Off to the shore!

| July 23, 2010

Today we wish a happy 10 month birthday to our little bunny, Samantha!  I can’t believe in such a short time she will be a year old.  And tomorrow we leave for our first vacation as a family, to Sea Isle City, NJ.  We can’t wait to see what she thinks of the beach and the ocean.  This is the vacation that Mark and I have been dreaming about for such a long time — one with a child in tow.  For so many years we have wanted to share a real family vacation with a little one.  I know it will be much less relaxing than normal, but I honestly don’t care.  All I know is that I don’t have to be jealous of all the other families on the beach playing with their kids this year.  I know Mark feels the same way.  We have spent all this week packing. It takes forever!  We have so much stuff to bring that we bought a rooftop carrier for Mark’s Honda Pilot.  When we were putting in on yesterday, Mark commented how he always wanted a rooftop carrier because to him it is sort of symbolic of having kids.  If it’s just you and your wife, why would you need so much storage space?  So to him, throwing it up on the car yesterday was sort of a big deal because it just meant that he finally had a real family.  I know exactly what he means.

On another positive note, Sam is sleeping so much better!  We decided enough was enough with the crying and the no napping so Mark and I put our foot down, so to speak, and gave Sam no choice but to sleep.  We have been letting her cry in her crib a bit, and really playing hardball with her when she keeps trying to sit up.  After a few days, she stopped the incessant screaming when we put her down and started lying down quietly again, like she used to.  She also is doing better with her naps.  The best part though is that it’s been four days in a row of no waking up in the middle of the night to eat!  It has been so long since that one week or so when she slept through the night that I never thought she would again.  Let’s hope the being on vacation doesn’t send her right back to screaming again!

Lots and lots of beach pictures to come!