Mummy Sherpa's blog

Let's start this new school year as normal as possible

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Since my daughter goes to kindergarten, plays in the park after school, and my son goes to a nanny and meets other kids there we decided to try to live a normal life and don’t shield the kids. We continue wearing our masks but until it’s allowed kids will do some sports and have fun. It was easy with Manny, we have a few more sessions left from last year at his BabyGym. Luckily they are open again just implemented more hygiene rules.

With Pixie, it was more difficult to find something. We went to a sports day where all the sports association where present and she could try out different activities.

I tried it get her into the swim team, but places filled up so fast we couldn’t get in.

She realised that she likes to run so we were after a quite active sport.

She tried an entire session of football and she loved it! So now I became a football mum!

She has done 3 sessions now, and they are so fun! Lot’s of games, running, and of course learning the basics of football. Her age group is only doing the “football school”, only older kids are doing proper football. But for now, it’s perfect. 1.5 hour fun for Pixie!

I was a bit scared in the beginning if it would be too much, running around for that long. But they are having fun and she likes it!

She can learn some coordination, play in a team, learn to play by the rules. I think it’s perfect for her!

We’ll see next year if she wants to stick with football or she would try something else. For now, I’m really glad we managed to find something she enjoys!

Getting things done while dealing with a kid

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When I had to go to Budapest I had so many things to do. It wasn’t a planned trip, something came up and had to go home. I was extra lucky, I was able to ask for daycare for Pixie so my husband was able to pick her up after school. And I only had to go to Hungary with Manny, who was 15 months old at the time.

The flight itself was pretty easy. Running around the town and dealing with stuff was much more difficult.

But I think it was the easiest age possible. He wasn’t baby anymore. So he doesn’t require that much attention and he was able to entertain himself for a while when I was giving him new toys or books. He wasn’t in his shy phase yet, so it was easier with relatives. No, he is so cute when being shy. He just hides between my legs and doesn’t dare to look up. A few months ago I could ask his uncle to look after him for a while and he was happy to read a book with him.

My father was amazed how long could he stand in the living room with the vacuum cleaner in his hands and just having fun with that while mummy was trying to find some papers which took ages.

And off course, trying to get official things done could be easier if you have a small kid with you. I was lucky enough when people spotted me in the queue with a kid they told me to go in front.

I was also surprised how considerate people were in Budapest compared with other cities. Whenever I got on the bus multiple people offered me their seats. It was almost disturbing. Manny is in the baby carrier so I can stand with him if needed but even old ladies insisted that I should take their seats. If you think about New York, nobody offered me a place and I was standing on the subway for ages.

My tips for getting things done with a kid would be not to be shy and ask for priority whenever possible. And entertain him with books he never saw before or anything (like a vacuum cleaner) if you need to get something done.

I was very surprised how much stuff I was able to do during basically 3 days.

And I managed to meet friends, go into restaurants and cafes. It was a busy trip but a very successful one!

Flying alone with Manny

Tue, 18 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We had to fly to Budapest for a few days last year. Since Pixie just started kindergarten and she was just getting used to her new routine I didn’t want to take her out from school and decided to go alone with Manny. I was a bit scared but it was relatively easy.

We took the train to the airport got through security easy. Manny wanted to explore and I realized that it will be a challenge.

He was running around in the waiting area. There were some few closed-off spaces and some designated queueing lines. So, what does a curious toddler do? Off course he just runs in there, he is small so he was able to pass under those stretch barriers. Once I tried to run around them but it took me too much time to catch up 😀 when it happened again I was climbing under them. It’s so easy to get some exercise with a toddler! Our plane was delayed, by the end Manny got a bit restless but we managed.

Since he is under 2 he just set in my lap during the flight. We got an aisle seat which is great, we could stand up and walk around a bit. Manny was very tired he completely skipped his nap, didn’t sleep at all during the day so I needed to entertain him.

He is still breastfeeding which was a great help during landing, after strapping him in he just found comfort and quickly fell asleep. A few minutes break for mummy 😊

We didn’t have much luggage. Just a checked-in bag and a backpack. I knew that I’ll bring so much stuff back from Hungary I tried to travel as light as possible so I’d have enough space on the way back.

Flying alone with a kid was something I had to get used to. No help at the airport, going to the toilet with a kid and our bags, entertaining Manny alone during the entire flight. It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t that complicated either.

I guess I will fly a lot even with both kids in the future, with time I will learn this skill as well!

