Just because I can throw a super-cute birthday party, that doesn't make me a good mom

Last week Chad booked a business trip to Chicago for the second week in May, and within 24 hours I had added Liam and myself to the plane’s manifest in the seat right next to him. We live within a 5-hour drive of Chicago and have always talked about going, but have just never made it. The flight (which is only 45 minutes) was super cheap and Chad already had a swanky, company-paid hotel room right downtown; how could we pass up the opportunity for a little family vaycay? True, Chad has a conference to attend and several customers to meet and greet, so we will not get to spend all of our time together; but lest you feel badly for him, this is a boondoggle kind of business trip, and when he is sitting in a rooftop box eating shrimp as big as his fist while watching the Cubs on Wrigley Field, you can bet I will not be shedding one tear for him, even if Liam and I are high atop the Navy Pier Ferris wheel at the time.

Anyway, this will be the first big trip we’ve taken since Liam has come along, which adds a whole new dimension to things. First, instead of checking out the blues clubs or the architectural walking tours or any of the other adult-type Chi-town attractions, we have logged many hours on the Shedd Aquarium website and downloaded maps of the Lincoln Park Zoo. But also, the question of how to get around with baby has reared its ugly head, and yes, I do mean ugly. We have taken road trips with Liam before, but never flown, and for two people who are used to strapping on a backpack with a single change of clothes and some GORP to carry them through a three-week vacation – this presents a whole new set of challenges. I think a 45-minute flight is a great way to ease Liam into the thrills and agonies of traveling by air; the question is what to do when we land. I’m picturing us at O’Hare, picking up our luggage and then trying to get to our hotel. What do you do when you take a baby in a cab? Do you take your own car seat? Do you just hold them in the back seat? Is it even possible to bring along a car seat and install it in a cab when you get in? Obviously I want to do the safest thing possible for Liam, but I was genuinely curious about what the general population does, and so I posed this question on a website I frequent that isn’t necessarily baby or travel related, but which is populated mostly by young moms like me. Dawn – you know the one. :)

You would have thought I was proposing my own trip down the Pacific Coast Highway with Liam on my lap and me behind the wheel, judging by the replies I got. Close to 50 replies and all of them basically said that if I was even thinking of getting in a cab without a car seat, I would be up for Worst Mother of the Year award, and considering the messes that Ms. Britney Spears has gotten herself into this year (the highway? The skull fracture?), that’s saying a lot. OK, point taken. I can and will take a car seat, if that’s what you’re supposed to do. Forgive me for asking for advice!!

I can see us lugging a car seat through the airport to use en route to the hotel; the next issue though – how do you use a car seat while traveling around the city? Suppose we wanted to take a cab to the aquarium. We exit the cab at the aquarium and now we have a car seat with us. Do we then walk around the aquarium all day with the car seat still in tow? I was saved from this conundrum before my head exploded; the El train provides nearly door-to-door service between our hotel and the Shedd, and (correct me if I’m wrong, but be kind in doing so) I feel safer taking Liam on a metro train without a car seat than I do in a car. The Shedd is the most outlying attraction that we are likely to see while we’re there, and it’s five miles from our hotel; five miles to us being a nice walk on a good day, the El train should just be a one-way thing.

Now, onto the next parenting dilemma: Chicago has its own particular type of world-famous hot dogs that are exclusively available there. Kids aren’t supposed to eat hot dogs (due to the choking factor) til they’re 2 or 3. Do I let Liam miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime chance to taste a culinary delight simply because he might choke? Stay tuned to find out…