If you follow me on Instagram (and watched my recent stories) you would have seen that the hubs, Jasper and I spent the last three weeks travelling to Melbourne and New Zealand. We had an awesome time, but I am very glad to be home. We also travelled to Bali early last month, just for a few days, so I thought I’d write a lil blog post on a few things that I have learnt travelling with a baby. It’s so much fun, but oh so different to travelling before we became parents.

[1] PLANNING IS EVERYTHING

Firstly, babies require A LOT of things, food, water, milk, toys, nappies, wipes, change of clothes, pain killers or medicine, teething toys, pram, portacots etc etc etc!!!!! It’s crazy how many things such a small human needs. Before you even leave for your holiday, I’d recommend that you start writing down things that you use regularly for you bubba, to make sure you don’t need it.

Then when you arrive at your holiday, everything you do revolves around your baby and their routine (or mood that day!). Jasper is in an awesome routine, so it was pretty easy for us to plan our days around him. After he sleeps, he’ll have some milk and then he’s awake for a good 3-3.5 hours, so we would try to go out during that time. Not super far, because when he gets tired, he is C.R.A.N.K.Y!!! But we did wonder out, and get to see heaps of cool things.

I say planning, because you have such a small window that you can actually go and do things, so if you’re organised, you can pack your diaper/nappy bag before baby goes to sleep, heck even load everything you need in the car (RENT A CAR GUYS, IT’S AMAZING AND SO MUCH EASIER!!) and that way, when baby wakes, you can feed them, and just hop in the car and go where you need to go.

Also, aside from planning everything you need to do for baby, it’s good to plan what you want to do while you’re away before you go. Seen a cool cafe on Instagram that you want to check out? Know the top touristy spots that you wanna get a pic at? Write it all down! Save the locations in Google Maps. How far is it from where you are staying? Is there parking there? What food are you going to eat? The more you can plan in advance, the easier your trip will be. Leave some room to be spontaneous, sure, but I found that with a baby, it’s a heck of a lot harder to be spontaneous.

[2] GO SLOW

This is something that we learnt on the road. Before Jasper came along, we road-tripped around the U.S and Europe, and we were driving 9-12 hour days, cramming in as many sights as possible! We wanted to see it all!!! And we love driving. But now that Jasper is here, we found that everything just takes longer. You have to stop to feed him, change him, you have to allow for his naps, he gets bored easily, so we needed to make sure we allocated time for him where we could play and give him attention. Everything just took longer, and we were okay with that – we got to see what we wanted to, it was just at a slower pace.

When we were in Bali, we literally did the bare minimum. We stayed at our hotel, we ordered room service, we went for mini walks, but everything was centred around going slow and just being present with Jasper. He enjoyed just swimming and playing and we enjoyed not trying to cram everything into the trip. Going slow is a way more enjoyable and less stressful way to travel. If you still want to see a bunch of things, I’d recommend that you make a list of your top 5/10 things you want to do, have a look at where they are and plan around them (see point one again!) you can still see and do everything you want to, as long as you plan accordingly and don’t try to cram it all int a short time.

[3] NAPS ARE THE KEY TO ROADTRIPS

We managed to drive around 2,000km in New Zealand, and the reason we were able to go so far is that we planned to do the majority of our driving during Japers naps. He sleeps for a good 90 minutes, sometimes longer in the car, so this allowed us to hit the road. We planned all of our driving around his sleeping schedule and we got pretty far! We were stoked with how much we got to see. there were times where he would wake up early out of a nap, and we would have to pull over to feed him and give him some time outside the car. If we still had some driving to do, one of us would get in the backseat with Jasper and play with him and talk to him. We’re not the biggest fan of iPads (he’s only 8 months old) so we try to entertain him ourselves, and he was pretty happy for the most part. If he did get grumpy, we’d follow his lead and pull over, eat something, have a play and a walk and then hop back in the car.

[4] YOU CAN’T BRING ENOUGH WET WIPES

Can we talk about how amazing wet wipes are. I don’t know how we would have travelled without them. We used them for everything, after he ate we cleaned him, we cleaned dirty surfaces with them, heck we even used them ourselves to wipe our hands and clean up messes we made. Seriously, they are the best thing that has ever been invented. I only packed 2 packs with me, and we ended up having to buy like 4 more! Lucky they’re readily available.

We also purchased some anti-bacterial wipes for the planes. We flew on 5 airplanes, and we once saw a documentary on the amount of germs that live on planes. So we were those parents that wiped down everything from the window, tray table to arm rest. Jasper still got sick after the first plane trip which was a bummer, but you can’t control everything. I’d seriously recommend that you bring some anti-bacterial wipes with you too – seriously, planes are gross. Also, at restaurants the high chairs never get wiped down, and there are a crap tonne of germs on there too – kids are grubby! So we used the wipes to clean these as well.

[5] BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR ROUTINE

okay, so I’ve basically said that Jasper is in an awesome routine and we planned everything around that – but let me tell you something, travelling can mix up a little bubs routine like nothing else. I had to learn very quickly to be flexible and change things up, because you know what, his routine became a lot less predictable while we were travelling than it is when we’re at home. He dropped a whole nap while we were away and it threw me out of sorts! But I didn’t stress too much, because hey, we’re on holiday and we were having a great time. His routine could wait and I knew that when we got home, I’d be able to get him back into good habits and back to what he’s used to pretty quickly. I’m used to Jasper sleeping through the night, maybe he wakes up once but that’s about it. While we were away, he was waking up every 3-4 hours. I was NOT used to this AT ALL! But he got a new tooth, and he went through a huge developmental leap. Instead of trying to get him to sleep through the night, I followed his lead and was flexible. If he seemed tired, I let him nap during the day (although, he was more on the wanting to stay awake side of the spectrum!)

We are home now, and the last few nights he’s been amazing. He has woken up maybe once or twice, but his sleeping habits are pretty much back to normal. I think if we went a bit earlier than 8 months, I probably would have freaked that he was getting out of routine and that I was screwing it all up. But I feel a  lot more confident as a mama these days and I trust that I am doing right by Jasper, even if it means mixing things up because we’re on a holiday. Trust your gut and your instincts, you were given your baby for a reason, because you’re the best person to look after them.

Jasper had a great holiday, he was super happy chappy and loved meeting some of his second cousins. It was awesome watching him interact with extended family. I loved watching him take in new sights, he was particularly fascinated with the seagulls – it was hilarious. He wanted to chase them and watched them so intently.

While we were away, Jasper mastered crawling, he can pull himself up now, and he is just much stronger in general. He’s getting super chunky, and eating solids like a pro. I love watching him grow and develop even if it brings some challenges along with it.

Have you guys been travelling with babies? What have you learnt along the way? I’d love too hear in the comments below xx

The post 5 Thing I learnt While Travelling with a Baby appeared first on Megzie.

I definitely overpacked. I brought things like his play mat, a whole box full of toys, a huge blanket for him to play on, his ingenuity chair the list goes on and on and on. Because it was a road trip, i felt like I could bring more things, I definitely wouldn’t bring as many toys or blankets if we were going on a plane.

Where We Stayed

Okay, first things first, lets talk about the accomodation – the fancy apartment called BridgePoint. Actually, rather, let’s not, these pictures will do al the talking. This apartment was THE SHIZ. Like it seriously has me wanting to either move or redo my whole house. I used to think my house had pretty good natural light…. NOT ANYMORE!

What we got up to

Mandurah has a really nice boardwalk with heaps of cool restaurants and shops.  We spent the majority of our time at Dolphin Quay (no we didn’t see any dolphins, but I’ve heard there are heaps!) We ate all the good food, and there were these super cute markets there too, with heaps of quirky handmade goodies. If hubby wasn’t around, I probably would’ve gone nuts and bought everything! Especially that giant black clock with the big numbers (even though I have a perfectly good giant black clock at home).

Fathers Day

The main reason we went away was to celebrate Fathers Day. It was so nice! I totally spoiled Driks, cus you know, it’s his first Fathers Day ever! He’s been really keen to take little J to the waterpark so I got J the cutest swimsuit from Cotton On Kids. After we opened some presents in the morning, and little J had his nap, we went out for Brunch. It was pretty crazy and almost everywhere was full. But we got lucky and scored a table (without a reservation) at D’lights cafe. I got pancakes, with strawberries and a side of bacon – mmmmMMM! Then we came back to the apartment and just chilled and played cards and I snapped more photos of my baby, cus I’m totally THAT mum now.

Gaah it was just so perfect! If I’m being totally honest (and I’m sure you can see from the last few pics above), I basically just did little mini photoshoots with Jasper! Sorry not sorry! He’s able to sit by himself now, and the lighting in that house was just perfection! I really need to up my game at home…!!

In general, I’d say Jasp did pretty good! He took a little bit of time to adjust to sleeping in a different room in  a different cot, but he did amazing! He was super chilled and happy to just play with his toys on the rug. I definitely used things like his porta chair, toy box, food, pram, nappy bag etc! I’ll have to figure out how to pack less for our next trip to Melbourne and New Zealand. (I definitely brought way too many clothes for J) but you never know when you’re gonna have a poo explosion on your hands, so I’d rather have been safe than sorry! and clothes definitely don’t take up too much room.

I’m getting super excited about our next trip! woohoo!

The post Our First Family Getaway appeared first on Megzie.

This is a very PICTURE HEAVY post, and for that, I am sorry not sorry.

[1] The House

I wanted to start off by sharing some snaps of the amazing mansion we stayed at. We rented a house on a tiny island called Nusa Cenincgan. It was us, plus all of hubby’s immediate family so there were 8 of us in total. I totally forgot to take snaps of the inside though, so check those out here if you’re interested.

The whole idea behind renting this gorgeous place, was so that we didn’t have to leave it (at least not that often) Usually when we go to Bali, we rent scooters, and we do day trips etc etc; but because I was pregnant, that kinda limited me in what I could do. Also because we were with the whole family, it was nice to have a place where we could all chill. We brought loads of board games, I brought along two giant inflatables for the pool, and we had plenty of nice cold beverages to keep hydrated in the hot humid weather

[2] A day in the life of me

I literally lived my best life, slept in, then chilled in bed on my phone, or reading a book (the aircon was great!). My favourite thing about this small island is that (almost) all the restaurants have WhatsApp, which means you can text them an order, and they’ll deliver it to you – FOR FREE. So good!! I’d order breakfast from my favourite cafe – Next Level. And it’d usually arrive within the hour (Bali time….). I basically ate pancakes and a smoothie bowl for breakfast every day – it was SO delicious.

As I said earlier, I brought along two giant inflatables from Kmart. Me and my main girl Adi (sis-in-law) would just chill in the pool until our hearts were content! It was super relaxing and so nice to be in the water with the bump. It took so much pressure off my back (ha, I thought I was big back then.. I feel 10 times bigger as I type this!)

how cute are my swimsuits from Boohoo.com? I was obsessed hahaha!

Next up was lunch, I’d Whatsapp my order (and anyone else who wanted food) to our restaurant of choice, and we’d wait for it to be delivered. While I waited, I’d usually have a shower to cool off and get the pool water off me, and then chill on the couch or chat to the fam bam. Sometimes, I’d just stay in the pool. Mie Goreng was/is my fave food to order in Bali! It’s seriously yum.

The rest of the day was spent either in the pool, playing board games, reading books, scrolling through Instagram, or chilling with a lime sparking water in all of the various nooks around the house. Or doing impromptu photoshoots with Adi hahahah! She also braided my hair hella nice! Oh we also would get the occasional massage (they come to the house) I know right?! Tough life for some of us.

[3] All of the food

We’d try to venture out of the house every now and then to go and explore the island and all of the cute restaurants it has to offer. These were some of of my favourite:

1. NEXT LEVEL CAFE

2.  DT NUSA CENINGAN

3. SEABREEZE CENINGAN

4. THE SAND

[4] Some of the sights

I really didn’t go out a lot, but the one day we got a little car to drive us around the island. It was great to see the sights, but so crappy in the sense that it literally rained down on us THE ENTIRE TIME. Not fun when you’re sitting uncomfortably in the back of a van, on a bench like seat, trying to avoid being whacked by the trees as you drive past them. Anyway… I was glad to get back to our lovely home after this day.

