Our room was not ready when we got there, despite having been guaranteed an early check-in at 2:00 p.m.  I had requested an early check-in so I could nurse Ashley and get her settled in the room before I had to work the convention.  So much for that.  We had to wait 2 hours for our room!  Then we had a bad experience with room service and weren’t given what was advertised on their menu.  Oh, and the crib they were supposed to set up in our room ended up being a used pack-n-play that probably hadn’t been disinfected in the past year.  Thank goodness we brought our own so Ashley didn’t have to sleep in the hotel’s germy one.  Yuck!

But even with a few hotel annoyances, our trip was a lot of fun!  Mom got some good quality time with her granddaughter, and I was able to work the convention without worrying about her.  On my time off, we went to The Market Common and did some strolling, shopping, and had lunch.  It was so hot that day!  It was a pretty place to walk around.  We also took Ashley to the kiddie pool at the hotel.  She had fun splashing around!

This was Ashley’s first hotel stay and it was quite an experience.  It was a challenge getting her to sleep at night, and she didn’t like riding in the crowded elevator.  But she loved strolling around the hotel looking at all the new people and sights.  She’s such a ham, too.  She soaks all the attention right up!  Overall, she did really good adjusting to the new environment.  It was a fun trip but we are looking forward to seeing our boys again! 

Yesterday was Blake’s 4th birthday!  My little pup is growing up (sniff sniff).  This was the first year that we didn’t celebrate on his birthday.  We are celebrating today, the day after, because I forgot to order his cake!  When I called yesterday to place my order, it was too late to get it so they are making it for pick up today.  I swear I still have baby brain!  I remembered his birthday, but not the cake…humph.

We always get the boys a cake from Gourmutt’s Bakery for their birthday.  They LOVE their cakes.  Pies and cookies too for that matter!  It’s a fun place to get them something special.  And yes, the boys do have to share their cake with each other on their birthday

Happy Birthday Blake, aka Noodles!  You are rambunctious, lovable, and a giant cuddlebug.  Our family wouldn’t be the same without you.  We love you buddy!

She had her 9 month check-up this week and she did good.  Notice I didn’t say “great”.  She hated it actually.  She threw a fit when the nurse tried to weigh her, another fit when the nurse tried to measure her length, and she clearly voiced her opinion as the doctor examined her and gave her a shot.  Not a happy camper.  She’s growing well though.  Our little pumpkin is now 17.05 pounds, 27.25 inches long, and her head circumference is 46.25!  Yes, that is a huge head compared to the rest of her little body.  Her head is in the 96% percentile!  That’s because of her large, intelligent brain of course   The doctor answered all of my questions.  I really really like our doctor.  I had a bad experience with another doctor in that practice, and was thinking about switching practices.  But at her 6 month visit, this doctor had to fill in for ours who was running late, and I absolutely loved him!  So I decided to stay.  It feels nice to have a doctor you feel comfortable with, who is knowledgeable, friendly, and seems to genuinely care about your child.

Here’s a funny tidbit of what Ashley is doing now.  Well, she’s been doing it for about a month actually.  I’m just now getting around to blogging about it.  She puts her hands up in the air, and looks up at them.  Van says she is the Queen calling her subjects.  That’s exactly what it looks like.  It is so funny!  I guess she is fascinated by her hands, so she holds them high up in the air and looks at them.  Sometimes she even babbles to herself or will hold a toy high up in the air and talk to it.  Here are a few shots of her doing it with Van before we went on vacation.

On another note, Ashley is 9 months old today!  NINE MONTHS!  Needless to say, I am already planning her first birthday party.  I am so excited!  And she goes to the doctor tomorrow for a check-up.  Can’t wait to get her stats and see how much she has grown.  Also to get all of my questions answered.  I have yet to go to a doctor’s appointment not armed with a list of questions!

I love my family so much and it was nice to spend the week with them.  I’m a very lucky girl!  Until next time…

Meanwhile, Van and I took the boys to the beach.  Since it was getting dark, my pictures didn’t turn out very good.  But the boys had a great time!  We threw their bumper in the ocean for them to fetch.  They love jumping through the waves!  It makes me so happy to see them having fun.  I love my boys

On a sad note though, there is a lady here on vacation who lost her dog.  She is from Atlanta.  Her dog got spooked by fireworks and ran away.  It’s a Bernese Mountain dog.  So she has posted fliers everywhere and people have been searching for him.  Someone came up to us last night as we were walking to see if we had seen her dog.  I feel so bad for her.  Since I almost lost Blake 2 years ago in the same circumstance, I know that lump in your throat feeling.  It just breaks my heart.  I really hope her doggie  finds his way back home!

We then went to Calabash for a late dinner and ate at Capt. Nance’s Seafood.  It was so yummy!  I wanted to get our pictures taken out on the dock but decided to wait until after we ate.  Well, by that time it was dark out so the pictures didn’t turn out very good.  Oh well.  You can’t tell it, but there was a shrimp boat behind us in the pictures.  We ate at 8:00 p.m. and got back home around 10:00 p.m.  Ashley fell asleep on the way home.  We were all pooped!

You know how when things go smoothly it’s not really that memorable; but the things that don’t go as planned, those are the memories that really stay with you?  Well, our beach trip was certainly a memorable one.  First off, it took forever to leave the house.  After we got Ashley fed, changed, and lathered up, we packed the truck full of umbrellas, chairs, a tent, towels, a cooler, drinks, koozies, toys, and watermelon.  We unloaded everything at the public access and unpacked on the beach.  Van carried Ashley out there and when he arrived where we were sitting, his shirt was soaking wet.  Apparently, those Huggies Swimmers aren’t worth a darn.  I didn’t know this until now because when Ashley is in the pool, she is always wet so I had no way to know that the diapers leaked.  Not only did they leak all over Van, but we also found out she had left a deposit in there.  And these aren’t regular diapers either.  They are pull-ups!  How do you get a pull up off a baby without spilling the contents everywhere?!  Well, with the help of your Mom and sister of course!

Actually, let me back up a bit.  After discovering Ashley’s wetness, I had the brilliant idea of just putting her in the ocean to clean her off.  Ha!  Seriously?  Yea, I’m an idot.  I just held her while I stood in the ocean (didn’t even put her in) and she hated it.  It didn’t help that it was rough water yesterday.  She cried.  So I tried putting her in some water that had puddled up on the sand.  She cried.  I put her feet in the sand.  She cried.  We changed her diaper.  She cried.  Tried to put her suit back on.  She cried.  So we just left her naked with a clean diaper on.  She took about a 5 minute cat nap laying on my shoulder, and when she awoke she was good to go!  It was so funny.  Like she just needed to re-charge.  So from that point on, she was fine.  She ate some watermelon in her mesh feeder, lots of watermelon actually.  Played under the tent and entertained herself for quite a while.    When she began getting tired again, we packed it all up and came back home.

Man, it was exhausting.  She hated the water.  Hated the sand.  She was content just playing on a blanket under the tent.  So I don’t think we’ll be making another trek to the beach anytime soon.  All that work for such little reward.  Some would say it wasn’t worth it.  But having this story about Ashley’s first beach experience…priceless!

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