Baby Baggage

I've been packing and laundering and packing and sorting and packing Matilda's clothes all week in preparation for our Easter trip to Nashville! We leave tomorrow bright and early at around 4am. So, really not so much "bright" as it is "early" seeing as the sun isn't up yet (is God even up at that hour? I'll let you know.)

It has been quite the chore figuring out what to bring and what not to bring for Miss Matilda. This baby, as you can imagine, is quite stylish and has the wardrobe of a seasoned clotheshorse (atta gal) but what to choose for the trip is a daunting task. She is at a tricky in-between-sizes phase, for one, where she is 5 months old but they only seem to make 3 month or 6 month clothing. Basically this requires me to squeeze her into half her outfits like a little polish sausage, or leave things roomy while rolling up the cuffs. I've found a few "3-6"month items (a rather elusive category in baby fashion) and those mostly seem to fit her well.

The weather can be a challenge as well. Luckily, it is supposed to be beautiful while we are there - even hitting highs of 80 degrees - nearly unheard of for this time of year in Nashville. Most of her "fitting" clothes are still long-sleeved, so we might be leaving with sleeved items that turn into cut-off sleeveless wonders by the time we return. (I kid...I think.) She has plenty of onesies + pant combos, so we'll just bring along a sweater and hopefully have our bases covered. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

But, the hardest thing about packing for a baby is that the frequency of outfit changes is almost entirely unpredictable. Some days (let's call them "miracle days") we get through an entire 24 hours in one outfit (well, 2 outfits if you count jammies, but that change is on purpose). Other days...well, it is just a question as to which end of my child ruined another outfit. I got home yesterday to find her in a new outfit than what I had left her in and just nodded and asked Katie (my sister-in-law/nanny/saint/the super-aunt) "Spit-up or doody?" Yup, another outfit bit the dust.

So, when you are trying to plan for multiple occasions, with a series of days away from the norm...how many outfits do you plan for her to average? I think the most she's ever gone through is 4 or maybe 5 outfits in one day. So...packing for baby basically requires the skill in "overpacking". I'm certain that I have entirely overpacked this child.

There's the short sleeve, the long sleeve, the sweater, the navy outfit for photo-session-with-cousins #1, there's Easter dress #1, Gram is bringing Easter dress #2, there's the outfit so-n-so gave her and the dress from that other person, there's fancy socks, non-fancy socks, tights and the shoes-that-will-never-stay-on-her-chubby-feet-but-will-look-pretty-for-a-photo...not to mention extra diapers, wipes (we'll buy more when we're there) blankey #1 and snuggly glow worm and krinkly-elephant for plane distractions. Hmmm...boy. I hope we still have room to actually bring Matilda along.

Well, wish me luck! It's up, up, and away for us tomorrow! I will return next week with a full report, as I will most likely not have time to blog while I'm away. Keep up with us on my facebook and I look forward to sharing in future posts!

Happy Easter!