It is something I could not be more thrilled about.
And though it hasn't happened consistently through the week, it has happened often enough that I believe it is here to stay!
(No. He is not sleeping through the night. One thing at a time! ;)
But he just started doing this:
Yes! He is starting to self soothe! So so excited about this development. He is still a little rusty on figuring how to put his thumb in his mouth, but with time it is bound to happen, right?! We are awaiting that day with eager anticipation. Kateri was literally self soothing while we were still in the hospital, which, looking back, I did not appreciate near enough!
Anyway, a couple weeks ago, my parents hosted all of us at a lovely house down in the Outer Banks. This vacation was a blast!
Things that worked really well:
1. Lots of stops on the drive down (and the drive up!)
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| About to head down to NC. . . Excitement abounds! |
Usually I tend to be a Just-drive-as-fast-as-we-can-and-ONLY-stop-if-150%-necessary kind of girl, but I quickly learned the following equation = Truth:
(2 kids 1 and under) + (frequent stops while driving) = Sanity for parents
And really, I suppose our stops weren't that frequent. Just once or twice on the way down and a few more on the way up. Pat is a very relaxed traveler, and really takes the whole 'Life's a trip, Enjoy the Ride' advice much better then I do. I tried to do that more, and guess what? *shocker* the trip down and up were actually a TON of fun, much better then I imagined with the two littles. They truly were part of the vacation itself!
2. Eating/drinking minimally while driving
Most people probably are not like this, but I have this tendency to think there is a downright need to have plenty of snacks, drinks, and candy on any car trip. This time, I decided to wait to eat until we were having lunch, and wait to give Kateri many snacks until then either. Probably it is super obvious to everyone on the planet (unless your name is Teresa G) to do this, but it really was a break through for me! Kateri ate some (not a TON, but some) when we stopped for lunch, and I was hungry enough to have some icecream from Chick-Fil-A after lunch! (That ice cream is to die for, btw!) Maybe I am projecting, but I think we all felt better for it.
This also made snacks and treats much more effective when we gave them to Kateri. If she was starting to get a bit fussy, she was hungry enough to actually eat something rather then immediately throw it on the floor!
Caveat: We had had a pretty crazy (and fun) weekend prior to the trip and very VERY little sleep, and so Pat did need some caffeine:
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| How can you say no to a drink that has your name on it? |
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| Much healthier then the snacks I tend to choose |
This really made a difference in sleeping arrangements. Initially, I was planning on having S sleep in the bed with us, but my mom generously let us borrow one of her pac-n-plays so each of the littles had their own space to sleep. They slept better and so did we. (This was really a blessing because Kateri had two really rough nights, and the fact that Sebastian was sleeping in his own space really meant he could sleep through her noise and us getting in and out of bed. It also meant we could sleep better when we actually were in bed!)
4. Multiple bathing suits for each kid
Usually, I am a minimalist and would only use one for each. HOWEVER, with a pool in the backyard and a beach nearby, I decided to bring two suits for each baby. This really made life so much easier and gave each suit plenty of time to dry before the next time swimming. It was so much fun to see these two in the water!
This is Sebastian before his first time ever in a pool! He wasn't the biggest fan of the pool. But he really loved the beach. He seemed really enthralled with the waves, and did not fuss at all when we put his feet in the surf. He was in awe of everything!
Kateri was very VERY excited to get into the pool, as you can see. She loved it, although she hated the floaty device we bought to keep her afloat (that was scrapped almost immediately. . . maybe we will use it next year?).
She was really unsure about the crashing ocean waves the first time we went to the beach, and really preferred to dig in the sand and fill up her plastic bucket, and then go commandeer some of Charlottes toys.
However, as time went on, she started to love the thrill of the sea. She would stand in the sand at the oceans edge, and laugh with delight as the wave came rolling towards her, and she would bounce up and down slightly in anticipation. She LOVED when it crashed over her (we were holding onto her of course!! pretty much in an iron grip!)
But, I digress, the two suits per kid turned out to be quite the blessing!
5. Bringing pre-made food
Anyone who has travelled with littles knows while a ton of fun, it is also pretty tiring! We brought a couple frozen lasagnas for one of the dinners. This made life so easy~ just throw together a salad and some garlic toast and BAM dinner is done. Little prep and not completely exhausting, which scores awesome in our book. For dessert we had Klondike bars. Kateri was a fan of her mint-chocolate-chip bar:
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| fuzzy but worth seeing |
6. Another new thing we did was bring a bag for dirty laundry. Probably everyone under the sun also does this already! I usually never did this when travelling in my single days, and when Pat and I travelled in the past we were able to maintain our dirty/clean laundry. But with those two extra kids in the mix, this really made things easier. There was even a washer/dryer unit available, so we went home with all.clean.clothes. Awesome!
7. Crayons/markers/signing times DVD's/toys
The toys were great, and the Signing Times DVD's (Kateri's all time favorite) were a huge blessing. It was really entertaining to see the different way Kateri and Charlotte play (their approach is very different. For instance, when coloring, Charlotte will pick up her crayon and start coloring, where Kateri will first try to collect all the crayons in one place, and THEN pick out a crayon to color).
Crayons provided more entertainment then just coloring, though:
And BONUS: one thing that did NOT work out as planned:
What was supposed to be a quick stop at McDonalds . . .
There was a big line outside for the drive thru, so I ran inside assuming that would be quicker.
The line was HUGE.
It took me at least 30 minutes to get to the front!
Enough time for Pat to drive across the street, fill up the gas tank, drive back, take Kateri out of her carseat, hear Sebastian have a giant blowout, put Kateri back IN her carseat, change Sebastian's giant diaper, buckle him back up, and take Kateri out again.
So, word to the wise, pick your McDonald's carefully!
When I got back to the car, these two were ready to go!
Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for such a wonderful vacation! We had such a great time! Thank you for giving us a truly fantastic time!
We enjoyed every moment!
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