Yolande

I really want to recap our amazing/magical/perfect/want-to-go-back-immediately trip to Mexico, even though I am sure these posts will be a major undertaking and not terribly 'popular' for the general public. But I took tons of pictures (shocking!!) and want to relive the memories, so here goes nothing.

Last Memorial Day weekend, Erin and Ben visited us from Minnesota. One of the things on our agenda for that weekend was 'Convince Ben to Agree Upon a Tropical, Winter Vacation.' Erin and I had been emailing about this dream of going on a trip to somewhere with a beach, hot weather, and without our beloved children (i.e. NO RESPONSIBILITIES, ultimate relaxation possible). We somehow succeeded at convincing Ben and Nate was already all over the idea. But of course, I was still quite pregnant with Porter and we wanted to wait until he was born to make the trip officially official. I admit, the idea of leaving my then unborn baby when he would be approximately eight months, along with his two older siblings seemed like it would be a monumental feat. I've only been away from Truman maybe a total of 6 nights ever in his five years of life, away from Cecelia just 2 nights that I can recall, and I dreaded the idea of pumping for the entire trip while away from baby Porter (ha, no worries, Julia of last year!). But I knew that if this winter was anything like last winter, we would be in serious need of a kid-free vacation to warmer weather. And so I started talking myself up to be brave, leave the children for a few nights with very capable and willing grandparents, and enjoy the heck out of our time away.

My requests for the trip: 1. To be towards the end of winter, to allow for Porter to be as 'old' as possible and hopefully sleeping through the night (yes, good call, CHECK). 2. Somewhere with a beach and HOT weather, not likely to be raining constantly. 3. Direct flight from Milwaukee (not quite achieved, but still okay). We considered Florida but the weather isn't always a guarantee for 80+ temps and very little rain. We figured Mexico would be a great option and one that is relatively inexpensive when compared to islands in the Caribbean. Nate really wanted to stay on the Gulf/Caribbean side if possible because he thinks the beaches are nicer compared to the Pacific side. We didn't want to do an All-Inclusive because we wanted to eat at different restaurants and explore a little more than feeling restricted to one resort. Erin did all of the planning and research for the trip, and found us a privately owned condo on the island of Isla Mujeres, which is a 20 minute ferry ride from Cancun, Mexico. YES, PLEASE. It ended up being the perfect location, perfect weather, and easy travel. Really, truly, magical.

We booked our Nautibeach condo in September and got plane tickets shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, Milwaukee didn't have any direct flights to Cancun except for on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so we ended up flying in and out of Chicago, Midway. Not a huge deal since we drove the two hours down there the night before our early morning flight, and stayed in a cheap hotel near the airport. Definitely worth it to have a direct flight!

On Wednesday, March 11 my mom flew in from Colorado around 2pm. My dad was also supposed to come but he had the flu and ended up staying home miserable, and muttering truths like 'I NEVER get sick' while wishing he was a part of the babysitting crew. Tony and Lois were also very active parts of childcare while we were gone, so three grandparents to three children ended up being a very good ratio of adults to kids;) Mom got in that afternoon, we ate dinner, Nate got home from work, we put the kids to bed, and then Nate and I immediately drove to Chicago. So I didn't get to see mom much before we left, but I did manage to type up a four page instruction sheet to make me feel better about someone else being in charge of my children for days on end;) #controlfreak #leavingthreekidsishard #don'trockthebabytosleepPLEASE

DAY ONE: Thursday, March 12

Our flight was at 7:00 am, so we woke up at (the ungodly time of) 4:00 am in our hotel room by the airport, parked our car in one of the economy lots (only $15 per day, I thought it would have been a lot more expensive!), and blew through ticketing and security in no time. The morning was so early and I was kind of nervous/amped up about the trip, and I didn't feel all that great. I'm sure I was also overanalyzing every breath since I knew my mom had been exposed to my dad, who was pretty sick. I was extra worried about one of the kids getting sick while we were gone, or mom coming down with whatever dad had---mostly I was a head case about any and all germs. After our McDonalds breakfast, some coffee, and boarding the plane to paradise I somehow pulled through and felt much better once we were on our way to this vacation we had been planning for almost a year!

