Bathtime Becoming a Mess

At that age, sometimes it's fun to just hop in the tub with your little one. I'd sometimes grab a quick shower first, then fill up the tub and have my son or daughter come in. He can lean up against you and play, and it's a good way to introduce the "big tub" in a non-threatening way. The other suggestion about putting the baby tub inside the big tub helps with the mess, and also introduces the big tub. We had to move both of my chubby babies out of their baby tubs before they could completely sit up on their own, so we put a bath towel down in the tub, and just held them up the whole time. A little more difficult, but it wasn't long before they'd sit on their own.

As for car travel, if it's possible to head out late afternoon/early evening, drive for an hour or two, stop for dinner, then let your son doze off a little while after dinner, and get to Gatlinburg late, that might be an option. Or, gently get him up early and get a few hours of driving in before he's fully awake in the morning. Luckily, 6-month-olds still sleep a fair amount, and if you can time driving around sleeping, it's not too bad. Believe it or not, it's actually a little easier to travel at that age than older...I'm a little concerned about my super-active little guy who'll be 1 1/2 at our vacation this year! Don't be in a hurry, and just follow his cues. Even a walk around a mall or Wal Mart might be an enjoyable change of scenery for him. Enjoy Gatlinburg--we love the Smoky Mountains area. Check in the visitor's center for handicapped-accessible trails...they're stroller accessible too. :-) At that age, you can also take along a snugli for hikes. The weather should be great when you go...I'm jealous! Enjoy, and good luck!

I found something that works perfect. My son is now 11mo but I had bought it around then b/c he likes to sit up. Go to babiesrus.com and type in Safety 1st tubside bath seat. Its 24.99 and like I said my son still sits. He can't slide out but yet has freedom to move around and splash and still be submerged in the water. I don't have to be constantly leaning over the tub holding him up, it safe. I sit in the bathroom and read a magazine while he plays. Then when he gets tuckered out. I wash him down. The seat can rotate to you needs to. I love it. THere is one downside though. If you try to take it out of the bath afterwards, it tends to fill with water and is kind of hard to drain out. I tend to leave it in the tub b/c we have our own bath.

Get a tub seat! They are enclosed to hold up a "non-sitting" child. The baby has freedom to lean over and splash around still. Since your little one my not be a stable sitter, you may want to stay close to keep him from slipping until he gets used to it. My 2 kiddos were always content with a wash cloth to hold and suck...those were the days!

I have done some traveling with my kids and they really enjoy the ride. If they weren't sleeping they were looking out of the window. I think the key is if they get really fussy, you stop and let them get out and sit in the grass or something. I would just suggest leaving early or late. If you leave early and they sleep all the way then you don't have to worry about them winding down to be able to go to bed. If you leave late then they are ready for bed and will sleep really well. The one time we left late and were in the car for 8 hours, they woke up when we got there and were excited about the new place. I was ready for bed, but it took about 3 more hours to get them calmed down enough to sleep. You may not have this problem with a 6 month old, but I think I would really suggest leaving early.
As for bath I didn't really use the baby tubs for very long. I found it easier to hold them up in the sink, I took the little sling thing out of the baby tub and put it in the sink and that really worked better. There is less room for them to get away from you in the sink and you have the little sprayer right there. If you are using the little sprayer just make sure you spray the water for a minute before you spray it on him. It is really cold sometimes at first. My husband did this to my son for his first bath and didn't do this. I thought we had ruined baths for my son, but I still can't seem to get him out of the bath.

I don't have much advice for the bath. But, a seat sounds like a good idea. Otherwise, it shouldn't be too much longer before he's sitting on his own.
As for the drive, I feel for you. When my son was about 5 months, we made a trip to Chicago. It was usually a 6-8 hour trip, with Ben, it was almost 12. We made the trip later at night & he slept some of the way. But, we had to stop every couple of hours just to let him move around a little. Just make sure to give yourself more time.

At this point I started putting the baby bath in the bathtub so that all the water would splash out into the tub and run down the drain. It was also easier to empty.

No suggestions on the bath..sorry :(

I took my dd on a 6 hour car trip when she was 5 months old. We stopped every couple of hours so that she could get out of the seat and crawl around. I was lucky enough to be in the car with my 12 year old cousin, so she fed my dd bottles in the car and kept dd entertained. DD slept on and off, but she was fascinated with my cousin. We just made sure to pack lots and lots of her favorite toys. I would sit in the back with him, if you can. He'll probably sleep a lot too. Another suggestion is to plan your route ahead of time, including stops. Make the stops at large rest areas or parks where your little guy can stretch his legs a bit. Plan on at least 8 hours to get there to allow for stops. We traveled during the day and she did just fine.