We are still a busy babywearing family

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I haven’t been as active online as I wished… It was hard to sit down and concentrate on personal reasons. However, we’ve been a very active family. Went to Budapest alone with Manny, first time away from Pixie and first time flying alone with a kid. My husband also went to Budapest but he took Pixie.

Pixie started kindergarten in September and she learnt so much! They started to learn the alphabet and her French progressed so much!

We had a week holiday in the mountains where we hiked with the kids, ok we hiked and carried them while they had a rest!

We went to New York with the two of them during the Christmas break.

And this was the first Christmas when Pixie was already aware what’s happening so we tried to have as much fun as possible and create some family traditions.

Dani had a nanny two times a week but our contact ended so now he is full time with me until I find a new nanny which is not an easy task.

As you can see we had a lot going on and I’ll try to be better and write more about our life! I used to enjoy so much sitting down, having a break and write this blog so I will try to put aside more time and be more active!

Finding accommodation in Vietnam with kids

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I think this was the easiest part of organising our journey! There are so many hotels in Vietnam I’m sure you’ll find what you are looking for no matter your budget.

When we look for a place to stay our criteria is to have a double and a single bed for the 4 of us, private bathroom and its rating should be 4/5 or 7.5/10.

For my surprise when we went for a few days trip to the Mekong, our room wasn’t booked in advance but the receptionist managed to give us a huge room with two double beds. I was so glad it was available!

We usually take our pop up bed with us for Pixie and book a normal double room but this time we wanted to pack light and it was so easy to find family rooms.

Since we were travelling with small kids we also booked a room for the night when our bus left at 10 pm. It was more convenient to have a shower and a place to rest before we left for the station. We also booked a room when we arrived at 4 am. We wanted to make sure they would have a room ready for us. Yes, travelling in Vietnam is not always easy but at least we always had a huge bed to sleep!

Almost all of our accommodation came with breakfast, it was easier with kids to eat at the hotel than going out searching for some food. Banana pancakes or a great pho was a great way to start our day!

We tried to book a place in the centre or when travelling by bus as close to the station as possible.

Just don’t forget, in Vietnam you get what you paid for. If you book a budget room don’t expect much! And personnel won’t always speak English ☺️ with some we used Google translate, some called the owner and we could speak with them on the phone and at one place nothing worked so we just gave up. I once went into a luxury hotel to ask for some help and everyone spoke perfect English.

We tried to stay on a budget so we chose the cheaper places, our rooms were around 15-20 euro per night with breakfast for all of us. We always had a big room, relatively clean and a great breakfast!

My favourite hotel was the Green Valley Hotel in Phong Nha. The rooms are spacious, clean, the owner speaks perfect English, he helped us book the perfect tour to visit the caves and the jungle. The hotel is just a few minutes walk from the bus station.

We usually book at hotels.com or booking.com and read through TripAdvisor reviews. I just open their map and look at the hotels matching my criteria and located in a convenient area.

You need to do a bit of research before booking a room, definitely read through the reviews but you’ll find what you are looking for.

A perfect outing with the kids

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We used to participate in a local grape harvest every year before the kids were born. We never tempted to go back, we thought it would be too difficult with kids. You are going there to work but at the same time, you have to look after the little ones and entertain them.

This year we decided to try, and it was a success!

Both Pixie and Manny had fun, they were as independent as possible in their age, both my husband and I managed to work all morning!

It was perfect!

We had to wake them up very early, we thought they would sleep in the car but not. We were out in the field by 7.45 and they weren’t tired. Not sure how! After a while, Manny decided he wanted to get out of the carrier and be free. He didn’t go far from us but had fun tasting the grapes and exploring nature.

Pixie wanted to take part as well so when I cut down the grapes she put them in our bucket, she tried carrying a full one when we were ready but realized soon enough that she rather take the empty buckets 😊

After working for a few hours by the time the kids started to get tired we finished the job! We were so proud of the kids, they were so patient had had fun!

Tibetan Kefir Mushrooms

Tue, 24 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We tend to eat healthily and whatever we can we prepare at home. We bake our own sourdough bread and make our kefir using the Tibetan kefir mushrooms. We are from Hungary where kefir is well known and you can buy many different brands in the shop. I like its taste and it keeps me healthy. We already tried these mushrooms before we moved here and I was very happy when I found someone who was giving away a batch of them so I could restart making our own kefir here in France as well.

