Kellybeans!

I meant to write about our vacation right after we returned home, but it has taken me this long just to get my damn self together!  I’ve been unpacking, washing/drying/folding piles of laundry, and getting back into our daily schedule, and it’s exhausting.  That goodness we’re now pretty much back to normal.

So… our vacation.  First, I think we had a nice time.  But I can definitely say it wasn’t what we expected and we learned a lot.  No matter how many times I told myself that we needed to revamp our idea of what “vacation” actually means when you have a child, it was still a big adjustment.  Unless you leave the baby at home, the days of lounging for hours on the beach or by the pool are gone.  Thank goodness we aren’t big partiers and needing a lot of nightlife, because lots of evenings we just stayed in our room and relaxed after Aiden went to bed.

Overall, everything went well.  Our cruise was fun, we really enjoyed spending time with family, and the whole experience was great for Aiden.  He had so much fun seeing new things, and he was a big hit with everyone on the ship.  In fact, he even learned to wave while we were there, because so many people were waving to him!

Aiden was an angel on the plane.  We had an evening flight on the way to Florida, and he just nursed and slept the whole time.  The only issue was that he is so tall that his legs were nearly hanging into the aisle!  On the way home, he was wide awake for the whole flight and was so well behaved.  He didn’t cry once and was in a great mood.

There were some issues, though.  First, he cut two teeth while we were gone.  Remember me mentioning that he’s been working on cutting his two upper teeth for months??  Well, those sharp little bastards chose to make their appearance while we were on vacation.  Rotten luck, because he was not feeling his best.  He’s handled teething very well, but it just makes him a little more cranky and less happy-go-lucky than he normally is.  Generally Aiden’s pretty adaptable and easy to handle, but the teething made him just a little less tolerant of everything. 

The other issue, which I hadn’t even considered, was changing time zones.  Our cruise took us from Miami to Honduras, Belize, Mexico, and the Bahamas.  Because we went so far west in the Caribbean, we ended up shifting into different time zones.  This became a huge issue for dinnertime, expecially.  The earliest time our group could do dinner was 6pm.  But Aiden’s body clock was telling him it was 8pm (bedtime) and he was not happy to be forced into a highchair when he was sleepy and also cranky from the sharp torture devices sawing through his gums.  It made dinner a bit stressful and we had to give him lots of breaks to crawl around.

Hmm, what else?  We discovered that Aiden loves to ride in bumpy boats (we took a snorkeling trip and the waters were a bit rough) and he laughed every time the boat bounced.  He had fun watching the entertainment on the ship and pointed at all the lights onstage, saying “ooh!”  The elevators on the ship were glass and he liked to look out as we went up and down.

The cruise staff were very sweet, especially in the dining room.  Aiden ate like a king.  Every night, they would serve him dinners that were special-made by the chef, including mashed potatoes, diced melon, sliced banana and strawberry, and yogurt.  He loved the fresh French bread they made, and munched on that at every meal.  He also had his first taste of chocolate ice cream, which resulted in him smacking his lips and saying “mmm.”

He didn’t like the beach too much.  First, he wasn’t in a great mood the day we went to the beach, and all he wanted was to be held.  So sitting in the sand wasn’t his idea of fun.  Then when the water splashed his feet he must have been a little scared because he cried and that was the end of our beach fun.  Maybe we’ll try again this summer!

Overall, I’d say that we had a good time, but it wasn’t easy traveling with a baby.  I learned a few things that I plan to implement in the future, including:

• Take trips that are closer to home.  Eliminating the air travel would have resulted in much less hassle for us.
• Don’t forget to think about any time changes and how that will impact schedules.
• Look for vacations that offer babysitting options.  Our cruise ship offered babysitting for kids 2 and up.  Though we had family with us, I didn’t want to ask them to watch Aiden every night (this was a vacation for them, too!) and I’d have liked having a babysitting service available to us on ship.
• Don’t fly late at night.  When we arrived in Florida, Aiden was sleeping on the plane.  But when we got off the plane to travel to our hotel for the night, he woke up and was wide awake between 11pm and 1am.  It threw his sleep schedule off and made him cranky the next day.

I have tons of pictures to sort through, but I’ll post some soon!  We got some great ones!  It’s good to be home.

So we’re home.

I’m exhausted.

I need another vacation to get over the one I just took.

More details later.  Must nap now.  Zzzzzz.

 Hello, friends. 

Thinking about going on vacation with your young child anytime soon?  Oh, a beach getaway?  Sounds lovely.  I’m sure you will have a fantastic time!

