2011 over already?

So I had all these grand plans to blog each week so I don't forget anything that happens with our sweet baby, Olivia. That's not going so well. Turns out, babies make it hard to keep up with a blog.

She's sleeping right now, and I finally uploaded all our photos from December onto my computer. I've been meaning to do that so I could include some here.

I'm going to have to split this into 2 separate posts I think. Florida and Christmas. Otherwise it will get pretty long. Here's a recap of our vacation to Florida the first weekend in December:

My college roommate, Kim, had a baby back in October. And since I couldn't make it to her shower over the summer, she and I decided that it would be fun for our baby girls to meet after she was born. So, we booked our flight (Olivia's first) and headed to Florida the first weekend in December (Thurs.-Mon.).

Our flight was super early. In fact, Olivia fell asleep on the way to the airport. It made checking our luggage easier, but I had to wake her up to go through security. And let me just tell you a little about going through security with a baby and all the stuff that babies bring with them on a plane.

We had: a stroller, carseat, diaper bag, and my Gemini carrier for Olivia. Plus a carry on and personal item for Pete and myself. Of course, our personal items and carry ons contained all things for Olivia. I had my Kindle and Pete had a magazine, neither of which got read at any point on this trip.

We had to take Olivia out of the Gemini, take all the carry ons out of the car seat, take the car seat out of the stroller, fold up the stroller, and put the whole mess through the X-ray machine. Of course, our stroller barely fit. And yes, I have her of umbrella strollers for travel, but it wouldn't hold the car seat and I wanted to gate check the car seat for fear of it getting lost.

We ground security to a screeching halt. Amazing. I've never seen a line at our security area in our airport, but we created one that morning! For anyone else traveling out of our town that morning, I apologize! :)

On the plus side, there was room on an earlier, direct flight to Orlando. So we got bumped to that, and arrived about 4 hours earlier than scheduled! The direct flight was awesome, and Olivia did great.  She didn't cry at all. I nursed her during take off and landing, and other than that she took a 20-minute nap and played the whole rest of the time. It was truly amazing.

Once we got to Orlando, we picked up our rental car and drove over to Kim & Lou's house to meet sweet baby V. We spent the afternoon playing with the babies and eating Publix subs. Oh, Publix, how I miss you. Your deli, your bakery, and the fact that I can find everything I need in one store. Grocery shopping with you was therapeutic. But... I digress.

Friday morning, Lou had to go to work, so Kim, Pete, and I took the babies to the mall to meet Santa in the morning. The line was deceptively long. We got in what looked like a reasonable line, only to discover a while later that it snaked around and around and around. We stood in line for about an hour and a half. Amazingly, the babies did great! Olivia was fascinated with all the sparkly decorations and the other kids in line with us. Santa was great too. He had twinkly eyes and a real beard to boot.

That afternoon, Pete and I took Olivia to see our friend Jen and her sister (whom I used to nanny for) and her kids. I hadn't seen them in at least two years. The kids have gotten so big! It was nice to visit and catch up with them.

We left Jen, Stephanie, and the kids to head over to Gators (fantastic wings!) to see all our old buddies from back home. I cannot believe we forgot to take any pictures that night! I feel terrible about it. All our friends met Olivia for the very first time, and we have no pictorial record. It was so much fun getting everyone together that night. Olivia got passed around, and loved every minute of all the attention she got. Seeing everyone made me miss them all over again. I hope someday some of them will make it up here for a visit. It's nice in the summer, I swear! (And no, Dani, I haven't forgotten that you've visited twice. You're awesome!!)

Saturday, Kim and Lou took us to the Winter Garden downtown area for some baby wearing at the farmers' market and parade. The market was really nice (we got some delicious honey and Kim got several varieties of flan). It's not like the farmers' markets up here though. I mean, you can get flan! And the veggies are already clean. :)

The parade was cute. Where else can you see Minnie and Mickey Mouse in a Christmas parade? The parade is where we learned that baby V is just like her mama. Every time a band would pass that baby would quit crying. She loved the drum line! It was so cute.

Saturday night, Pete, Lou, and our friend Kevin had a guys' night out. Kim and I put the babies to bed, and had a girls' night in complete with chick flicks and ice cream sundaes.



We met up with Dani for lunch first at Aunt Catfish's. Pete and I had been craving seafood. Thanks, Dani, for being so accommodating. I know seafood is not your thing. It was great to catch up with her, and have Olivia meet another one of our closest friends. After lunch we all went out on the dock to show Olivia the intracoastal.  She was fascinated with the seagulls flying around.

We said goodbye to Dani and headed a few blocks south to Lighthouse Point Park (near the Ponce de Leon Inlet and Lighthouse). It was beautiful there. We'd never been there before. We were actually thinking of going to Canaveral National Seashore (where we usually go to the beach), but we made a wrong turn. It worked out in our favor. The beach was beautiful. The inlet, near where we parked, had a school of dolphins swimming in the surf. Olivia didn't care much for them. I think they were too far away for her to really notice.

We walked the boardwalk to the beach. Once we got there, we introduced Olivia to the Atlantic Ocean, the sand, seaweed, shells, and beach birds. She was thrilled with the seagulls and pelicans. They were close enough that she could really get a good look at them. She kept pointing to the ones sitting on top of the pilings and screeching.

She liked putting her feet in the water. The little waves that came up didn't scare her at all. Until they started to wash back out and the sand under her feet went with it. Poor Olivia really didn't like that feeling, and started to cry.

After that, she wouldn't even let me put her feet in the sand out of the water. We set a towel down, and she wouldn't sit on that either. So I held her in my lap and put some sand in my hand for her to explore. She didn't mind touching it that way. Amazingly, she didn't try to put anything icky (sand, seaweed, or shells) into her mouth.

It started to get chilly as the sun went down. So we took a quick walk up the beach to collect some shells from Olivia's first beach trip, and then we headed back to Kim & Lou's.

On Monday (in the morning before we had to be at the airport), Kim took the three of us downtown to walk around Lake Eola (where Pete and I got engaged). Her mom met us down there too. We walked the lake twice. Olivia was fascinated with the birds again. Lake Eola is famous for its swans. After our walk, we headed to a mom n pop Latin restaurant for lunch. Oh Latin food. How I miss you. Lunch was amazing (thanks, Kim, for taking us there!) Olivia loved the pork, plantains, and black beans. This was her third experience with Latin food. And it was a success. I think I need to get some recipes so I can make it at home. YUM!

After lunch we headed to the airport. Security was an even bigger nightmare this time. We waited in line. We were ready with everything folded and in the bins. We made it through without much fanfare. Then we boarded the tram to take us to our terminal. Yup. The terminals have changed since we moved, and we got on the wrong tram. We had to take the tram back to the main building and go through security AGAIN before we could take the correct tram to our terminal. Luckily we had plenty of time.

Olivia didn't do as well on this flight. She fussed a lot. I think she was really tired, but she would not sleep! We had a layover in Atlanta, and she finally fell asleep on the second leg of our journey. We didn't get home until almost midnight. But she slept great once we got home.

It was a great trip, and I'm so glad we went. It was wonderful seeing all our friends and introducing Olivia to them. I'm also thrilled that we got to meet little Miss V. The babies were so cute together. Things sure have changed since we were there last. Now instead of night clubs and beer at the beach, we met Santa at the mall and played in the sand. I wouldn't change a thing!