These mushrooms look like extra small cauliflowers, they are white little grains that ferment the milk to make you some delicious kefir.

Kefir is not something Pixie would like but I hope it will change in the future.

It’s fairly easy to make it if you can get a hold of the mushrooms. They grow fairly quickly when they are looked after so you can share your batch with your friends. You just need to keep a few things in mind.

They are sensitive, so take good care of them 🙂 They do not like metal, so do not keep them in a jar with a metal lid, or use a metal spoon or, the most important, when you wash them do not use a metal strainer.

Some say that you have to strain them every day but we don’t drink that much kefir, although we should. We strain them and wash them every third day and they are still happy and growing.

We keep them in a plastic container, give them around 1,5 dl milk to ferment and every third-day strain it. This is the only part where you have to pay a bit of attention. So put them in a plastic strainer, with the help of a wooden or plastic spoon help to strain the kefir. When it’s done rinse the mushrooms off with not too cold nor too warm water, wash their container as well then the entire process can start again. Put the mushrooms back in their home, feed them milk and in a few days they make your kefir. Keep them at room temperature, don’t put it in the fridge.

If you go on a holiday or you want to take a break from kefir for a few days and won’t be able to strain them you can keep it in the fridge but put them in water and not milk! They will survive for one or two weeks this way. The cold will stop their fermentation process and they will vegetate meanwhile. If it’s about a longer period you can also freeze them, put them in water and in the freezer. After these, you should strain them and feed them milk every day so they would be able to get active and happy again.

Kefir is very healthy and it’s good for your immune system, it improves your digestive system, it has antioxidant effects and other health benefits. There are plenty of articles about its benefits although not every one of them is proved yet but it’s for sure a very good thing for your health.

If you can get a hold of the mushrooms I recommend you to try making your own kefir. It’s a fairly strait forward process and it’s also fun, you feed your little mushrooms and they make you kefir.

First day in kindergarten

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

It’s arrived! The first day of school! Summer passed so quickly we had lot’s of fun with the kids but I wish I’d had more alone time with Pixie! Now she is a big girl who goes to kindergarten.

I was very curious how it would go, this is her first time when she will spend all her day with so many kids. I knew that she loved her days at her nanny but there were only 3 other kids, not 30!

I tried to explain everything to her, which is hard since I don’t really know the French system.

We had the chance to visit her school in June so we knew how the classrooms look, could show Pixie the bathroom, which sounds silly but it’s very important for a little girl who’s just learning how to use it alone ☺️

We even saw the cantine which was great because she got excited to eat with her new friends ar the small tables.

She is very picky so I’m still a bit afraid that she will be very hungry because she wouldn’t like the food, but I’m sure she will learn quickly that it’s better when she eats and I’m sure she will try to copy the other kids!

I made a little sign for her and we made some cute pictures at home and in front of the school as well. Pixie was the only one with a sign 😄 oh well, I’m the crazy mummy, but I’m sure it will make a great souvenir and she had so much fun! She even had multiple ones, French and English language signs! Yes, this happens when we are a multilingual family ☺️

The morning was great we were allowed to go in with her, and Manny was allowed as well! So it was a family event ☺

We checked out her classroom, Pixie tried out almost all the games! She was so happy.

She goes to our public school but we were lucky because her class is based on the Montessori system. They have cute educational wooden toys, it’s a mixed-age class. I’m so happy for her and extremely curious to see what they will do, how much she will learn. When she will start to speak more French.

For now, the most important thing is that she was happy when I picked her up, she was smiling she told me she paid a lot with her new friends!

Pixie was so excited to go on the second day!

I miss her so much but it’s great to know she is having so much fun!

So curious about what she will tell me about her second day!

Getting around Vietnam with kids

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We used so many different types of transportation in Vietnam, it was hard for me to write this blog post. Actually, this is my second try, I didn’t like my first attempt so restarted the whole thing!

We always try to travel on a budget, even when we are in a cheap country. If you just look at the cost of one ride it will be still cheap according to western standards even if you opt for the luxury options. But if you travel for 3 weeks these add up and you are no longer a budget traveller.

So whenever it’s possible we went with the budget option but keep in mind that we have two little kids.

