Thursday, November 18, 2010

You brush mine I'll brush yours

At 17 months Ellie is all kinds of cuteness.  This is what she's been up to:

  • Putting her teddy bears and baby in the highchair, feeding them cheerios while saying "nom nom" and teaching them the sign for "more"
  • Hugging and twirling her baby in the middle of the room and then falling over because she is too dizzy
  • Bringing me her coat and shoes and saying "buy bye" - wants to get out of the house more!
  • Showing people where their nose, eyes, and ears are located.  She also knows head, mouth, tongue, chin, knees, and toes
  • Enthusiastically answering questions with head shakes and nods, though sometimes she doesn't pick the right one.  She absolutely knows the answer to "do you want to eat?"  Um -YES!!
  • Playing in the sandbox at daycare. She throws a fit when it is time to go inside.
  • Throwing fits in general. Mostly when I pick her up or when I don't pick her up.
  • Switching her toys to the Spanish settings. Screaming when we change them to English.
  • Playing hide and seek and peekaboo around the hallway corner and island. She loves to be chased.
  • Brushing her teeth and brushing ours.
  • Calling random numbers on the phone and screaming "HI!" and jabbering.
  • Singing La da da.

Some of her favorites words these days: Melmo (elmo), wow, hot, nose, ears, eyes, poop, baby, bye bye, hi, no-no, woof, moooooooooooom

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

It takes a village to go on vacation

Scott and I returned from Couples Negril aka Paradise celebrating our 5 year anniversary and my 29.9 birthday, along with Christmas, Valentine's Day, Scott's Bday, etc for the next few years.  It was AMAZING. 

First, It was not easy to go on vacation.  I knew we would have a hard time leaving her, but we did not anticipate the other challenges.  We booked the hotel back in April and waited until a few months ago to book the flight when it looked like we had a babysitter for the whole time.  As the trip approached, the poo hit the fan.  Scott came down with SHINGLES two weeks before the trip and we weren't sure if he was going to feel better or if his seeping wounds would heel on time.  We were also worried Ellie might come down with chicken pox from exposure to him.  Then we each got the stomach flu. Then Ellie had a cold (like always) and we weren't sure if it was going to develop into something worse. Then with two days left until the trip, we were scrambling to find another back-up sitter for part of the time. I thought I was going to have a panic attack. It was also busy getting the house ready for our guests/sitters.  We weren't completely babyproofed yet, so we had to finish that along with fixing some other quirky things that we are used to with the house but didn't want other people to deal with (like locks not working properly unless you give it the secret handshake).  I also had to write the Ellie instruction manual with illustrations which took a considerable amount of time.  And then I made meals for Ellie and our house guests and froze them.  Then for some reason I made 10 lbs of homemade applesauce because that is what I do, I've stopped trying to figure me out.  I'm not complaining, I am SOOO thankful for all of our family and friends who helped us out (special shout out to Kristin, Chip, Ryan, Joy, and my parents) it is just wayyy harder to leave than it used to be. By far.

Just when we thought it was safe, we ALMOST missed our flight from GR to Atlanta.  They were paging us while were in security.  And then the security people stopped Scott for his cpap machine.  I cried.  But we made it. Glorious Couples!

When we booked our trip, we knew it had to be Couples Resorts. We went to one of their properties (Ocho Rios) for our honeymoon and no other trip has been close to meeting the high bar this wonderful company set. After much debate, we decided to try a different Couples location and hit up Negril known for its amazing beaches and sunsets.  We were not disappointed in the least.  I think Couples Tower Isle had slightly better food, but I still gained 8 lbs in 5 days, so it obviously was still delicious! It was incredibly relaxing.  We purposefully did not plan to do much but eat, drink, read, and relax in the sun.  We met all of our goals!  What really sets the resort apart is the amazing staff.  The service is unbeatable.  The weather was also gorgeous.  This was one area we really lucked out.  There was a tropical storm before we arrived, and then another one hit a few days after we left.  We had a little rain each day, and a little more rain on Sunday, but overall it was beautiful.  It was a little cloudy, so we didn't get to see too many sunsets but we didn't stress about it. We never have more than a few hours of downtown and even then I feel like I should be doing something, so it was such a gift to not have anything to do and to spend the quality time together. We also LOVED the hammocks. More on that later.  Here is a rundown:

Day 1 Friday: Arrival.  We relaxed.  Ate garlic lobster for dinner. Friday is lobster night!
Awesome Beach!!

Lounge chairs are plentiful
Our Room
Thank you for the mini bar - we love it!

Grounds
Dinner with the hubster

Hammock! So relaxing!

Day 2: Saturday: Relaxed. Went snorkeling, relaxed, ate in the fine dining restaurant
We look good

Pool with an ocean view

So happy!

So relaxed!

Hammock!

Day 3: Sunday - Went snorkeling, relaxed, ate, drank, lots of rain from 1 pm - through the evening. No problem mon
Hammock!!!

A little rain. Irie.
Day 4:  Monday - Relaxed. Had repeaters dinner - so yummy! Lobster salad, shrimp cocktail, surf and turf dinner. Had great chats with other repeating guests - especially the Brits!


Day 5: Tuesday - Birthday! Had a massage in the morning, then went on a sunset catameran cruise in the evening. Had dinner at the Thai restaurant again.

Sunset Cruise

Thank you for the amazing birthday
Caves we swam at during the cruise


Hammock!!!!!

Day 6: Woke up really early to sit on the beach and burn the imagery into my memory. After sitting in the hut for an hour, we floated in the ocean for about an hour and then ate breakfast, walked around, and waited for the bus to take us home.
Me in the hut
View from the hut

So hard to say goodbye

Waiting for Bus

Our flight was delayed in atlanta and we didn't get home until 3 am.  So worth it!