Cape Cod vacation. The good, the bad, and the ugly...

*Please be prepared for a bomb of pictures in your face.  I don't have time to narrow them down to "the best" ones so you get A LOT of them.*

Let me start by saying that my child is amazing.  She did so so well the entire time.  She traveled well, she slept through the night, she napped well, and she ate great.  I could not have asked for more from her, seriously.  

Now, with that being said, traveling with a 10 month old is hard HARD.  Like this has to be the hardest possible age for traveling right?  Mobile but not yet walking.  Sweet yet oh so demanding.  I mean she doesn't understand that you have to wait for the waiter to bring your food.  When she's hungry, you better have foodinherfacerightthen.  So yeah, hard.  Also, all 3 of us being in the same room.  Hard.  She goes to bed at 8pm...we do not.  So it was a lot of whispering if we were inside and lots of using our inside voice if we were out on the balcony.    For naps we had to build a pillow wall so she couldn't see us in the room.  Then there were no pillows left for us to use if we wanted to nap too.  Need to pee?  If you flush the toilet I will strangle you.  One night, we had just put her to bed and were sitting outside drinking some wine (awesome).  All of the sudden it sounded like a machine gun inside our room (not awesome).  We both FLEW inside and quickly realized some jackass had lit a shit ton of firecrackers right outside of our room.  Who does that?  People who don't have kids on vacation, that's who.  So you get the idea of hard right?  So this was the bad I guess you could say.  A few pics...

This was on the ferry to Nantucket.  Every single seat was taken so we had to hold her and she did not want to be held.  It was a 1 hour ride.  Across from us sat 3 ridiculously dumb girls (20ish?).  It was hard not to slap them...they obvi didn't want to be near a baby.  Next to us sat first time parents with their 2 month old sleeping little angel baby.  Blakely wanted to pull her hair and scratch her face off.  Neat.  When we got there I downed 4 mimosas and told Lonnie we weren't going back.  Luckily the ferry back later that day wasn't full so she got to crawl all over any seat she wanted.  Score.   

Lonnie will kill me for posting this pic but it is too good not to.  This was one of those getfoodinmyfaceNOWMOM moments.  

 pillow wall...

She kept trying to get my hat so I finally put it on her.  Not what she wanted.  

And now for the good.  My baby girl is amazing and is going to be a great traveler.  You just have to know going into the whole thing that it is her vacation and not yours.  Everything will revolve around her...when she's hungry, when she's sleepy, when she's bored, and when she's over it...you are just along for the ride.  Isn't that how it is at home too?  Yeah, it is.  So "vacation" is basically the same stuff but in a more awesome place with better weather (not 105 thank God) and hopefully a beach.  Picture explosion follows. 

Lonnie took this of me nursing because he thought it was hilarious that she was kicking me in the face while shoving her hand in my mouth.  time.to.wean.

Nap in Nantu.cket

I just have to show off my packing skills....

If the snacks, sippy, and toys are all out at the same time then you know we are moments away from meltdown mode.  

loves climbing stairs...

toes in the Atlantic

burning energy waiting for the ferry back to Hyan.nis

This was "date night".  Blakely was asleep on the other side of the room (pillow wall) and we sat on the couch and drank wine and ate pizza.  It was wonderful :)

She gives the best kisses.  It was so wonderful waking up to her talking every morning.  We would bring her into our bed to play and she would give us good morning kisses.  It was the best thing ever.  

So, all in all, vacation was a success.  It was exhausting but so worth it.  We had a great time and made some great memories.  We learned a lot about how (or how not) to travel with a babe.  I have a few tips but this post has gotten long enough so I'll save that for another day.  

Oh and the ugly.  I almost forgot.  Apparently (since I cut down to 4 nursings a day) my body *sort of* wants to have a period.  By *sort of* I mean get all bloated, eat everything in sight, get pimples in weird places (my neck???) and have spotting for a zillion days.  Body...make up your mind please. kthanks....

10 Months Old! 2 weeks ago, of course...

Blakely turned 10 months old on August 13th.  Double digits!  And she is actually 10 1/2 months now because of course I am totally late...so some of this stuff is old news :)

Firsts this month:

Blakely got her first top tooth (front right) on 8-6.  This was followed quickly by the other top tooth on 8-12.  They really didn't seem to bother her much but maybe that was part of the sleep troubles we were having?  Look at those 4 teeth!  

a little more zoomed up so you can see.  this pic was taken today so about 2 weeks or so after the top ones came in.  

Blakely can stand on her own for a bit now.  She stands for about 5 seconds and then she sits down.  

We built our first fort while she was sick...I have a feeling there will be many more to come :)

She drank out of a straw for the first time this month.  She really loves doing that!  

She ate from chopsticks!

