Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Florida Vacation

In an attempt to squeeze in one more fun vacation before my surgery, we decided to spend last week at our absolute favorite place in the world: The Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne (where we got married almost two years ago!)  We have made it a point to go there every year since we got engaged, and we always take a picture in front of the gazebo where we said our vows.  This year, Ryan got to experience everything with us for the first time!

Engaged, married, pregnant, and now with our baby!!!
Although we had a very enjoyable trip, we quickly learned that traveling with a baby isn’t exactly the type of “vacation” that we were used to.  Everything changes when you add a baby to the mix.  First of all, your schedule constantly revolves around the baby.  Baby needs to eat, be put to sleep, and be calmed when fussy… there’s no vacation from that!  Also, teamwork is essential.  Barry and I took turns going into the pool with Ryan, pushing him around in the stroller, and playing with him on the beach, so that the other one of us could relax and lay down in the sun for a few minutes.  I brought a book to read and an ipod to listen to, but of course, I didn’t have time to do either one of those things.  There’s simply no “down time” when a baby is involved!  Lastly, babies need lots of STUFF.  I never thought it possible that anyone would need more luggage than I do (I don’t travel lightly!) but between diapers, wipes, bath supplies, “emergency” stuff, onesies, sleep sacks, regular outfits, toys, baby food, swimsuits, blow up raft and beach toys, stroller, etc… Ryan’s luggage more than tripled ours!

Ryan was very “adventurous” on the beach.  Meaning: he tried to get as messy as possible and crawl away from us as fast as he could.  At least I know that he had tons of fun…


 …except for the time that he decided to taste the sand (yuck!) or when we tried to put sunglasses on him, which he was not happy about.  He knows exactly what he wants and what he doesn’t want… such a strong personality for a little guy!


As usual, Ryan loved getting into the pool and meeting lots of other babies his age.  (Who would have thought that a Ritz-Carlton would be so populated with babies?)  It was really cute seeing all of the tiny ones splash around in the pool on little rafts or in their parents’ arms.  To protect Ryan from the sun, I always use spf 50 sunscreen on him, in addition to covering his little head with a hat and placing him under the shade of an umbrella or his raft.  I also have to wear a hat myself, and be careful laying out in the sun, because the chemotherapy stays in my body for a while.  Oh well, at least we can be pale together...



After leaving Key Biscayne, we headed up to Boca Raton to spend a few nights with Barry’s parents. Ryan got to meet a bunch of Barry’s friends from high school for the first time, and also two of his great grandpas. It was nice for Ryan to spend time with his relatives that he doesn’t get to see as often.  He especially liked going into their pool (yes, more pool time!) in the backyard.

            
Considering the fact that this vacation was Ryan’s first time flying on a plane, everything went extremely well.  For the trip going down, he was a perfect angel the entire time.  I actually loved all of the extra cuddle time and him falling asleep on me!  Coming back, our plane was delayed for six hours.  We actually had to the board the plane and get off twice, because they decided to delay it even further.  Ryan was a little more restless and squirmy in our laps, but still very good, in spite of the circumstances.

Today Ryan is 9 months old!  

He has officially been living in the world for longer than he was inside my tummy.  I am so proud of his accomplishments and look forward to each exciting, new stage of babyhood.  But there will always be a longing in my heart for that sweet little six-pound newborn bundle, relying on us at every moment to meet his every need.  

Ryan has his own agenda these days and asserts his independence by waving us away if he wants to do something all by himself.  He can say: “Mama”, “Dada”, “no no no” (while shaking his head), and “ba” (which seems to mean anything and everything else).  He mostly likes to use his own special baby language.  I wish I could understand what he was saying and thinking! 

Ryan can now crawl very fast, pull himself up to a stand, and walk while holding on to things or holding our hands.  His favorite things to play with are water bottles, cell phones, our keys, and a piece of paper.  (Hmm, if I would have known that, we could have saved a lot of $ on baby toys!)  He also likes to look at books and squinch his eyebrows together while taking in everything on the pages.  I think that he looks so smart when he does that!  

Some things that Ryan doesn’t like are: getting his face wiped, hearing loud laughter, sweet peas, or wearing clothes.  It has become such a struggle to change his diaper and put clothes on him because he just rolls over and crawls away if you don’t pin him down and then do everything else with just one hand! 

We recently had some professional pictures taken by J. Otte Photography for Ryan's 9 month photo shoot!  We are still waiting to get the pictures back and I can’t wait to see them and post them soon!

2 comments:

  1. Aw, Dana! So much adorable and wonderful stuff I don't even know where to comment. I LOVE your photo collage of pictures in front of the gazebo in Key Biscayne. So adorable that you have pics there from every year...that just happen to line up with some big life events, too!:)

    As always, Ryan is adorable, and I love him in his yellow hat. I'm glad to hear he likes the sand (I remember my brother hated it when he was a baby and would cry if you put him in it), and I also think that realizing that sand is not something that tastes good is something all babies learn the hard way, at least once, haha:).

    I'm glad you all had a good trip and were able to spend time with your family that you don't get to see as often. I'm amazed to hear how good he was on the plane! Especially with that horrible delay.

    I can't believe how active he is getting. That's so funny that you have to pin him down when you change his daiper:). I want to come over and visit again soon! We should get together one more time before your surgery (even though I am sure I will see you right after, but that may not be as good of a chance to do something fun!).

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love all of these pictures! The shots through the years in front of the gazebo are amazing and all the close-ups of Ryan are adorable as usual. It looks like you had a wonderful time and I can't wait to hear more about the trip soon!!!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...