Our travel comfort items

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Hola, amigos!

Posting here from sporadically sunny Mexico to offer you an insight on our travel must-haves in conjunction with a Levana monitor giveaway.

As I was sitting on the balcony of my room in Generations Resort in Riviera Maya, working away on my computer and periodically glancing at the monitor where Lexi was quietly sleeping, I realized that I  had never traveled without taking my monitor with me. It was an interesting realization because something like packing a monitor has been on an autopilot for so long, I didn’t truly understand I was doing that. Yet here I was with my daughter who is almost four in a one room suite still using a baby monitor.

I looked around the room trying to figure out what other items I still bring with us whenever we travel and it turns out there are a few staples that have been traveling with us for years.

1. A monitor

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One would think that a monitor isn’t necessary past the baby stage. While we own and have used Levana monitors ( I am a big fan)at home, it’s usually not necessary at this age, because home is safe and Lexi is familiar with it. But being in a new hotel room, with high beds and tile floors, new surroundings and balconies that beg to be relaxed on, it turns out that having a monitor is not only convenient, but almost a necessity.

When we travel, Lexi almost always needs a nap: it’s exhausting running around and exploring new places in the sun. So when that happens, we have one of two choices:

sit in the dark room next to her and try not to make a sound
or
go out to another room/onto the balcony and enjoy your adult alone time.

Personally, for me the latter can only be done if I have someone watching Lexi or have the monitor. She still falls off of beds or needs one of us when she wakes up. So we take one of our monitors on every trip. I think I remember a handful of times when the monitor or the charging cord was forgotten and we definitely regretted it.

Shhhh, the #baby is sleeping! New post on the #blog about our #travel staples and a @mylevana #giveaway. pic.twitter.com/D3zrTkZBNe

— Art of Making a Baby (@prebabyblog) November 19, 2015

So this time on our Mexico trip, we brought the Ayden Monitor. It’s a simpler, more affordable monitor than we have at home, because our travel needs aren’t the same as home monitoring needs. The two features that I feel make this monitor perfect for travel are temperature monitoring and 48 hour battery life in PEEP mode.

Since you’re in an unfamiliar environment, you can’t always control the room temperature as well as you do at home. Some hotel rooms we’ve stayed at are freezing, others are way too hot. Being able to see what the room is doing temperature wise is really important for a smaller baby. Where 48 hour battery life comes in handy is in those situations where you forget the charging cord. I’ve done that quite a few times so it’s nice to have a monitor that doesn’t need to be charged every few hours.

Despite it’s low price of $99, it still has some great features more expensive monitors have:

night vision
lullabies
two way intercom
nightlight
invisible LED light
expandable to 4 cameras
3.5 inch screen

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BUY IT HERE: Ayden Monitor

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2. A soft blanket

I haven’t really decided whether I take this item for Lexi or for myself, but like most women I am a sucker for blankets. My favorite being the Saranoni blankets. I recently saw them at their exhibit booth at ABC Kids Expo and I literally just parked myself in one of their chairs and covered up with their blanket while Jessica fetched me coffee and Saranoni reps fed me caramels. I wish I was kidding too! 🙂

So I always take one of the Saranoni blankets with us. Depending on the space in my suitcase, I take the big Bamboni one since it’s warm, light and takes little space, or if I am really struggling for room in my bags, I’ll take one of the kids blankets for Lexi.

I always get cold: in rooms, on planes, in airports. So it really comes in handy then. And Lexi gets covered up with them at night as well, since she has a habit of kicking the big blankets off. Still doesn’t like being contained like her mom.

3. Toys and books

We used to take books when she was younger and now it’s mostly toys. Seems counter intuitive, right? Why bring toys on vacation?

Because Lexi can’t travel without them! Like seriously, she starts talking about how much she misses her toys on day one. Bring some of her Legos or character toys or anything that requires building, and she happily explores the world around her and then goes back to her toys before bedtime and after she wakes up. Win win for us because it’s some quiet time when we need it and she doesn’t ask to go home because she misses playing with her toys.

This time we brought with us the Littlest Pet Shop Jet, Roominate and a Lego set to build.  But she spent the whole time playing with the first two, so we didn’t even pull out the Lego set.

4. Konfidence Jacket

I am not sure if this one is a given to most, but we take our Konfidence jacket everywhere. It’s less bulky than a life vest, so fitting it into a suitcase isn’t an issue ( and to me it’s always worth it). Being able to have her wear the jacket every time she swims, not only lets us, the parents, enjoy our time at the pool without holding her in the water , but it continues reinforcing good swimming habits and techniques without us doing essentially anything.( and as I write this, today for the first time she swam on her own, without the jacket and I truly believe it’s thanks to Konfidence system)

Most other items we take are either basic or change with age, but these four categories have been consistent for as long as I remember.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Levana. The opinions and text are all mine.