B had strep for the first time this month.  Ugh...it was awful.  We had to cool her down in the tub a few times.  

Feeding:
Blakely has been nursing 5 times a day.  In the morning when she wakes up, after her morning nap, before and after her afternoon nap, and then before bed.  I am about to go down to just 4 a day.  She is getting three regular meals a day.  She eats regular food really really well.  Her favorite thing is still cottage cheese although she likes bread A LOT.  

please get this thing off of my head

much better!

Sleeping:
The sleeping is starting to get so much better this month.  I started B on a very strict schedule with her eating and napping and she has done really well with it.  I make sure we are at home for naps so she doesn't have any little cat naps in the car seat.  She is learning how to put herself back to sleep again after going almost two months needing to fall asleep on one of us.  I have also started bathing her most nights...even if we don't use soap...just for the routine.  She is doing better although she does cry sometimes to fall asleep.  I go back in and reassure her and then she falls asleep pretty well after that.  Bedtime is easy but naps are a little more difficult.  

Clothing:  She wears mostly 9 month or 12 month stuff.  I really need to start getting her some fall/winter clothes.  We have none!

Diapers:  We did disposables while she was on antibiotics but now back to cloth.  She wears a size 3 in Pam.pers.  

It wasn't nap time...obviously she was not pleased about being in the crib.  

Hair:  I swear her hair looks a different color every day.  Sometimes it looks dark brown and then other days it looks pretty light with some blonde in it.  Then some days it looks pretty red!  It is getting longer but still pretty short.  

Eyes:  the prettiest blue ever...

Daily Routine: 
This is the schedule that I started and it is working so we are sticking to it!
7am-wake up and nurse
8am-breakfast.  Usually oatmeal and a fruit.  She likes the mandarin oranges. 
9am-nap
1030 or 11am-wake up and nurse
12-1230pm-lunch.  Usually cottage cheese and a veggie or some ravioli
130-200pm-nurse and then nap.  I wasn't nursing here but I have found that she sleeps longer if I do.  I don't nurse her to sleep though...I'm putting her down awake.
330pm-wake up and nurse.  
530-6pm-dinner.  Usually whatever we are having.
715-730pm-bath
8pm-bedtime.  

A few other things:
She really loves her daddy.  About 4pm everyday she starts getting a little fussy and I know it is because she is ready for him to get home.  She hears the door open and she crawls super fast into the kitchen to meet him.  He is always so excited to see her as well.  They usually hang out and talk for a while before we eat dinner.  

She can say Mama, Dada, and Gran Di..which sounds like dan die.  She definitely knows what she is saying when she says these words.  She usually only says Mama if she is sleepy or hungry (imagine that?).  And she will usually meet Gran Di at the door by saying DAN DIE...DAN DIE...way cute.  

She likes crawling up the stairs.

She loves playing with the toilet paper.  Mommy is not a big fan of this but oh well!

She has so many different facial expressions!  You don't have to wonder what she is thinking or how she is feeling because she definitely shows it all over her face.  Here is just one...the scrunchy face.  

Dear Pea Pod,
You have become such a little girl this month.  Your personality just shines right through.  You love to play games with us and you are always laughing.  I can't believe how much you have grown in just one month.  Your Daddy and I love to watch you play with your toys...you are just constantly learning!  I love you so much sweet girl and I am so happy you are sleeping better ;)
Love Mommy

I'm back!

We got home from Cape Cod yesterday.  We had a great time but it was definitely exhausting!  We sent Blakely to my mom's (Gran Di's) house for the afternoon.  She hadn't seen B in 2 weeks because she was in Florida the week before we left.  Lonnie and I are so worn out so she's having fun over there while we relax.  He's watching a movie and I am going to catch up on blogs until I fall asleep.  

I have so many posts to catch up on!  We tried to stay disconnected while on vacation so I am behind on my reading.  It was kind of nice not to be on FB every 5 minutes or on the computer.  I did have my phone so if you follow me on Insta.gram then you've seen some pics for sure ;)

I have a ton of posts in draft that I really want to finish.  Hopefully I will be able to do that this week.  I am, of course, going to photo bomb you with vacation pics and I still have to finish up her 10 month post and she's 10 1/2 months now...Grrrrrr....

I am also in full on birthday party planning mode now that we are back.  I need to pick out invites this week and get those ordered.  I can't decide on an outfit....she might need more than one?  We really aren't having a huge party but it sure is going to be cute!  Mostly family will be invited and then some of my friends as well.  I can't believe she is almost one.  She is looking more like a toddler every day.  She can stand up without holding on to anything for a long time and she cruises all over the house.  Her top two teeth can be seen when she smiles and it makes her look so grown up.  