Now, pleasantries aside, may I kindly suggest that you ABORT THOSE PLANS IMMEDIATELY!  ABORT!  ABORT! 

May I present Exhibit A:

You’re looking at what happens when you take a 9 month old on a 7 day cruise.  All of that?  Is stuff for the child.  Doesn’t even include stuff for the insane people parents.  It ain’t pretty, is it?  And I’ve managed to fit all of that into one suitcase.  Don’t ask me how it will fit back inside the suitcase for the flight home, because I have no idea. 

Wish us luck.  And a little relaxation, please. 

(And, yes, I may have packed each of the baby’s outfits into individual Ziploc bags.  And labeled each bag with a description of the clothing, even though you can see the outfit because hello!  It’s a clear bag!  I do this because I am crazy OCD anal retentive organized.)

9 months old.  Very cute.  Crawls fast.  Throws tantrums when you take things away from him. 

Dumps full large bottles of baby shampoo all over the carpet.

Willing to trade for commercial-grade carpet cleaner.

Hurry!  This deal won’t last (and neither will this kid if he keeps this up)!

Ever since the time change this past weekend, I was feeling really out of sorts.  I could never figure out what time it is (that may be because half of our clocks have been changed and the other half are… uh… still waiting for adjustment).

I kept wondering what time it “really” is, and repeating that “spring forward, fall back” mantra in my head.  But I kept getting confused.  Okay, the clock says 3 p.m.  Does that mean it’s really 2 or 4 in my mind?  No matter how many times I thought “spring forward, fall back,” I just felt befuddled.

And this morning I realized why, and this is no joke.  I have been mentally telling myself that we were “falling back” because I still thought it was fall.  Even though it’s actually March.  Which means spring.  Spring forward.  I HAVE NO IDEA WHY I AM THIS DUMB, EITHER.  OR WHY I NEGLECTED TO NOTICE HOW DUMB I HAVE BECOME.

Welcome to my world.  Where every day blends into the next, I am awake at all hours of the night, and I don’t know which fricking SEASON it is until I really stop and think about it. 

*Do yourself a favor and don’t read this while eating or if you have a weak stomach*

 Looking back, I was really setting myself up for it.  Karma’s a bitch, you know.  Aiden’s 9 month checkup was yesterday afternoon, and everything was great.  29.5 inches, 22 lbs, 6 ounces.  He’s a big, strong, healthy boy.  Then our pediatrician asked if Aiden’s been sick at all, to which I proudly replied, “Nope, other than a runny nose/cold back when he was very young.  He’s never thrown up or had a fever or anything.”  I say “proudly” because I like to think that my nursing helps protect him from illnesses.

Well, I should have knocked on wood or something when I made that cocky declaration at the doctor’s office.  Because 3 hours later, Aiden was projectile vomiting all over the place.  Of course, it had to happen while I was visiting my parents for dinner.  The baby started to barf and he kept a steady pace of upchucking every 20 minutes.  I then had to drive home (a 40 minute trip) and thank god he only threw up once during the ride.

But it just gets better.  Did I mention that my huz is out of town right now?  That means I was all alone for last night’s barf-a-thon.  And it might not have been too bad, if I didn’t start to vomit myself.

Yeah, whatever Aiden has, I got it bad, too.  I had managed to get him to sleep and I got to bed around midnight.  By 2 a.m., I was hanging over the toilet.  That woke up Aiden, so I went and got him from his crib and started rocking him.

Then… I realized I was going to vomit again.  Knowing that I didn’t have much time, I sank to the floor, sat the baby next to me, and had my way with a plastic trashcan.  The best part of this??  EVERY TIME I BARFED, THE BABY LAUGHED HYSTERICALLY.  He thinks it’s funny when you cough or sneeze, so apparently violent dry heaves are fucking hilarious.  Child, you will never live this down.

Things were better today.  Although we had some… messy episodes… this morning, Aiden has been keeping everything down since early afternoon.  I feel like I was hit by a truck, and I can’t wait for Jason to get home tomorrow (take your child now while I submerge in a scalding bath!)  Thank goodness for my wonderful mom, who came up to watch the baby and let me nap a bit and get some rest.  She saved me today.

I’m off to try and figure out new ways to entertain my little guy.  I wonder what might make him happier… if I howl while burning myself or scream while falling down the steps?  Whatever happened to pleasing this kid with some good ol’ fashioned peek-a-boo?

I got the cutest video this morning of Aiden playing peek-a-boo.  Check out the cutest little boy I know (not that I’m partial or anything):

Peek-a-boo!! from Kelly F on Vimeo.

