Vacation to Destin, FL

Last week we went on vacation with the Guin clan to Destin! Jason, me, and the boys drove halfway down a night early to Montgomery so we wouldn't have to make the whole trek in one day. Jason said we HAD to stop at the Peach Park on our way!

Mmmmm... fried peach pie. 

A little roughhousing before bed. 

Country Folks restaurant where we stopped after driving for over an hour with NO FOOD CHOICES in sight. I was like YES PLEASE, ANYWHERE! Let's eat!!

We watched Monsters, Toy Story 2, Nemo, and Winnie the Pooh over the course of our car riding time (there and back)

We decided to stay in on our first night and just order pizza and relax. Which was good because I was POOPED! Then Miller Man decided it would be fun to get up at 6:30am on Sunday morning so we made the best of it and went out on the balcony to hang out. 

That night we went to AJ's with all the Guins.

Sam & V, Nick, Mom & Dad (Mimi & Poppy, that is), Jason, Jack and Miller. This was my attempt to get the whole table, which didn't end up including Vanessa. So I tried to do a panoramic shot, and...

...Panoramics aren't great for people's faces - check out Nick!!! Ahh!!

We got a fun family picture and I didn't even realize Jason was holding Miller over one of the holes until afterwards! Too funny!!

feeding the fish

Jason's expert parking skills

It was SUPPOSED to rain all week, but thank goodness we had really good weather! 

Hanging out on the beach!

My Miller Man!!

Sweet Jack giving Mommy an "mmm-mah" 

Our little set up.

Right before the trip, we were having all kinds of issues with Miller's tummy (I'll explain more in his 5 month post), so we decided to put him on formula for the whole vacation. Luckily he takes a bottle well and this night at dinner, he decided he was a big boy and would hold it himself!! :)

Speaking of that night (Monday)... we're happily eating our dinner at Dewey Destin, minding our own business, when it starts thundering off in the distance. It gets closer, closer, closer and then we're like "Oh my word - it's gonna open UP on us!" We were sitting on the patio, pretty much in the direct path of the brewing storm, but luckily they got us an inside table and we were able to RUN inside (literally) with all our food before we got drenched. Whew. That was cah-razy.

Tuesday we went outlet shopping while the boys played golf. 

We love Buh-nessa!!

That night we went to Captain Daves for dinner and Nick tried crab legs for the first time. Jason is quite the crab legs expert so Nick got to learn from the master.

Sweet Aunt & Uncle

Wednesday morning, Jason, Nick, and the boys and I went to the Donut Hole for breakfast. This spread doesn't even include Jason's food, because he inhales his meals. It was REALLY yummy!!

Another day at the beach, despite his face - he enjoyed it!

Beach family!!

Sitting in the inflatable Jake pool!

Wednesday night we went over to the Baytowne Wharf to walk around and eat dinner at the Acme Oyster House. Dude - BEST meal we had! It was sooooo good!! 

Nick did a chipping contest to win a boat, and came REALLY close! We were proud of him.

It was also Mom and Dad's anniversary!! 31 years!

On the balcony Thursday morning before we left our condo.

overlooking the pool

panoramic (which I'm still no good at)

The Guin's left on Thursday to head home and we decided to stay another night in Destin. We went back down to the area near AJ's and walked around. Jack was desperate to go on the choo-choo train and who are we to deny him such a treat?!

That face. I die.

Here's a video of the train:

Then we went on a dolphin cruise! It was fun and we saw lots of dolphins, but oh my goodness... we would not go on this boat again. It was completely open, as in NO SHADE. So we slathered the boys in sunscreen, and I did my best to shield my sleeping Miller.

...and I got burned. Ugh.

Here's a video of the cruise:

Thursday night we went back to the Baytowne Wharf and walked on the pier that we didn't know you could get to the first night!

...and we ate at the Acme Oyster House again! Yum!! (And we were served by a Taylor Swift lookalike! No joke!!)

silly boy sitting in the window at our hotel

being a helpful big brother on the way home - "I wanna hold it!"

