This post has been a long time coming. I arrived home right bang in the middle of wedding season and now this amazing trip feels like a lifetime ago. To be honest, I'm still getting used to being consistent with this whole "blogging" thingy! On my day off I really feel like I need to spend quality time with family and close friends at the moment. In fact it's this holiday that made me realise this.

Anyway, I decided to do this post as I suppose it's a little unusual to bring a toddler to a big city on summer holidays. Or is it? Last year we had been trying to decide what to do and to be honest we were nearly not going to go anywhere. Maybe a stay-cation but the thought of going near the airport and having to carry all the stuff babies need just sounded like the furthest thing from a "holiday".

Then I got an inquiry to do a wedding in Tuscany (Hi Roisin!!!!) To be honest, I get inquiries all the time for destination weddings and I normally turn them down because a) I'm a big baby and not mad on travelling alone and b) it's generally not worth my while during wedding season as I need to take minimum 3 days off work - BUT Roisins wedding just sounded sooo amazing (that's a story for another post!) that I just had to do it.

After going back and forth for a while we eventually decided go for it and make Italy our family holiday for 2 weeks! That was last year. Fast forward to the night before leaving, it was absolute pandemonium. Utter chaos as we went through list after list making sure we had everything we needed. Occasional whimpers of "what the hell were we thinking?!" As you know the slightest thing can set a toddler off. For example not having the right soother could ruin a trip, so obviously we had to make sure we brought about a hundred with us to a different country and that was just ONE thing. The list was endless.

When I look back we needn't have worried so much, Italy is THE best place to bring a child. Sometimes when I walk into restaurants in Dublin with Tom I nearly hear the tuts and sense the eye rolls. I totally get it but c'mon we have to eat too and we don't want to end up in food courts every single time. Over there it is SO different, children are welcome everywhere. We could hardly go up the street without someone squeezing Toms cheeks and whispering "bello bambino". It was just such a lovely atmosphere and we instantly felt relaxed over there. I'm now totally in love with Italy and we're already talking about going back there next year. The food, the people, the streets, the buildings, the music, it's like walking around a movie set. It honestly felt like a dream.

We did Rome, Florence and day trips to Pisa and Viareggio. Every day was just magical. Of course there were some stressful moments but overall it just went so much better than I thought it would and I really think that it was down to the people there! In this post I'm just going to talk about a few things that I was stressing about being away, particularly in the heat.

OUT AND ABOUT

We stayed in an apartment because we needed a small kitchen and also a separate room to put Tom down (he finds it hard to go asleep when we're in the room), so a hotel just wouldn't have worked for us. Every morning we got up and made Toms breakfast, he had a bottle, a little wash and his suncream put on (seriously, what a life!)

We then had a list that we checked before we left. Just all the usual stuff. We also brought a cooler bag with some ice packs and in that we put a packet of water wipes that we had put in the fridge overnight, they were great to cool him down throughout the day. Rome is HOT! We also had little slices of watermelon to keep him refreshed and some nice cold bottles of water.

I had been putting things in a rucksack at the start but I quickly abandoned that because there is nothing worse then rummaging through a big bag in 35 degree heat looking for a soother. So i just put everything into ziplock backs and threw them loose in the bottom of the stroller. SO much easier!

NAPS

Now, I know that you have to be flexible when you are away and you will never be able to fully stick to your normal routine but let me tell you something, my little boy loves his sleep and if he didn't get his nap everyday then there was just no way anyone was enjoying all that Italy has to offer. You just wouldn't have been able to listen to him. He absolutely refuses to sleep in his stroller (pure nosiness), so we made a decision that we were going to bring him back to the apartment everyday for his nap. I know that it sounds a bit crap but it really was a case of either kinda enjoying some of the day with intermittent whinging or have a great morning and a great evening and just miss the afternoon. We chose the latter and it was the best thing we could have done.

In the morning we got up and out early. We wandered the streets close to where we were staying, had breakfast, an iced espresso and let Tom have a little run around. Just as it was starting to get really hot we'd bring him back and put him down for his nap. He normally goes for about 3 hours. So we'd miss the really hot part of the day, which suited me to be honest. Then we'd give him his lunch and head back out. We would then do some sights and pick somewhere to eat that evening. Which leads me to the important bit…. DINNER!

EATING OUT

My sister says that being on holidays with kids is like being in constant negotiations with terrorists. You will do ANYTHING to keep them quiet when you are away. Her eldest, Seanie, got some land when they arrived home after their holiday in Spain. He ran straight to a vending machine, crying and pointing at it. She turned to him and said "you're not in Kansas anymore, you are back on my turf now, that means MY rules. *Cue evil laugh, mwahahahaha mwahahahaha.

Sooooo anyway, Italy is full of Piazzas (big open squares) and these are generally full of restaurants. About an hour before dinner we would let him out of his cage, I mean buggy, and run wild around these squares. Soothers and blankies were confiscated and we just watched as he tired himself out. Smiling to ourselves. By the time he was finished he would be longing for the buggy, his soother and the hero of the day - blankie. Then off we'd head to the restaurant. We'd always order bread straight away for the carb loving Tom and that would keep him happy for a bit!

The great thing about Italy is you are eating outside all of the time. So it's noisy anyway, it means that his usual shouts and yelps that would seem really loud inside are lost outside. Also, he loved facing outwards and watching all the street performers and the hustle and bustle.

Given that eating out here has become something of a chore (basically because of Tom's loutish behaviour, lol) it was so lovely to have a couple of weeks where it all seemed a little easier.

So that's it, our holiday over for another year anyway. We tossed our coins into the Trevi Fountains, so we've made our promise to return and I'm going to make sure we do!

Jx