Aiden,

You are now nine months old, and ya know what that means?  You’ve lived “out” in the world for as many months as you lived in my belly!  I don’t know about you, but I personally can’t believe it!  Could it really have been nine months ago that you were born? 

Today we were out shopping and I saw a woman with a teeny tiny little baby.  I asked how old this little one was… just 5 weeks.  That tiny little baby was curled up in her carseat, arms flailing, eyes squinting in the sun.  Meanwhile, you were blowing raspberries, squealing, yelling “bababa” and squirming in your umbrella stroller.  My, how times change.  Not too long ago, you were that tiny little baby!  Now, you’re on the cusp of toddlerhood.

When I wrote your 8 month letter, I admit that I wondered what I would have to write about for the next month.  I don’t know why, I just felt like you couldn’t possibly keep up your previous pace and keep doing new thing after new thing.  Well, was I ever wrong!

Over the past month, you blessed us with your little voice, babbling all the time.   Your favorites are baba and mama.  Still no “dada,” which I must say is a great disappointment to your daddy.  He really wants you to say that, so if you feel charitable, spit out that word.  He’ll be thrilled if you do.

Just another day in the ‘hood.

Aiden babble from Kelly F on Vimeo.

You continue to move all.over.the.place.   Keeping tabs on you is so difficult, because you crawl everywhere.  I mean everywhere, and you are so fast!  You zoom from room to room, crawling, pulling up, cruising along the couch.  Now you are doing something new, which is standing without any support.  You’ll place your hand on a wall, use it to stand up, and then you let go!  You can balance on your two little feet for a while before you sink down to your knees.  You can even stand unassisted while you clap your hands or wave a toy around!  Impressive. 

Standing tall!

That moving around means you are getting into everything.  You think pulling all the toilet paper off the roll is hilarious, especially when you can eat the paper before I catch you in the act.  Playing in the toilet is a new hobby of yours.  I happen to find this disgusting, but you like it even better than the dogs’ water bowl (somebody, send a case of antibacterial hand gel, pleaaaase). 

TPing the bathroom.  Up next, the entire neighborhood.

Mmm, delicious.

And watching you try to figure out how to squeeze through the cat door to the basement is adorable. 

How can I fit my big fuzzy head through there?

I think we’ve had the most fun this month with the fact that you are wanting to play with us and initiate games.  Imagine our surprise when you pulled a blanket over your head and sat very still, then pulled the blanket off and squealed!  You are playing peekaboo nonstop!  If you don’t have a blanket to hide under, you will just bend over and hide your face.  We call, “Aiden, where are you?  Where’s Aiden?  I can’t find him!”  You wait, and wait, and then… out pops your little face and you grin with delight as we say, “Peekaboo!”  I love that you enjoy playing with us! 

Hmm… what else?  You’re still not sleeping great, you eat pretty well, and you are more snuggly than ever before.  You love when we read you stories that have buttons to push (that play sounds) and I read to you every day.  You’re growing like a little weed, and all of your clothes are 12 month size now.  I’m really interested to find out your height and weight (which we’ll learn this week at your doctor’s appointment).

Look at those gorgeous baby blues!

Still no new teeth!  We thought you were an early bloomer when your first two teeth popped out at 4 months.  But no more since then!  It looks like you may be cutting a top one, but I’ve thought that before.  Your teeth are tricking me. 

Even though you don’t have many teeth yet, you sure know how to use the ones you have.  This month you learned how to bite.  Really, it’s more like a playful nip.  But still, not funny.  When you are playing and get riled up, you’ll lean over and nip at whatever you can… whether it be our shoulders, arms, legs, whatever.  I tried saying “no.”  That was about as successful as Hilary Clinton’s attempts at being funny. I’ve actually had to gently flick your cheek a few times, which seems to get your attention and you stop.  Since starting the flicking (how funny that I am flicking again) the biting has nearly stopped.

I’m gonna bite yo’ ass, and I’m gonna do it hard!  NOM NOM NOM.

 We’re still nursing, and you still love it.  We had a rough go of it for a few days during the peak of your nipping phase.  Oh, yes.  You liked to nip sometimes while you nursed.  It was no fun for your poor mom.  I’ve learned to only nurse you when I think you are truly hungry.  No more “snacking” on the boob for you, because if you get bored or distracted those sharp little teeth start gnashing.

I love how your personality continues to blossom every day!  You’re wonderful, sweet, smart, and funny.  I have a feeling the coming months are going to be just as exciting, and I can’t wait.  Smooches.

Love,

Mama

p.s.  But please, let’s work on the sleep thing.  You need it, I need it.  ‘Nuff said.