Week 12

I had every intention of blogging as soon as we got back from vacation. Obviously, I did not follow through with that intention and now it's almost a week later and I'm finally getting around to it. (I had even started writing my blog on my cell phone during the first 2 days -- that didn't last either.)

BLWing on the road:
Day 1 - We packed most of the car the night before and just had a few final things to do in the morning. We left right before Emmaline's normal nap time in hopes that she would soon fall asleep in the car. (It worked.) After a few hours, we stopped at McDonald's for lunch since they had a playland and we figured Emmaline could crawl around for a big after being cooped up. Dan ordered the fruit/yogurt/walnut thing and Emma munched on an apple slice, but didn't seem to eat much of it or really care about it. We stopped that night in New York state, not far from the PA border. We went to a Perkins restaurant close to the hotel. Emma had her first clown experience there. She was very interested from afar, but wasn't sure when he came closer (Dan on the other hand was freaked out the entire time, even though the clown talked to him about the World Cup and USA's win against Algeria that afternoon). I ordered a side of fruit (canteloupe and honey dew) with my dinner so Emma could eat something. We brought some of her puffs and she was grabbing at them so fast that most ended up on the floor. Apparently we can only put 2-3 pieces in front of her if we are away from home. We sliced the melon into strips for her to grasp. She was a fan! She also tried some turkey from Dan's club sandwich and enjoyed that as well. She got a little sticky from the melon, but not too bad and we were able to clean her up with a wipe. I realized that I should have packed her bib in the diaper bag (it was somewhere in a different bag in the car). Emma also got her regular bottles during the day and nursed in the evening/night/morning. Pumping in the car is always an adventure, but I'm getting used to it and keep my cover handy.

Day 2 - We had the continental breakfast at the hotel. They had plain cheerio's so that was what Emma ate. I was nervous b/c they don't dissolve like her puffs, but she did great!
*That's where my cell phone journal ends and now I have to figure out the rest by memory. The evening of Day 2 we went to Spanky's Clam Shack in Hyannis with the rest of the MACK. I ordered a side of cooked veggies (yellow squash and zucchini). Later that evening we ended up with a big problem - constipation! It was horrible (lots of screaming and some blood). We called the doctor's office immediately and they said she probably tore from pushing. We felt awful. i've looked up everything I can find about constipation in babies and the puffs (and cheerios) are the only offenders I can find, so those are out of her diet for a while!

Day 3 - I think we kept her just on breastmilk today after the previous night's incident. We also went to the store and bought some prune juice for her.

Day 4 - Emma got a bottle of prune juice in the afternoon. At the rehearsal dinner M kept slipping her stuff everytime I walked away. I came back from telling Dan that dinner was ready (he was at the bar watching the USA lose to Ghana and get knocked out of the World Cup) and found a bunch of crumbs all over the table from the oyster crackers she gave her. M told me that Emma loved them, but told Dan that Emma hated them - who knows! I wasn't thrilled that she had given her food without permission, but she had warned us that she slips food to her nephews all the time and I should have known better. Later she gave Emma a mini wine bottle. It was sealed up, so that was fairly harmless and we did get some cute pictures of Emma gnawing on it. Dan apparently missed that entire incident and was very shocked when I had the pictures printed! :) M also gave her green beans. That was totally fine, but she kept cutting them into tiny bites even though I tried to explain that Emma could handle it without cutting it up.

Day 5 - This was the big day: K's wedding! It was incredibly beautiful. Words cannot describe how perfect it was! Emma had another bottle of prune juice in the afternoon. She also got to snack on yummies from the fruit cup (kiwi, honey dew, canteloupe, and watermelon) and had more squash from the main course.

That wraps up the eating portion of our trip. Here were some other highlights - Friday K's dog snuck up and licked Emma on the back of the leg. It totally freaked her out and took her about an hour to finally warm up to her. We realized that Emma hasn't really been around dogs, although I'm not sure if this one even counts as a dog since it's smaller than one of our cats! Friday morning we also took her swimming for the first time (indoor pool at the hotel). Emma absolutely loved it. So much that we are going to sign her up for swim classes when we get back to town and perhaps even go to the town pool this summer. I know she'll be super excited in August to swim with family in Vegas. We also took Emma to the beach for the first time. The weather was perfect for our entire trip so we loaded her in the stroller and headed to a private beach a few blocks from K's parents' summer house there on the Cape. Emma tried to eat sand but didn't care much for the texture (in her hands or on her feet) and soon started fussing. Dan was such a life-saver (as usual) on this trip and took care of Emma for most of 3 days so I could run around with K doing wedding stuff. We got so many compliments at the rehearsal and wedding about how great she was. She even took a nap in her stroller during the reception even with the band playing away in the next room. The only problem we had (other than the constipation) was that Emma did NOT want to go to bed at night. It took 1-2 hours to get her to sleep each night. She also decided to start waking up 30 minutes early. Overall, we had a fantastic time and look forward to our next travel adventures.