The Neverending Christmas

Christmas goes by too quickly. One day its here, and then its over. 3-4 weeks of preparation for just 1 day of celebration. Then its just a long wait until next year. That's what I used to think. This year, I'm not so sure.

It started on Christmas Eve morning. Clearly Kaylani's not old enough to truly appreciate Santa/Christmas since we had to wait for her to wake up. And when she finally did wake up (at 7:30am), we pumped her full of anticipation and excitement by talking about the presents and Santa. So when we went downstairs, she didn't give us the reaction we expected. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Kaylani rounded the corner and immediately saw the presents and said "Santa brought me gifts!" But the best part was when we told her to look at the cookies and milk she left for Santa. That got the following reaction:

"Santa ate all the cookies. And he drank all the milk! I'll be right back"

Then she picked up the cup and plate and went to the kitchen as Mommy and I stood there in disbelief at as she ignored all the unopened presents to clean! It was a great moment that we'll never forget. And after she came back, she went straight after all the presents (mostly hers, but also ours too). She opened everything from us and a few others, including a giant teddy bear (that she asked Santa for), a countless number of Dora related toys, and much more. But that was just the beginning of Christmas.

Sadly, we left most of that home (especially the giant teddy bear) and were off to Yin Yin and Yeh Yeh's house for the annual Tam family Christmas (which is always on Christmas Eve). There, she opened up more presents, including an awesome train table and a Geotrax set. For the rest of the day, she played played played, and in the morning, it was off to the next stop.

After a quick 5 hour Christmas Day drive, we made it to Titi Glenda's house for more present opening, which was a baby changing table/sink/highchair playset. She also got a new tricycle from Madrina Maria, and then a magnet book and xylophone from Titi Mayte and Tio Alan. And it didn't end there since she got a purse from Titi Carmen the next day, and a shopping cart of groceries from Titi Sonal a couple of days after that. So that brings us to December 28th, but we still weren't done.

New Year's Day might as well have been Christmas Day part 2 since Kaylani woke up to her train table actually assembled. Ever since she set eyes on it, she's been super excited and jumps all around while playing. She's actually so excited that she won't even let Papa play with it (which is a problem since its Papa's first train table too).

Anyways, now that we're well into 2011, you'd think Christmas was over, but you'd be wrong. We still have 1 more celebration coming up (3 Kings Day) which Mommy celebrated growing up in Puerto Rico. So we've got at least 1 more morning with a gift coming up, but with much less fanfare. And until Kaylani goes a few days without Christmas (or when we take down the tree...which will be interesting), she'll probably keep talking about Santa bringing her gifts everyday. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Christmas. Enjoy!

It's that time of the year...

I don't cry much. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a tough guy in any sense of the word. And most people would probably even call me sensitive, but I don't cry much. On average, I probably cry once a year...twice tops if it's a big year. That's not to say I don't well up when I watch a sappy movie or when I got married, but it's still different then crying. Well yesterday, I guess it was just that time of the year because I cried.

We got to the airport around 8am, well before Mommy and Kaylani's 9:40am flight. The original plan was to check-in, and then grab breakfast before they headed through security. The problem with our plan was that at the Philly airport, or at least in our terminal, there was no place for breakfast outside of security. And since Kaylani was up at 6:30am (against her will) and needed to have breakfast, that meant it was time to say goodbye, about an hour before our original plan.

As I watched Mommy get things ready to go through security, including taking out plastic bags of liquids/food, DVD players, shoes for both her and Kaylani, I started to well up a little bit. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it was just a lot of emotion going through me. Only 5 minutes before that I gave Kaylani a big hug and a kiss, had her blow a kiss back at me and touch my nose, and then gave Mommy a hug and a kiss too. And as I was standing there watching them slowly go through the gate, I started to cry.

I couldn't believe I was crying because it wasn't an emotion that I've ever had to deal with before. It wasn't a situation I've ever had to deal with before. It was something completely different and I just wasn't prepared for it. As soon as they disappeared from site, I started to walk back towards my car and fought to hide my tears. Luckily I didn't walk by anyone because I probably looked a little ridiculous walking alone, holding Kaylani's jacket, and crying.

When I got to the car, I lost it. I sat there for 3 minutes in a complete breakdown. I finally regained my composure, wiped away my tears, and started the car. The rest of the day I spent trying to distract myself. I read the rest of my book that I picked up on the way to Boston earlier in the week. I went to a bar and watched the Red Sox lose, the Giants win, and eventually, the Yankees win too. I did everything I could to distract myself, but nothing helped me from feeling empty inside.

Looking back, I can understand why the emotion came out so strongly. Sure I've gone a few days without seeing Kaylani, but I've never had to say bye before doing so. Usually it's leaving for work before she wakes up, and getting home after she goes to sleep, but I know that it's only for a day or two. When I went to Boston, it was the same, where I left in the morning like normal, and came back 2 nights later as if she just slept through my night and morning. This time, I was saying bye. I was watching her (and Mommy) walk away from me, which is a much harder thing to do, and not something that I'd like to happen often.

Last night, I laid alone in my bed in the dark. There was no glow coming from Kaylani's video monitor. There was no sound coming from Kaylani's audio monitor. There was no one in the room except me. Needless to say, it was lonely. Tonight, it's more of the same. I stayed a little later at work. I had dinner by myself. And now I'm staring mindlessly at the TV at a game that I have little interest in. Mommy and Kaylani are having a great time in Puerto Rico and I did get to speak to her a little bit too, or at least hear her say "Papa" a few times which is enough to hold me over.

It's just the start of the week, but soon enough I'll get to see them again. You never know what you miss until it's gone. Luckily for me, what I miss is coming back in 5 days. 5 days that couldn't come soon enough if you ask me. In the meantime, anyone need a Dad? I'm available.

Farewell to NJ

In just about 12 hours, with any luck, our plane will leave Philly and take us to sunny Puerto Rico, and those 12 hours can't come soon enough. We booked this trip about 2 months ago, but in actuallity, we've had this trip booked in our minds for over 6 months now. We always knew that we would take Kaylani to see our family in Puerto Rico somewhere between the 3 and 6 month mark. Right now, I'm sure glad we didn't wait 2 more months. It's going to be 6 days in really warm weather that we're gonna enjoy.

Having already taken Kaylani on a plane when we went to Orlando, we're much less worried about tomorrow's flight. Now, that doesn't mean that we didn't have any issues packing for the trip, but overall, I'd say we're much less worried. I'm sure we're overpacked (or will be by the time we finish tonight), but really, how many burp cloths would we have to bring to be considered overpacked? 5? 7 (which is what we have)? 15? And how many bibs would be considered overpacked? Again, we brought 7, but we really think we might be underpacked. After all, we've seen what Kaylani can do to both a burp cloth and a bib...

So the last week has been spent preparing for our trip. We bought a few new things (a cute pair of shorts, a big floppy hat, Aveeno Baby Sunscreen, a swimsuit that leaves nothing to the imagination or to the sun) and tied up a few loose things here at home and for me at work. And besides throwing the last few things into a suitcase tonight and packing her/our carry-on bag, we're left with tonight's bedtime routine.

Our bedtime routine has been pretty solid for the last week with Kaylani being asleep by 8:30pm, and out for a solid 9 hours. She would then nurse for a bit, then it's back to sleep for another 3 hours. But since we have to start out trip to the airport at 5am tomorrow, bedtime got moved up an hour. The plan was to bathe her at 6:30, nurse her at 7, and then she'll be asleep by 7:30. Tacking on 9 hours to that means she's up at 4:30, and with a quick change and some more nursing, we're out the door by 5 (with her hopefully back asleep in the car). It's 7:23pm right now, and we're already slightly off.

