June 12, 2008

Sleep? Who, Me?

We're working on routines. They're not going to happen quickly, so all of that patience we've learned over the past year is going to once again come into play. But more on that later - we just got the little guy to finally go down for a nap so I'm going to steal this opportunity to jot down a few notes from our trip.

Things we're really glad we brought:
*Lots of wet wipes. Especially now that we're entering the rainy season there are millions of ways to get dirty and not having access to a washing machine we went through wet wipes like oxygen.
*Snack trap. Ashton was so proud when he finally figured out how it worked, and as long as we kept it stocked with Cherios he was a happy snacking boy.
*Alka-Seltzer. For us it's the wonder drug. Our stomachs tend to fare pretty well when traveling, but every now and then a small bug in the tummy or headache or just plain "feeling a little off day" will occur and can be cured with a dose of Alka-Seltzer.

Things we wish we'd brought:
*More wet wipes.
*Lactose-free formula. It is fairly common for children who haven't had access to breast milk (among other causes) to be lactose intolerant. We got lucky and HOH happened to have one tin of milk-based lactose-free formula which was a life saver. Ashton was vomiting after almost every bottle until we switched to the lactose-free formula.
*Organic banana baby food: The only ingredients are organic bananas and water and Ashton LOVES it. For older infants who are starting to eat fruits this could be a healthy supplement to the other options available during lunch and dinner time. We bought rice cereal while we were there flavored with bananas which went over well also.
*Travel size liquid laundry detergent

Things we wish we'd left at home:
*Clothing for us. We packed way too much for ourselves when a couple pair of pants and skirts with a selection of easy cotton shirts would have been just fine.

Just some things to note:
*On Stacie's recommendation we brought gift bags and some tissue for our HOH gifts and then assembled them once we were there. This allowed for nice presentation without taking up too much space in the luggage. The afternoon of our last day at HOH we walked around to each nanny, guard, cook, driver, etc... and thanked them and handed them their gift bag. On our final day in Addis we also tipped the drivers.
*Prior to visiting Ashton's orphanage we stopped by a grocery store to purchase formula, diapers, and toys to donate. We were very glad that we did it this way instead of hauling these items over with us from the US.

OK, the planned 2 hour nap just turned into a 40 minute nap so gotta run. I'll add to this list as things come to mind and can't wait to read about adventures from other traveling families!

3 comments:

LISA said...

Great tips! And i Love his pics below!!Cute!!

Cloverland Farm said...

these tips are like GOLD! keep em coming!

Gamma! said...

Of course he doesn't want to sleep - he doesn't want to wake up and you're gone! You're the best thing that's happened to him, and he doesn't want any surprises! Soon - very soon - he will realize that he has you for a lifetime and then he'll sleep just fine :) This is one smart little guy - not to speak of adoreable! :)