Vacation

I have really never taken long road trips.  My family always flew - probably because my parents had no desire to deal with three kids in the car for long periods of time :)  Aaron is the opposite.  Growing up with 5 other brothers and sisters, flying was obviously super expensive and super tricky.  So they drove everywhere.

We stopped at a bar and all had a refreshing beverage on a hot day

Since I was still on maternity leave and Aaron has vacation saved, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get away for a week.  Aaron came up with South Carolina, and after looking at the weather forecast, I was on board.  Airline tickets were ridiculous and since I'm currently not getting paid, we decided to drive.

Out on a walk

The drive down seemed to take forever.  Zoe had a rough time in her carseat (two diaper blowouts just on the way there) and just wanted to be out.  I don't blame her - how boring to stare at the back of the seat for hours on end.  But we were in that, "Woohoo, we're going on vacation, we're so excited!" mode.  Crying?  We could tune it out because we were SO.EXCITED.  We stopped halfway to give the girl a breather and spent the night in Tennessee.  

Driving the safari car at the aquarium after she finally woke up

The drive on the second day was gorgeous.  We both agreed we'd have to go back another time just to vacation in the Smokey Mountains.  And only 6-7 hours in the car?  Totally doable. 

Then finally....palm trees!  That's when I know I'm on vacation :)  And 80 degrees.  Since we left MI in the 40s, it was heaven.  

Walk on the pier

We walked around quite a bit (we had to enjoy the weather!), we drove to a plantation/garden, we went to the ocean, and to the aquarium.  Zoe LOVED the beach.  Absolutely loved it.  The water itself?  Not so much....she screamed when Aaron put her toes in.  And being the awesome parents we are, we decided we had to capture her reaction on film so we recreated it an hour later and caught it on video.  We are so mean...I can't wait for her to go camping this summer though in Traverse City.  She'll be old enough to sit on her own and I think she'll love playing in the sand. 

Loving the beach

Her naps and sleeping on vacation?  HORRIBLE.  She refused to nap in her pack n play.  We literally had to go on a walk for every single nap.  Which means they were short naps and probably not the best quality since she was being jostled around.  And she slept terrible at night (so not like her).  I never knew if she was hungry (growth spurt?) or just needed to cry a little before falling back to sleep.  But we were in a hotel and I didn't want to wake all of our neighbors up so most of the time I just caved and fed her.  Then her wake up calls were usually 6:30.  Then they creeped up to 5:30 and the final day?  5 am.  The only upside was that we got on the rode extremely early and were able to make it home in one day rather than two.  

Finally!

It was so much fun though to see her reactions to everything.  The sand was fascinating.  She slept for most of the aquarium but was completely enthralled by the fish tank once she woke up.  It's funny how the small things are so exciting to her which makes them that much more fun for us :)

Mommy Fail

Don't worry...this is not my first.  Since Zoe's 5 months old, I'm guessing it's normal to have those moments where you are like, "Crap, I can't believe I did that."  Like the time I was trying to let her sit in a tripod and she face planted into the floor and screamed bloody murder.  Yeah, I pretty much cried right along with her.  (Disclaimer, I was sitting right there with her with my hands on her but she wriggled out.)  

Newest, mommy fail was much more scary.  We've been talking about unswaddling Zoe for a while know.  By talking, I mean me bringing it up and us both quickly deciding that she sleeps so well, why mess with something that's not broken.  Recently, she's been busting out more frequently.  Sometimes one arm, sometimes both.  Sometimes she'd go back to sleep on her own, sometimes she wouldn't settle back down unless we snuck in and reswaddled her.  It was getting kind of annoying to deal with to be honest.  Plus, she was starting to try to roll from back to front which would just be so unsafe while swaddled.

Enter last night.  She had a really rough day.  SUPER cranky.  Let's just say I was counting down the hours until Aaron came home so I could get a breather.  She went down great at her normal bedtime (her naps were horrible).  Then she busted out of her swaddle around 11.  Aaron went in and fixed it and said she was on her side.  That should have been the red light.  She cried on and off for the next few hours and then got really upset at 1 am.  I decided she must be hungry so I went in to feed her.  And there she was on her stomach, one arm out, and not able to roll back :(  My heart completely jumped out of my chest.  I scooped her up and said sorry to her a million times.  I thanked God over and over again while I was feeding her that everything was ok and that nothing happened.  

No more beloved swaddle.

She woke up on and off the rest of the night.  She was in a completely different direction when I went to get her this morning so I'm not sure if she rolled or scooted, but she was all smiles.  

Her naps today have been terrible even if I go in to put her back on her back and shush her.  She knows how to roll from tummy to back.  She's been doing it for months and does it all the time during tummy time.  I'm not quite sure what the difference is now.  We'll see how tonight goes.

She's also seemed extra hungry these past two days.  So maybe the horrible naps are also attributed to a growth spurt.  I hate that this is all happening at once, because I'm unable to pinpoint exactly what the problem is.  Just when you think you've got it down....

We are supposed to go on a road trip next week before I go back to work, but now I'm not so sure that will be a good idea.  I know I wouldn't want to be a hotel room next to us.  I'm hoping she gets it all figured out before then.  We'll see.  As they say, this too shall pass...it's just a matter of when.

Sleep

I've heard that things really turn around at 12 weeks.  I hoped that they would get better (not that they were bad before), but I didn't think it would be this magical week where a switch would just flip.  But that's just what happened.

Zoe slept great before.  I really can't complain.  She really only got up more often than once per night when I had to wake her up to eat when she was first born.  But this momma loves her sleep.  And even just getting up once in the middle of the night was starting to wear on me.  I'm not good with naps so the whole "sleep when baby sleeps" just didn't work for me.  I don't know what my aversion to them is.  I guess I just feel so unproductive...even though let's be honest - I sit and watch old episodes of Brothers and Sisters most days when she's napping so it's not as if I'm actually doing something worth while :)

This week though we hit that magical time.  We had moved her to her crib the previous weekend so I didn't wake up throughout the night hearing her night grunting.  Suddenly, I heard her cry.  I looked at the clock, and was shocked...she made it to just after 7!!  Now, that night she did not go to bed very well for Aaron.  So, I figured she was just overtired.  Next day, repeat.  She slept until almost 8.  And, she's slowly been going to bed earlier and earlier and more quickly with less rocking and shushing.

She now seems to be going to sleep around 10pm (she babbles in her crib starting at around 9:30) and gets up anywhere from 7 am - 8 am.  I'll take it :)  And I'm sure there will be setbacks.  But I'll bask in this magical 12 week time for a while.

First time in her crib.