Aaaaand we're back!

And we're back. Finally home. Done with vacation. Thankfully. Don't get me wrong, I actually loved vacation. A week away from thinking about work (most of the time), drinks starting around noon, endless amounts of meat and seafood, and 8 full days to spend with my 2 girls and the rest of my family. What's not to love about vacation? Before I get into that, let me give you a recap of what there was to love about vacation.

During our 7 days in Cape May, we went to the pool for 2 days, the beach for 2 days, mini golf for 1 day, a lighthouse for 1 day, downtown for 2 days, grilled 5 days, out to dinner 2 days, the liquor store 3 days (to restock), out for ice cream 2 days, and played games at home every day and night. All of that happened between the hours of 6am and 1am. That was the good part. The other 5 hours of the day were bad enough to make us want to cut that 3 days short.

Almost every night we would put Kaylani to bed between 7pm and 8pm, just like we would at home. And every night she would be fast asleep and stay that way for hours at a time, so we would stay up and play games, drink, or just hang out with the fam. The problem was that when we would go to sleep (around 12am or 1am), Kaylani would wake up shortly after, like 2am. Then she'd be so awake that she'd be up and crawling all over us in bed or crying until 5am. It got so bad that we almost left on Thursday. Looking back, I'm glad we didn't, but man, we were really close.

We got home Saturday afternoon and finally took the time to unwind. It was a little mini-vacation from our vacation, but it was much needed, mainly because I caught a cold at some point along the way. Apparently no sleep, lots of alcohol and food, and a bit of sun is enough to make me catch a cold in the middle of summer. Luckily I was the only one who got sick, and even luckier, Kaylani played along with our mini-post-vacation vacation. Saturday night, she slept 8 hours then another 3 hours right away. Last night she slept 12 hours. Looks like we're not the only ones glad to be home.

Anyways, that about wraps up our vacation. I should be back to our regularly scheduled postings soon enough. And as an apology for all of you faithful readers, or to Kaylani's photo stalkers, here are pictures from our vacation in Cape May. Enjoy, and see you tomorrow!

Room for Desert?

Growing up I was taught to spell dessert the proper way by remembering that it has 2 S's because you want more of it. That implies that you don't want a desert because it only has 1 S. If you think about it, a desert is kinda like a beach, but only because of the vast amounts of sand. And judging by Kaylani and cousin Zoe's time at the beach yesterday, I'm thinking that the trick to spelling desert or dessert won't necessarily work.

Babies love sand. They love everything about it. Sitting in it, touching it, watching it fall through their fingers, and throwing it. More specifically, babies love eating sand. I'm not entirely sure if they should eat sand, but when we're at the beach, there's really not much you can do about it. When we put a blanket on the grass, Kaylani will stay within her 5'x7' play area since she's deathly afraid of grass. When we put her on the same blanket on the sand, no such luck. She headed straight off the mat, onto the sand, and then it was play time.

Luckily Kaylani's not in love with eating sand. She'll put her hand in her mouth, and she'll eat some sand while she eats her shovel, but it's not like she's purposely eating sand. Cousin Zoe on the other hand, actually eats sand handfulls at a time. And it was actually kinda cute, except when she started eating wet sand/mud out of the bucket. Then after Yea Yea cleaned her face with water right before she fell over into the sand, causing all types of sand to stick to her, she wasn't very happy anymore (but still wanted to eat the sand).

I'm sure we're headed back to the beach at least 1 (or 5) more times this week, so we'll see if Kaylani learns to eat sand like her cousin. If she does, I can't complain since she has learned how to crawl on her knees instead of her army crawl from Zoe. It's great to see Kaylani learning from her cousins, even if it means she learns to eat sand.

Pack and Sleep

Today is officially my first day of vacation. We actually got down to Cape May on Saturday afternoon (after sitting in an hours worth of traffic), but today is the first vacation day I had to burn, so that means vacation has officially started. If vacation started Saturday, we would have kicked it off in grand style. But since it started this morning, we're off to a rough start.

Saturday night Kaylani slept for 10.5 hours in her pack and play in our room. Then, on Sunday, she took two 45 minute naps in her pack and play (which is unheard of since she only sleeps in her carseat or her swing at home) and played all day with the family. We went to the pool, for a walk by the beach, to the grocery store, and even grilled up lunch and dinner. And when bedtime came around, Kaylani passed out at 7:30pm, just in time for Mommy to come join the rest of the family for a nice, home cooked rib dinner.

