Vacation 2011 - Miramar Beach, Florida!
We packed up and headed out by 9am on Saturday morning! Lily had gotten up at 7, which is late for her (for which I was very grateful!), and I kept her up hoping that she would sleep in the car. She did sleep for the first hour. Played and talked the second hour. (We had packed a bunch of toys and downloaded some baby videos onto Tara's iPad) Ate and got a little fussy the third hour. Luckily, then it was time to stop for lunch! Thank goodness! We ate at a place called Felix's Fish Camp in Mobile. It was really yummy! Lily had a massive, humongous poop and had lots of energy to burn off. She was shared from arms to arms while trying to burn off some of her energy! When we got back in the car, she began to scream at first, drank her bottle, and promptly fell asleep! She stayed asleep until we were about 30 minutes from the condo. We would have made it all the way, but the traffic was dreadful!
When we arrived, we were SO excited!! Mimi and Pappy got there about 30 minutes later, as they got a little turned around (uh, lost). We unpacked the cars, fed Lily, and then a few "delegates" went to grocery shop. Lily stayed back at the condo and seemed pretty happy. Pappy walked her around the grounds and her Daddy hung out on the couch with her.
When the shoppers returned, we walked Lily across the to beach!!! We placed her feet in the sand and . . . success! She loved it! She really liked wiggling her tiny toes in the sand! It was great!
We were excited to bring her to the surf. Eric held her with her feet on the ground. She was a little upset by this. The water never touched her, but I think that the water rushing toward her and making noise was scary!
While we were on the beach, we heard, "TARA!!!". Sandi, our speech therapist and friend from work, and her family have rented the house across the street from us! Small world! Incidentally, Layla and her family are down the beach a ways from us. We'd planned to meet up later in the week.
After we left the beach, we brought Lily to preview the pool. That she loved! The water was nice, warm, and welcoming! She really liked it a lot and we are looking forward to swimming with her on Sunday!
Sunday was our first big day at the beach! Lily had a challenging night. She kept rolling herself onto her tummy and screaming to be turned back over. She can get onto her tummy, but not onto her back when she is in her sleep sack. This made for a tiring night for Mommy!
Eric, Pappy, and Nanny brought the tent, chairs, etc down to the beach. We joined them with a very ready Lily! We started the day with her playing in the sand. She is so funny! You can see the wheels in her head turning as she tries to decide what it is. After a short time playing, she needed a nap and Mimi was more than happy to oblige. She slept in Mimi's arms for a couple of hours while everyone else played and swam. Around lunch she got a little too fussy. A combination of teething and being too warm made her fussy, so I brought her in. Eric accompanied with me into the condo and we attempted to put Lily down for a nap. She fussed and whined for such a long time! Eventually I picked her up, nursed her, and within three minutes she took a nap. For three hours!
When she awoke, we went to the pool! Mimi had bought her a pool chair floatie. She really liked it. It was just her size! It had the cutest canopy over it to keep the sun off.
Monday - another beach day! On Monday we tried to introduce Lily to the surf again. She was much more tolerant of the rushing water, but still not very enthusiastic! She hung out with me for a few minutes. She verbalized the whole time, which was funny!
In the afternoon we came in early to shower and get ready to go to an early dinner. We went to Pompano Joes, which was supposedly voted the best seafood in Florida (nothing compared to good ol La seafood!). We met our friends the Dupuys and Sandi Bourque who Tara and I know through Devall. We realized that we were all going to the beach at the same time, so we decided to all meet up. Funnily enough, Sandi is literally across the street from us! We saw her each day while we were at the beach. Anyway, we went to eat. Lily was fussy fussy! The restaurant was unairconditioned. Lily apparently only likes a/c! After we ate, we went down to look at the large sandcastles. Lily seemed pretty interested, but only because there were little kids playing. She really enjoys watching other children. It makes me feel like she wants to play with them. Lauren and Aidan loved on her, which she liked.
After dinner we headed home to bed!
