Vacation, had to get away (Pt. II)

We vacationed in South Bethany Beach, Delaware again. We like to think of this as "our" beach because we've been going there for so long. I've been to many beaches over my lifetime and SBB is by far my very favorite as a vacation destination. (No offense VB, I loved living there). It's small and private, not too far of a drive, the water is great in July, seagulls don't steal food from right out of your hands and the lifeguards aren't very picky.

We stayed in the same house as last year. nothing fancy but it's an easy walk to the beach. And what it lacks in amenities it more than makes up for in important areas - like beds and parking spaces. Which brings me to my next point - our guests.

In addition to our family, my parents...

... two bachelor brothers, and their gazillion friends - Landon, Steven, Luke, Jordan, Ryan and Mark.


Uncle Micah and "Mr. Landon"

The girls were kinda outnumbered, Julia didn't mind a bit. That girl can work a crowd!

Jack loved having "big boys" to watch Spongebob with.

We also had our friend Michelle come for the first half of the week. Michelle's daughter got married on Saturday and while the bride and groom were honeymooning we figured the mother-of-the-bride could use a change of scene too. After she left our friend's Phil and Abi and their daughter came for one night.

Sweet Baby Rae.

Rae can hold her own with my boys!

  And Jordan's parents Beth and Robert finished out the week.

Robert hit the jackpot at the arcade!

We also had a few day guests - Jason and Beth with their two boys.

Darling Justus!

He was putting the moves on Julia.

Jack loved having a buddy his age, and Trenton was a great pal!

There was also Landon's mom and her boyfriend, and Landon's brother and some of his youth group. And finally we had some familiar neighbors - our church friends the Good's and their 6 kids were a few miles down the road and came to beach with us a few days.

Jack loves anyone who will build him sandcastles and carrying buckets of water.

  And our lifelong friends and yearly beach buddies the Snyder's were in a house directly across the street.  Phew, I think that covers everyone.
As you may remember from prevoius vacation posts, this is how my family does the beach: we wake up, eat breakfast, packs our bags, go to the beach all day, come back for dinner, and hang out at night. 






In the evenings, people that don't have kids usually go out and do fun things.  Those of us that do have kids (okay, so just Jon and I) typically stay back at the house and do fun things.  Sorta.  People that have kids also usually bring the kids back for a nap in the middle of the day and either do work (Jon) or read books out on the deck in order to not miss out on a moment of suntanning (me). 



Speaking of naps, they're always tricky on vacation.  No one wants to sleep their holiday away.  But no one wants to spend time with cranky kids either.  Julia is down to two naps a day but due to the late nights and short naps at the beach, she started needing a third one.  Sometimes it was difficult to get her to sleep in the mornings, and other times we didn't feel like bringing her back from the beach.  Good thing we had the Ergo.  I know I talk about it all the time but it was a total lifesaver this week.

Uncle Micah takes a turn.

  When she started to get fussy and rub her eyes I just put her on, started walking down the beach and she was out by the time I passed the first lifeguard stand.  The only downfall is I was then stuck with a sleeping baby on my chest.  But I'd rather be out on the beach under an umbrella than stuck in the house or on a deck all by myself.  So we made do.

The change in our routine definitely affects the kiddos.  Jude, who slept on an air mattress in Poppa and Marmie's room, was often up a few times in the night.  Jack, who slept in the open loft often complained that the lights were too bright (and by lights he meant sunshine because he had a huge window in his room), and Julia was up every morning around 4:30-5 for a quick bite to eat and to spend the next hour or two in our bed.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  Is it too early for my morning calisthenics?"

Ah yes, vacation.  Not what it used to be that's for sure.

But it certainly has it advantages.  Like only having to cook one meal a week.  We did our meal first - chicken salads.  This was followed by shish kabobs, tacos, barbecued ribs, spaghetti and jumbalaya.  In addition to a sampling of crabs that the guys caught throughout the week.  Oh yes, we eat well at the beach.

Mr. Stepen and Uncle Micah

Taco night, in which Ryan determines cilantro makes an excellent alternative to deodorant.

  We play hard too.

  Poleish , Blongo Ball , Kan Jam

I'm convinced my brothers own every type of tailgating game known to man.  Well at least they did until this week.  Good things our friend Phil and Abi introduced them to a new one - Spikeball.



We also play lots of games at night - card games, dominoes, Bananagrams and a new one - Sumoku (like a cross between Bananagrams and Sudoku).

 
And then there are those of us who think vacation is all about reading.  Oh wait, that would be me.  Here was the results my pre-beach library trip.  I don't get through as many as I did back in the day but I at least beat last year's pile. 



