Travel bloggers Hi5 Adventure Family tell us about their unique experience of documenting their third pregnancy.
Mike and Hannah aren’t your usual bloggers with kids. Along with their two boys, Ollie and Luca, they all love to travel together as Hi5 Adventure Family as much as possible. They share their holidays and experiences with their readers, considering factors such as food, accommodation and education along the way.
But when they became pregnant with their third child, they documented every stage of the pregnancy – from telling their boys they have a new sibling on the way to bringing baby Parker home for the first time.
We recently caught up with them to find out about their experience. Mike even shares some golden tips for travelling with children. If you’re taking the kids on holiday this year, this is the family you need to follow.
What made you decide to document this pregnancy?
Seeing how fast the kids grow up and how easy it is to become caught up with a hectic lifestyle, it’s easy to miss out on capturing precious memories of the kids. It’s only when we look back at old pictures and videos of the kids, we sometimes wish we had taken more photos and videos to look back on. We want to make sure we capture as many memories as we can this time and figured what better time to start than the pregnancy and birth and those first few weeks as a newborn. Not just for us, but for the kids too.
Were you worried about telling your two boys about the pregnancy?
We weren’t worried at all about telling the boys as they are both very loving and caring. They had recently found out they were going to have a new baby cousin and they were over the moon. So we knew they were going to be excited about having their very own little baby.
Watch the moment they became a family of five:
How have you found adjusting to three children?
We didn’t really know what to expect other than we would be in for some sleepless nights. One of our biggest worries was the boys sharing a bedroom for the first time and another being Parker waking them up. Luckily none of this has caused any problems for us so far. The boys love sharing together with their funky new bunk beds and they don’t hear Parker during the night at all. The boys have been great around Parker – they love him to bits and constantly want to give him cuddles and look after him. They love to help bath him and rush over to pop his dummy back in if he’s crying. They seem to understand that Parker needs a lot of time and attention at the moment and they are ok with that.
What’s been the hardest thing about baby number three?
I would say is definitely coping with the lack of sleep. It seems harder this time because you can be awake most of the night looking after Parker but when it’s morning the other two boys will get up full of energy wanting all our time and attention. You need to learn to live on not much sleep and still have patience and fun with the rest of the family. Coffee is what gets me through the day!
Was it easier going from one to two kids or two to three?
I would say going from one to two kids is easier than going from two to three. This is because I find with three kids you constantly have so much to do, it can be difficult to share yourself out to everyone fairly. Although I have found myself becoming more patient with the kids and feeling more easy-going with Parker and not worrying about the small stuff.
Any advice for parents expecting a third baby?
It’s important to make time for the kids individually especially if they are all of different ages and have different likes and interests – doing things all together won’t always be fun for everyone. With the arrival of a new baby getting all the attention it’s important that the others don’t feel pushed out. They need to feel loved and made to feel special too. Me and Ollie have started running together on a night. He loves it and it gives us one on one time. While Luca loves our bedtime stories and movie nights. It’s the little things.
How do your kids handle all the travelling?
Travelling with kids can be exhausting at times but we have been on many long journeys together and generally there are no problems. With a little planning and having the right things to hand when we need them everything turns out ok in the end. Kids are very adaptable, and we try to keep things fun and exciting for them. We are lucky our kids have a great sense of adventure and take travelling in their stride.
Do you have any tips for parents travelling with kids?
Prepare and plan for the trip as best you can, pack a bag with drinks and snacks and things to keep the kids entertained. Get the kids enthusiastic and excited about where you’re going before you go. Do some research about the destination together and give them their own journal or maybe learn some local phases. Be patient and don’t get stressed. No matter how long the journey is, it won’t last forever, and it will be worth it when you get there.
Lastly, is Parker’s first adventure planned?
Yes, Parkers first adventure will be a 26-hour road trip to Spain in May! And yes, we will be vlogging & blogging about it… ‘3 kids and a 26-hour road trip.’ Will we survive? Coffee should help. Jokes aside, we honestly can’t wait!
For updates of Parker’s first adventure, you can follow Mike, Hannah and their three boys Ollie, Luca and Parker here.
