August Faves
or, things that really do make traveling with kids & living out of a suitcase easier!
We spend the majority of the month of August traveling as a family. It’s something we had been planning as soon as I found out I was pregnant and would be on maternity leave over the summer. We went to Wisconsin to spend time with my husband’s parents in Door County, visited friends in Madison, which is where my husband and I met and lived for 6 years before we got married, and we went to Cape Cod with my family to enjoy the beach for a couple weeks. It was exceedingly special. You can read a little more about it here.
While we had an incredible time, and made so many memories that we will cherish forever, it also required a lot of kid gear to make the trip possible. Three kids require a lot of stuff, especially when moving them around involves plane travel and rental cars. You should really be able to rent an adult to help get you through the airport with all the stuff! So, in August, my favorite things were heavily influenced by the items that helped to make our travel smooth, as well as some of the pieces I wore on repeat during my 4 weeks of living out of a suitcase!
WayB Pico Carseat - Flying with carseats for all the kids is quite the juggle. We invested in the WayB Pico for my oldest this time and holy crap - it is a GAME CHANGER. I originally cringed at the price, but man oh man, it is worth it. It’s so small, so easy to carry and so freaking easy to install. It made the fact that we still had to travel with an infant bucket seat and a convertible carseat for our two year old MUCH more bearable. Highly, highly recommend. We plan to get many years of use out of it because hopefully all my kids will use it! Also - a tip - if you have 3 kids in carseats and have to rent a car, rent a mini van. Thank me later.
SlumberPod - A lot of traveling also meant a lot of room sharing for our family. While I’m not sure there is a product (or products) out there that could make my 5 and 2.5 year olds behave themselves when sharing a room, there are things that make is easier to share a room with a baby! Enter the Slumberpod. It’s basically a tent that goes around a pack n play (or bassinet, in our case) that creates a little dark sleep cocoon. It’s really nice to have a place where the baby can nap during the day that doesn’t mean I can’t go into my bedroom when she’s sleeping (and she sleeps a lot!), and know that if you need to turn a light on when you go to bed at night, it’s not going to ruin everything. We are also currently using ours at home as we room share with the baby until the big kids are a little more ready, and it’s kind of like she has her own little space in our bedroom!
BabyZen Yoyo & Ride Along Seat - We’ve had the BabyZen yoyo for years and we use it all the time — both for plane and car travel. It’s small enough to fit down the aisle of an airplane, store under the seat, or in the overhead bin. For this trip, we got the Ride Along Seat so that we would have a stroller that would hold both big kids, but also be tiny! So many people stopped us to ask what kind of stroller we had! My kids are obsessed with it (they fight over the board seat, which is, actually pretty annoying, but, I’ll take it!) I also love that I can pop the baby bucket seat on it as well - so works for any kid!
Artipoppe Baby carrier - I hemmed and hawed over making the investment in this baby carrier, and man, it was worth it! I love this thing so much. My husband loves it. Our nanny loves it. We use it multiple hours a day, every single day! There are so many baby carriers out there, and I have several others, but this one is really comfortable, easy to put on by yourself, and you can’t beat the aesthetic. Also - no metal in it, so you can wear it through security in the airport!
Wallaroo Sedona Hat - I wore this easy, packable hat almost everyday on our trip. I’m trying to be more and more serious about sun protection, and I needed something that would pack easily, and that I could wear in the car (eg: not too wide of a brim!) This was perfect!
Kids Lake Pjs - My son wanted matching PJs for himself and his sisters, so I turned to Lake for a special treat for these kiddos, and landed on the kids Long-Long set and Baby Sleeper in coordinating green stripes. Bonus that I also have a matching womens set in the green stripe! Tip: Size up for everyone!
Larroude Bridget Sandals - Influenced by some of my favorites on instagram to try these shoes after adding them to my Shopbop hearts in the spring, and I was not disappointed. They are fabulous - just a teensy bit wide in the footbed to accommodate my slightly wide foot, the perfect height and they go with everything. I am actively seeking opportunities to wear them again!
Amazon Romper - I landed on this romper after trying on more than four different styles, and I’ve been living in it ever since. I wore a maternity romper on repeat throughout my pregnancy, and the same one works great postpartum, but I wanted a second option with a bit more compression. I tried the Lululemon Align unitard, but it didn’t provide enough coverage in the chest! Many of the options on amazon are booty shorts. This one is just right. Oh, and it’s $13.
Thank you for reading!