• Abyss Zipline (we just looked) but look at that blue water that you zipline over!
• Blue Lagoon
• Ceningan Cliff Restaurant
• Yellow Bridge
• Song Tepo Beach

All in all, we had an awesome time. It was so nice to get away with the whole family, but also spend some quality time in paradise with my darling husband before our baby arrives! I’m glad we went when we did, because if we’d left it any later I’d have been way way way more uncomfortable and tired!

The post Our Bali Christmas BabyMoon appeared first on Megzie.

We had a very interesting start to the day, when we parked our car at the ferry terminal and then walked over to buy the ferry tickets, we learned that they were striking for the next 4 hours…. hmmm… So we decided that we would walk over (which took about 2o mins, so not too bad!)

I actually really enjoyed the walk, and we walked from the one side of Venice to the Bridge of Sighs, by the time we got there, the ferrys were running again, and we took it back to the car park. It all worked out really well, but there were a few very unhappy (grumpy) people in the morning!

The canals! The Gondolas (we didn’t pay $80USD to go on one if you’re wondering…), the food! We had gelato, and pizza and salad and it was all so good! The bridges, the markets, the shops! You can even buy a drink in a side store (like a beer) and keep walking.

The only downside, is that at some parts, there were A LOT of people, and it was crowded and HOT. But apart from that, I have nothing bad to say about Venice. I gave the old camera another good workout!

Ahhh, even just looking at these photos myself makes me want to go back already!!!!!

The post Venice!!! appeared first on Megzie.

The audio tour was really interesting, but a lot of what you see at the Colosseum isn’t how it used to be, and has been reconstructed or restored. I kinda preferred admiring it from the outside, but I guess you don’t know these things until you’ve done them.

After we visited the Colosseum, we went back to our airbnb to have some breakfast and chill for a bit. It was a really hot day so we weren’t really feeling like being out in the heat of the day for hours on end (Europe, you are so lucky to have such late sunsets!!!)

Once it “cooled” down a bit – HAHA IT DIDN’T, we made our way to the Vatican. It was cool to see, but again, there were a lot of people there and not much shade. We decided that we wouldn’t pay to go in and check out the inside (we have to save some things for an excuse to come back)

We were meant to stay in Rome one more night, but we decided that instead, we’d make our way to Venice. This wasn’t originally part of our plan, but we’d both kinda had enough of Rome, and though it’d be cool to also tick Venice off our bucket list too! So we bailed on our airbnb, and hit the road. It was really fun being spontaneous. We ended up in this little coastal town somewhere in Italy, and went for a swim at the beach and had dinner at a local restaurant. It was one of the best decisions we’ve made on this trip so far! We even had a cheeky gelato for dessert! Mmmm :)

The post The Colosseum and Vatican appeared first on Megzie.

1. Our morning at our beautiful airbnb
2. Our spontaneous beach pit stop on the way to Rome
3. Our first day in Rome and what we got up to

1. The cutest airbnb

I haven’t really been sharing much insights into where we’ve been staying, but this place really stood out to me. It was our airbnb in Pisa and the decor was just soooo nice. Also they put out the most special breakfast for us AND they had a brand new puppy. We had a bit of a sleep in and just enjoyed our morning here. It’s nice to not always be go go go!

2. Our Beach Pit Stop

We technically made 2 beach stops, the first one was at this pebble beach (and I know it doesn’t look like it in the pics, but it was CROWDED!) We really wanted to swim and fly the drone, so we deiced that we’d stop somewhere else if the opportunity came up.

Wellll… it did. The next beach stop wasn’t quite as nice as the first, because it was a boat port that lead to the beach. But we got to swim (SO REFRESHING) and fly the drone – winning!!

3. We made it to Rome

Ahh, Rome; everyone has said so many good things about you. It’s hard to believe that we’re finally here. We walked around a bunch of places, including the Trevi Fountain (and numerous other ones). We also got our first Gelato – omg so yum. And then found a place for dinner, we had such a yummy :D then we wondered over to the Colosseum to see it at night (and also to see if we could get tickets for the morning, spoiler, we couldn’t).

The post Airbnb Breakfast, Beach and Rome appeared first on Megzie.