First Family Vacation

Well we went on our first family vacation this past weekend. We spent the weekend in beautiful Sedona, AZ. We had been looking forward to this for over a month, but it started out not quite how we expected. I'm always one to pack about 3 days early as to make sure I don't forget anything and I don't wear anything that I was planning on wearing during vacation. I thought I was doing good because we packed all of the clothes and some toys for Chloe the night before. There were a lot of things that I had made a mental note to pack in the morning after we use it. We were frantically getting everything ready and in time for Chloe's doctor's appointment. It was like the Home Alone movie where they are all running frantically around the house because they woke up late.

We were driving up to Sedona, which is a little less than 2 hours away, but because of the delay in Chloe's doctor's appointment we were running a bit behind. So we had to decide where to stop and feed her. We thought we would just stop at the outlet mall, but she was sleeping in the car so as Zach is asking should I pull off, should I pull off. I'm saying hold on your phone is so slow I can't figure out where the next stop is and if we can make it. He decides to just start to pull off and I say NO there is a McDonald's about 20 miles lets let Chloe sleep and continue driving. The rest of the drive is uneventful as we stop at McDonald's so everyone can eat and then we continue the drive to Sedona.

It isn't until we get to our hotel that we realize everything that we forgot. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. We forgot Chloe's swaddle! Chloe doesn't sleep well without a swaddle because she still has the newborn jerky arms and legs that wake her up and prevent her from sleeping good. Her swaddle was one thing that was on my mental list that I never said out loud because I thought surely I would remember. Sedona isn't the kind of place that has a Walmart or Babies R Us close by. The closest town is a half hour away. So we called the front desk to see if they recommend any stores or anywhere that might have baby stuff. They recommended a place called Beals, but it is basically just like a Ross or TJMax and they didn't have anything and the grocery store didn't have anything. So it was time for plan B. I told Zach just to pick up some Velcro and we would make a swaddle. So that's what we did. Of course once Zach got back from the store I realized that we didn't bring Chloe's nighttime diapers either or her lullabies.

Needless to say we were a little nervous about the first night for Chloe to be in a different bed without an actual swaddle and her super absorbent nighttime diapers. And I was stressing because I didn't have a monitor that detects motion so how was I to know if she was alive in there. Zach laughed when I asked if we should bring the monitor, and he was right we didn't need it, but I was so nervous I wouldn't hear her. The night actually didn't go all that bad. She went right to sleep at 8:30pm and then woke up at 3:30am. We changed her, re-swaddled her and gave her another few ounces to help put her back to sleep. It worked and we had to wake her up at 8:30am the next morning.

On Saturday we went and walked around the town in all the little shops and ate out in town and looked out at the beautiful scenery. It was gorgeous out both weather wise and scenery wise! After lunch we headed out into some of the hiking trails. I had looked up some wheelchair accessible trails because I figured if the wheelchair could get through then so could Chloe's stroller. When we pulled into the parking area the lady at the front gate said that we had to stay on this side of the creek because the water was rushing due to the snow melting. We kind of laughed and thought that it really wasn't rushing, but it was. The water was moving quite quickly and it was deep. There was no way we could get across. So our hike was a little shorter than normal, but it was still nice and relaxing. After our walk we just decided to drive around and see some of the other parts of town and rocks that we don't normally get to see. Then we headed back to the hotel and put Chloe down for a quick nap. Once she woke up we went up to the fire pit, but it was windy so she didn't like that too much. We decided to go back to the room and roast some marshmallows in the fire place. I thought they were YUMMY, but Zach said I burnt them too much.

We weren't too concerned about that night's sleep because we assumed she would do what she did the night before. We were wrong. We put her to bed again at 8:30pm, but then she woke up at 12:30am, 4:00am and then 7:30am. Each time we just changed her diaper and re-swaddled her. We definitely didn't sleep as well as the night before, but she didn't do too bad.

On Sunday morning my goal was to leave the hotel by 9am and go eat breakfast and then leave town by 10am so we could get home at a good time. Zach laughed at me and my goals because he said I have no sense of time or how long things take. He was right. We didn't leave the hotel until about 9:20am and the breakfast place was so packed that we just decided to get Burger King to go. We were out of town before 10am though! Chloe was asleep for a good half hour and then we stopped at the gas station to pick up some Noble Roman's breadsticks. She woke up while we were stopped, but we thought surely she would just fall back asleep once we started moving again. We forgot that we were at higher elevation and for the next 30 minutes she screamed her head off because her ears were popping. Because the roads are so narrow and winding there wasn't a spot for us to pull off so I could get back there and give her a bottle to help with the ear popping. It was not the most enjoyable 30 minutes.

Then we stopped at the outlet mall because we are looking for Chloe some sandals and we love a shoe store that always has buy one get one free. We couldn't find Chloe any sandals and then the store that we love so much is no longer there. What a waste of a stop we thought.

We made it back home by 2pm and we unpacked and got settled for about a half hour and then Zach, Chloe, me Daisy and Buster all took a walk to Sabrina and Adams. Oh and it was about 85 degrees outside. We sweat the whole way and there were times that we thought Buster wouldn't make it there. We made it and Chloe and Allie played together for a bit while the dogs played with a stray dog that Sabrina and Adam have. Allie was definitely more interested in Chloe as she gave her some kisses and kept touching Chloe's head. I'm not sure if she realized that Chloe was not a doll, but it was cute to see her curious about Chloe. We stayed for a bit and then make the trek back home. This time Zach had to carry Buster for about 5 minutes because we were walking at snail speed. The 5 minute break gave Buster a second wind because he was fine the rest of the way home.

Sunday night Chloe didn't make a peep and I'm not sure that Zach or I made a peep either. It was a great family weekend, but it was also great to be home in our own bed. We learned a lot during our first trip away with Chloe, but we also learned that we can make anything work.