Hi from Florida.
Finn and I arrived on Sunday evening to spend some time with my family. I was in desperate need of a change of scenery after a month of staring at my living room walls while breastfeeding. It’s so nice to be here.
Backing up…
As you guys know, my mom came to Charlotte last week to visit and help me with logistics of getting to Florida. After debating our options, we decided that it was best if she drove back to Florida with our stuff and I flew with Finn. We weren’t sure about braving a 10-hour road trip with a baby! I am so grateful to her for doing that for us!
She stayed from Tuesday-Saturday and before she left we went for an ice cream date on Friday to Ben & Jerry’s. I had strawberry in a waffle cone, Finn slept through it.
Saturday was my birthday. Since a birthday with a four-week old baby doesn’t exactly make for a rocking night out, Dorie surprised me by organizing my friends to bring the party to me.
Virginia made a homemade carrot cake. It was so delicious!
My friend Jen brought pizzas and Dorie made salad.
Another friend brought a dozen cupcakes from Cupcrazed.
And everyone took turns bouncing Finn so that I could have some time off from baby holding. He has been a pretty fussy lately when he’s not being held or fed. He absolutely loves to bounce so we had quite the trade-off going…it wasn’t hard to convince them to help. 😉
Other than the birthday celebration, I did a lot of walking over the weekend with the girls. It’s becoming a bit of a challenge now that the weather is getting so hot and humid but we try to get it done early or late in the day.
Our flight left on Sunday afternoon. I was so grateful to all of you who gave me wonderful travel with baby tips via Instagram. I am also beyond thankful for my friend Johnna who offered to drive us to the airport. It really helped me relax around the process knowing that I wouldn’t have to negotiate getting a car seat installed in an Uber.
Since my mom had our luggage, all I had was my backpack (functioning as Finn’s diaper bag), my purse, the car seat (with the Boppy lounger shoved into it) and Finn in the Ergo 360 with the Infant Insert. Let me tell you, I had my hands full just with that stuff. The car seat was in an oversized polyester laundry bag with a drawstring that I got at Target and I gate checked it. It arrived 100% clean and unscathed.
Two things…first, Finn did amazingly well on the flight. He cried quite a bit as we were waiting to board and finding our seat but as soon as we got going, he passed out for the duration of the trip.
Second, people are amazingly nice. I had so many strangers come up to me and offer to carry the car seat, buy me drinks/food and help with anything I needed. Once I got on board, the flight attendant moved me to an empty row without me even asking. I was very thankful for the kindness of others.
Just as we were getting off the plane, Finn started wailing! Luckily, my mom was waiting for us and she helped me get him to the car, changed and home.
The first order of business upon arriving was introducing Finn to my grandmother. It was one of the best moments of my life. I will also never forget the look on my dad’s face when he met him him for the first time!
We’ve only been here for a day and a half but we are settling in and enjoying hanging out with the company of my family. And if you’re curious…my parents retired here about 5 years ago and my grandmother moved here a little over 2 years ago. They have separate condos but in the same building…which is an awesome set up! Finn and I are staying with my grandmother.
I think Finn likes the ocean air because every time we go outside he calms down or passes out. We went for our first beach walk last night as the sun was setting and it was just what the doctor ordered.
We are so happy to be here. Later today we are going to take Finn out for his first afternoon on the beach! The pediatrician said he’s 100% good to hang out on the beach as long as he stays in the shade. I’ll report back on how that goes. I have some pretty cute hats and beach clothes for the little guy. 🙂
