Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Family Beach Vacation 2016



Call us crazy. We took an almost 2 year old and a 2 month old on a 13 hour car ride to Florida. We drive at night so that they sleep for the majority of it---or at least thats the hope anyway. 

We left at 10pm Friday night in hopes we would get there about lunchtime the next day. We gave Holt some Benadryl to help him stay calm and hopefully sleep (don't knock it until you've tried it) and hit the road. Everyone did great until about midnight. We had to stop to use the bathroom and that woke Holt up. He was awake from midnight-4AM! Thanks a lot Benadryl. He did well for the most part but then he started getting SUPER cranky as he got more tired, but finally drifted back off to sleep. We had to stop and feed Evie about 3:30AM, again at 7 AM (thankfully we stopped for breakfast at a Chick-fil-A so Holt could run off some energy) and again at 10AM (Cracker Barrel this time) before making it into Seaside about 11:45AM. 

Mom, Dad, Hannah, and Kirby met us there about 1:00PM and we ate lunch at the Great Southern ( a MUST if you're ever down on 30A) before heading over to our condo. We got in around 3:30PM, unloaded and unpacked a little before getting ready and heading out to an early dinner. We were exhausted by this point and so ready for bed. 

The rest of the trip consisted of beach time (and pool time) during the day and heading out for dinner at night. Evie did great for the most part--she just slept out on the beach. And of course we kept her shaded and as cool as possible. I brought a portable, battery powered fan and some "cooling" towels that once wet, they cool your body temperature down. Holt had a FANTASTIC time! We just thought he loved the beach last year! He played in the sand and water with his toys and buckets and loved to chase the "duckies" (toddler code for sandpipers) and go for walks with his RoRo and his daddy. We also had an amazing shallow sand bar this year and he loved to go out there and be in the water. Speaking of the water, it was GORGEOUS this year--crystal clear, a great sandbar, and minimal waves. Perfect for young kids! 



A funny story for the week: Night ONE, I lost one of Holt's sandals. I knew it was in the condo somewhere, but absolutely could not find it. I brushed it off and figured I'd find it as I continued to unpack, but NOPE. Our kid went shoeless to every single restaurant throughout the week because I could not find his other sandal! I even went and bought a $25 pair of toddler flip flops (which KILLED me) but they ended up being a tad too small. Ugh! Anyway, long story short, we found it the day we packed up to come home. Good grief. 

All too soon, it was time to pack up and head back home. We slept a little this time, getting up at 3AM so I could feed Evie and then we ended up pulling out of the condo about 3:30AM. Since we drove more during the day this time, we had to stop more often so Evie could eat. It ended up taking us 18 HOURS to get home. Longest. Day. Ever. I was never so thankful to see my house! But, worth it for getting to spend a week on the beach. 

Here is more photos from our fun trip! You can view the entire album HERE

These two had a blast with RoRo and Melly

Sweet sandy-haired boy

sleeping beauty

Evie's first selfie with Aunt Hannah

Looking for "duckies" 

My world

L to R: Kirby and Hannah O'Meara, Mom and Dad, Me, Evie, D, and Holt

Snoozin' on the car ride home



Monday, July 18, 2016

Evie: 2 Months



2 months old! Oh our sweet girl, we love you to pieces! Here is what she has been up to this month:

*She tagged along as Holt finished up swimming lessons
*We celebrated Daniel's birthday! The big 2-9! Holt was oblivious, but he definitely put down some of the pancakes and bacon I made for breakfast. And our sweet girl just snoozed the day away, but she did get to go along with us to our fun celebratory dinner at Fuji with our best friends!