The flight was four hours long but it went by really quickly with Southwest's free TV, my laptop for working on Porter's eight month post, and a bit of the book I downloaded for Lois' Kindle (Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan---haven't read a book in years, and didn't even finish this one but it's good so far!). We landed, went through customs and got our checked bags, and walked to the end of the airport when we saw Ben and Erin. We were outside at this point and it was ridiculously hot and humid, which was much appreciated because we weren't in Wisconsin anymore, baby! Ben and Nate had a beer or two from the vendor outside of the airport while Erin and I had some water and we all discussed the logistics of getting to our condo. Erin and Ben had already reserved a shuttle from the airport to the ferry dock, so we found our driver and took in the scenes of Cancun while riding to the ferry. Once we got there (about 20 minutes or so), we saw that there was a fairly large line to get onto the ferry itself. But seeing the ocean and palm trees and feeling the sun on our skin made it seem like this was a real vacation instead of something we had just been talking about for so long.



I had to change clothes because I was dying in my yoga pants, hoodie and tennis shoes, the guys got some food, and us girls chugged more bottled water. We ended up getting onto the boat about an hour after we arrived to the ferry, and we were all pretty thrilled with the color of the ocean water. And our rock guitarist on the 20 minute ferry ride;)



He was really into singing Santana songs, and possibly one Guns-n-Roses tune. Entertainment!


Selfie with my big camera, because we are serious about documentation;)


We're on a boat!


We then walked from the ferry to our condo and I think we were all dripping in sweat at this point, extra-excited for the pool and ocean. The guys walked to the grocery store and apparently came back with many very heavy groceries that must have been a sight to see, as they hauled them back to our condo. Erin and I changed and went right to the beach. Snapped a selfie on the beach to mark the true beginning of vacation;)


Then we noted a small group of loud, topless girls in the water, shaking their coconuts and causing us to wonder if spring breakers *would*, in fact, be on our island and not just Cancun! Alas, we did not see anymore partiers the entire trip, and instead noticed many families with small children. I don't actually think there were too many kids at our resort but of course, like typical moms, we seemed to notice every single one of the little babes. Occasionally one of them would make me miss my own offspring until they began to melt down, cry, and give their parents general hell while vacationing. At that point I would simply take another sip of my adult beverage and soak in the non-parenting moments of our childless vacation. Love you kids! But mommy and daddy need time away sometimes, too.

Erin observing the once-topless girls who reapplied their bikini tops prior to this picture. Ah, different seasons of life.



The guys came back from the store and we all hung out at the pool for a bit. The flotation devices were KEY for maximal relaxation. I accidentally popped one of these babies with a stray bobby pin, too. Whoops!


Many-a-foot shots were taken on this trip. Be warned.


We attempted to find WiFi immediately upon stepping into our resort, but we quickly realized that the best signal would be on the patio of our condo. For internet junkies like us, this was a prominent location for out trip! (None of us took a single picture of the inside of our condo, but trust me when I say it was delightful).

Beloved patio of Internetting:


View from our patio, looking to the pool and past that, the ocean.


Such prettiness around our condo:


Palm Trees = NOT WISCONSIN



Then we Face-timed with the kids...


...got showered, and went out to dinner. Oh, and the boys and I began our love affairs with Pina Coladas before we left for dinner. Somehow they were able to concoct the most delicious, frozen, fruity drink ever and we may or may not have gone through nearly three bottles of rum during the trip. I blame that on the men for 80% of the consumption though. Poor Erin and her non-alcoholic vacation. We drank in her honor, obviously.



Had to take a few 'dressed up for dinner' pictures on the beach. Erin's belly is truly this adorable in person, FYI.


Parents vacationing on the beach. Watch out, Mexico!


Kind strangers took a few pictures of the four of us, many of which turned out really well!


Strolling the streets, looking for a place to chow.



We walked around the main street of Isla Mujeres (called Hidalgo Ave apparently, did not know this until I just read Erin's blog post about our first day) and eventually decided to eat at Lola Valentina for dinner. We started with guacamole and decided we would have to taste test guac at every dinner, and we were always quite satisfied with each version, every night. My pineapple ginger margarita and my flautas were both awesome for dinner. I like to think I'm fairly easy to please with food but I do not like anything remotely spicy, which can be a bit challenging in Mexico. But I avoided any of the burning-mouth-panicky sensations and found many tasty alternatives to breathing fire. Such as: badass margaritas.


And my 'flautas', I think there was chicken inside--not totally sure.


After dinner we walked home and hung out on the beach briefly before retiring to bed at an impressive 9:30pm. It was a long day of travel and we were all beat, so luckily our king sized beds turned out to be ridiculously comfortable. Although Porter is now sleeping through the night, getting uninterrupted sleep on a kid-free vacation was still especially wonderful. Because everything on vacation is wonderful, right?

Monday, October 28: Day 6

Truman woke up at 6:20 am, which was NOT enough sleep if you ask me. Why is it when my kids stay up late they still wake up at the exact same time in the morning? I tried to coax him into falling back asleep with me in his bed again and totally failed. And got a little irritated because I was so tired and all he wanted to do was go downstairs and start the day.

So in a huff I agreed at 7 am and Nate came down, too, hearing my annoyance from the room over. We let Truman watch a DVD while we made and drank substantial coffee and worked on the blasted puzzle again.



Cecelia and Mom didn't come downstairs until 8 am! This was around the time when Nate completely finished the puzzle....and, you guessed it. There were FOUR missing puzzle pieces! So annoying and heartbreaking, but whatever. My mom texted us a picture of the four pieces sitting in the bottom of a plastic bin/toy box as we boarded our fight home a few days later. Uggggghh. Totally blaming CC on that one.



My dad left for the airport at 6:30 am this date because he was picking up Memaw and Pepaw from Denver, and the crew arrived back to the house around 9:30. Memaw and Pepaw wasted no time playing with the kids, and PP hadn't even seen Cecelia walk yet! When she realized that, she decided to do this hilarious 'right leg stomp' dance for no reason, non-stop, for about 5 minutes. I honestly think she just figured out how to stomp her foot or something and then she could not get over it. Yes, they all had some catching up to do.











Which means, Nate and I took our cue to get out of the house alone, again. This time I had Old Navy fast cash to redeem, and we went to a different ON this time in search of 5T pants for Truman (since his current 3s and 4s are just ridiculously short). Much success on this shopping trip and of course I couldn't walk out of there without an article of clothing for my daughter and also myself, too.

We went to a few other places and then made it home in time for lunch. Mom and I knew this was our only chance for our mani/pedi, so we booked it out of there around 1:00 and let Nate and Dad deal with the kids' naps (as MM and PP were also napping right after lunch). It was glorious. Girl time with my mama will always be a highlight for me, and the place we went was pretty awesome. I think we were there for at least 1.5 hours, but I don't really know. Also: gel manicures are the only way to go for me anymore. Totally worth it.

Removing her old gel manicure;)






As soon as us manicured ladies returned home, Nate and I left for Old Town. We were on the hunt for a hot coffee, because it was cold and rainy this day. At first we thought we'd go back to Muggs but then we walked by Starry Night and it looked adorable. And they said they specialized in espresso and I wanted an Americano badly. The little place turned out to be one of our favorites, good enough to buy two pounds of beans as a souvenir. Nate was taste testing all of the soy lattes in Old Town and so far this was his favorite out of the three places we tried. Of course, each place was our favorite when we were there. Did I mention that coffee dates with my husband equals awesome?









We walked around Old Town a bit, saw some really adorable shops and *almost* got Lois some pottery as a 'thank you' for watching Henry, but I truly think Lois must own every kind of pottery ever created already. We stopped in a thrift shop and bought to random wine glasses for my parents to have since they do not drink and therefore we usually have to drink wine out of regular glasses when we stay there (the horror)! Lastly we stopped by the liquor store and got some wine for our new/old thrift store glasses.

Loved this quote on the wall of an artsy shop in Old Town.


Then we got home in time to eat dinner with everyone---our first night with 8 people at the table was fun but expectedly chaotic. Duh. Both children were exhausted despite their 3 hour naps and Truman was eating like a bird...a starving bird. Cecelia was angry at the highchair and even my non-drinking mother joked about needing a glass of wine;)

But then the kids got to run around and play (i.e. get undivided attention from six adults) and life was good again. The Cardinals game was on TV and the kids were making a mockery of the toy situation with literally every.single.toy strewn across the lower level. Good thing Grandparents don't care about that kind of thing in Colorado!











Memaw and Pepaw retired to their hotel around 8:15 and I have no clue when the kids went down, but probably somewhere around there. Mom started working on hair bows for Cecelia and all of us adults went to bed around 11:00. Long day and I cannot recall what we were doing so late, but it might have been the night we looked through every single movie on Amazon and couldn't find a single one to watch. Ha! Nice way to waste a few hours on vacation, I suppose.

We're still recovering from our jam-packed weekend in St. Louis around here because it was certainly one of the most fun trips we've had. And traveling in the car for 6+hours with a newborn turned out to be no big deal. My meticulous planning and lists and packing days in advance definitely helped make it as painless as possible. Not only did we fit all of our crap, baby gear, and three humans in the car but canine brother Henry got to make the trip, too! Yes, we are just that crazy, folks.

So we left at 6:30 pm on Friday after a long day at work and daycare. Truman was fast asleep in his car seat by 7:00 and although we kept sneaking peaks into the back seat he did not wake up one time during the entire trip down! We stopped once for gas and scurried around like crazy just in case he would wake up without the motion of the car but he continued to snooze away like a champ. Henry, of course, was another story and perched next to Truman's car seat all the way down with his chin on the edge of the seat watching over Truman and refusing to sleep. His panting and horrid breath probably put Truman in a trance, now that I think of it.

When we got to St. Louis at 12:30 am Truman did wake up famished and needed to feed for a good while. He was a bit confused and wanted to smile and play but we convinced him to go back to sleep a bit longer as we crashed from exhaustion.

The next day, my Mom drove to St. Louis after dropping my dad off to golf with Nate and the boys in the 'burbs. The photos began that morning because I could NOT get over how much these babies have changed before our eyes since their last meeting!













They are madly in love, obvi, and will probably date someday if their parents allow it.

My dad hasn't gotten to see Truman in the flesh (aside from Skype dates and whatnot) since they were at the hospital for his birth! It was pretty cool to see my dad's eyes take in the big baby boy that is his grandson. Too bad my brother had to work or we could have had an official family photo! Truman is very concerned about Uncle Michael here, as you can see.


First grandchild=lots of kissing.


Then Tilly-n-Truman decided to entertain us by their cuteness. Since Tilly is a big girl and can sit up (and roll, and eat her feet, and be generally adorable) we had to prop Truman in their Bumbo. It was a hit for about 2 minutes then a major meltdown struck and it was over. :)




But wait....Tilly has the Baby Einstein Jumparoo that we have as well (because I copied Hannah's registry items, duh!). Just for fun we tried to put Truman in it even though I assumed he was too little for this beast but with a little blanket to hold his trunk up for him we found ourselves the next new toy in Truman's life. We set our jumparoo up right when we got home on Monday...videos to come. He LOVES it and it's super cute to watch him take in all the toys. In fact, he just started to successfully grab objects and pull them into his mouth. Literally, this is a new trick he learned from Tilly or something because it's only been happening consistently since our trip. SO CUTE.




Oh, and we went to eat lunch down the street at Square One and braved the 95 degree heat like champs. This is how we toted our babes around town that day.




Had a little BBQ that night with more friends, said goodbye to my parents, and caught some z's as able. Then we headed to brunch the next morning at Sqwires and of course we had to get this shot of the gals. Baby Nora is just 3 weeks old on the left and Kristen is due next month on the right! Lindsey is holding it down for the non-mom/non-pregnant population out there and I'm sure she doesn't feel the pressure AT ALL with our bunch. :)


The boys and their kids. Why do pics like these make my heart hurt?


Nate popped Truman's collar despite my protesting. Only Truman can pull it off with gusto and look cute while crying, right? :)


Baby Nora passed out and SO teeny ! I just wanted to eat her up.


Truman made a new friend and since we have the orange version of this toy at home, it came out from the shelves when we came back, too. So many new toys and friends!


This one cracks me up for some reason. It's like he's a little man just sitting tight with the ladies.


That afternoon the boys were going to golf (again---lucky men for having such cool wives) but we really wanted to take the babies to the neighborhood pool first. This involved us waking Truman from a nap which has the potential for disaster but actually, he was totally fine with it. We really just wanted to see how he'd react to a pool since bath time is usually happy time but sometimes it causes meltdowns. And plus, we got him a ridiculously cute swimming suit to compliment Tilly's cuteness.


After lathering Truman up with a boatload of sunscreen we were off! Little fatty marshmallow man floats like a champ and ended up loving the water!

Tilly let him borrow her raft and he was all over that one.


Oh wait, minor crying fit! All better with a few more splashes in the water.


"What is his problem, anyway?"


Us and our water babies. We are such moms now, it's insane.


"Hi guys! I'm swimming!!"






Once the boys finally left for golf Hannah and I began the Tilly photo shoot. Truman observed from the sidelines and gave me pointers about my ISO and aperture of course.





So after the shoot on Sunday night we just hung out and waited for the boys to come home with our Dewey's pizza (drooling right now just thinking about it). We left on Monday morning at 9:30 or so and ended up back in Milwaukee by 3:30. Not too bad, huh? I was worried about driving during the day thinking it might mess Truman up for sleeping at night. But he basically just took two 2.5 hour naps in the car and then we stopped twice to let him eat and play a bit. He is a great road warrior at this point and now that our first trip is behind us I know we can do it again!

When we got home we had to do some tummy time, after seeing how amazing Tilly is with her head control and rolling and whatnot. I discovered that if I put T over the Boppy he does a lot better with tummy time because he can actually look around. I guess it's sort of hard to stare at the ground a few inches from your nose when you are all the way down, huh?






Things I've learned on this trip:

1. Disposable diapers do not work well on Truman. Maybe it was because I bought 'size 2' instead of 'size 3' but baby boy crapped out the back of FIVE DIAPERS on our trip. Seriously. Total outfit changes are not fun but are especially awful in the bathroom of a Culvers in the middle of Illinois, while a handicapped lady waits outside the stall impatiently. I was sweating bullets trying to get him cleaned and it was not pretty. Also, he got his first diaper rash after wearing the 'sposables so I'm even happier we use cloth for Truman. We've never had a poop blowout before in cloth, although we have our fair share of peeing out diapers---but baby breastfed poop is WAY worse than pee. Lesson learned. But I still don't want to deal with using cloth on a trip away from home...

2. When a baby poops out the back of his last outfit and you are only 30 minutes away from home, it's perfectly acceptable to poke holes in the bottom of a Target plastic bag and use it like protective overalls on the babe. I mean, you have to protect the car seat right? I hope that visual doesn't make us horrible parents because it was actually hilarious to see Truman wearing a bag over his clothes. And yes, I changed his dipe as soon as we walked in the door so no harm done:)

3. You will need more baby clothes than you think you need on a weekend trip away from home, unless you do laundry there. Also, you may need more memory cards for the camera. Borrowing a pack-n-play for a crib is genius and we did just fine without our stroller, using the Bjorn as needed. Oh, and pumping in the car at night is pretty freaking stressful but it can be done. Just be glad nobody can look into the car and see your udders hooked up to the machine!

4. Packing days in advance and making lists for what needs to be done each night before you leave is key. Plus, list making is the bomb in general, if you ask me.

5. While nursing in the car in a parking lot, wearing a nursing cover, and entertaining a frazzled dog in the back seat, do NOT set off the car alarm. You will definitely draw attention to yourself and there's not much you can do when a baby is attached to your boob. Nate had to come back out from his Dairy Queen stop (the horror) to turn off the alarm for his silly wife. Turns out if you try to unlock the car from the inside it will freak out. But hey, I was dripping in sweat and needed a breather....plus it was worth it to see Nate's face as he came over to the car. What a scene we made...