Eli’s first vacation and plane ride!

We’re baaaaack! Did you miss us?!?

Eli is too preoccupied trying to get his hat off, ha ha. I wanted to say I’m ghostly white because this is the first day there but who am I kidding, I looked the exact same way leaving Virginia beach…

So as many of you know, Aaron, Eli and I went to Virginia to watch Aaron graduate from Regent University. It just so happened that Aaron’s brother-in-law Rod also graduated at the same time from the same school so we decided to see if his family would like to join us in Virginia beach and make a mini vacation/celebration out of it.

The graduates with Rod’s youngest, Danny. I was thoroughly entertained by this kid all week. Soooo ca-uute!

Family shot

Aldo being Aldo (hint: look at his right hand. Steph’s right hand is down by her side)

That’s better. Look at Eli waving at the camera

This lead to inviting the rest of his siblings, their spouses & kids, his parents, and me inviting my mom, sister and her hubby. That made 17 people! We rented a huge beach house to stay in. We figured since the weather probably wouldn’t be all that warm this time of year, we opted for a house not directly on the beach but one that had a built in heated pool instead. Turned out to be a good call because the ocean water was FUH-reeee-ZING!

Since most of you have already seen my pics on facebook, some of these will be redundant to you. But I am posting them for those of my friends who refuse to don’t have a facebook account…**CoughJacicough**.

Here’s the big boy holding his boarding pass for safe keeping:

…and people watching while strolling around the airport:

I’m happy to report that Eli was a gem on the plane there and back! A very active, curious, mobile gem, but gem none-the-less. Thank God grandma sat next to me on the plane because he kept crawling back and forth, from seat to seat, investigating all things new.

What was our trick you may ask? Well, I made sure to swap out a new “toy” every 15min or so to keep him occupied. I nursed him going up and coming down (this assisted in getting him to nap for 30 min on the way there and for the last 50min of the flight on the way home, plus made sure to relieve ear pressure), but most importantly, I brought his favorite jungle gym person along—grandma.

I’m sure those around us were upset they got the seat next to a baby but he made me proud by behaving, and ended up making friends with the lady behind us and the guys next to us by giving them his cheesiest, charming grin and “talking” to them. Speaking of charm, I think I need to teach him to tone it down a bit because a flight attendant waiting for her flight on the way home took a liking to him in a very creepy, stalker kind of way. She sat right next to his stroller, talked to him incessantly, and grabbed his blankie to nuzzle it (not even kidding. I was waiting for her to ask me if she could keep it!) Then she asks me if she can hold him! Seriously lady?? Stranger danger! Ok, but it gets worse. The topper was when she says “would you like me to push him around the airport in his stroller while you wait, I have the time?” Um, thanks but no thanks. I confirmed that there were a few screws loose when she found out I was a nurse in the Chicago land area and wanted to know if I knew her nurse friend who worked at a chicago hospital. I mean, I guess it’s a natural thing to ask because how many nurses can there possibly be in the Chicago land area??? Naturally I must know her. Even in the most remote chance I did know her, my brain wouldn’t have had the capacity to check because I was already having a hard enough time not making it so obvious that I was staring at the hot pink lipstick smeared all over her front teeth…But I digress, like usual. Well, as long as we’re here, look what I found on my old camera I brought along with me:

Look how young he was!!! Remember the great hair he was born with???

Ok, moving right along. We enjoyed sitting out by the pool with Eli’s cousin’s and soaking up the sun.

I even picked him up a floaty toy for him to sit in which I plan to use at Auntie Stephie’s pool during the summer. It’s a patrol cruiser identical to the one his state trooper Uncle Pibe drives! Ok, so I’m kidding, it’s not identical .

Us white folk seeking shelter in the shade…Wth, aren’t you supposed to have boobs while nursing!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! *short end of the stick= this momma*

These next 4 pictures are my favorite:

So stinkin’ cute those two!

Love! Eli posing with his other grandma, Shay.

I love staring at these two.

With mom #2, aka Auntie Stephie.

We also celebrated Aaron’s sister Brianna’s birthday while out there. Eli had a good time:

Getting smooches from uncle Pibe

being festive…

Bri and her birthday brownies.

Overall it was a very nice trip. I wouldn’t say “vacation” because that involves zoning out and having not a care in the world in my opinion. The reality of it was that it was all a new environment to a baby where NOTHING was baby friendly. There were sooooo many breakable things in that house that Eli couldn’t get enough of. They had a portable play yard but don’t think he was happy being in there with all the big kids running about without him. That meant watching him like a hawk when he was crawling and constantly redirecting him away from stuff “not for babies”. A shout out to my mom for watching him, a LOT and for keeping him entertained most of the time so mommy and daddy could go out or veg by the pool. You, truly are the greatest!!! His little cousin Lizzy, aka “little momma” was also very helpful tending to his needs for constant attention. Thanks Lizzy!

Well that’s the gist of it. This post is already getting super long, which I have a tendency to do so I’ll cap it off here. Be sure to ask Steph about her airport experience. What a nightmare!

-Linds