Travelling while on maternity leave 🌴

I feel very fortunate to have been able to take not one but two trips while on maternity/parental leave with Cameron. The first trip we took he was only 4 months old. We visited family out west in Comox, BC. We traveled with my mom and my grandmother. He was fresh out of the newborn stage, pretty easy to travel with especially with help. He slept for most of the plane ride, was an absolute gem when we transferred in Calgary, Alberta. The most challenging part was the time change, we were all off schedule! I highly recommend travelling when they are so young and not mobile!

Flash forward a few months later, Kyle was on parental leave for 5 weeks (one of the many perks of living in Quebec). We traveled to Orlando, Florida for a week vacation. Cameron was 7 months old at this time and a lot had changed since our trip in October. He was way more alert, needed stimulation and was eating purees.

We stayed at the Mystic Dunes Resort, in a one-bedroom studio with a jetted tub. One of the many things we learned on this trip was how crucial it was for Cameron to have his own room for sleeping. He either had to be in the bedroom area (which meant Kyle and I slept on the pull out couch) or in the living room area (which meant Kyle and I were confined to the bedroom all night). Cameron goes to sleep at 7pm. During this time he went through some serious sleep regression, he would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. I thought for sure someone in the hotel was going to complain. I worried we had made a mistake coming on this trip. We could not soothe him.

Looking back now, that’s just how infants roll. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to babies. Each one is so different in their own way. We still to this day, don’t know what his deal was!

This was our first family trip as a family of 3 and I cherish that experience. Everyone in Florida was so friendly and would smile and wave at Cameron. A lady boarding the plane with us touched my shoulder and said “your baby is beautiful.”

He sure is.