5 Days

Five days...120 hours...4 bedtime routines....1 soccer game

That's how long we were away from our little girl.

And I'm going to say (without any guilt) that it was amazing.

Now I don't know if the grandparents were lying to make us feel better, but according to them, she was perfect...I think the word "angel" was used.  As parents, we're always obsessed with sleep and that was all I wanted - was for her to sleep well for them...and she did. Some minor bumps, but all in all "perfect" (their words, not mine).

Enough about her - let me get to us - the weather couldn't have been better, the swim up bar couldn't have had better daily cocktails, and the lazy river couldn't have been any - well - lazier.  We slept well, ate well, drank well and we got to watch our best friends get married on the beach - who could ask for better than that?

I am eternally grateful to our parents who happily watched our little girl and didn't make us feel guilty about it (in fact, they told us we deserved it).

We missed our little girl, and she definitely missed us, but we didn't spend our days talking about her...and honestly the look on her face when she saw us walk through the door was worth going away for.  We got to be just Melissa and Mike...just husband and wife...for 5 wonderful days.

Viva la Mexico!

Tomorrow will be the beginning of our longest time away from our little girl.  We have a wedding in Mexico and decided months ago to make a mini-vacation out of it.  We'll be gone from Thursday (probably before she wakes) until Monday (hopefully back so we can do dinner and bedtime with her).

We've left her with grandparents a couple of times...we went to Vegas (twice) and had a couple of overnight trips as well.

But this feels different.  We'll be out of the country.  I don't know if our cell phones will work everywhere. Wifi is limited.  So this time, we won't be in constant contact with her. Instead, it will probably be more of a 'touch base' in the morning kind of thing. It's also the first time other people will be getting her ready and taking her to school in the morning.  We're trying to keep her schedule as close to normal as possible.  And I have to somehow resist the urge to write out every.little.thing we do for her on a daily basis to leave for the grandparents.

Don't get me wrong, I am so looking forward to this trip...we've had a rough couple of months and can use some time away to just be Melissa and Mike, Husband and Wife.

So I guess we'll put our complete (and well deserved) trust in her wonderful grandparents and know that we're going to come back being a better Mommy and Daddy.

I was holding on tight but...

I'm going to change the wording just a tad to fit with the story I'm going to tell...

For me, I'm forever holding in tight but...my bladder will inevitably fail me.  I'm going to take you back...before I became a mommy (and the whole birthing process surely ruined my capacity to hold tight) before (I think) I was pregnant...

Mike and I took a trip to Barcelona, Spain.  It's an amazingly beautiful place.  We took a day trip to Figueres and Girona....on a bus...about 2 hours...no bathroom. 

You probably know how this ends. 

I was fine on the way there.  The two places were a lot of fun and very different from Barcelona.  It was a nice way to spend the day. But I made a mistake.  I forgot to go to the bathroom before we got on the bus to go home.  Rookie Error. 

About halfway through, I look at Mike and say, "Honey, I have to go to the bathroom."  As is typical for us, he asked me how bad - I said on a scale from 1 to 10 about a 7.  He went to the front and asked our guide how much longer. Another half hour without traffic. 

I tried to hold it in.  I really really really tried.  I concentrated on anything and everything that I could to keep my mind off my bladder.  I was not successful. 

I told Mike I couldn't hold it in any more. I had some sanitary napkins in my bag and proceeded (on this crowded bus) to shove them in my underwear (hoping that they would soak everything up).  FAIL. I also put our backpack around my bottom, so I wouldn't get it all over the chair. FAIL. I peed all over my shorts, all over my bag, all over the chair. On a crowded bus.  Did I mention it was August? And hot. Yeah. 

I was so embarrassed.  But unfortunately (or fortunately) Mike is used to these kinds of things happening to me. We ran off the bus straight to our hotel so I could change. 

I'm sorry to the person who sat in our seats the next day thinking they were on a lovely day trip.  The smell must have been horrible and it was probably still wet. 