"Brother - be quiet and quit kicking my chair. I'm trying to sleep."

Another fabulous vacation for the summer of 2013!!

Poor Miller

So remember my post about Miller needing to gain weight? Well, I started him on cereal mixed with formula and he really loved it! At least for a while. Then on July 3rd about 5:30pm, he threw up everywhere... Poor buddy! So no big deal, change our clothes and move on. Then in the middle of the night, he threw up again! 

So we called the doctor the next day and luckily (since it was July 4th), our doctor was the one on-call! By that point he had thrown up 3-4 times, so she called in an anti-nasuea medicine for him and told us to hold off on anymore cereal. 

He ended up throwing up a total of 5 times :'( but after a few doses of the nausea medicine, he was able to keep his food down. Come on, little buddy - you're supposed to be GAINING WEIGHT not puking! 

He's all better now, but I still brace myself every time he burps... assuming I'm about to get puked on again.

Being Out of Words & Mommy Guilt

I was listening to a podcast earlier by another blogger who said that she hadn't been blogging as much lately (she has 3 boys - 4, 2, and 6 months) because she uses so many words during the day that she just doesn't have any more words to use on the blog.

This is how I feel!!

Right now, when I have downtime, I either take a nap (sleep when the baby sleeps!!) or do chores. Usually blogging isn't on my mind, except to think about all the stuff I haven't blogged yet. Then the bloggy guilt comes, and this week, I can't handle any more guilt.

Monday we went to the doctor for both boys' check-ups, Jack's 2 year and Miller's 4 month (2 wks late).  [Insert line about "how I still need to take official 2 year old pictures of Jack and write a big 2 year old post" here.] So everything is all good with Jack, except I need to do a better job of brushing his teeth. Whoooops.

We get around to Miller and here's where the bummed out/guilty part comes. Jack has always been on the lower end of the charts for weight, anywhere from 30-40th percentile, and over 75th percentile for height. So when they told me that Miller was only in the 2nd percentile for weight and height, I was SHOCKED!! (This means that 98% of boy babies his age are bigger than he is.)

Prior to our appointment, I had been feeding him every 3 hours and trying to stick with a routine of eat, awake for an hour or so, nap for as long as he will, and then awake until it's time for the next scheduled feeding. He has felt bigger to me, showing growth milestones of alertness, babbling, holding his head up, etc. But the proof is in the pudding, he's just not gaining as much as we want him to.

So here comes the Mommy Guilt, "How did I not notice this sooner?" "If I had brought him in 2 weeks ago on his actual 4 month birthday instead of waiting to do both boys at once, I could have already been working on this!" "Will I have to stop nursing and give him formula to get his weight up?" "Will I have to start feeding him cereal even though I'd like to wait until he's 6 months?" "Is THIS why he cries all the time?"

Sigh.

So to answer some of those questions... The doctor did want me to start him on cereal and so far so good on that front! (Compared to Jack who HATED it for the longest!) He really likes it and it hasn't seemed to upset his stomach. It also hasn't made him sleep any better - so there goes that myth!

The doctor gave me some formula to use if we need to. I've been using it to mix with cereal, but overall I've just been nursing as often as he needs to. Yesterday was our first real day of demand-feeding and he was just so dadgum happy all day long. And took great naps. (Didn't sleep so great at night, but you can't have everything!) It was really good to have positive progress after such a rough Monday.

Also, I don't know what I would've done without Cara at the doctor with me! She came to help wrangle the boys. She held Miller while we did Jack's stuff, then took Jack out to the van while we finished up with baby brother. Then the rest of the day she listened to me moan and groan and whine about how hard it's been lately, and she let me whine - then talked some sense into me. Thank you B.

Oh, and did I mention that she helped me make a cake for Jack's birthday? I made the cake and then she and Jack made the icing!

It's still not easy. I still don't have all the answers. Even the ones I kinda need right now. But God is in control, and I will trust in Him with all my heart, and lean NOT on my own understanding. In all my ways I will acknowledge Him and He will make my path straight! (Prov 3:5-6)

Just help me remember that when life is like this: