Holidaying with three small children

As I sit here writing this on the plane home  (on page 10 of my holiday book on the way home - that really says it all doesn’t it) I’m suburnt because creaming my strech mark ridden mum tum is no longer my priority, my top button on my jeans is undone due to excessive amount of treats  (to be fair they only touched where the fitted when I flew out anyway) I’ve had 5 hours sleep oh and the downloads on Netflix has expired .... So be prepared for a relaxing holl ... hahaha no let’s all laugh, parents of three or more we know that’s not a possibility...

Lee & I love a little risk obviously as we’ve got 3 under 5 ... so going away mid COVID didn’t bother us! Actually if anyone is thinking about going away definitely do! It’s much quieter (the flights were great a row each to ourselves). 

The pools, bars, water parks ect where lovely people were socially distanced it was actually a pleasure! (But of course still stressful going away with three small children).

I’m going to share some of my hints an tips if you read my last blog about going away with two some things my be reiterated but truth be told I can’t be arsed re-reading it anyway...

Here goes 

First things first >> the airport 

Fast passes for security is an essential last time we went away we didn’t have one it was very stressful ended up not taking our Dolls medication (Manchester airports fault) we then had to seek out a doctor an gets dolls perscription (he didn’t believe the dosage then had to get my mum an dad to get a letter from alder hey) all fun an games hey 🙄🥴

Anyway this time we loved fast pass (£4 per person - an absolute bargain if you use the airport car park you get them free) they were amazing Liverpool airport have always been fab too! 

So the try an take as little hand luggage as poss (even if it means checking another bag trust me it’s worth it) because if your travelling with a buggy or pram you will have to carry that down the steps with the three kids not an easy task when there still little... slings an baby carriers always come in handy here. 

Boobs bottles an dummies are all good for take off an landing if you need to take medicated milk through for your baby (Take a letter from the doctor or dietitian and the perscription they actually  checked both an her passport) 

Also you can order your milk pre-made and powder formula, nappies other toiletries for you to collect from boots which can be easier if you don’t want to pack it or for the plane. 

Just a side note we flew with easy jet this time they were so accommodating I couldn’t recommend them more ✈️ 

Encourage the baby to feed for take off an landing baby’s under two obvs have to be on your knee with a belt on for take off an landing anyway.

On arrival we had prebooked a transfer with car seats I think when you travelling in a party of 5 you need to pre book these things because obviously taxis only take 4 people (well we actually bundle all of us in when we went the zoo water parks ect on shorter trips) but for  transfers I decided to do it properly also I have never taken a car seat away with us.

I have however taken prams buggies ect, we were going to take our double buggy but due to the baby being so small we decided on taking the pram - (it’s well used so if it got wrecked we were too bothered)

With the baby being so small I took a pop up Moses basket (koodi pod - from Amazon) witch was actually amazing!! She slept so well I also took her angel care mattress because I’m a paranoid mama bear - making sure it was well wrapped in hand luggage so it didn’t break.

I took microwave sterilising bags from (Ardo) which were great I would use them again - In the past when Doll & Winn were small I took cold water bags with Milton tabs which was abit of a faf to be honest so them microwavable were defo the best!

This time we had a washing machine which I have never had before on a abroad holidays it’s an absolute game changer when you have a child who like to poop in her reusable pool nappy every single day (& of course not told you until she’s made sure she’s jumped in the pool an sat on the lounger making the whole situation 10x worse 🤣) I didn’t take any washing powder with me as I didn’t want to to be taking unidentified white powder on the plane with us .... we got some there an had clean nappies all round! 

Managing the three was tricky as obviously Lee & I are learning every time we go on holiday also every time we go on holiday we seem to have another child added to the team maybe next time we go away we can recruit some family to come along too 🤣

Keeping the baby in the shade (at this point I think it’s worth mentioning babies under 6 months should not have suncream on and are just to be kept in the shade - I found that when I was feeding her if any of my suncream went on her her skin would go red for about 24 hours - probably just a little reaction so just keep that in mind) but taking it in turns to go in the pool, making sure nobody fell off the balcony (because of course every time our back was turned someone was climbing) keeping all three children fed an watered - harder than what it sounds, due to them ordering food then complaining that’s no whatI wanted, it doesn’t taste nice or there’s not enough sauce 🙄Anyway we made it a week no accidents, no trips to the Spanish doctors and everyone’s alive! 

Cheers to that! 

Every outing we go on even if it’s only to the pool involves taking near enough everything but the kitchen sink (better to be safe than sorry yes you will look like a pack horse for the duration of the holiday but I suppose that’s just parent life)

So years ago we used to scope out the best bars an clubs now it’s the best pools an parks actually we only managed 1 Park this time because most were closed 🙈 - We like going to parks, they are mostly shaded so it gives you time out of the sun and a change of scenery. 

We tend to do a few trips for example the water park, zoo an this time we also done horse riding. 

Water park & the zoo we were pros at I usually bring a cooler bag with us an some ice packs an make a picnic (<<< parenting level 200 right there 💤 bore off I know). The horse riding however what’s really stressful as they send us off into the Spanish mountains without a guide or a map an three young children.

Anyway if your thinking of taking your bundles of joy away just do it! It’s BOSS fun abit of stress thrown in, loads of laughs an a few tears! 

Th covid thing is sound as long as you were a mask everyone will be sound so enjoy

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