Catch up to the stroller!

Sorry I haven't posted lately, Julien has been keeping me pretty busy! So I will try to keep the 'catching up' part short.

Since my last post from Phoenix AZ, we have made it to California!
Our first stop was Diamondbar CA where we had a show with the Whosoevers! We found out the week before we left that we were playing with The Arrows (thearrowsband.com), so we were SUPER excited to get to know those girls!

The next day (saturday) we had a show with the Dreamcenter in LA with Hope for Homeless youth, it was so cool to see some of our old fans and meet new people. Julien unfortunately cried through our whole set! It was so sad!! My poor Mom had to hold him the whole time!
Sunday we played in Hermosa Beach uhm best beach city in the county!! The weather was great, the people were great..must I go on?
We ended up staying with a couple from the church we played at Lonna and Jason, the SWEETEST people ever!!
That Monday there was a Hermosa Fiesta (city festival), and my cousin Airec and Rhyanne came out and spent the day with us!

After our stay in Hermosa Beach Julien ended up getting his first cold! Poor thing was congested for a few days.

That week we spent a day at Universal thanks to an old friend of ours Kim, then headed North to Ventura to meet up with Mikee Bridges! We had a great time with him at his venue Epic. That Friday night there was a Fashion show being held at his venue and Xaundelle and I got to assist! It was a dream come true for me, and Julien was a trooper with Abba!

After Ventura came Portland/Vancouver where we got to hang out with some old friends and enjoy GREAT hospitality by the Rodgers! Then we made our way to Seattle where we met up with some old Gateways Beyond friends (thats always fun!).

Julien has met some amazing milestones in this journey! He is now learning to hold his head up, and can balance it pretty well! Abba (Hunter) is trying to teach him how to walk and crawl already (oh gosh!) and he is talking more than ever!

I never knew I would have such a great time being a mom, He is SO amazing and amazing to be AROUND! Of course it's exhausting and I have my moments, but he truly is the greatest gift!

This is a pretty scattered post SORRY! I will try to update sooner next time!
Only 2 more weeks on the road!

Packing and hitting the road

Friday August 27Th I was running around with my head cut off. I couldn't wash all of Julien's clothes because I knew he was going to use 3-4 outfits, 5-6 burp cloths and possible 4 receiving blankets in the next 24 hours. So the pile of dirty clothes got bigger and his outfits..interesting.

I had roughly 36 hours to get ready for tour, this is normal. As an Aguirre I wait til the last minute to pack no matter how long the trip. I've prepared for 3 month tours in this amount of time. Why do I feel like I'm going crazy?
I went over my check list well over 1000 times in this 24 hour period. Did I have all his clothes, burp cloths, blankets, wipes, diapers, creams, his nail clipper, thermometer, hair brush (yes hairbrush), bath, swing, car seat, stroller...the list goes on.

I was a frantic Mother.

Saturday came along and for some reason I was taking my sweet time getting ANYTHING done. I still hadn't packed for myself and Hunter and I decided to have a family day out. We went to the mall, to lunch, and a few small boutiques. We got home with 11 hours to spare. I quickly got Julien's clothes in the wash and re-packed his carry on bag at least 3 times before deciding it was perfect.

He slept through this whole process.

At around 9:30pm Xaundelle thought 'What a perfect time to go visit Elisabeth Dunn before we leave! Lets go!' so..of course Julien (asleep) and I went. We went and had shakes and fries and hung out...until midnight.
Frantic Mother mode..back on.

I had 4 hours to finish our packing! I stayed up the next 4 hours putting the final touches on all suitcases and carry on bags. Julien has 2 carry on bags, 2 suitcases, a stroller, a pack n' play, a swing and his Moses basket. Success!

We hit the road! We had 8 hours to get to our destination in Midland TX, Julien did SO good on his first road trip! He was a little cranky towards the end, But he is surely a trooper! We left Midland early Monday and headed to Las Cruces NM for the night. Julien's first time out of Texas!!