Grab/taxi

In the bigger cities like Saigon and Hanoi getting around is very easy. I recommend to install the app called Grab, similar to Uber, and use that. Slightly cheaper than meter taxis and you always know the price in advance, no surprises, and you don’t need to explain where you want to go. We always had the kids in our buckle carriers so we felt they are safe. You won’t be able to find a taxi with a car seat, even when you try to book a private car in advance it will be a challenge. We were told that locals don’t use car seats at all ☺️ If you don’t get a Grab, try to find an official meter taxi, or agree on the price before getting in. Don’t forget it’s Vietnam full of surprises ☺️

So it’s easy to get around in bigger cities, it starts to get complicated when you want to explore the centre of Vietnam. One of the most popular tourist destinations is Hoi An, you still have to Grab but we had to wait quite a while to get a car, but when we tried to negotiate with a taxi, the price was much higher so decided to wait for our Grab. Still, there are plenty of taxis all around so finding a car won’t be an issue.

Private transfer

To visit nearby locations we hired a private car, I found a great company online and reserved everything in advance. They are called HuraCars and have all their prices listed on their homepage. They managed to get us two car seats, someone from the company speaks great English so email communication is easy, but don’t be surprised if their drivers don’t speak fluent English.

For me, it was a surprise how hard it is to get from Hoi An to My Son Sanctuary when it’s under an hour by car.

We also used them for a short trip from the airport to a temple and then to our hotel. The price was great, and they know your flight number so if there’s a delay they will wait for you. It costs almost the same as the bus for 4 people. Crazy right? Private transfers are the best option for hidden places and mid-range travelling if you want flexibility, like stopping at multiple locations.

Private tours

We just spent one day in Hue and our short stay complicated our travels.

All the organised tours take a lot of time and we don’t like to visit a city with a big your group, also we would have reached our night bus at the end of the day.

Finding a taxi at every location and bargaining a fair price would have been impossible. And when I tried to book a private tour online the prices were crazy! I got offers around 150-300 euros!

So when we arrived in Hue we were looking for travel agencies. And we were lucky! We found a great one, they are called Stop and go agency.

They have an option where you choose how many sites you want to visit a day and the prices are fixed. So for us for 4 sites it was 38 euros. A great car, English speaking driver and we could spend as much time at each location as we wanted. The cheapest group tour starts at 12 euros per person so it’s a great price if you are a family.

At the end of our trip, we had one free day and wanted to visit something new. Went into a few agencies to see what they offer but they didn’t have anything for us. In the end, we found a great option on the “With the locals” application. They ordered us a private taxi who drove us to a small village close to Hanoi, it was around 1,5 hours drive. And they took us to tea plantations, museum, they hired us a private boat to visit an abandoned temple at the middle of a lake. The price was 100 dollars for all of us including everything. A bit more expensive than the budget tours but it was a great day. We could have taken the public bus, try to find a taxi there but organising everything on our own would have been impossible.

So keep in mind that sometimes a private tour can be the same price as a budget option and much more comfortable with kids.

Night buses

If you take a bus in Vietnam keep in mind that it won’t be a luxury experience. If you are going to a destination which is served by a tourist company you might be lucky and get a great service. But if you have to take a local bus, be prepared and keep in mind that you don’t have other options and getting there what’s matters!

The bus will be probably dirty, might have bugs, might take longer but it’s Vietnam, it’s normal.

The good side, as a family we got the seats at the back which are 3 seats next to each other, it’s like an uncomfortable small bed, but with kids, it was great! And it’s cheap. Our kids slept through both trips which were great!

We wanted to go from Hue to Phong Nha and from there to Tam Coc and the night bus was our only option.

If you are going to Sapa some companies offer luxury seater buses or VIP vans, those are a great option if you are taller and don’t find the sleeper bus comfortable. Check out the Sapa Express company.

Night train

This was a great experience!

We booked a night train from Hanoi to Sapa, a mid-range carrier, Ratraco train, and it was great. We booked 3 beds in a 4 beds cabin. We had a snack and water in our cabin, the bed was comfortable and clean. Pixie was so happy to sleep on the train she still brings it up from time to time. And she wants to go back!

The schedule is not the best, it leaves around 10 pm so kids will be very tired when checking in at the station and it arrives at 4 am and you have to take a bus to get to Sapa but it’s the most comfortable way of getting there. I’d definitely recommend this when going to Sapa.

Bicycles

We never biked with the kids before, and when you imagine it you’d think we had a child seat on the bike 😊 oh no, don’t expect these things in Vietnam. It was just a very old bike and the kids were in the carrier but it worked.

We took a bike tour at the Mekong to explore the villages and get to a temple. It was a great experience to ride by the small canals.