"Bloom " by blogger Kelle Hampton - beautiful story, beautiful pictures, will probably make you cry and may annoy you just a little. But I like Hampton too much to hold a grudge.  If you're a fan of "Enjoying the Small Things" you'll find a lot of additional details in this book.  Worth the read.

"The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--a Love Story " by another blogger, Ree Drummond.  The Pioneer Woman is awesome.  'Nuff said.  Except I'll say more. This book had me laughing out loud.  It's all about how this corporate woman met and fell in love with her cowboy husband.  It's a little heated at times (although she never crosses the line) but it was a good reminder that everyone has a love story.  And a little motivation to finish writing my own. 

I also "read" the Pioneer Woman's cookbook.  The only cookbook I've read cover to cover.  And
two Janette Oke books - "The Centurion's Wife" and "Julia's Last Hope."  These were okay.  Not her best.  But since I've read all the rest I guess I'll have to take what I can get. 

I planned to read Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" since finishing his biography.  But never got around to it, opting instead for some "lighter" beach reading.

Speaking of reading, I've been staring at a computer screen for most of the day and I have the final book on my list waiting for me in my big, comfy bed.  So I'll save the rest of the beach stories for next time!

Vacation all I ever wanted

Annnnd we're back.  Back from a week of sun, sand, ocean, tan lines and very tired children.  I've got lots of pictures and stories to share but I think this will be a multi-part series, bite sized if you will.  That way we can all savor the sweet, salty aftertaste of vacation just a little longer... and I can get back to the unpacking and cleaning a little faster.  And so, rewinding to the previous week ...

We broke our family rule and told the kids we were going to the beach a few days early.  Honestly, last week was so bad, such a mommy low, that I needed something to brighten up the days.  Plus, it was a good lesson for Jack in counting and days of the week.  Friday finally arrived and although I had major plans all week to get ahead on packing and cleaning, it just didn't happen.  Jon was supposed to be traveling until late Friday night but that trip got cancelled.  Instead he worked late all week but still wasn't able to mentally check-in until Friday evening anyway. 

But when Daddy finally got home you could sense the change in the atmosphere.  Although we had our work cut out for us that evening, vacation had officially begun!

He's whistling, when the Handsome Coastie whistles, you know it's a good day.

We got the kids all down to bed and were finally able to focus on packing and cleaning. The plan was to get everything done that night so that we could wake up extra early, hit the road right away, and beat the beach traffic headed over the Bay Bridge (which is where we got waylaid last year). It was a busy night - long on work and short on time. We finished the packing by 11:30 (this is late in our house) and I was just starting on the vacuuming when I heard a whooshing sound. I figured Jon was watering the outside plants with the hose and simultaneously spraying down the house. And that's when the lights started to flicker. Keep in mind, this was one of those ridiculously hot days. Jon was outside watching the neighborhood lights go on and off thinking "there's no way I'll sleep tonight without AC" and I was inside hearing my vacuum sputter on and off thinking "there's no way I can leave for vacation tomorrow with my carpet half-cleaned."

The power popped on and off enough that I could finish my chore and then I headed upstairs to find Jon and the source of the whooshing. He was outside, watching the trees bend and sway, and branches and leaves swirl all around our yard. The wind picked up and while we were both praying we wouldn't lose power that night we were also cheering on the coming storm and rain. Jon was worried about his once-lovely lawn and I was anxious to see my new rain barrel fill up! We both stood at the back door, staring out at the darkness, willing the rain to come. And then we heard a "boom." Almost like the time last year when a huge limb fell on our roof and shook the whole house, except not quite as bad. We looked around but didn't see anything. It wouldn't be until the next morning that we'd discover that little "boom" was a huge limb that fell on Jon's car, his new car. The limb hit the roof, smacked the windshield and bounced onto the hood. Leaving behind a trail of dents, scratches and shattered glass. Oops. There are occasionally a few days a year where we hate our tree-filled neighborhood. This was one of them. But we didn't know about the car yet. We wouldn't know until early the next morning.

