Texas Road Trip 2016: Packing our Bags

Hi Guys!

We have started the countdown to our 2016 road trip and I've been working on deciding which bags we are going to be using this go round.

We are going to be gone for a total of about two weeks for this trip and 5 of those are going to be "traveling" days.  We are taking 3 days to get there and 2 to get home.
We are leaving the first day at about 4am and will be driving a total of 10 1/2 hours not counting stops.  We have a hotel booked and want to get there as soon as possible so that we can maximize our time there so the kids can be out of the car as long as possible.

We are planning on leaving that hotel at 6am at the latest and heading onto my paternal grandparent's house in Central Texas.  We will spend the rest of the day with them before we head off to our second hotel for the night.  The next day we are off to see some friends before we finally get to my parent's house in Dallas where we will be staying until we leave to head back home.

On the way home we are doing the drive over 2 days instead of 3.  We are stopping in Memphis to see some friends we won't have time to see on our drive there and are staying the one night with them before heading back home.

The last thing we want to have to do every time we stop for the night is drag everything out of the car or be digging for things that we need so we've tried to pack accordingly.  These are all the bags/boxes that we are bringing with us plus our double stroller, pack n plays and some other odds and ends.



1. Diaper Bag

The diaper bag I have now is a Skip Hop Grand Central in Black which I will be doing a full review on when we get back.  It doubles as my purse so it will be up front with me.  I'm re packing it a bit for the trip so that I can fit my laptop, chargers and other necessities for the drive in it.

2. Black Suitcase

This suitcase is a 4 wheeled Samsonite suitcase in the carry on size that we have had for years and it is for all the stuff we won't need until we get to Texas.  Mostly clothes, extra shoes, hats, extra Pack N Play sheets, things like that.  This will go in the rocket box on top of the car.  I haven't packed it yet and I am hoping everything will fit.  Since we are staying at my parent's house and will have access to their laundry room, we don't have to worry about bringing 2 weeks worth of clothes, thank goodness! But we do have the same bag in the next size up if we need more space.

3. Pop Up Tote

This tote is awesome!  It is a Smart Design Pop Up Tote that I got it off Amazon a few weeks ago.  I keep it in my car day to day and it is just so handy!  It folds up small and can fit between seats easily but it also holds so much stuff when it is open.  It has 3 mesh pockets on each side, three smaller ones on one side of the inside and one large one on the other side.  I'm using this bag to keep all of the kids toys, entertainment and snacks contained.




It fits easily between their seats, all the pockets help keep little stuff organized and it opens at the top so when Jordyn tosses stuff over the side of her seat, they end up in the tote instead of loose all over the car.

It's also short enough that I can (barely) step over it if I need to climb into the back seat.









4. Ink'D Tote

This bag is a Ink'D brand tote and is the kids overnight bag.  Not sure where this bag came from but it is a little duffel with just enough room for their clothes, swimsuits, pajamas and overnight diapers.  They will have their lovey blankets and stuffed animals in the car so we will just grab those on the way in.

Another reason I chose this one because it has one of those shoe pockets and I figured I could use as a wet bag for swim suits if I needed to.













5. Vera Bradley Duffel and 6. Beau's Duffel

This bag is a Vera Bradley Small Duffel bag that I got for my birthday this year and is my hotel bag. It just has my toiletry bag, change of clothes, pajamas and my swim suit in it so between this bag and the diaper bag, I'm good to go.  Beau is using a small duffel bag (not shown) and it will have his change of clothes, swim suit and toiletry bag as well.

7. Car Box

We always have this box in the car anyway and since we are spending almost two weeks in Texas, we will be completely unpacking the car when we get there so it only made sense to bring it.  We are planning on setting up makeshift changing station in the back of the van so we don't have to mess with gas station bathrooms and we are going to use this box to hold the loose diapers and wipes for the drive.  To see what all we keep in this box, check out my What's in my Diaper Bag: 18 Month Old Edition post (click the photo above for the link).

8. Orange Soft Sided Cooler

This cooler will have any of our snacks/drinks that need to stay cold.  Any extra breast milk will go in here as well.  Tucker nurses most of the time but does like a bottle at bedtime as well as when we got out so I'm bringing my breast pump.  I normally only pump twice a day and Im planning on keeping with that routine while we are gone so there will be extra milk that has to be chilled.


And those are our bags!!  We are still working out the best way to pack everything into the car and have had a couple of little hiccups in the plan there.  For example, we had hoped to have the double stroller in the rocket box since we won't need it until we get to Texas but it turned out to be way to big so its going to have to go in its usual spot in the back of the van.  We will share how we (Beau) pack the car and the box so keep an eye out for that post/video soon!

Thanks guys!!

Tucker's Syndactyly Update

Hey Guys!

We recently got back from our trip to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to have Tucker's hands evaluated by Dr. Chang from their plastic surgery department.  If you missed our initial post on Tucker's hands, I will leave the link HERE.









After going through a laundry lists of questions with the resident and having x-rays taken, we met with Dr Chang who officially diagnosed Tucker with Complete Complex Bilateral Syndactyly.  Complete because the fingers are fused all the way to the tip, complex because his bones are fused at the tip and bilateral because it affects both hands.

So the plan of action is for him to have his first of 2 surgeries between 6-9 months old.  This procedure will be to separate his pinky fingers on both hands.  As he grows, his pinky being fused is causing his middle and ring fingers to pull outwards, away from his index fingers, and this is something Dr Chang wants to fix sooner than later.  We had hoped that he would only need 1 surgery but Dr Chang said that doing them all at once would be too much trauma for his ring fingers as they would be cut on both sides.

When Tucker was born, the attending pediatrician at the hospital had him undergo an ECHO as heart issues often be associated with hand issues.  The ECHO did show a very small hole in his heart which the pediatrician was not concerned about at all and simply recommend we have a follow up ECHO at 6 months to make sure it closed itself correctly.  Dr Chang said that we would have to have that follow up ECHO done and have Tucker cleared by anesthesiology before we could schedule the surgery.  His ECHO will be done here in Virginia at the beginning of December and emailed up to CHOP for review.  Once we get the all clear from them, we will schedule the surgery which we are hoping to do sometime in either February or March.  We are hoping that we can work it out where my mother will be able to be in town to stay with Jordyn rather than taking her with us but we will have to wait and see how that works out.

The second surgery will be to separate the middle and ring fingers on both hands and that one will happen between 12 to 14 months old.  His birthday is the middle of June and we are shooting to have the surgery in July when my mother would be able to come out again to stay with Jordyn.

Both surgeries will require him to be in casts (they weren't sure if it would need to be full arm or just partial arm casts) for 2 weeks.

One of the possible "side effects" of this surgery is that the webbing might start trying to grow down the fingers again as he grows.  If this happens, then he would probably have to have another procedure at some point to clip it back down so that he wouldn't loose any mobility in the fingers.

The last possible surgery he might have would be on his right index finger, the same finger I had operated on.  His finger appears on the x-ray to be almost identical to mine.  Mine never caused me any functionality or mobility problems but I didn't like how it looked from an aesthetic point so I had an elective surgery when I was about 11-12 to attempt to have it straightened out a bit and he will have the option to do the same when he is older, no younger than 7 years old according to Dr Chang.  Assuming it does not cause him any issues, it will be completely up to him on whether or not he wants to have it operated on and we plan to just cross that bridge when we come to it.

So for the next year, we are looking at 2 surgeries and 2 cast removals which means 4 trips up to Philadelphia.  My aunt lives about 40 minutes south of the city and we made it to her house in about 8 hours with stops with Jordyn.  We are thinking that if we didn't have Jordyn we could probably make it to the city in about 7 hours or so.  We also have the option of flying if we need to.


It's going to be an interesting year to say the least and we will be keeping you guys updated through the blog, our social media and possibly our YouTube channel.

Are video updates and reviews something that y'all would be interested in seeing??  Leave a comment below letting us know what you think!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat and Instagram for updates and new posts!

Until next time!