We rented bikes at Tam Coc as well to explore the nearby temples. We thought that we would just visit a few ones relatively close but we ended up biking around 18kms. And I also breastfeed while riding a bike! It was quite something!

Hiking

The best way to experience Sapa is by going a few days hike.

During 3 days we walked somewhere between 30 and 40 kilometres while carrying the kids and our backpacks. Luckily we are used to hiking with them but it was the first time when we both had to take a bigger backpack to carry a change of clothes for all of us. It was raining, it was cold but definitely worth it! The views were great and we stayed with the locals. A great experience!

Flying

We realised that taking a bus from the South to the centre would take too long so we just booked a flight. It was an ordinary flight with a budget airline. But to my surprise, they didn’t want me to use the special belt for my baby they were ok with Manny staying in the baby carrier during take-off and landing. For me it was a huge surprise, not caring about the safety regulations on a plane. But you get used to things like this in Vietnam.

Other special ways of getting around

We took a few cable cars to get up to Ba Na Hills and Fansipan and the kids loved them. It’s a fun activity to do with little ones!

We took various boat rides, Pixie enjoyed them all, once we even took a small boat where they used their feet to raw! It’s a great way to explore nature and scenery.

After spending 3 weeks in Vietnam we left two things off from the list, motorbikes and rickshaws. We didn’t find bikes to be safe enough with two kids and there are too many scams with rickshaws and didn’t want to be ripped off.

If you are going to visit Vietnam you’ll have to use taxis, buses, planes etc.. to get around. All of them are doable with small kids. Everyone loves children even if they have a meltdown they will be very polite and try to help. Don’t be afraid of travelling with kids, it’s not easy but it’s fun!

Street food with kids

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Eating local food is a huge part of our travels. Luckily Vietnam is a food paradise. Who doesn’t like a good pho? And believe me, there are so many other great soups out there.

But how about our kids? Do they like the food? Yes!

Ok, Manny wants to try everything but only eats a few bites. For us, Pixie was the big question, whether or not she would like Vietnamese food. And we were lucky, or I think she was. Her favourite meal was breakfast! Why? For kids Vietnamese breakfast is heaven! They served pancakes in almost every hotel. She was so happy! Banana pancakes with chocolate!

The only place where they didn’t have it, they served omelettes which were perfect for Pixie. Wherever I could I opted for the local option, Pho or Cau Lau in Hoi An. Yes, it might be different than what we usually eat but how could I pass on an opportunity to eat something local!

Whenever we knew that we wouldn’t have time to sit down for lunch or we would be somewhere where it could be hard to find something to eat we bought a few Bhan Mi, local sandwiches, and took it with us. I think they mastered the sandwich making to perfection in Vietnam. It’s very cheap and their stands open very early in the morning so it was easy for us the buy them before starting our day. They pack it for you nicely, so it’s easy to take it with you.

Even when they didn’t speak English we managed to show them that we want one for Pixie, just the bread and meat, no spicy sauce or any hot ingredients. A nice kid-friendly sandwich! And they were always so happy to make one for her!

We try to avoid places where dining would take long, Pixie would just get bored and would start to get like a typical toddler ☺

So street food is much better for us. You get the food in a few minutes, in Vietnam you sit on those teeny tiny chairs which Pixie adores, and you can finish your meal in a few minutes.

When communications were hard, almost always ☺, we just ordered two random dishes for us and when we got them we just showed them what bits we want for Pixie. For example, just the noodles from the soup and the meat from the other dish. They and we pointed to Pixie so they always got that we want something for a kid and gave us always child-friendly options. It seemed difficult at the beginning but actually, it wasn’t.

We managed to eat out, have fun as a family and nobody stayed hungry. It was great!

Mummysherpa being a bit too busy

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We went on a few holidays recently. You could already read some about our trip to Vietnam, more to follow. And we took another trip to visit our family.

It means I didn’t have as much time for my blog as I’d like to.

Also, Manny is down to one nap a day, crazy how fast he’s growing. He is still not a good sleeper so it’s quite hard to find time for myself.

We still need to find a new routine that works for us. Sleep, house chores, some me time. Whenever we get there something is changing. So we need to adapt.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure it out, but we’ll get there eventually.

Pixie will start kindergarten in September, Mammy will go to our nanny two times a week, so I might get more time. Although I hope to start yoga again and thinking about buying a yearly pass to our swimming pool. We’ll see, I might stay a super busy mummy but I’ll try to put aside more time for this blog.