I was holding on tight but....

This post was written as part of Mama Kat's Writers' Workshop

When 4 days feels like a week...in a good way

We hightailed it outta here on Friday.  I'm not mincing words here when I say that we needed some time off.  Between Mike not working to finding a job he's super excited about, to me going from SAHM to Working Mom in a few weeks to Jenna starting full time daycare in two weeks and lots of house guests coming and going the next few weeks...We took a well-deserved break.  I'm not going to call it a vacation (if you're a loyal follower you know this already) because I believe once you travel with kids, it's not really a vacation, but more a change of scenery. 
We drove up to Mystic, Ct., which is normally a 2 hour drive, but the traffic on Friday was RIDICULOUS, so we stopped off at Norwich for the Aquarium and dinner.  Jenna LOVED it! she was running around, touching animals, and playing with everything.

It was a great spur of the moment car decision to pull off the traffic-ridden road and try out a new place.  We got to hang there, grab some dinner and hit the road again (thank god the traffic died down) and got up to Mystic in time for bed.  Mystic was awesome.  We hit up the seaport and did a boat ride (Jenna's first), went to the aquarium there, and went to Ocean Beach Park. 

Loving the spray park!

Thing is, it wasn't what we did that was so good for us.  It was so nice to just be the three of us for four days straight.  We're big family people, so we're always seeing family and friends and sometimes our weekends feel like we don't get a minute to breathe.  So it was amazing for us to just be together, with no real plan of action.  We took family baths in our room jacuzzi...laughed all the way home from dinner one night just from making raspberries with our mouths...touched sting rays, starfish and shells...played in a spray park for what felt like hours...and realized that Jenna is in fact afraid of carousels. 

Jenna does not like carousels

It was great to just stop and enjoy ourselves.  It didn't matter that we ate dinner on the early side so Jenna could go to bed at a normal hour, or that we ate at family-friendly restaurants, as opposed to some fancier places (they have liquor and beer at the family friendly ones too), that we didn't get to read all about the seaport and it's history, or that we couldn't spend all day laying out at the beach.  It was great to be away.

And despite my feelings on these things, it actually felt like a vacation...

I'm a Guest Blogger!

I am so excited to be guest blogging over at Baby To Go...

Harm is a really good friend of mine and she's done some amazing things with her blog - she's had appearances on a bunch of different blogs and written aritcles for a bunch of publications! She is also hands-down amazing for all the traveling she's done with her little one (who coincidentally is only days older than Jenna).  After our trip to Florida (for grandpa's 90th birthday),  I asked if I could write a little post about our trip...she said yes!
So please go check it out - and take a look around her blog  - it's pretty awesome!

If you're here from Baby To Go - check out a few of my favorite posts:

Letters to Myself
Mothers & Daughters
Pacifier Issues

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Wordless Wednesday

I am linking up for the first time with Angry Julie Monday for Wordless Wednesday

In Florida on vacation enjoying some cabana time with my little girl...I love this picture, even though my wrinkles are out.of.control!

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Sorry but my kid is awesome

I'm going to apologize ahead of time because honestly, after this past weeks craziness, I am so lucky to have an easy-going, laid back kid.  So seriously, stop reading right now if you don't want to hear about how great my daughter is or if you're going to hate me for it because she was amazing.

Here's a few highlights:

*Slept for an hour and a half on our flight down to Florida in Daddy's arms - this meant that not only was it 'easier' for us than entertaining her the whole time, but also that I got to chill and read my book and watch TV.

