travel

Yap, FSM // The Anvari Chronicles

October 24, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 2 Comments

In August my entire family took a trip back to Yap where we grew up. It was pretty amazing. My parent’s generously used all their air miles to make the trip possible. Not only was it wonderful being all together but it was extra special being together in a place that is so near and dear to our hearts and being able to share it with our spouses and children.

The trip there, which should have just been a grueling 25 hours of travel ended up being even longer due to a pesky tropical depression hovering over Guam. After being nearly diverted to Saipan, landing on the Anderson Air Force base, sitting on the runway for two hours, deplaning in a torrential downpour and being bused to the regular airport we finally made it to Yap, although our bags didn’t make it until three days later.

It was surreal being back. It felt at once like a weight was lifted and that I was finally back home and yet I was also acutely aware that my life was no longer there. It was an interesting duality to experience.

Being able to show Raf where I came from was such a gift. It was amazing, being able to show him the house I grew up in, and give him a picture to all the stories of my childhood. It was also the first trip that my whole family has all been on together since we’ve all been married and I just can’t express how grateful I am for that time together!

Reconnecting with all our friends over there was so special and everywhere we went we were greeted with love and warmth in a way that that I have yet to experience in quite the same way anywhere else.

Sorry for all the poor quality pictures, but alas the phone was just way more convenient than our DSLR.

The Anvari Chronicles // Albany, Oregon

July 16, 2015 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

We spent last weekend visiting some close friends in Oregon. Bennett handled her first plane trip like a champ and Asher didn’t have a single accident on the entire cross country journey! We had a really nice low key visit that consisted of blueberry picking, playgrounds, hiking and lots of laughter. They have two kids pretty much the same age and we had so much fun all together. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.

We went blueberry picking and no joke, these blueberries were hands down the best blueberries I have ever had! I will be dreaming about those blueberries for the rest of my life.

Same face!

These two were fast friends and were quite the match for each other!

Heaven! These blueberries have ruined all other blueberries for me.

Collector of sticks, rocks, pinecones and other such treasures.

“I’m the Chuck Norris of mommies!”

The Anvari Chronicles: Waterford, Ireland

May 23, 2014 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Back in December, we traveled to a wet and soggy, albeit, beautiful Ireland for the wedding of one of our dearest friends, Kent to his lovely bride, Sarah. We met Kent while living in Israel and working at the Baha’i World Centre (BWC). He sang at our wedding and is always game to come over and sit on our couch with us and watch endless hours of HGTV. Needless to say, we were not going to miss his wedding. Sarah is everything he has ever wanted and then some and we’re just so happy to add her to the family. The only down side, is that they will be living in Ireland, which will seriously decrease the amount of HGTV episodes we watch together.

The wedding was a bit of a BWC reunion, with many of our close friends traveling from all over to celebrate the union of these two bright souls. Asher was a champion on his third international trip and wasn’t even affected by jet lag at all this time (thankfully!).

The view from our flat.

Our sweet niece, Lua.

The happy and exhausted couple – Kent & Sarah.

The award for perfect photo-bombing form goes to Sir Ian Hamilton.

Jet Lag and Babies // How to Cope

November 21, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Anyone who has traveled across multiple time zones knows full well that jet lag is a rough state to be in. You’re exhausted, your internal clock is all out of whack, you find your self wide awake at 2 a.m. and yet struggle to make it through lunch without your face flopping into your bowl of soup. All that is bad enough, but when you have a jet lagged baby on your hands, it is down right brutal.

In my experience, young children are either completely immune to jet lag or completely derailed by it and you can never be quite sure which outcome will occur. Having a baby that is jet lagged is no picnic, particularly because this usually means that you, yourself will also be jet lagged which only compounds the situation. The rule of thumb is that it takes 1 day per time zone to get over jet lag, but that time frame can be quite a bit extended if you don’t actively try to help your child adjust to the time change. You see, when adults are wide awake at 2 a.m. they can be disciplined enough to lie in bed quietly in the dark and try to rest but when a little one is wide awake at 2 a.m. it’s time to PLAY and EAT!