The rest of the night was spent drinking and playing a dice game called Farkle until we were all spent at 11pm (man we're old). That's when the real vacation started. Instead of slipping quietly into our room and into bed without Kaylani even noticing, Kaylani woke up and greeted us with a cry. It may or may not have been Daddy brushing his teeth that woke her up, but either way, she was up. After a few minutes of trying to "shhh" her to sleep, Mommy tried nursing. 20 minutes later, still not asleep. Next it was Daddy's turn to rock her to sleep and put her down. 20 mintues later, no luck getting her to stay down. Then it was Mommy's turn to rock her to sleep. No luck again. The next hour was spent rotating between Daddy rocking her, Mommy rocking her, and Mommy nursing her, all with the same results. Kaylani wanted absolutely nothing to do with the pack and play.

With no options left, we tried something we've only done twice before, both with limited success. We put Kaylani in bed with us. Tucked safely between the two of us with her holding onto one of each of our fingers, she fell asleep. The problem is that we're both really uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed as Kaylani. Not that we think we'll roll over her, but more that we think she'll crawl away and fall off. Mommy's problem is actually that she doesn't like people sleeping real close to her, so the fact that Kaylani likes to cuddle and breathe on her doesn't bode well for Mommy getting some sleep. Daddy would love it if she would cuddle with him (Mommy or Kaylani), but that wasn't in the cards.

At 5:30am, Kaylani was up again and crawling all over us. After nursing and screaming some more, Mommy tried to rock her back to sleep and put her down. 15 minutes later and Kaylani was back in her pack and play, but she wasn't planning on sleeping, even though Mommy was. So after Mommy laid down, and Daddy was lying down, Kaylani scratched on the sides of her pack and play. 5 minutes of silence later, we thought we were in the clear, until we looked up. Looking back at us was Kaylani, standing in her pack and play, staring back at us with a look that said "you really think I was going to sleep with you lying right there?"

And that was it. We were up for good at 6:30am and it was time for breakfast. In total, Kaylani probably got 6-7 hours of sleep last night. Mommy and Daddy were lucky if we got 2 hours combined since we kept waking up to make sure Kaylani didn't crawl away. Thankfully Kaylani is down for a nap right now, in her pack and play, and Mommy is taking a quick nap too. I'm kinda scared to see what tonight brings. We're planning a long day at the beach, at the pool, and outside, so maybe we'll tire Kaylani completely out. I'm not sure what we expected since it is called a pack and play. Maybe I'll add in a trip to the store to find a pack and sleep. Anyone know where I can find one?

Packing for the shore

Let's get this vacation starteddddddddddddddd!!!! As of 5pm today, I am officially on vacation for 9 days, and I ain't going back until Monday morning on August 24. Woo hoo! We're all headed down to Cape May (about 2 hours from here) with Yin Yin, Yea Yea, Bat Bat, Auntie Shannon, and Cousins Connor and Zoe for an extended family trip down the shore. We've got a nice house rented near the beach (with a pool) and just gonna kick back and relax. Now all we gotta do is pack.

We technically started packing on Thursday, which is when we made the official packing list. We've been on trips with Kaylani before, and they were much further away than 2 hour drive to Cape May, but for some reason this trip has brought out the worst in us. We're going a little bit crazy with the packing, and while I haven't even loaded the car yet, I get the feeling that our car is gonna be awfully packed tomorrow. Here's a snapshot of her list:

Pack and play
Box of diapers
Box of wipes
Carton of toys (for eating, for playing, for bath time, and for the beach)
Sunscreen
Floaty for swimming
Mattress
Sheets
First aid kit - thermometer, alcohol swabs, tylenol, motrin, cotton balls, etc
Baby monitor
Beach blanket
Portable 10'x10' shade
10 outfits
3 pajamas
Sun hat
Stroller
Outdoor buggy

That's not even close to everything, but then there's the food. Kaylani's eating 4 oz, or 2 jars, of food for lunch and dinner, as well as 1/2 cup of oatmeal for breakfast, and 2 oz of food for lunch. Since we'll be gone for 8 days, that means we needed to pack at least 32 big jars of food, 8 small jars of food, and a box of oatmeal (and spoons, bibs, bowls, etc).

We thought that this local trip would be easier on all of us considering there were 7 adults, and 3 kids under 3 years of age, but I'm starting to think we're out of control. Apparently the fact that we have our own car means we can bring whatever we can fit. If we were flying somewhere, we would have limited what we brought to 2 suitcases. Now we've got 2 suitcases, plus 10 random containers/bags of stuff for Kaylani.

Well we're almost done packing and Kaylani is down for the night, so I think it's time to turn in. Tomorrow morning officially officially starts vacation, and I can't wait! I'm looking forward to getting to Cape May. I just hope all of our stuff fits in the car and makes it there with us! And don't worry, I'll be blogging from down there so stay tuned because I plan on doing another "live" post from Cape May. Until later...from the beach!