We had plans to wake up around 5:30am, get everything ready, then get the kids out of bed and immediately load them in the car. We pictured their sleepy excitement, slightly disoriented at first, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes that would soon sparkle at the first mention of "the beach." I dreamed about the anticipation going to bed that night. Of course, it didn't work out that way. Instead, Jude woke us up at 5am crying and, as we would soon discover, sitting in a puddle of barf. Jack followed suit in a few minutes and the giddy, sparkled-eyes boys I had imagined a few hours later quickly became whining, tummy-grabbing, up-chucking, quite unexcited little boys. It was around this time that Jon discovered his mangled car. But, in very un-Jon-like fashion, he turned his back on the car, the limb-littered lawn and the huge branch blocking our neighborhood street and finished the last few bits of packing. We loaded up our sick kiddos, took the other route out of the neighborhood and pointed the car east. And in record time too. We made it to the Bay Bridge by 6:50am and traffic barely slowed. Of course, there wasn't a single restaurant or gas station open on the way there. It would appear that our neck of the woods was one of the very few to still have power. We thought we'd be able to cruise through the toll booths too, but apparently collecting tolls is high-priority in this county because that is the only spot that had electricity.

Crossing this bridge always means we're headed someplace fun!

 
We made it across the bay and decided a leasurely stop at Chick-Fil-A was in order for some breakfast. We also were no longer in a rush. Driving from Baltimore/Annapolis to the Delaware Beaches is a tricky situation. Normally a little more than 2 hours away, weekend traffic and two-lane roads can quickly extend the drive by several hours. We wanted to avoid traffic but we also didn't want to reach our beach house too early and end up with tired, hungry (and sick!) kids without a house to check-in to. It ended up not being a problem though. In addition to our breakfast stop we also made a second pit-stop, lasting equally as long, to clean up a sick 2-year old and his vomit coated car seat. How ironc, two years ago on the way to vacation we made a similar stop with Jude after he had pooped and smeared it all over his chair. Yes, Jude is quite the traveler.

Packed to the max!

Of course, vomit doesn't exactly clean up well with baby wipes and we spent the remainder of our drive trying not to breathe through our nose. But ... we made it. And since our house was empty they let us check in early, like 4 hours early. So we quickly unloaded and headed to the beach hoping the sun would ease tired souls and sick bodies. And the sun delivered. While I wouldn't say our first day at the beach was "fun" it certainly was restful.







Jack slept on Daddy, Jude slept on Poppa and Julia slept on me. And all the adults slept a little too. (It was only the 6 of us on the first day since everyone else was at a wedding). Since Jack feel asleep half-standing Jon eventually moved him to a reclined beach chair where he laid and stared off at the waves for quite some time, completely un-Jack-like. We soon found out why when he leaned over and threw up a day's worth of food into the sand. I tried to sit next to him, rubbing his back while also blocking the view of our vomiting son from our refined neighbors, and quickly buried his little "spill" with a pile of sand.

Ah yes, vacation. All I ever wanted. It didn't exactly start out pretty, and it certainly wasn't what I had in mind. But we were there, and we had a full week ahead of us, and the sun would rise again tomorrow. Because the sun always rises at the beach, and even a little earlier than at home!

Gopeepeegetatreat!

As soon as the kitchen reno and Virginia Beach vacation were behind us I decided it was time to start potty training Jude.  I think a few people were surprised, including my husband who, after watching me clean up the fifth puddle that Saturday asked, "Are you sure you want to be doing this right now?"  Well, no.  I don't want to potty train right now.  But I also don't want to be changing diapers anymore, or wiping stinky poops, or washing more diapers, or spending money on disposable diapers ... There's nothing fun about potty training, well unless you're Jude and you get lots of treats.  But it needs to be done and Jude was ready.

Julia is catching up to her brother's size!

A little less laundry in my future, dare I hope!

And adding another toddler-who-uses-the-toilet isn't such a big deal when you already have one.  I mean, if I'm going to be running to the bathroom every 15 minutes with Jack, might as well drag Jude along.  So inconvenience wasn't really an issue this time around.  Except for the first few days when I felt like I was constantly wiping up pee puddles and poop smudges from every surface of my house.  Okay, not every surface.  But a fair amount. 

Both my boys use the potty like this.  I'm not sure how it started but it eliminates the need for training potties, keeps them from falling in AND helps get the pees in the pot!

But there's another advantage to working with a secondborn.  I've done this before.  I know what to expect, I know what not to expect. And I know it gets worse before it gets better.  And that's just what it did.

Everyone has their own potty training philosophies - how to do it, when to start, when to give up.  We kind of do a modified 3-day training thing and I start when I'm ready (forget the kids!).  But Jude was ready too.  I could tell he was more aware of his "bodily functions," he understand bribery a little better, and he was interested in doing things his big brother could do.  I did want to wait until it got a little warmer though so I could let him run around pantless.  I'm glad I did because that's certainly Jude's M.O. these days.