We stayed at a church my Grandma had connections to. After dinner we all settled in, Xaundelle and I were watching Chuck while Julien slept when we heard a thunderstorm brewing outside. About 10 minutes into our episode the electricity went out in the whole church! Kind of scary being in a new place, no AC, no lights..nothing.
But we survived! Only 2 hours later it came back on!

Then we headed to Phoenix, Julien's first time to see mountains, crossed the continental divide and he got his first history lesson!

We are trying to break up our drive time by staying with friends/family in different cities to keep us all sane! We are now at my Uncle Omar's house. We are so blessed to have them host us!

Julien has taken quite well to his new bed "the moses basket" and is doing great adapting to every situation. As long as he's with Ima and Abba Huh?

This is going to be quite an adventure! We hit California Tomorrow!

First Bar

Yes I brought my baby to a bar.

First here is a little taste of how we will be traveling.

Through a series of situations and God just outright forcing us we have been pushed to take the Van on tour instead of the Bus. Yes that means baby in car seat, and 10+ people being squished into a 12 passenger van. It's cool tho we feel like this is from the Lord, that we will be seriously tested for the better.

So. A taste of our travels:
Me: climbing into the van
Hunter: passing the baby (in car seat) to me
Me: locking him in
All while wearing full on steam punk gear=big boots, hats, jewelry etc.
(Much more dramatic then it sounds)

Arriving at the venue I had to breastfeed in the van and then Xaundelle attempted to change Julien's diaper on the front seat of the van. The seats all kind of slope back for more comfort but not so much for easy diaper changing. As she wiped his bottom the dirty diaper "flew" out at her and fell to the ground while landing in a puddle splashing her....disaster.

First obstacle (feed and change diaper) accomplished.

Inside the venue:
Trying to find a seat comfortable enough for me to relax in with the baby
Then sound check came along so we had to put him in his sling so KiKi (my mom) could hold him, she some how figured out how to put his big headphones on to block out noise. He slept through our whole sound check AND SET!

Second obstacle (make the baby sleep) accomplished.

After set, before load out:
Breastfeed again inside venue
and finish out the rest of the bands without him waking up.
He didn't wake up! He slept so good the whole time even while other bands were playing, he is such a dream child!

The only downfall:
He has his long sleep while we play and after
so then I have to be up all night with him.
Great.

Third obstacle (survive) accomplished!

Now, to pack!

We are leaving Saturday night/Sunday morning so my packing experience will be blogged about next week. Stay tuned!

Prepare the way!

Julien Misha'el Born July 31st 8:17am 7.15lb 20in.

Preparing to take this little guy on the road is a lot harder then it seems.
Bassinet or Moses basket
Crib or baby sleep wedge
Full swing or table swing

You get the picture, a lot of decisions, and not a lot of time on our hands.

Since we travel 8 months out of the year (on average) finding the right things to bring on tour for Julien is a struggle. I don't have a nursery for him, a full bed set, an Armoire, all those lovely things the average new mother would have.

So here are a few things we have opted for that will be condusive for our lifestyle.

A Moses basket that is a comfortable sleeper and easily portable, a table top swing for all those times he will need entertainment, a table top bouncer seat for when he is sleepy, and a pack n' play for all those times we're at host homes or churches and he'll need a nice place to play.

In the last 2 weeks I have come to find out my son likes to go through NUMEROUS outfits a day, a couple receiving blankets here and there, 5 or 6 burp cloths, you know..I've only done about 8 loads of laundry (that is 4 loads a WEEK). So how will I pack for him?

Did I mention he has gained 2 pounds and grown 2 inches since he was born? He is rapidly growing out of his clothes when it comes to length. Hopefully he won't grow out of all of his clothes while we're on tour.

This is going to be quite an adventure, but I know it will be exciting! Stay tuned to see what it's like having a baby on tour!