So I share with you some of my tips to help get your tiny tot back on track.

Firstly, stay hydrated.

Next, try as best as possible to stick to your regular nap and sleeping schedule, even if this means that you have to wake them up. Raf and I found that when Asher was awake in the middle of the night, the ONLY thing that would get him to sleep was to put him into our Beco Gemini baby carrier and wear him. This of course meant that one of us had to be awake, so we took turns, but honestly, being awake in the dark with a sleeping baby was preferable to chasing an active baby around from 2 a.m – 6 a.m. Just saying.

Lastly, sleep when they sleep! And be lenient.

Asher was hit super hard with jet lag both going to and coming back from China. It was awful. I literally could not keep him awake during the day no matter what I did, after days of struggling to stick to his 2 hour naps I decided to just let him sleep as much as he wanted (not to mention I was really tired too). So we both slept from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at which point I bolted out of bed and woke Asher up (who was still sleeping like a log), we ate lunch and 1 hour later Asher fell asleep sitting up in the middle of the living room floor before toppling over onto his face. So, like I said, be lenient, you will only stress yourself out of you are too ridged about getting back on track right away. Do your best, but also gauge the situation and make adjustments where necessary.

Good luck!

Anvari Chronicles // Beijing and Yunnan, China

October 28, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 6 Comments

It was so nice to spend two weeks with my family. We spent the first week in Beijing which was nice but the real highlight was the second week that we spent traveling around Yunnan. People were flocking to Asher everywhere we went, countless strangers held my child and even more photographed him. It was quite the adventure, from hiking tiger leaping gorge in Shangri-la to a 6 hour bike ride in Dali, to a horse back ride and boat ride in Lijiang. Here are a few of my favorite shots from our trip:

For Your Reading Pleasure // I Read All The Baby Sleep Books

June 1, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

This post by Ava Neyer touches on how confusing and frustrating infant sleep patterns can be and the advice out there isn’t much clearer. You can basically find something to support any field of thought on infant sleep if you dig deep enough. I’ve heard a lot of people say that their babies “just aren’t good sleepers.” While, this may be true in some instances, unless you’re willing to try a lot of different methods, you shouldn’t put the blame on your baby like that. If your baby isn’t responding well to one method, move on to another and if that doesn’t work try something else and so on. There are so many varied methods of sleep training that you should be able to find one that works for you and your baby. Don’t give up.

So read this.

On another note, I am once again going out of town. This time I am heading north to the tiny and lovely town of Eliot, Maine to spend a week with my parents before we all head back to the D.C. area for my younger brother’s wedding. I will be taking Asher with me, but sadly Rafaan, can’t spare the vacation days so it will be my first time flying alone with the babe. While, I’m going to miss my hubs immensely, I’m so thankful to him for understanding my need to spend quality time with my parents and giving me his blessing to take his son away from him for a whole week. I do not think I’d be able to do the same if our roles were reversed. He truly is the better half of us.

Needless to say, posting may be light while I’m away, but I promise to document our trip thoroughly. I have a lot of requested posts that I am currently working on in draft form in the queue. So, if you’ve requested a certain topic, rest assured it’s coming and thank you for your patience.

The First Years Ignite Stroller Review

May 31, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com Leave a Comment

When it comes to strollers we are pretty obsessed with our Baby Jogger City Mini GT, but decided that we needed something smaller for ease of use when travelling. I opted for the The First Years Ignite Stroller, in black stripe.

All in all, I’m not overly impressed or unimpressed with this purchase. The stroller feels pretty sturdy, and maneuvers beautifully, even with just one hand. It is very easy to fold up and comes with a handy parent console that even fits my beloved nalgene water bottle. It has about a 5 inch recline, which isn’t much, but at least allowed Asher to nap on the go with his head falling forward onto his chest. The undercarriage basket is a decent size for an umbrella stroller although it’s a little tough to get to due to the criss-crossing metal frame. It has a great 5 point harness that is very easy to adjust. The sun canopy was a bit small, and since it can’t be adjusted I felt like it didn’t really serve it’s purpose well. When folded the wheels touch the inner portion of the canopy, which can leave dust and dirt behind. Although it folds easily, it doesn’t lock automatically and locking it, while holding a wriggling babe was a bit challenging at times. Lastly, I’m 5’6 but tend to have a rather long stride and occasionally I wouldn’t hold the stroller far enough away from my body and my foot would graze the back wheel, which I found annoying.

