she was fine with them all. Also, although Madison loves the bathtub, she was not too thrilled with the pool at Disney. She hates water in her face (likes her hair washed, just don't let the water run down her face!) and kids kept splashing near her and yelling/screaming so she was less than enthusiastic about it so we didn't stay in the water that long. We debated taking her to Blizzard Beach, but after her reaction to the pool we shut that idea down cause it seemed like it would be a waste of time since the non-rider would basically have to stay in the shade since we didn't think she'd like the wave pool.
Now that trip was at almost 3 months (turned 3 months the day after we got home). We went back to WDW a month later and took her back in the pool and she really enjoyed it that time. She loved me sitting her on the ledge and pulling her into the pool, spinning her in a circle, "throwing" her into the water (without letting go of course), etc. She was about a week away from 4 months old at that point. We also went on the
Disney cruise that trip and she had fun under the umbrella on the beach at
Castaway Cay. We had fun too, just that we had to snorkel alone, etc., so a little change. A couple of weeks later we went to another pool and got her a little baby boat and she loved floating in it in the water. She was a little over 4 months so not quite sitting yet, but she stayed in the boat okay and actually fell asleep from the rocking of the boat. And as you can see in the sig photo she is quite happy in the pool now.
So my suggestion (after a way too long story, sorry!) is to go as late in the summer as you can, when she'll be as old as possible. I think that's good cause you won't worry about her being as 'fragile', plus she'll be more aware of what's going on and will enjoy herself more. I wouldn't skip the trip if you want to go cause I'm sure Kylie will be fine, just plan to stop on the drive (you may not have to, but just keep it in mind), plan to do a lot of attractions alone/wait in the shade a lot, bring a big cooler for the bottles, and lots of extra swim diapers and an extra swimsuit and you'll be fine. Yes, we had a swim diaper explosion on Castaway Cay and no spare swimsuit on the beach with us!! And remember to bring a camera to get her 1st trip to a waterpark.
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Cannot wait! I am *really* making it a goal to not be frivilous and put the majority of our extra money right now towards credit cards (paying them off before DH comes home next Jan/Feb) but I think I may have to spend $100 at Gymboree. At least $50 anyway. 
i guess thats what i get for letting her wear a gown to bed instead of pj's.. 
Tyler has only had 1 real bath so far, he's getting another one tomorrow. When I'm by myself I stick with the sponge bath still because it's easier. He wasn't a huge fan of the tub, he didn't scream bloody murder, but he wasn't that thrilled about it. I can't wait until he loves bath time!