Sleeping baby on plane = very happy daddy & mommy

*When she got up - was perfectly happy to eat some snacks, flirt with the people sitting behind us, and color with her crayons.
* Although we messed with her typical schedule BIG TIME - she napped when we needed her to and went to bed at night (usually 2 hours after her normal bedtime) with no fuss
* Napped in her jogging stroller by the pool/beach - amazing because we got to hang with family, with each other and enjoy the pool and ocean without having to go back up to the room
                                                                                                          

*We ate dinner out both nights we were down there and she was amazing - ate her food, walked around a bit, but no fussing - We were totally prepared to be "those" parents who have to leave, but we weren't

*Our flight was delayed four hours -this meant that we were in the airport for close to 6 hours - this could have been a nightmare, but she was such a trooper -ran around with some other little kids and took an unexpected nap at a later hour which really helped keep us calm about the whole situation.

*Napped for almost the whole flight home and when we came home at 1:30am(!) she still went back to sleep for the night.

*Even though we had to wake her up in order to go upstate Saturday morning, she was such a happy girl all day, going from hand to hand and enjoying all the extended family's company.

Please don't hate me - I know we're lucky and on days when I forget or I'm feeling frustrated with her, I'll remember how great she was for us when we messed with her!

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Takin' Our Show on the Road

We're taking two trips this week:
Part 1 = Florida from Wed - Fri (flying)
Part 2 = Upstate NY for a Family Reunion (driving)

By the time this posts, we will have (hopefully) had a wonderful flight down to Florida and should be enjoying some beach/pool time as you read this...

But right now, I am in the midst of packing for the three of us to take a 3 day trip to Florida for hubby's grandpa's 90th birthday.  I don't know when a 3 day/2 night trip turned into using our largest suitcase, but I guess that's just what happens with a baby...In the days before parenthood, we probably would've packed two bookbags, carried it all on the plane, and called it a day.  Now it's making sure we have everything we need for Jenna - bathing suits, clothes, diapers, sunscreen, toys, books....(and hopefully we remember to pack some stuff for us too!) Her stuff takes up over half the bag and we're squeezing our stuff into the two corners.

Her stuff is taking over the bag

I have to keep reminding myself that this is a trip, not a vacation - As I've blogged about in the past (see this post), those are two very different things.  I actually reread that today to remind myself to manage my expectations with this trip.  It'll be great to see Jenna on the beach and hanging with her cousins who she's never met, and of course to celebrate the big 9-0! But to say it's going to be a relaxing beach vacation is probably a mistake.  I'm hoping she does well on the plane because the thought of three hours with a cranky baby does not sound like the best way to start a trip (sorry fellow Jet Blue-ers if this is the case). 

We're doing all we can to anticipate her needs for the plane, the hotel, and the driving that will take place all week...and hopefully we do a good job!

What's even more difficult is the fact that we come back on Friday, only to hit the road again on Saturday morning for a family reunion.  I'm definitely looking forward to this - there'll be all sorts of fun stuff for her to do once we're there, like pony rides and pool, but it'll definitely be a not-so-normal week.  I'm going to try to keep in mind that we're asking a lot of her this week, so if she's cranky or not sleeping as well as she normally does, well that's to be expected....

Looking forward to writing about our adventures when we get back!!

"Me" Time

So I've been having a little trouble lately with this thing called "me-time." The problem is that I feel like I don't have any (or at least not enough of it).  It kind of came to a head when I told Mike that I need new bras and really need to go to a good place for them (like get measured and stuff).  He said that I've been telling him for months that I need new ones and why don't I just go shopping...In his defense, he meant well -in his head he was saying - "go! take care of what you need to! no problem!"

But when should I go shopping?? (insert sarcasm here) When Jenna is sitting nicely in her stroller for a few hours?? - right - cause she NEVER does that! Stroller sitting is down to about 20 minutes TOPS and that's with lots of snacks to help keep her occupied.  I could go when she naps, you say? Well she naps in the morning around 8:30 am - find me a store that's open that early...and her afternoon naps can be anywhere from 25 minutes (today's) to 1 1/2 hours (yesterday's) - seriously hard to plan a shopping spree when her naps are so inconsistent. Weekends are an option I suppose, except it's the only time the three of us get to be together and we've been swamped lately with family and friend stuff.  There hasn't been a block of a couple of hours where we're not doing something.

