Goodbye Maternity Leave (Week 12)

Last week was the end of my maternity leave. 12 weeks. It really flew by.

On Saturday, we loaded up the car and headed to Oklahoma to see my mom's dad (my Pawpaw Skip) & his wife. They have been wanting to see Rhodes since he was born and apparently couldn't figure out why we hadn't brought him up there yet (um HELLO? He's a newborn) so they were tickled to finally see us…I mean, HIM. :)

My grandpa got teary when he saw Rhodie for the first time and he kept talking about how neat it was to see him.  Rhodes is my Pawpaw Skip's first great-grandchild.  Clara, his wife, has 27…she thinks…she has a list where she has written them all down. Bless. My Pawpaw has Parkinson's and it is hard for him to get around or sometimes to even find the right words, but this visit? It was a good visit. I am so happy we got to see them. 

I went back to work Monday. I cried off and on for a few hours the night before, cried when I kissed by husband and baby goodbye the next morning, cried when my husband and baby-face-timed me when I got to work, and teared up a few times throughout the day.  Thankfully (I guess) our census is very high and I had four babies and was running around all day long. I also had several friends and some family members text me words of encouragement, so that helped a little.

Rhodie stayed with my mom and my oldest brother & I'm pretty sure he might have not even realized I was gone all day long. He had a great day, as my brother kept telling me. It was a relief but my heart was broken all day. Everyone says "it will get easier" but I don't know if it really will or if I'll just get used to it. I have to work two days in a row this weekend and I am not looking forward to it.

Enough with the sad stuff! 

This week Rhodie has learned to blow bubbles and it tickles us to death.  He's so sweet and smiley and he is just the best baby ever! He's still growing like a weed and has rolls for days, which I LOVE! Last week he slept through the night like a champ. Sunday night, my husband commented on how he kind of missed getting up with Rhodie in the night and having him sleep on his chest…big mistake.  The boy hasn't slept through the night since. 

Thanks a lot, husband! ;)

Also, Rhodes had been doing a trick at night.  I will lay him in his bed long ways, and in the morning we will wake up and he will be laying sideways across the middle of his bed, still swaddled. It's so funny!

Yesterday, my youngest brother Clark showed up at my doorstep.  It was such a fun surprise! We ending up eating dinner at my parents' house and visiting with him for a little while. He had also written a letter and mailed it to Rhodes (so sweet) and made me wait until after he left to read it to him.

That's all I have for now! My big boy will be three months old on Saturday and I am going to snuggle him as much as I can since babies don't keep!

'Tis the Season,

Holly

Our Baby Boy: 11 Weeks @ the Beach (Day 2-4)

For our trip, we stayed at the WaterColor Resort in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. It is a 5-10 minute walk from the Seaside area.  It is a beautiful place and, side note, wasn't super crowded because school is back in session!

We got up and drove to Seaside for breakfast at Pickles.  Since it was already so warm out, I figured driving would be better than walking just in case Rhodes needed to make a quick exit. :)

We ate out breakfast outside and did a little shopping.  Rhodie did great!

Once we got back to our room, we sprawled out and took some naps, trying to recover from the previous day.  After lunch, we opted to go down to the beach for a little bit, just depending on how our little man tolerated it. It was hot, but thankfully he had just eaten and was ready for a nap! We took some pictures and a nice lady offered to take one of the three of us on my camera. It was really nice and I'm thankful to have one of our family of three! I tried to stick Rhodie's feet in the water and he wasn't having any of that…so we decided to go back and sit under the umbrella and enjoy the beach sounds. We stayed down at the beach for about 2 hours and then it was time for Rhodie to eat again and for us to decide what to do about dinner.  

We opted for dinner at a place called Bud & Alley's.  My husband claims the two young hostesses gave us dirty looks when we came in, and I told him it was probably because we had wheeled our GIANT stroller in the door and they were probably thinking "Oh noooo!"

so he had a sour taste in his mouth from the start. They sat us in a practically empty room and it was really nice! I ordered a crab cake with my salad and Aaron ordered a steak. The food was really yummy. Then two other families came in with very….boisterous children.  Rhodes got woken up when one little boy wouldn't stop running around and yelling.  Thankfully, our meal was over at that point and so I took him outside while my husband paid our bill. It was so nice out and we walked back to our car and watched the sunset. 