Having this huge milestone coming up has been making me think about trying for #2.  I'm definitely ready but I'm trying not to get my hopes up just yet.  I'm going to call the doctor soon and set up and appointment so we can figure out what all we have to do to get set for our frozen embryo transfer.  I would like to have the transfer around November or December but I doubt that will happen.  I'm sure she will have to be weaned (which I am about to start working on) first and then you know nothing ever goes fast there.  So, I am thinking maybe it will happen by the first of the year...we will see.  Please, oh please, let the FET work.  I really don't want to have to do a full IVF again..although I will if I have to.  

Anyway!  Here is a pic from vacay to hold you over...because I just know you are all dying to see them ;)  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  

IT'S CHLOE'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Happy Happy Happy 1st birthday Chloe!!!  

Blakely and I would LOVE to be there to celebrate with you.  I know your Mommy has planned such a fun party for you and you are going to have wonderful time.  Your Mommy and Daddy love you so very much and I know you fill their lives with so much joy.  Enjoy your day sweet girl!!!  Since we can't be there Blakely wanted to send you a picture!!

We hope that you have a great day and hopefully one day we can celebrate your birthday with you!!  

Travel questions!

**Blakely wanted to thank everyone for all the well wishes.  She is feeling better now.  We went to the doctor and she had strep!  UGH!  But she seems to be on the mend...eating better and no fever yesterday or today.**

So I need ALL of the "travel with a 10 month old" advice y'all can give.  We are headed to Cape Cod in a couple of weeks.  This will be her first flight.  I'm not so much nervous about the flight, more about the packing and what in the heck do I need to bring?  I want to pack lightly but don't want to forget something that I will wish I had.  

This will be our first trip with just the three of us.  We couldn't be looking forward to it more.  The name of the game is relaxation.  We are taking a couple of day trips to Marth.a's Vineyard and Nan.tucket, but other that that we will just be hanging out, eating, drinking, and enjoying each other.  

In September we are going to Los Ange.les.  Lonnie is from there and he has quite a bit of family there.  We are going for vacation but also so they can meet Blakely.  Lonnie's mom will be coming with on that trip.

SOOOOOO please help!  We have already booked these flights and we didn't purchase her a seat.  The more I think about it the more I think we might regret that decision.  Too late now though.  

A few questions that I have...

How do I check the car seat?  Do I just take it as is and they put a tag on it or do I need a big bag over it or something?

We aren't planning on taking the pack n play.  We were going to have her sleep with us (which she doesn't do at home) or see if the hotel has a crib.  Are we crazy for not taking it?  

What toys should I bring for the flight?  Snacks?  

I would like to take some breast milk.  I've read that you can carry it on they will just have to check it or test it.  How do they "check" it?  I will need to have frozen ice packs with it to keep it cool.  Are those allowed?  I can't find anything about that...it mostly just talks about formula.  

Do I just need her birth certificate?  

Will they let me put her in the Er.go while we are in the air?  I feel like she will nap better this way.  

If you can't tell I am starting to freak out a little!  Lonnie and I love to travel and we travel great together.  But this is going to be totally different!  I feel like we are going to be those people at the security checkpoint that everyone is rolling their eyes at!  Help!  

Do you have a post about travel tips?  Please leave it in the comments!  

Week in review...

Hi bloggies!  It's Blakely here.  I just wanted to let you all know what a great week I have had!  I love when Mommy AND Daddy are home with me all day!  

Saturday we went to Sloopy's pool with Gran Di and Jenni.  It was so much fun and I ended up with crazy pool hair.  

On Sunday, Mommy let me get really messy with my dinner!  I love putting my food on my head.  It makes Mommy giggle every time.  

Monday we went for a walk downtown.  I loved riding in my new stroller.  We ate at a cajun restaurant and I got to eat off Mommy and Daddy's plate.  Daddy also let me drink water out of his glass a bunch....I'm getting better at that.  

Tuesday Mommy went to see Hannah to get her hair pretty.  I think she looks a little crazy.  I got to hang out with Mrs. Juanet while she cleaned our house.  I love helping her fold clothes and dust.  

Wednesday was a big day!  First I got to eat a whole banana.  I'm too big now for Mommy to cut it into pieces...

After my nap we went to the Mid Amer.ica Museu.m.  Daddy wanted to see something they had there.  

I can't wait until I am older and I get to play with all the fun things they had there.  

Daddy had a meeting that night so Mommy gave me my bath.  She let me play nakey in the bathroom first...my favorite thing!!!!

Thursday we took a boat ride.  I love going on the boat but why do they insist on putting that contraption on me....it makes me so HOT!  

But we got to see some baby duckies...that was my favorite part.  

Friday I got sick :(  Mommy and Daddy are so worried about me.  I'll probably be going to the doctor in the morning.  I have a high fever and I really don't want to eat.  I hope I feel better soon.  But for now I will just snuggle up with Mom and watch the Olymp.ics!