I didn't exactly explain this is a nice calm manner like I should have.  It came off more as a rant (or a rage) about how I don't have time for some of the simplest things anymore.  I went on and on about how we're going to Florida next month and I'd really like (need!) some new bathing suits and summer clothes...and honestly it's getting nice out and my toenails should not see the light of day (and that's unfortunate because flip flops and I are bffs).  So the conclusion to this rant was that Mike would take a day off from work next week and I can have the day to myself to do things FOR ME!!

Mommy guilt is setting in as I think about my day off...Is it bad that I'm so looking forward to a day by myself??

PS - Discussed this with Mike a little further (after I wrote the post) and I was explaining how even though Jenna goes to sleep early, it's not really "Me" Time because I always have an ear on the monitor or waiting for him to get home and he said "Well that can be considered 'mmm time' - you know like half  'me' time" 

I laughed - he's lucky he's funny.

I'll play along...just grabbed this from The Foster Family blog and boy do I have some wishes!!

You see, my husband and I are supposed to go on our first vacation without the baby (read: our first vacay in over a year!) We have a great trip planned to Vegas - we're staying at the Wynn and we're going to see Cirque du Soleil "O", we're going to get spa treatments, hopefully win some $$, eat well, sleep well, and relax. So my wish on this lovely Wednesday is that this snowstorm that they're announcing not mess with my trip tomorrow!!

Second wish, that baby J is good for Grandma Helen & Papa Bobby because they are so supportive of Mike and I going away and having some husband and wife time!

Trip vs. Vacation

My husband and I love to travel...in the years before J arrived we went to lots of places - some just a few hours drive from home (Boston, Newport, Philly) others further away (Pacific Northwest, Mexico, San Fran, Barcelona, Dominican Republic, Prague) just to name some.

Let me begin by saying that I will go anywhere anytime and not think about how much it costs - I think vacations are necessary, wonderful, and priceless! My husband, as much as he loves going and the feeling of being away, will always think about the dollar signs attached to traveling - this is our ongoing discussion...

Now that we have a baby - things are different (I'll post about all the things that are different another time) - but in this regard, we are down an income - although thankfully this hasn't affected our new lives that much, it does affect our traveling budget.

With that being said, we have taken J on a few trips (notice- I DO NOT call them vacations). We've been to Boston (by train), Philly a couple of times (by car & train) , and Colorado (by plane). We have upcoming trips planned to Florida as well. Trips with our daughter are great - I love seeing her in different places, taking in different sights, meeting different friends and family. But a vacation it is NOT. Let me note some reasons why these were not vacations:

Boston - J fell asleep in hotel-provided crib at 7:00 - what are we to do in a small hotel room with a sleeping baby at 7:00?!?!? Exactly...nothing - TV was on so low we could barely hear it...we were speaking in whispers and...well the things we used to do in hotel rooms were out of the question with our daughter sleeping 2 feet away from us....

Philly - stayed with my mother-in-law - took us over an hour to rock J to sleep - finally got her to fall asleep - moved her gently into the pack and play and realized it was too late to really enjoy the evening...good thing I didn't because she woke up at 5:30 ready to rock.

Colorado - J never got into the time change....it's a 3 hour difference - need I say more?!?

After Colorado - my husband actually agreed with me when I said "we need a real vacation." Surprisingly, we didn't even discuss money - I think he needs the rest and relaxation that a real vacation will provide for us even more than I do. My parents have offered to watch J so we know she'll be in great hands - They are firm believers in taking time to keep your marriage in tact. So with that hubby and I are off to Vegas in a few weeks...we're going to see a show, eat at good restaurants, get some spa treatments, win some money, and hopefully do those things that we used to do in hotel rooms...now if only I could stop worrying about leaving her for 4 days...