How to pack your bag when travelling with kids

Tue, 14 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

My advice would be to pack light! I know it’s not easy and takes time to learn what to pack, but the best you can do is pack light and take it easy!

During this trip, we stayed at 7 (yes, 7!) different hotels, plus two-night buses and a night train, and we left our bags two times at a hotel and just travelled with a small backpack.

For me, it was more important to be able to pack everything quickly than having different options when choosing something to wear.

It was a bit complicated to pack because we needed clothes for the tropical climate and for the mountains as well where it can be very cold. Swimwear and hiking gear as well. But still tried to keep it minimal. And I think we managed to!

We used a laundry service whenever we stayed long enough at a place to get our clothes back dry ☺ once they were still a bit wet, but at least we got them back before we had to leave, I’m trying to look at the bright side!

Toys for the kids? Not necessary at all, just their favourite and they will find so many things anyway to play with.

During the flight, Pixie spent so much time reading the in-flight magazine. In the hotels, she played with the phone, the normal landline, which we disconnected every time as soon as we got the room because we knew that it’s her favourite toy!

So what to bring?

We did take nappies with us and wipes. Sometimes it’s hard to find these baby items when abroad, especially if staying in rural areas as we did. But in bigger cities, you can always find some at pharmacies or big supermarkets.

At least at the end of the trip, we had space for the souvenirs ☺

Medication, I think that’s another thing which better to take from home. We usually have paracetamol for us and the kids, and some other basic stuff. Again, easy to but these over the counter in big cities but not while trekking in the mountains.

We just made a calculation, and we needed clothes for 5 days, I added two extra for the kids, but that’s all we needed. Every 5 days we were able to get our clothes washed so we didn’t need to pack more. Vietnam is very nice, but it is definitely not a clean country so maybe for the kids more change of clothes would have been better, but I guess even if I’d given them nice clean trousers every day they would still manage to get dirty in 10 minutes.

I think we did well. For 3 weeks with very versatile weather we only had two medium suitcases (this is our favourite) and two backpacks for the four of us.

When I think about that we have to carry the kids, the backpacks and pull the suitcase I know that I want to keep it as light as possible.

I didn’t need to pack the baby carriers, it’s always on us ☺ wouldn’t be able to imagine how we would survive without them.

And in Vietnam, we managed to book rooms with two double beds. So we didn’t need to take any travel cot or our favourite travel cot. And the kids like to take a shower now so no foldable bath either. It was very easy this time.

Yes, if you are going on a beach holiday, taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel where you’ll stay all week you can pack as much as you want, otherwise, try to imagine carrying everything and decide if you really need to pack something or not.

Flying with kids

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Ok, so there are so many blog post about what to take with you on a long haul flight. If you read a few you are already well prepared. just don’t forget, sometimes kids are easy and sometimes not. Even if you are well prepared they can get bored after ten minutes. And if you don’t bring anything on the plane to entertain them they still can find plenty of exciting stuff on a plane. Just keep in mind, you’ll have to carry your luggage, and sometimes the kids as well, pack light!

There are just two basic things you shouldn’t forget from your carry on.

First, nappies, if your kids are already potty trained, one less thing to worry about! And bring a lot’s of nappies, especially if your kid likes orange juice! Pixie learned the English word for orange, just so she could ask the flight attendants. She was so proud of herself she ended up asking for one every time they asked her if she’d like something. And you know what’s the effect of orange juice… lots of nappy change.

The second is food/formula, if your baby is breastfed or big enough to eat the child meal on the plane you’re good. This time we didn’t bring anything. Manny is still breastfeeding and eats bread and compotes, and we choose the child meal option for Pixie. Obviously, she didn’t like everything she got, but she was pleased to receive a cute meal box and everything was nicely packed inside. But she is very picky so we ended up eating some of her food 😊

We also packed a tablet for her, full with her favourite cartoons and songs, but we didn’t even take it out on all the flights. She was entertaining herself with the safety brochures and in-flight magazine, she was looking out the window or having fun pushing all the buttons while we were trying to stop her from pushing the ask for assistance one 😀

Another thing that can be useful and be a great keepsake of the journey is a Flight Log or Travel Log. I made one for Pixie but there are plenty on Etsy or Amazon.

