Foosa's Packing List

As a followup to my cruise post, since some people have asked, here is the packing list I put together for the Foosa. It was very strange having to haul so much stuff...I'm so used to traveling light. Gone are the days, I suppose. To our credit, we did use just about everything we brought...

*Medela Pump in Style Bag - My carryon. Packed my cover, battery pack, backup manual pump, and the bottles/milk/ice pack in it. Security in the States acted like they had never seen one before and scan it three different times, in addition to running a test on the milk, since it exceeded the normal liquids limit. Security in Europe didn't care in the slightest.
*Diaper bag/changing pad/diaper trash bags - G2 used his backpack diaper bag as his carryon. It holds a lot! Plenty of room for all the immediate needs of G3 and himself.
*Diapers - Terrified of running out and having to pay crazy high European prices, we definitely over packed these. They took up 2/3 of a suitcase on their own. I honestly don't remember exactly how many we took, though I really meant to write it down for future reference. We were gone for 16.5 days, which we rounded up to 17. Pampers estimates a child in size 2 diapers uses 5.5 a day, rounded to 6 is 102. So we started there. And then we threw in some more, just to be safe. Plus whatever was already in the bottom of the diaper bag. So I'm going to guess 115 or so. We usually only ended up using about 4 or 5 a day, and I think we came home with about 40 to spare. Better safe than sorry though.
*Wipes - Again, took a ton. An entire refill brick, plus what we already had in a small package and packed in the diaper bag. Came home with a lot.
*Diaper rash cream - Didn't end up using it. For all skin issues the poor baby has (raging eczema, cradle cap...) diaper rash is rarely an issue he has. Another better safe than sorry item.
*Blanket - Wouldn't have needed it for its intended purpose because the weather was way warmer than it was supposed to be, but came in handy to drape over G3 when he needed to nap while we were on tour. Almost lost it on our last day in Copenhagen (about two hours before we were going to head to the airport) at the Botanic Gardens, but I was able to retrace our steps and retrieve it.
*Collapsible stroller - First Years Ignite stroller. Fabulous for our needs. Very glad we had it and didn't drag our mega stroller all the way across the pond. Handled often bumpy terrain quite well, and light enough to be carried up and down small flights of stairs.
*Toys - Only brought a few. G3 was just starting to really show interest in toys right before we left. I think we brought two or three of his Lamaze toys (Mortimer the Moose is the one usually featured in the photos) and his bendy ball.
*Clothes - Probably over packed these. Though he did wear all but two really warm fleece outfits and one collared shirt, he probably didn't need a different outfit for every single day, plus a few bonus outfits in case of stains, etc. But I always bring a different outfit for each day (including a different dress each night for dinner) so I did the same for him. (Let's go back to the part where I said I pack light...I pack for a living, thus I can fit two weeks worth of outfits for myself and 14 different dresses, some floor length, in a carryon. Yes, I'm that good. :P )
*socks - Not for his feet, for his hands due to his incessant scratching. He actually didn't wear them that often, I think he scratches out of boredom a lot of the time, and there were plenty of distractions this trip.
*His 'tux' - got to wear it all four formal nights and given his small size, will likely get to wear it again on our next cruise later this year.
*Pack and Play sheets - didn't need these. I had read that the cruise line didn't provide them, which I thought was odd, so I brought two sets. Lies. Didn't need them at the hotel or on the ship. Can't believe everything you read apparently
*hat - he wasn't really a fan of wearing it, and it was a little big because I had no idea he would still be so small by the time we cruised, so I ordered a 6 month size. He's still wearing 0-3 month clothes at 7 months...
*inflatable tub - planned to retrieve water from the pool and let him splash around in it. (He wasn't allowed in the pool because they don't have a baby zone on the ship we were on.) We never had the time. I intend to make time next cruise.
*lotion/hydrocortisone/prescriptions - fighting the eczema battle every day, we couldn't have done without all these
*carrier - he much preferred to nap being worn by G2 than in the stroller, and we had some tours where the stroller was impractical, so this was a necessity for sure
*thermometer/baby tylenol/nasal aspirator - he so rarely had extended meltdowns that when he did we took his temperature to be sure he was all right. he always was, so we didn't really need this stuff, but it gave us piece of mind to know we did have it if required
*shampoo/body wash - probably could have just used what was provided on the ship, but didn't want to take chances with his skin
*stain stick - got used a couple times, after a diaper incident and and a spit up on mom's dress incident
*teethers - were not necessary, but didn't want to get caught without them if a tooth did decide to show up
*burp cloths - one or two would have sufficed, I think we brought five
*Sunscreen - only used a few times, and probably not needed between the long sleeves, hat and blanket
*soft spoon/small food container/cereal and a few purees/bibs - the ship took care of his meals on board, and he mostly still just has milk for sustenance, but we wanted to have a few 'solids' for him while in port. good thing we brought them too, as our initial plan was just to grab a banana at breakfast each morning to mash up at some point during the day. surprising, bananas ended up being few and far between.
*Dish soap - for washing bottles
*swaddles - the only way he will go to sleep at night is swaddled. still. this is a habit we really need to break him of

In total, our luggage consisted of one full suitcase with two weeks of clothes for G3 and myself plus a few baby items, one carryon size with all G2's clothes, one carryon size with diapers and most of the other baby stuff, our two personal bags, and the travel stroller. Not too bad for two weeks across the pond...