A seasoned traveler

Oh how frequent travel changes how you pack and plan. My first trip to Mexico a little over a year ago, I was a nervous wreck. I was traveling alone with my just turned two year old. I had never traveled internationally or with my son alone. He had flown once before when he was about a year old to Disneyland, but he was still immobile, nursing and napping alot. Oh how nervous i was that he would cry the whole time, that we would miss our connections, that i would not be able to handle a months worth of luggage, a car seat, a two year old and navigating through foreign airports. I started the process of packing, unpacking, repacking and making lists about a month in advance. I was clueless about Mexico...would they sell shampoo? What about pop tarts? What if i forget something? Are there disposable diapers or do i need to pack those too?Will it be available out there in this unknown world? What if i forget something?

The morning of travel finally came and all was well! My son was a champ on the 6.5 hrs of flights. Plane changes went smoothly. Kind people were willing to help. Daniel did not cry or annoy people. He sat happy in his seat with his new toy, new book and portable DVD player. On the many Mexico trips to follow i knew i could just buy soap and diapers there. I started packing a week in advance, than just a couple days. No more lists. If i forgot it i would just buy it there. My son know can even carry a little backpack with his own treats and toys for the plane.

Rather than fear travel, i feel prepared. I know what to expect. Granted i don't look forward to it. The plane ride is hard. Keeping my son entertained is not much fun. I don't usually get to read my own magazines or books, because i am entertaining Daniel. When he finally does nap i usually just flip through SkyMall.

In three weeks, we are headed South of the Border again. While i have packed two of my four giant suitcases, the only reason was to get the stuff out of my room. (No i don't need that much luggage for a two week vacation. It is all either gifts for other people or stuff i am planning on leaving there for when we move in November. Figure i might as well take us much as the airline allows me and leave it there than worry how we will move our stuff  later.) I will probably pack what i actually need for the trip the night before 8)

Thoughts on expanding my family....

I have recently found a blog I love, the author is a young mother living in Guadalajara who suffered with PPD (post partum depression) with her son. Check out her blog here. This week she is speaking about thoughts on having more babies. This got me thinking....

My son is three years old. I always wanted to get pregnant with my second child between when he was two and three. It just seemed like the perfect timing. When he turned one i started having that itch. It got stronger when friends would get pregnant or have a baby. The timing was not right though, plus after having Daniel i had really bad PPD. I won't elaborate now, but maybe some future post. Anyways, it was horrible. I don't want that happening again, though i know it is out of my control to some extent.

After Cesar left to Mexico the desire to have more kids disappeared. Maybe it was the current living situation (me at my parents, husband in another country) but even looking forward, to when we are together i am terrified of the idea of more kids. I don;t want to share my love of Daniel with someone else. I want him to be able to have things he wants, and with living in Mexico in the future, another child is another expense. I want to be able to fly home and take him do Disneyland and to the ocean and all that stuff. Not have to worry how i will afford another plane ticket.

On the flip side though, i want him to have a sibling (another one close to his age i should say, since he does have two older siblings) I want him to have that bond. I would love a little girl, and just as much i would love another sweet little boy. I would love him to have a playmate. And this may sound morbid, but God forbid something happen to Daniel, i want to still have kids. I want someone to visit me when i am old. I want grandchildren. I want my grandchildren to have cousins.

Maybe when we are all together again my feelings will change. But for now i know we are not ready, or at least i am not ready. I will instead enjoy every moment with my sweet little boy.

Here are a few pics of him over the past few years....




This is him a few hours after birth











I can't believe he was ever that small.

Here he is around 4 months. He was very pretty and everyone thought he was a girl

Around 1yrs old

Around 2yr old

Well i was gonna post some current ones, but it is taking so long that i will do it in a future post....

International travel with Children...

I don't know why, but i was thinking about this last night. If you look online or at Government travel pages it clearly states that if you are traveling to or from Mexico with your minor child, and both parents are not present you must have a notarized permission form from absent parent. Everything i read says how Mexico is really strict about this.  Anyways we have our bases covered and i have such a letter. The thing is i have traveled in the past year 6 times to Mexico with my son. Not once have i been asked to see this letter, not at the Mexico or the US end. In fact one time i gave the customs officer (Mexican side) my sons passport and he asked who it was for, because he did not even notice i had a kid.

Now i really don't care that much, since it is less of a hassle for me pulling out extra forms, but it is still kinda scary that no one seems to care. In fact, on the same note, my sons passport was done when he was 6months old. Being 3 now he does not really look much like his passport photo at all. I could just probably grab almost any 3ish brown hair, brown eye light skinned boy and go through. Again i would never do such a thing, but God forbid anyone ever kidnapped my child, i would hope that they were not able to just get him over country lines so easy.

Never google health issues.

This is a statement i struggle with. My anxiety tends to manifest itself as a slight bit of hypochondrism. Anyone who has dealt with this knows that someone who suffers from this takes every little tick and change in their body as a terminal illness. I am so in-tune with my body that i can tell every twinge i have not felt before, every bit of fatigue that is not when it should be. It is scary and consuming really. Than a side effect of this is a bit of OCD. I must Google everything. And oddly enough, i don't Google to reassure myself. Quite the opposite. I search and search until i find the worst case scenarios. The brain tumors, the cancers, the rare and unheard of diseases i must have. If my first search shows up that what i am feeling is normal or common i keep looking.

Why do i do this you may ask? I don't know. I just can't help myself. Anyways, in case your curious i may have a brain tumor, or possibly lupus or could it be cancer? I don't know, but i am recommitting to stop googling silly things.