Tuesday was . . . another beach day!! Lily awoke very happily, played, ate, and wanted to sleep. Mimi wanted to stay in, so Lily stayed in with her. The rest of us went out to play in the sea. Mimi brought her out to play when she woke up. She played in the sand, stood up and danced, and ate her hand. She played for a while, but her poor baby mouth was hurting and she got a bit warm. Pappy and Mimi brought her in for another nap. A three hour nap!
In the afternoon, we all went to the pool! Lily was pretty fun. She played and swam and "talked". It was so funny, at one point she randomly screamed "Dada!". It was so clear! Of course, it didn't mean Eric, but it was really funny and cute! The whole family was able to enjoy Lily and each other. We hung out in the pool for quite a long time before she got too tired!
After dinner, we went for a walk on the beach. Lily hung out in her baby backpack. Tara carried her the first half, and I took her for the second. She was really good and calm. She looked around and really seemed to enjoy the calm evening.
Wednesday was a great day! Lily had her most active day yet and the Dupuy family came down to hang out with the Dixons! At about 10am, the Dupuys arrived and we went down to the beach. Thankfully, Eric and Pappy had gone down the the beach earlier to set up our tent and chairs, so all we had to do was go out and start having fun!! We played in the surf and played on boogie boards. Lily had fallen asleep right before we came out, so she was still sleeping with her Mimi. However, as soon as she awoke, they came out. We were all waiting for her and had blown up her little crab pool and put some sea water in it. At first she did not seem to like the little pool, but we fed her and she quickly perked up. Smart girl, she likes holding her own bottle now. It's a bit tenuous a skill, but she is getting really clever with it! Once she'd eaten, she liked the little pool!
She played in the pool with her Nanny! She liked the pool better when Nanny was in with her. When she got out, it was time to go to the pool area at the condo to bbq our hotdog lunch. We brought Lily's bananas out to the poolside and fed her under the umbrella. Success! If she liked veggies, she LOVED bananas! Now, not only does she anticipate her spoon coming to her, but she will lean toward the bowl with her mouth wide open! I have to be right on top of things, or else she'll try and eat the bowl!!
After a meal of bananas, Lily was ready to go again! There is an area of the pool that stays shaded, so we got in!
We were all hanging out in the pool when Tara screamed, "Lily!" and grabbed her from my arms! She lifted Lily high out of the pool and it scared me half to death! Turns out, Lily had pooped in her diaper and it had shot up her back and was getting into the water! I quickly jumped out and headed to the bathroom with my little stinker!
When we were done and Lily was all clean, we returned for a swim. Lauren and Aidan are SO good with her and Lily just loves watching them play with her and each other! They are so very sweet with her. It's lovely to watch!
After a good long swim, Lily got hungry. We had a large shaded area with chairs and umbrellas, so we claimed a chaise lounger and I fed Lily. She is the sweetest little eater! She rubs my chest and nuzzles me. Quickly, she fell asleep! She was worn out!!
She slept for quite a while outside with me and when Mimi was ready to go in, she accompanied Mimi in and continued sleeping more! The rest of us hung out a bit longer and then headed in.
I bathed Lily when I came in. She had sand and salt in her hair, armpits, and everywhere else!! The bath was a great idea! Lily kicked, punched, and thrashed about super energetically! She can sure wear herself out!!
Wednesday night, we ordered pizza and played in the condo. Mimi and Pappy played on the floor with Lily for the longest time! Lily practiced her scooting. Eric cheered her on and tried to talk her into crawling! LOL!
New on Wednesday, I really inspected Lily's mouth very carefully. This is a difficult thing to do as her tongue gets moving and all she really wants to do is lick, suck, and bite your finger! She is hilarious! Anyway, on the top gum, there is a tiny white pearly tooth bud!!! OMG!!!!! My little baby is growing up!!! I am freaking out about this a little bit!!!! Also, it is on the top and I was expecting it to come out on the bottom like the book says most teeth come. Nope! She is an anomaly!!
Another new skill just this week is Lily's peek-a-boo or pee-pie skills! Leah, Mimi, and I were playing with her Monday morning and after a few minutes, she began to hide her face. Then, she would look up, and of course we would make a big deal about seeing her. Look! There's Lily! Pee-pie!! Peek-a-boo!!! and such. She would laugh and hide her face again. This went on and on for quite a while and by Wednesday it was a skill that she repeated at will. What a smart baby!!!