*We celebrated Father's Day...these three are my world y'all



*Evie had her first road trip to Conway for the Jordan Family Reunion and she did great! She fussed for the first 30 minutes or so every time she lost her paci, but then she slept the rest of the way. She was a super trooper for the weekend---it was HOT. Thankfully, my uncle brought his industrial size fan and we were set up under a pavilion. As long as she was right by the fan, she was awesome and even slept most of the time. And she got to meet her new cousin, Analeigh who is only 12 days younger than her! I have a feeling they will have so much fun together in the years to come :)



*She had her second road trip 4th of July weekend down to Daniel's parent's to celebrate family birthdays. Another hot weekend, but all the cousins had fun with a water balloon fight and bubbles! We have so much fun when we can all get together, it just never lasts long enough!

*She got to meet her "uncle" Garrett and "aunt" Audrey on the 4th of July! We are so excited they are expecting a baby girl in October! (I forgot to get a picture!)

*Evie had her first trip to the beach! (separate post coming soon)




*Dairy update: I have completely cut out all dairy and have been super strict just like I was with Holt. There have been a few times I have eaten some by accident and it has torn up her little belly pretty bad. It makes me so sad to hear her cry in pain! Doing better now though!

*Girlfriend hit a growth spurt right around the 4-5 week mark and again at 6 weeks. You forget how exhausting those days are! She would literally eat every hour, on the hour, from about 9/10AM-9/10PM. Thankfully, she still slept through the night.

*She got her first set of shots at her 2 month checkup. She did great!

*At her 2 month check up, our pediatrician was concerned that she isn't gaining enough weight. We were instructed to nurse on demand for a week and then come back for a re-evaluation.

*To compare: click HERE to see Holt's 2 month post!



Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz (5th percentile)
Height: 21.5 inches (15th percentile)

Favorites: Being UP---either up on a shoulder or standing so she can see and look around (also I think it feels better on her tummy), the rock-n-play, her paci

Milestones: *she has rolled from tummy to back a handful of times and it makes her so mad *she has really become more interactive since about 6 weeks--she smiles and coos at us *can put weight on legs for several minutes at a time *blows spit bubbles a lot *we took her to church for the first time at 5 weeks (I wear her in the k'tan wrap)

Sleep: For the most part is great. Her usual is 10pm-4am. However, between weeks 6-7, I apparently ate something with dairy and it completely tore up her tummy for the majority of the week. Because of that, she didn't eat as much during the day so she woke up more like every 2.5-3 hours (so tough after being used to 6 hour stretches!). Also, during the day, it's almost like she catnaps instead of sleeping in long stretches. She goes about 30-45 minutes and then starts squirming and loses her paci so she gets mad and I have to go in every few minutes to put her paci back in. I don't know if it's because of her belly, or if that's just her normal. It's almost like the "45 minute intruder" is showing up 2 months early. We will see how it goes over the next month. We are going to try, fingers crossed, to move her into the nursery at night in the next couple of weeks. Pray for us!

Feeding: Going pretty well. She eats about every 2.5-3 hours during the day and then [usually] about 5-6 hours at night.

Schedule [roughly]:

8:30AM (or so)    Feed, then awake and "play"
9:30AM               Nap
11:30AM             Feed, then awake and "play"
12:30PM             Nap
2:30PM               Feed, then awake and "play"
3:30PM               Nap
5:30PM               Feed, then awake and probably fussy
6:30PM               Catnap for maybe an hour
7:30PM               Fussy, may feed again
8:30PM               New diaper, change into jammies, feed
9:30PM               Bedtime
3:00AM (ish)     Feed

We don't follow this religiously. I try to just stick to an every 3-hour schedule during the day, no matter when she wakes up, and then just let her sleep at night. Sometimes (or often) she cluster feeds in the evening---it's one of the only thing that comforts her when she is upset. I did a schedule with Holt, but I feel like I was way more strict about it. With her, I still do a schedule but it's a bit more relaxed. If it hasn't quite been 3 hours, but she's hungry, I feed her instead of trying to make her wait.

2 month photo dump:



sweet angel



the bumper finally came in!

the many faces of Evie


thankful to be their mama


sweet girl


Holt loves to give hugs and kisses

like father like daughter 

"ooooh!"

sweet smiles

big brother "helping"