Bath time started at 6:30 on schedule, and we were tracking towards being finished even a little early. But Kaylani had other plans and decided to give her bath a nice farewell gift before she saw it next week. So after we finished round 1 of soap, and then round 2 of shampoo, it was brown round for Kaylani. Unlike last time, Daddy was around and could help the process along with the disinfecting, the refilling, and the re-disinfecting, but it did set us back about 10 minutes since we had to rewash her. It wasn't the biggest of deals, but hopefully those 10 minutes won't come back at us in the morning.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a time freak and like to have everything down to a schedule. I know I'm going to have to let it go now that Kaylani is here, but it's a hard thing to break for me. Speaking of time, it's time for me to wrap up. Kaylani's not quite done yet, but Daddy has baseball practice in 30 minutes (I'm an assistant coach for a Little League team...more to come on that), and still has to pack his own bag AND watch Chuck AND 24 before going to bed tonight. Not exactly sure all of that will happen, but we'll see.

So for those of you who just come here for the pictures/videos, I'm going to have nothing for you until Sunday at the latest. But for those of you who come for the posts, I'll try and keep it as daily as possible. One of my favorite parts of Orlando was sitting on the porch on a nice sunny day, drinking some coffee, and writing my blog through my Blackberry, so hopefully I'll get to do that again. Come check in, or just check through Facebook, but either way, have a great week. I know we will!

Do Like The Birds Do

Tomorrow marks the first ever trip (further than an hour) for Kaylani. We're gonna fly South for the winter, or at least the New Year, and spend a week in Sunny Orlando with the entire family. Mommy, Daddy, and Kaylani will fly out of Philly with Abuela and Abuelo, while Daddy's entire family will fly out of Newark and meet us down there. It will be one big joint family vacation, and I can't wait!

The preparation for the trip, however, is a different story. We've been avoiding this moment and watching it come closer for months now, and to be honest, we were a bit nervous when we even agreed to this trip over the summer. Kaylani was only going to be 8 weeks old (she'll actually be 7 weeks since she was a week late), so it was extremely early, but we're pretty positive that we'll have a good experience. After all, she's been great everywhere else we've taken her.

Today though, we began packing. Packing for Daddy has never been a problem. I'll open a suitcase, overpack the heck out of it with at least 2 extra outfits, and then I'm done. But with Kaylani (and the "new" travel fees), things sure are different. Okay, we're actually flying Southwest, so luckily we won't have many extra travel fees (or scary 2 faced airline agents), but the packing for Kaylani was definitely different. Today, I got a feel for what it's like to play with a doll.

Mommy and Daddy spent a good hour going through Kaylani's possible outfits, which included playing dress-up with her to see if some of her warm weather clothes fit her, and if she finally outgrew her newborn clothes. It also included finding 12 outfits (2 per day for 6 days) by going through all of the different clothing combinations, weather possibilities, and of course, factoring in the cuteness aspect.

After all was said and done, Kaylani's closet and dresser ended up being fairly empty, and everything was thrown into her own suitcase that we'll carry on. That doesn't even include extra diapers and wipes since we'll be buying all of that once we get down there. Although Daddy did pack 12 diapers for the airport and flight, and I'm sure hoping that's enough, but you really never know.

Anyways, Kaylani is just about done, so it's time for Mommy and Daddy to put her to sleep and pack our own bags. For all you faithful readers, I'll try and post from my Blackberry down in Orlando, but for those of you who just come for the pictures, I'll have nothing for you until January when we get back (but then I'll have TONS of pictures)! If you want to find out when I do get a chance to blog again, you can check back, check Facebook, or signup for emails too! And in the meantime, check out pictures from today, and my first video post! It's a video of Mommy swaddling Kaylani. Sorry for the poor quality, but it was using the "night" mode so we didn't wake her up. And in case you don't check back, Happy New Year!