Home Sweet Home!

Sadly, vacation is over. But we did have a great 6 days in Orlando filled with lots of fun and excitement. Kaylani had her first and second plane rides, her first trip to Disney, her first trip to Sea World, and her first New Years Eve party. And every part of it was great for her, or at least that's what we think.

Our first New Years Eve with Kaylani proved to be a lot of fun! We stayed at a family friends house until 2am listening to music, drinking, playing Domino's (traditional Puerto Rican New Years celebration). Kaylani went to sleep at 11pm, and somehow, managed to stay asleep in her carseat while everyone screamed, yelled, celebrated, and blew into their noisemakers at midnight. I'm still not exactly sure how she didn't wake up, but I think that was a testament to how tired she actually was.

Sea World on New Years Day was even better! Besides the fact that we got up early after getting home late, we had a great time. The Shamu show was AMAZING and I highly recommend it. I'm still a bit upset that I spent a year living a stones throw away from Sea World and never went while I was there. Kaylani happened to sleep through the show, but we'll be sure to take her back when she can remember it. We'll also take her back when she can actually be in the sun for more than 3 seconds at a time (or when we're less paranoid and let her be in the sun for more than 3 seconds at a time). She also saw sharks and penguins, and even one of Daddy's friends from Elementary/Middle/High School!

And to cap off our trip, Kaylani experienced her first sprint through the airport since I-4 is terrible and we may or may not have left a comfortable amount of time to get to the airport. And to prove that the takeoff poop on the way to Orlando was no fluke, she pooped again for us as soon as we stepped on the plane. But since vacation was coming to a close, she decided she'd get more out before getting back to the cold Northeast and pooped again once Daddy sat back down. It's what we in the "business" call a "two-fer." What's vacation without changing 2 diapers in a small airplane bathroom anyways.

So now we're home. Home sweet home! Vacation was great and I'm looking forward to our next trip to the warm weather (Puerto Rico in the spring to meet the rest of the family), but we're all very glad to be home for now. Kaylani can go back to sleeping in her nice comfy crib instead of the pack and play she had in Orlando, and Mommy and Daddy can get some much needed relaxation time after a packed trip. Daddy still has 2 more days of vacation left before work, and you can be sure that I'll spend some of that getting our pictures up for you to see. But in the meantime, it's time to put Kaylani to sleep, and then to put myself to sleep. Good night, and welcome to 2009!

Put your hands in the air!

Last night, I came to the realization that my baby is almost qualified to work as a signal caller at an airport. Her next milestone is the ability to hold onto things such as a rattle or toy, or in this case, orange glow sticks.

I know I've been writing about sleep a lot lately, but since I've heard quite a few "crappy" comments, you're going to have to put up with it for now. Soon you'll be begging me for stories about poop again, but in the meantime, it's sleep story time. I've already told you about our sleep routines, but I feel like lately her arm movements have become quite the show.

After she's done eating, and burping, and after she's ready for bed, it's time to get her swaddled. Now since we swaddle her with her arms inside (certain babies wake themselves up when the freak out and their arms go all over the place), its very important for her arms to be completely at her side when she's swaddled. If her arms are swaddled to the front, or a little bit up, chances are she'll cry until you try again. Also, if she's not swaddled real tight, Kaylani will do her best Houdini impression and get her arms out before she wakes up.

Lately, getting her arms down to the side has been a bit more difficult. She really does look like one of those people on the tarmac that wave planes in and out. She'll lift both arms straight up, or one straight up the other bent 90 degrees, both arms leaning sideways, both bent, one waving, or whatever. The part that really makes me laugh is when you put one arm by her side, and it goes just fine. But when you pull the other one down to her side, the other one shoots straight back up! Fix that one, and the other one bends, or goes up. And this goes on for a few minutes. It's like she's planes in to their appropiate spot. Well, it's either that or she's doing her best Village People impersonation.

Either way, it's hard to not smile when this happens, even if it's 3am and Daddy has been up for an hour and now dead tired. Supposedly this arm reflex ends by 3 months, so I guess I'll have to just keep smiling at Kaylani for the next 6 weeks. Until then, she's still really cute, no matter how tired Daddy may be.