In The End

In the end we had an incredible first trip with little Sydney and were so happy we got to share it with friends. The plane ride back went smoothly and for all our fears of Sydney or Natalie screaming for two hours, they were quiet and it was in fact another little girl behind us who screamed for two hours and made the flight nearly unbearable.

There were many big changes about vacations with a baby but some small changes that were funny as well. It was about day 3 we realized there was little point in putting on heavy suntan lotion for example. At the pool where we'd normally soak up the sun, we sat in the shade. At restaurants where we'd take the sunny table on the water, we needed the table with lots of umbrellas to cover the strollers.

The pictures below are a before (last year in Aruba) and after (this trip) which I thought was a funny comment on how things have changed over the past year.



Lots of pictures and video on the trip as it's one hobby I can do with her, so here's a very short clip of some of the highlights. (there's music so make sure your volume isn't cranked up too high :) )

Hammock Days

Maggie is passing on her love of hammocks to the little one day by day, here on a nice walk around sunset last night. We both agreed this is about our favorite time of the day after you get all cleaned up from the pool, the colors in the sky radiate and the wind dies down to reveal a calm that just makes you take a deep breath and soak it all in. We'll soak it all in one more time today before we start packing for the adventurous trip back home.

The picture to the right was from my daily sunrise walk with Sydney this morning. An incredible way to start the day.

Birdies

What better place than on vacation to cut her fourth tooth, so at least the short nights are followed by a day off. Symptoms we had taken as a cold took us about three days to realize that a dab or Oragel would fix, and she's been much happier.

Sydney has been enjoying the birds of the Keys and we've seen lots of different small birds as well as some large pelicans waiting for the fisherman to come back. She continues to love our afternoon swims in the pool and just enjoying the breeze anytime we get outside. In one picture here, the six of us enjoy a relaxing lunch out by the water while we listened to some great Carribean music. This was followed by a trip to the large Worldwide Sportsman (Bass Pro Shops like) just down the road where I honestly pondered a purchase of a little pink tackle box for my fishing buddy :) If I didn't fear checking one more thing on the plane ride back I would have walked out of there with it.

Sun Drenched

The girls (Sydney and Natalie) are both enjoying the sun and being outside. In fact Sydney moans as soon as we go inside now which could really be a problem when we get home. They both love the water and we spent a couple pruny hours in the pool yesterday splashing and slapping the water.


Here's a picture of Sydney who just can't wait to try out her new floaty boat (the light is too harsh but I love her smile in the pic), Natalie with a local flower in her hair and the sunrise we can see each morning from our deck which looks out over the marina and ocean beyond. Oh yes, we're up each morning well before the sunrise so I can have a nice cup of coffee and take my time preparing to see it. I remember when we actually had to set the alarm to see a sunrise, so I could take see this as a positive thing if I wanted. :)

Up, Up and Away

When
all was said and done, Sydney did a great job on her first flight. She wasn't scared. Her ears didn't seem to bother her and with the exception of a brief crying period she gave the other passengers around us a break. It helped that it was an afternoon flight to Florida so the vacationers were all drinking and didn't really mind a couple kids making noise (Kaija, Josh and little Natalie were next to us). Here are a couple pictures of daddy showing her everything about the airport and the airplane, and then we watched the safety video together of course. Not so much for the safety but more for the distraction of a small tv :) She loved watching outside the window and seeing the clouds after we took off. Then she settled into her car seat and fell asleep after all the excitement of the afternoon.

Flying

Another picture from yesterday as we tried to show Sydney what it will be like her first time on an airplane tomorrow. Now begins the payback for all those kids that have punched my seat, screamed for two hours, threw up, and pooped on too many flights to count. She'll be traveling with her friend Natalie as well so there should be safety in numbers.

Warming Up

A holiday and perfect weather, at least for a couple hours. It doesn't get much better so we went and sat outside on the grass and took in the sun. I couldn't help but snap a few photos so here's one from Maggie holding Sydney over her head against the bright blue sky.

On a Roll

We know there's no curve. No certain age where your kid should be doing this or that. We tell ourselves over and over. But then every book proceeds to tell you when your kid should do what and when they should be crawling. You walk into the doctor appointment and they make you fill out a sheet that starts with "development activities your child should have mastered by now". And it seems like every other kid is ahead of this curve that doesn't exist, crawling here and there, pulling themselves up. But then we realize, and people tell us, that we really should enjoy the fact that we can just sit her down somewhere and not worry about it. She is starting to roll pretty well and that's just fun to watch. We've talked and agree that in the end, it's probably not development related, she's just really lazy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Happy Valentine's day to all.

I usually give Sydney her bath each night and she started doing this a week or two ago. She'd be holding this duck up and chewing away, probably working on soothing that tooth, and then she'd drop her hands and look right up at me. I'd start laughing and then she would laugh and the duck would drop down and we'd start over again. I figured I had to get a picture of this, so finally Maggie was home and could watch her while I snapped away. Just too cute.

Teething...again!

Although it's painful for her, I'm feeling some pain as well. Not acute pain like her, but this growing aching feeling day after day. It's partially in my biceps because she refuses to be put down and apparently carrying her around somehow soothes that aching, almost there tooth. My legs ache too because I have to do squats to pick up anything as I certainly couldn't put her down down for two seconds. My ears twinge from the barely audible moaning and my fingers are swollen from the knawing she inflicts hour by hour. If that were not enough I'm cold from all the drool I can't keep up with on my shirt....and each day Maggie and I look at her upper gum hoping to see the tooth finally erupting but no, just a white mark and another day of aching. I'll check again tomorrow though...maybe tomorrow :)

Sydney's grandpa did a fun, what I almost liken to an old 'VHI bubble video' of Sydney's ride home from South Carolina a few weeks ago. In lieu of a picture this posting, check out this short and terribly creative work of art!

http://webpages.charter.net/tompriddy/MISC/SYDNEYS_WEEKEND/

The Great Outdoors

We're not there yet, but Sydney got a taste of walking around outside again this weekend as the temperature rose a little. I think she takes after her mom with the cabin fever and her face lights up at the site of the Baby Bjorn and the sunlight. As her cute bear hat no longer fits and we were starting to look like negligent parents, Maggie picked up this gem at the store which at the very least keeps her warm and makes us laugh when we look at her.

2008! and kisses....

After a nice hiatus to South Carolina for Christmas and then to India for a two week trip around the country, I've finally gotten things organized enough to start taking pictures and writing about our favorite little girl's antics. Two weeks seemed like a good idea last summer but I never knew leaving Sydney (and Maggie) for that long would be such a tough experience. Now...don't get me wrong, had I been sitting in Hawaii sipping Mai Tai's it probably would have been slightly easier, but when you're worried every time you take a sip of water or take a bite of food for two weeks....that's just hard. So I came back to a little girl that was sitting up more, that was grabbing toys more, that ate bananas more, and was more....everything. It's amazing how they change now and two weeks away magnifies it all. So I've spent the last month holding her as tight as I can and look forward to documenting all that continued progress here. At least I hope there's progress or I'm spending way to much time putting up all these gates :) Here are a few pictures of Sydney who apparently just couldn't wait to give herself a big wet kiss!