I included a few pages for flight logs, and she got some nice messages from the flight attendants. She also met the captain of our Vietjet flight who tried to calculate for her how many kilometres did she flew and not just give the distance in miles.

I also added a few maps, pictures about all our hotels, most important sites we’d visit and activities we’ll do.

Pixie is so curious, she loved checking out her journal, it also helped her get prepared for the trip, everything was new for her, new beds, new food, different language, culture. I tried to prepare her as much as possible.

I found that night flights are a bit easier with kids. Both of them slept well on the plane, and we could also sleep a bit.

We just woke her before landing to eat breakfast, she managed to sleep through the entire flight from boarding till the end.

There are a few aids, you could use to create a more comfy space for them, like PlanePal
but we are lucky with Pixie, she is able to sleep in the strangest positions! Maybe further along the way, we’ll get one, I think they are great for bigger kids.

Whether you are flying during the day or night, just don’t forget to take it easy. Don’t stress, you are ready! You are going on a vacation, visiting family, or going home. It will be great!

Jetlag and babies

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Flying long haul with kids is never easy, but surviving the flight itself is not the only difficulty.

When we flew with Pixie to Japan we didn’t have any issues. We arrived late afternoon, all of us were very tired and when we got to our hotel late night we fall asleep and woke up the next day ready to explore. No jetlag what so ever. So I wasn’t worried at all.

The kids were great during the flight, the first leg lasted just 7 hours, they were awake, playing and having fun on the plane. We arrived at Doha late night and Pixie fall asleep in the carrier, on my husband 😊. I guess she needed some cuddle time. She didn’t even wake up when we boarded the plane. We just woke her up for breakfast before landing. Manny was easy as well, he slept a few hours, and cuddled a lot!

We got into Saigon early afternoon. We got ready fast and headed into the city to explore. We were very tired in the evening when we got back to the hotel. I thought it would be an easy night. I was wrong, unfortunately!

Manny didn’t want to sleep at all. He was wide awake, playing, laughing. This meant Pixie wanted to play as well. It’s quite difficult to put two kids down to sleep when one of them is laughing really loud!

Eventually, Pixie fell asleep and after a while, Manny did too. I was relieved and hoped for a long sleep. No, no, why would Mummy get a good night sleep? Manny woke up at 2 am, sat up, looked at me and laughed. I knew that it will be a long time to get him back to sleep. I think I just slept like 4 hours that night. I hoped that having a busy day will result in a tired baby.

But why would Manny be tired? He had the chance to sleep in the carrier all day.

So the same thing happened the following night. It took so long for them to settle and Manny woke up very early.

It was a bit easier though. And got better every day.

My husband read it somewhere that it takes one day per time zone to adjust. And I think it’s right.

We had 6 hours difference and after a week the kids were ok.

My husband didn’t feel any jetlag, it was ok for Pixie, but it was very difficult for Manny. I cannot really give any advice on how to avoid it. It just gets better day by day and tries to get some rest whenever it’s possible.

Disposable medical paper roll

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This is not a true baby product, but it saved us a lot’s of washing and made our life easier!

I still don’t get a few baby products on the market. They supposed to be good for your baby and make your life better but sometimes I truly think they just have a good marketing team. You put some kind of mat on your changing table, they are waterproof most of the time. Perfect! I’m fine until this point, and sure, we have a changing mat, it would be very hard to position a baby comfortably on a wooden surface.

So if there are any incidents you can just wipe it off and no problem. But they sell those nice cotton covers for your mat, but why? Yes, I understand, it looks way nicer and it must be more comfy for the baby to lay on a cotton sheet instead of the plastic mat. But what happens in case of an incident? How many covers do you have or do you wash them every day?

Instead of these expensive covers, we used the medical paper roll. We just put it behind the mat and after every change we just rolled down a new paper sheet, it was so easy! And if the accident wasn’t a small one, we had easy access to the extra paper which helped us out a few times. When Pixie was just a few months old her digestion was very fast and I needed to change her almost every 2 hours. And you know what babies tend to do? When you move their legs during a nappy change or just because you undress them and they are exposed to the ‘cold’ environment they will go peepee or poopoo. Yes, it happens a lot, at least it did with Pixie and we had so many accidents on the changing mat we needed the extra help from the paper roll.

You can order them from Amazon, as we did, or I guess they should sell them in bigger pharmacies. I definitely recommend them! Very handy, easy to use, more comfortable for the baby than being on a plastic met, not expensive at all. We found them absolutely useful.