Now that we're further along in the training, and he's doing so well, I try to put pants on him, I really do.  But he runs away too fast, thinks its a game and sometime between the point where the pants came off and my quest to find their owner I usually get sidetracked with a hungry baby, phone call, oven beeper, etc.  It also doesn't help that a.) my 2YO has the tiniest hiney ever and
without a diaper on can barely hold up his 18MO shorts and b.) he has to wear Tank's hand-me-down underwear which has been stretched way beyond it's normal size.  So Jude's pants fall down just from running ... or jumping.

Which is why we have a lot of pictures like this lately:

This was supposed to be Father's Day sidewalk chalk art, but Jude kinda stole the show.

And this, his "refuse to put my pants on" look:

This one had dire consequences:



The kid's also got initiative. He's learned how to pull his pants down on his own when he wants to go potty.

 
Unfortunately, he's also resourceful and efficient and doesn't like to waste time actually traveling to the bathroom.  He knows he can't pee in the house, but he's learned from his brother that outside is fair game.  He has not learned that he should try to find a bush or tree to hide behind if he can't make it to the bathroom.  Which is why, on more than one occasion, I've found him out front (in wide open view of all our neighbors) watering the flower beds. 

But other than the (lack of) pants issues, he's doing really, really well.  Just like Jack, the first two days seemed like we were getting no where.  Then finally I managed to keep him on the toilet long enough to actually have a success and ever since then he's got it!  For a while you could tell he was only trying to go potty just for a treat.  He'd sit there and grunt and groan and push.  And when nothing would happen he'd ask for "beep, beep, beeps!" because one time I pushed on his belly button and said "beep, beep, beep" to make him pee.  And when that doesn't work he asks for a cup of water because another time out of sheer exasperation I dumped a cup of cold water over his "front" and wouldn't you know it worked!  So he tries to do that one himself every once in a while. 

So we've got pees down (and the best part is he's almost always dry after naps and nighttime already!) and we've got poops almost down (we're 3 for ohhhh 20? at this point).  But he even stayed dry for Marmie and Poppa during his visit and that was after only one week of training.

The naked chef.

Yes, "gopeepeegetatreat" is our new favorite "word" in this house.  And you can imagine how this is all affecting my loves-being-the-center-of-attention-firstborn who nows seems to think he deserves a treat for going pee pee in the potty too.  And who regularly reminds me that "Daddy gave me one, two, three, FOUR treats!" when I insist he can only take one.  (Thanks Jon!)

It's funny, I'm mom to three now and I still haven't figured out how to balance my time and attention among two.  I try to be fair, I want to be fair.  But then I need to remind myself that my kids are different.  They have different needs, they receive love in different ways.  And it's about this time - especially during weeks that I'm busy with work, Jon's gone a lot, we're trying to get ready for more travel, potty training a 2YO and trying to keep up with my baby's nutritutional needs - that I lay awake at night and wonder "Did I love them enough today? Did I give Jack my full attention when he talked to me? Did hold Jude a few extra minutes after his nap? Did I take the time to get a good laugh out of Julia? Did I attempt to answer at least a few of Jack's 843 'Why' questions? When was the last time I sat down and read to Jude, just Jude? What else can I do to make sure Julia's getting enough milk?" ... and on and on until I finally fall asleep.

We're still working on sitting still while using the potty ... and waiting long enough to "get it all out."

But apparently just sitting there is too boring.

And the honest answer is "no, not enough, never."  I try, oh I try.  And some days I am on it, and other days I completely blow it.  And some weeks (like this one) I seem to fall more on the "blow it" side of the spectrum.  If nothing else, motherhood has shown me how wholly inadequate I am.  The truth is I can't do it on my own, but for the grace of God.  Thankfully He covers what I can't.  And He goes way beyond all those scientific studies about reading to your kids, nutritional benefits of breastfeeding and the everlasting effects of one-on-one time.  Oh those things are all good, but they don't define me as a mother.  So I'll continue to do my best, I'll continue to fail occasionally ... or often, and I'll continue to rely on God's grace to cover the rest.

Wow. Not sure how I got to this point from "pee pee on the potty get a treat" so in an effort to bring things full circle I'll just mention that while it's been a difficult week and I've had more than my share of "failures" these past few days, at least one area has been a success.  I'm so stinkin' proud of my "big boy" (but not as big as Jack, his older brother would remind me) and the great job he's doing!  It's nice to know that, while Jude may have issues when he's older because his mom didn't read to him nearly as much as her firstborn, at least he'll be an expert at peeing on the potty!