We survived!

I'm happy to report that our first vacation with a toddler was very sucessful! After a couple in-town stops (including my necessary Starbucks run) we were on the road by 7am. Since we woke up Brody around 5:30, he was sleepy enough to pass out within 10 minutes of the drive. He woke up for the last half an hour of the drive but I sat in the back seat with him and he was happy as a clam. We watched our nephew's basketball team shortly after arriving and like usual, Brody loved watching them play. Unfortunately they lost but the boys played hard! The girls team from their school was still in the tournament, so we came back Saturday night to see them play. And this is when we started to get way off of Brody's normal schedule.

Normal nap time at our house is around 12:30, last weekend, Brody finally got a chance for a nap around 3:30. Then he ate a late snack since he didn't actually get dinner until almost 8pm that night. And if you know Brody, you know that he's usually long in bed by 7pm. I anticipated a major meltdown at some point during dinner. Aside from his sleepy eyes, there was no meltdown and he was amazing.

The next morning we decided to take him in the hotel pool. He hasn't had any pool experience, so I was really excited to see how he'd react. Well....he cried. He loves warm baths so a 75 degree pool was apparently too cold for him. So he was one unhappy kid. We comforted him and tried to get him used to the water without giving up right away. He quickly got used to the water and started having fun. Luckily we had the pool to ourselves so it was fun to play with him.

After we watched another basketball game Sunday morning, we headed back on the road. Since we left after lunch, Brody was able to get his afternoon nap in the car. And so did his mommy!

As for all my concerns, I think they worked out well. And I learned a lot about traveling in the process. We were always able to find relatively healthy meals for Brody despite what we ate. Continental breakfast in the hotel was great and also allowed us to grab fruit for later! I will say I was a little dissapointed in the kids menu at the restaurant we went to Saturday night. There was mostly fried food options or burgers. We went with mac & cheese. Then for side dishes they offered cole slaw or fries. Really?!? No veggies?! So we asked to substitute veggies instead of fries. Not only did we pay extra for the vegetables but were charged for a glass of milk since we asked for that instead of soda. Apparently healthier choices will cost you! But we feel pretty strongly about getting Brody healthy options as much as possible and I'm willing to pay for it.

As for the hotel -- while not completely baby-proof, Brody managed to stay safe and entertained just fine. Though as we're planning our trip to New York in the fall, I'm definitely looking at an apartment style hotel room to give us more space. Not only to give him room to move around but to keep him separated from us when he's sleeping. It's hard for him to fall asleep when he can see us right next to him -- wide awake.

It was a fantastic weekend & I'm so glad that Brody handled all the change and disruptions so well. He truly goes with the flow and it makes it so easy on all of us.

What I Wish for my Son...

This blog is generally about Brody. However, I still like to write about my non-Brody experiences from time to time. Who I am as a person both before and after Brody really shape the type of mother I am. And this past weekend as I was driving home from a really wonderful Friday night, I began dreaming about Brody's future and the types of friends that he will have someday...

Let me start by saying, I have truly amazing, wonderful friends that I never see often enough. Most of them live too far away to see on a regular basis. And even if they lived closer, we are all busy with babies, pets, houses and work. On top of that - I'm awful at staying in touch on the phone. Luckily one of my best friends is pretty good at calling me - otherwise I swear we'd never talk.

So last weekend she invited me to her house for a girls-night. It wasn't all of our girls, but the ones that live close enough to get together. It was perfect. It's great when you get together with the husbands, and children, but every once and awhile you need time with just the ladies.

And what did we do? We sang Karaoke. Yes - it sounds silly - but that is actually what we used to do when we were in high school! (Did I mention I've known these ladies for a very long time?) So we took a trip down memory lane and sang some really good and not-so-good songs.

As I drove home Saturday morning I thought about how lucky I am that no matter how often we get together - they're still the people I can tell anything to or sing stupid songs with and we'll still be friends.

As Brody grows up, I hope he's as lucky as I am to find good friends that stick with you for life.

