We are back from an absolutely fabulous visit to my in-laws in California. The journey there and back was very long, but our baby behaved beautifully. We had such a great time; it was the first time in 4 years that all of Tim’s siblings were together, and in that time 4 little girls have hit the scene as cousins to each other. You can imagine the fun we had watching them play!

We packed a lot of things for our baby. Some of the things we didn’t really need. However, there were 2 items that I never even considered packing but that I missed greatly. I’m passing this along to you in case you have travel plans with a baby in your future and are compiling a travel with baby checklist.

1. The Boppy. I always knew that the Boppy breastfeeding pillow was a great product, but I thought that I could get by just fine with a pillow for the trip. WRONG! In the past 12 days I have used a thin pillow, a thick pillow, a jacket and my arm muscles alone, each in an effort to create a comfortable nursing environment for Darah. Quite simply, nothing could hold a candle to the Boppy. The pillows came the closest, but she kept sliding off of them, so I had to wrestle with them each time I fed her. When we got home today I got the Boppy out, and it was the most peaceful feeding she has had since before we left.

2. A monitor. My in-laws have really thick walls, which is terrific for keeping a room quiet during nap times. The down side is that it is really difficult to hear a crying baby if you aren’t really close to the door. I found myself making frequent trips to our room to check on her, and a few times I checked on her only to find her sobbing, which means she had been crying for several minutes (I’m not one to let my baby cry; it’s ok if you don’t agree with me, but it’s how I roll). If I had brought the monitor, I could have been more present at meal times, playtime outside or while watching movies.

Since we already had full suitcases and since these items take up a decent amount of space, a good idea might have been to have had my mother-in-law purchase these items used off Craigslist and just keep them at her house. But as I said, it really didn’t occur to me that I would need them. Now I know!

If you recently traveled, did you leave anything behind that you wish you hadn’t? Did you pack something that you never even got out of the suitcase?