Traveling and Babysitters

For those of you who don't know we are living in central coast California for a year and a half through Colin's work and the time has come for us to start thinking about where we'll be going next.

If you had asked me this time last year I would have said that we were going back to Omaha, BUT ideas and opportunities have come up in the mean time and it looks like we may be heading to Colorado.

SO, Colin had a work trip out there this week and I went with him to check out Denver neighborhoods, churches and pediatricians. We did NOT take the kids with us. I debated about that a lot before we left.

It was a no brain-er to leave Jackson because we have to pay a full price ticket for him and he's a little less dependent on me these days. Micah, on the other hand, was a little tougher decision. He was STILL not taking a bottle very well (only taking about 2 oz at a time when we'd tried).

But we bit the bullet and left him with church friends who have really been surrogate grandparents to Micah and Jackson while we've lived here. We've also known them for quite some time (they attended the church we went to in Omaha).

Anyway, I'm doing this blog so that I can remember a few things that really worked for this trip regarding traveling, exploring a new city and leaving my kids with a sitter:

1. As anal as it may seem I'm really glad that I wrote out a detailed schedule for the couple that watched Micah and Jackson (I even included when to ask Jackson to go to the bathroom and what types of food my kids like). My thought was that even if they decided to deviate from the schedule (which was totally fine by me) they'd have an idea of what the kids are used to. It made my life SOOOOO much easier when I came back home ... it's like I never left! (sigh of relief)

2. I had the boys go to the sitter's house rather than come to our house. I felt like that would make the sitter more comfortable. The boys and I spent the night all together at their house a couple of nights before we left for Colorado.

3. Micah didn't take a bottle for almost the entire time I was gone, but he was fine. I thought about working really hard at getting him to take the bottle before we left, but then I thought it'd be better to hand the babysitters a happy baby rather than a disgruntled baby when I left for my trip.

He slept through the night and for his naps and he ate solids like a champ (I decided to provide pureed avocado among some other foods (it's healthy and yet high in calories) just in case he didn't take the bottle well). I make my own baby food so I was also able to put exactly what I feed him for each feeding into individual zip loc bags and then put them all into a gallon freezer bag so that it was more convenient for the babysitter to make Micah's food. I have no idea if he was crabby the whole time, but my friend still seemed to have her wit when I came home, so he must have been pretty content.

4. We only stayed in Denver for about 4 days. I packed just a carry on that contained my purse and I also carried a breast pump, so that I could avoid checking and claiming luggage and avoid paying an extra $20 because we flew United Airlines. I didn't get heckled through security with the pump as long as I told them what it was before it went through the x-ray.

5. I had to pump and dump because I had no way of taking the milk back home (sad, I know). Next time I'll remember to bring my nursing cover just in case I can't find a bathroom off the beaten path that has an outlet close enough to a stall. I was smart though and brought along a car adapter for the pump, so I didn't have to go into a retail place to pump when I was driving all around Denver.

6. I'm really glad we had a real estate agent for this trip. She gave me some GREAT city maps and marked out all of the houses with map quest directions. The homework she gave me while I was there was to just pick a neighborhood. I think I found a really good one across the street from Clement Park about 10 minutes from where Colin would work and 10 minutes from the PCA church we'll probably go to.

There is one house up for sale now that meets most of our requirements, but it's a little out of our price range. Luckily it's a buyers market right now and we've got a little time before we need to nail down a house.

7. I checked out two different pediatric offices and my first impression is that they both seem like a place I'd be comfortable. Although I'm still going to ask other parents in the Denver area and will hopefully be able to make October and January appointments for Micah in August before we move.

8. I also visited the PCA church (Deer Creek Church) in the neighborhood. The staff was very friendly. It's a bigger church than we're used to, but I got a really good feeling about it. I think we'll listen to some sermons online before we move.

9. I drove A LOT!!! I'm pretty comfortable with the area we'll hopefully be in and could tell you, generally speaking, where to find a Super Target, a mall, the library, the nearest hospital, parks, etc.

Colorado felt like a hybrid between California and Omaha and I'm at peace if that's where the Lord would have us move next.

P.S. Next time I go to the Denver area I'll need to remember to stock up on lots of water because I did experience altitude sickness.

I know this was probably REALLY boring to most of you and if you made it this far I'd be surprised. Thanks for hanging in there and I hope it was of some value to you too.