It's the little things

As I've written before, I was never surprised at how good of a father Jason or how much he'd interact with Brody. If you know him well enough, you know he's just one of those guys. He cares about other people, even if it comes in the form of teasing or a little harassment.

However...every once and while I'll sit back and watch him interact with Brody and it melts my heart. And reminds me once again, how lucky I am to have them. The two of them are adorable. Below are pictures from last weekend when it was actually warm enough to be outside. I won't digress to complain about the snow on the ground this morning.

First Hotel Stay

In Brody's 14 months of life, he's never stayed in a hotel room. We've taken two actual family vacations. One we stayed at a friend's house and the other was at a family vacation home. Though both prior vacations brought their own complications...

1st vacation: trip to MN to visit friends. We went to a Friday night Brewers vs. Twins game. How would Brody handle the late night? Would he sleep through well at someone else's house? At 4 months old - he handled it perfectly.

2nd vacation: annual trip to MI with family. He had just started solid foods, so I was worried about working in his eating schedule with the busyness of a vacation. I also wasn't sure how he would handle the beach & Lake Michigan. Of course - he did a great job. Not without a few hiccups along the way - but it was a great trip.

Now we're off again, to not only stay in a hotel room - but stay in one with a TODDLER! Scary thought right? Hotel rooms aren't baby-proofed. They aren't entertaining to a 1 year old. Not to mention he'll probably be staying up much later than normal...so hopefully he isn't cranky!

Then there is the complication of what to feed him all weekend. We're going to Indiana to see our nephew's middle school basketball team play in a national championship tournament. So we'll be at basketball games, grabbing food in between and possibly eating fast food on the road? So obviously I'll be packing lots of food/snacks to take along. (And no, you don't have to tell me I worry too much...that I already know.)

With every phase of his life comes new challenges. But I keep thinking...#2 will be much easier because we'll know what we're doing, right?

Score!

For those of you who know my husband, you know he LOVES baseball. He played baseball from a young age through high school. He helps coach his nephew's little league team when he has time. He's also a die-hard Milwaukee Brewers fan.

Despite this strong influence, Brody has decided to work on his soccer skills...

Our Milk Drinker

As previously posted, we've had a lot of issues with dairy. What I'm not sure I mentioned, is that I had a similar allergy when I was a baby. So I did fully expect that Brody would grow out of it, as I did. So when it wasn't a quick shift at a year - I was a little dissapointed.

After a month of very, very, slowly introducing whole milk (by mixing it with soy formula), he was finally able to drink an entire cup of milk. Now, several weeks later and he's doing such a great job of drinking his milk. He's even drinking more at each meal than when we were mixing it (not surprising -- I'm sure the formula/milk combo tasted awful!)

The number one thing that Brody continues to teach me everyday, is patience. We're very lucky to have an overall healthy, sweet, smart, adorable little man. The rest is just details...

Updates

It's been over a month since I've blogged. So obviously my resolution to blog more often is failing. As for my other three resolutions, I'm 1 for 3. Organizing - I'm made good strides here: updated fridge calendar, coupon organizer, place to put bills and even organized my pictures on our computer.

As for the other two, I haven't lost any weight and a promotion at work in early January hasn't been helping my ability to be home more often. But it's early in the year and at least I'm trying to make an effort on working less & living in the moment more - I swear!

As for our adorable little toddler...

Brody continues to change in front of our eyes everyday. I think I say this about every stage, but I'm really loving all the new skills he's learning.

He's up to using 4 baby-signs to communciate with us (more, all-done, eat and please/help). The last one just recently and he's using the sign "please" but seems to use it mostly when he wants help with something. He understands the sign "drink" but doesn't use it. We, however, use it with or without the word and he understands what we want him to do.

He also understands us really well. We ask for a hug or a kiss and he's happy to share them with us (by far my favorite skill - even though his kisses are a bit sloppy :) ). We ask him where his doggies are and he'll point right to them. He knows the word "no" but cleverly ignores it when he wants to (how young they start!)

Brody's favorite activities these days are: playing catch with his doggies (although he does get upset when they run off with the ball and don't come back), playing with shape-sorters, dancing and playing with blocks. He giggles constantly and I can't get enough of it.