This past week (March 3rd -8th)we went to Florida for Donovan's first official vacation! He had lots of new experiences, some of which he liked and some of which he did not. Here is a run down of our trip and some pictures of the events.
Our vacation was to Florida, Ft Lauderdale more specifically so we could go see the Cardinals play some of thier spring training games in Jupiter Florida. It was my parents idea, but of course we thought it sounded like a blast so we made it a big family trip with my sister able to go even. We left on wed the 3rd. Our flight was at 9:30 so we were a little worried how things were going to go seeing as we needed to leave our house at 7am and Donovan does not usually get up until 9 or 9:30. Donovan seemed to sense something was up, he spent a lot of the night awake and screaming (thanks for that, little man) for some reason and then woke up for good at 6:45. He was in a good mood at least and we let him stay in his jammies to help encourage any naps that he wanted to take during the flights. Donovan was great during both flights(we stopped in tampa to get more passengers), he fell asleep after both take offs and slept for 30 minutes both times. We bought a ticket for Donovan so we could have a seat for him and it worked out great. We held him for a little while during the longer of the two flights but for the most part he was in his seat and happy as could be. He liked looking out the window and I had bought him some new toys and books so he was kept busy.
Chewing on the seats in the airplane. Germs. Yum.
"Oh hi mom!"
Looking out the window during our stop in Tampa.
We stayed in West Palm Beach in a little two bedroom house we (read: my parents) rented. Donovan stayed in our room and of course and that was less than fun for several reasons. First, Donovan does not sleep well in his pack and play. Second, when he woke up in the middle of the night we couldn't really let him cry it out since the house was too little and he would keep everyone up and also he would just stand up and stare at us over the edge and scream because he knew we were there. So we ended up letting him sleep with us about half of the nights. And he got fed his bottles a lot earlier too because it would quiet him down much faster than us calming him ourselves. So that part of the vacation was a challenge.
Other than the sleeping issue, overall he did really well the whole vacation. We ate out a lot and he behaved wonderfully in all but one of the restaurants. At home we take him out to eat with us an average of once a month, if that so I was nervous he was going to behave badly but he did really well. He even expanded his own menu and tried lots of new things including cottage cheese, big people applesauce, a lemon (I'll have to get a picture from my parents later), bread, pasta, broccoli, and big people yogurt. And those are just the things he liked! He also used our 5 day vacation to master the sippy cup. He now holds it himself and knows how to suck and not just let the water run into his mouth. This means we get to put all the spill guards back in the cups which means we will be a lot drier from here on out! Donovan also spent some time during the vacation trying out a few solo steps. A week ago Sun he took a few steps on his own when my sister was here but it was just from me to her so I thought it was a fluke. But he kept doing it down in Florida so it definitely is not! You have to get him motivated to come to you and then once he is standing steady he will occasionally let go and walk the few steps to get to you, as long as he is sure he can get there in a few steps. Anything farther and he drops down for the crawl. We also found out how we can get him to walk while holding on to your fingers. Turns out he just needs you in front of him and he does it just fine. Behind him and it is no deal.
And finally to round out more of his firsts, was Donovan's first trip to the beach. He was not impressed. We went two times. The first was pretty chilly and we held him most of the time. The second was warmer and we put his naked feet in the sand. He hated it. Cried for me to hold him. There is always next year.
This picture is from the first day at the beach. The only picture we have of him smiling on the beach.
The second day we were there we went to a place where they help injured sea turtles until they can be released back into the wild. It was pretty cool and Donovan seemed to enjoy it as well.
Donovan also got to attend one of the Spring training games but my parents have the only pictures of that. He lasted 2 innings and was sleeping for most of the game.
This is a pic of us before we left for the game together. Donovan decked out head to toe in Cardinals gear!
This is me and Tom at the previous day's game, sans kid (grandma and grandpa watched him).
The third game day Jenna and I took Dono duty and tried out the beach again with a little better luck.
"Mom, pick me up!!!!! Sand is so gross!"
Touching the sand but not liking it.
Happier being held.
Feet in the sand, take two. Holding on for dear life.
Momma feet and baby feet in the sand, take three.
So that was the main highlights of the trip. Overall it was very fun and Tom and I were glad to have 6 extra hands for the week because it helped it feel like an actual vacation. Hope you enjoyed the pics!
PS I apologize for any misspellings, my spell check is not working at seeing as it is 1:12 am on wed (march 17th) morning, I just want to get this dang thing posted and move on with my life. So sue me.
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