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Our second beach day went about the same way.  We ate breakfast at the Great Southern Cafe. We sat outside because it was so nice. Rhodes stayed awake but was pretty content staring at his mobile that we have hung on his carseat.  We drove down to Rosemary Beach after breakfast because my husband was hell bent  very eager to see it.  Rhodie got his nap in and we got to see a little of the sites. :)

We shopped a little more around Seaside and went back to the room for a little more R&R. Later in the afternoon, we decided to go down to the beach again because it was overcast.  It was perfect.  There was a light breeze and the clouds blocked the sun and we were able to lounge in the beach chairs under our umbrella.  I even got to stick Rhodie's feet in the ocean and he didn't get upset! Aaron took a few pictures and I'm glad we will have those memories. 

The beach chair guy came by and said they would be shutting down the beach in a little bit due to the weather.  Hurricane Hermine was headed towards FL, and although it wasn't going to hit in our area, they were expecting high winds and rain.  So after a little while, we went back to our room and decided what to do about dinner.  After talking a little more, we decided that maybe we should try to head back that same night instead of the next day.  We packed up and got some dinner at the Barefoot BBQ food truck in Seaside, then we rolled out of town. 

We drove to Hoover, AL and stopped for the night at a hotel. 

The next morning, we headed out.  I don't really have a lot to say about the drive home…except for the fact that we got to stop in Memphis and see my college best friend and her family.  It was so good to see them and catch up! Our babies got to meet for the first time and Rhodes was pleased to be able to get out of the car for an hour! 

We made it home, ate dinner, and my parents & Joshua came over to see Rhodes before we went to sleep.  We were exhausted but Rhodes enjoyed the beach (just not the car) and I'm glad that we went on a trip together as a family.  It helped up learn about traveling with a little one and we made some good memories! :)

That's all for now! Laundry is calling my name!

'Tis the Season,

Holly

Our Baby Boy: 11 Weeks @ The Beach (Day 1)

I start back work a week from tomorrow and my husband has been wanting to take a vacation for a while now. So, last minute, my husband decided to book a trip to the beach.  I was a little nervous because it was a 10hr drive.  That's without stopping. We have a breastfed 2.5month old baby. We were leaving Monday and coming back on Thursday. We only had two days at the actual beach. Insert crazy emoji face here. But he wanted to go and so we decided to try.

We loaded up on Monday morning and took off. I packed extra everything and my small SUV was LOADED down. Who knew you needed so much more stuff when you have a baby?! 

I'm kidding….kind of.

But of course, we had to stop by my husband's office to show his coworkers the baby.  After that little detour, it was time for Rhodie to eat…and then he had a blowout.  OF COURSE HE DID ! So we had outfit change #1 and we got back on the road.

The first half of the day went really well. I fed Rhodes again while we stopped for lunch and would get him out to play with him and let him stretch when we stopped for gas.

Then my husband started talking about how he wanted to stop in and see his grandparents since it was on the way. "For a quick visit" is what he said.

LOL.

We stopped in to see his grandparents and they were tickled to see the baby.  It was fun because they've only seen him one other time and he has changed so much since then. But then Rhodie spit up everywhere because he had been jostled half to death on the country roads leading out to their house. Bless his heart. Outfit change #2. And then he had dirty diaper. SCORE! Outfit #3. (THANK GOODNESS I OVER-PACKED) I knew he was going to be so tired and I was antsy to get going so that we could drive while he slept.  But the grandparents WOULD NOT let us leave. We ended up having to wait "10 minutes" for my husband's great aunt to come over so she could see the baby….. 40 minutes later she finally showed up.  I hated to seem rude but at that point in the trip we had 5 more hours to go and, including all of our other stops, was already going to put us getting in around 10pm. We literally were going to be on the road ALL day.  

Once we finally left the grandparents house (Rhodes had already napped at their house - insert eye roll) we had to stop for dinner/feed Rhodie and that's when our trip got a little sour.  Rhodes was completely over being in his carseat (I don't blame him) and he was completely out of routine and over the whole day. He had HAD it! I felt so bad and he was so fussy.  We both may have gotten a little teary at the end because he was so worked up. At one point, my husband told me to "toughen up" and I told him I contemplated ending him right then and there. Good thing it was dark because if looks could kill, he would have been deader than dead. 

We finally made it to the resort, checked in, played with our now-happy baby and got some sleep….14 hours later….

'Tis the Season, 

Holly