Thursday was a rainy beach day! We didn't care though! We had, fortunately, planned to take a beach break on Thursday and visit some of the local shopping attractions. We visited a little village in Sandestin, which was fun. Unfortunately, we walked out the the end of a pier and just after Tara snapped our picture, huge raindrops began pouring from the sky! I had Lily in my arms and began to run as carefully as possible to shelter! She didn't care. She likes baths so much and splashes her own face all the time so a little rain was no big deal!
After running like mad from the rain, we did a bit more shopping and then headed back to the condo. By the time we got back, the rain had stopped and we were able to take Lily for a swim in the pool. She loves swimming so much! She likes to kick her little legs just like she's really swimming! Just like she does in her bathtub! She is so active!
Friday was our last full day at the beach! It was a great day, but I was so sad that our trip had come to an end! We began the day by heading to the beach. It was very overcast and we could tell that it might rain, so we quickly put the tent up. As we were getting everything set up, Mimi noticed a peculiar smell . . . That's right! Lily's bum!
She had poop squirting out the top and bottom of her diaper. Really stinky poop! I took her and Mimi, Lily, and I went back up to the condo. We changed her, fed her, and headed back to the beach. She was so sleepy from the pooping and eating that she fell asleep in my arms! She slept out on the beach (under the tent of course) for several hours! When she woke up, it was play time!! We put water in her little crab pool and I got in with her. She doesn't like to be in the pool alone, but if someone is with her, she loves it!
She was doing so well in the wading pool that we decided to try the ocean again. I held her and Eric got down into the water to talk with her. She verbalized a bit, but was very tolerant! We played and talked to her in the water for about ten minutes . . . . until a giant wave got her in the face full on! She didn't freak out, but I almost did!!
We wanted to go out to eat for our last night on vacation, so Mimi, Lily, and I headed back up. We went swimming at the pool for a little while. I wanted to wear her out so that she'd nap before the dinner. It worked like a charm! After twenty minutes of swimming, then another ten minutes of thrashing about in her bathtub, Lily was ready to eat and crash! I laid down with her to feed her, and true to form, she fell asleep!
Everyone came back up from the beach and began getting ready for dinner. Mimi came to cuddle with Lily so that I could get ready. Soon we were on our way to dinner. We have tried to keep Lily out of her carseat as much as possible this week as she had the six hour ride to the beach and a six hour ride to get home. She tolerated them better than I really expected, but to be fair to her, I wanted to give her as much a break as possible. Anytime we went anywhere one of us sat with her to talk and play with her.
After we ate, we went to the outlet for a short time. We walked around, got ice cream, and did a little shopping. We took Eric and Lily's picture in one of those cheesy cut out boards.
At almost 8 it was time to head home. Vacation did not erase Lily's internal 8:00 time sensor. Eric and I headed home with us while the others stayed to shop for a few more minutes. When we got home, I fed Lily and we put her to bed. . . in Mimi's room! This week was the most solid sleep that I have gotten in a very long time! Mimi offered to have Lily in her room for four of the nights that we were at the condo. The first night I did not sleep well. I kept waking, but Lily wasn't there. It was nice, but made me frustrated that I couldn't sleep. I didn't know that Mimi would offer to keep her for the rest of the week! After that first night, I slept like a rock! This was really great as we stayed up a little late playing games and hanging out together. The uninterrupted sleep was such a wonderful, thoughtful treat!
Saturday it was time to head home. As sad as this was, we packed up and headed home. Eric and I packed as much as possible into our SUV and Lily and Tara went with Mimi, Pappy, and Great-Nanny. Tara updated me with texts and pictures and we stopped about halfway through to eat and let Lily rest. She was so tired, but too interested to sleep. Apparently she did very well!
Our first vacation with her was really perfect! It went more smoothly than I'd prayed for! With the help of Mimi, Nanny, Pappy, Great-Nanny and others, Lily's first vacation was a huge success!
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