Pros:

Light weight, sturdy frame – 14 lbs

Parent console

5 point harness

Great maneuverability

Descent storage basket

Relatively inexpensive – $57

Reclines a bit

Very easy to fold

One handed seat recline

Cons:

Inadequate sun shade

Hard to reach storage basket

No automatic lock when folding

Seat lacks a deep recline

When folded wheels leave dirt on the sun shade

Feet sometimes hit rear wheels while walking

Putting the seat back into the upright position is a bit of a hassle and requires two hands.

The pros do out weigh the cons and since we plan to just use this stroller when we’re traveling, it’s fine and the price is right. If we were going to use it for any more than that though I would probably want to invest in something a little nicer.

Texas Bound

May 17, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 2 Comments

We are heading off to Texas today to visit Raf’s family, many of whom will be meeting Asher for the first time. Asher already has them all wrapped around his tiny fingers, but how could he not? I’m so excited about this trip and I’m looking forward to watching Asher charm everyone with his sweet personality and easy smile. Posting may be light while we’re away, but I’ll definitely be documenting our time in the Lone Star state and posting about it here when I can.

This will be the maiden voyage of our new stroller so look out for a full review in the near future.

We’ll be gone for 11 days! That’s 11 days of Raf around during the day, lot’s of delicious food, family time and plenty of hands to help hold and entertain Asher. I am pretty jazzed about it. Who knows, maybe the Hubs and I will actually go on a date, which is something we haven’t done since the tiny one arrived. I even plan to take Asher to the pool for the first time and get lots of adorable shots of him in his brand new cloth swim diaper!

Baby K’Tan Review

April 26, 2013 by lauren.anvari@gmail.com 8 Comments

When I was pregnant we were given two different baby carriers; the Moby wrap and the Beco gemini. These are both great carriers for different reasons, but when we were planning our trip to Israel when Asher was 2 months old I realized that neither of these were ideal. The moby wrap was too much of a pain to get on and off and didn’t lend itself well to international travel. I didn’t want the tails dragging on the floor and it is a bit too big to fit comfortably in my diaper bag. The gemini is great, but also takes a bit of time to put on and is WAY to big to fit in the diaper bag. So I scoured the internet and discovered the Baby K’tan.

This carrier is AMAZING. Seriously. It functions almost exactly like the moby wrap but without all the wrapping. It is essentially two loops of fabric and a sash. It is the perfect carrier for travel. When Asher wasn’t in it, I wore it around my neck like a scarf and that way it was already on me and ready to go. It took me about 60 seconds tops get him in it and he loved it. It is comfortable and light weight and since it isn’t a ton of fabric it is very compact. It has about 9 different carrying positions, including front facing out, which was a big deal for me. The only down side to this carrier is that it is a sized carrier, meaning that you have to get it in your specific size. This meant that Raf and I couldn’t share it because he is so much bigger than I am, however we solved this problem by agreeing he would carry the diaper bag and I would carry the baby for the duration of the trip. I highly recommend this carrier, in fact it is still my go to carrier just because it’s so small and easy to put on. Asher’s favorite position was the hug hold, but he also really liked being able to face out. I rarely ever used the extra sash that came with it because I didn’t feel it needed it to be secure, but I probably would use it if I were hiking or doing something fairly active.

If you’re planning a trip or just want a baby carrier that is super easy and functional then this is your carrier. Get it here or here (I love amazon).

Here are a few videos by Baby K’Tan to help you get a better idea of how it works:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ThAv6JeVmA]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7COMasHLWw]

*I have not been asked to review or promote this product, but I just loved it so much that I had to share.