Baby Loach #2 is .......

I'm sure you all know that Dan and I were both convinced that we were having a girl this time around. I had horrible all day morning sickness this time, I was carrying different, my acne was horrible this time... Imagine our surprise when we found out we are having another BOY!!! Yup, Nicholas is going to have a baby brother. Dan was in such denial he asked the ultrasound tech to double check. She was nice enough to blow up the image and there was no denying that there was something between the legs :) It's taken a bit to sink in since we had a completely different thought process going on. But we have of course embraced the idea of having another little boy and Dan has already nicknamed Nicholas and baby #2 the 'Dynamic Duo' :) And we are absolutely thrilled that our early birth defect testing came back with flying colors and the baby looked 100% healthy in the anatomy scan ultrasound.

Now I can only hope that baby #2 is a big boy like Nicholas (after delivery of course!) so that his big brother can't beat on him too much!

Dan's first question as we left the ultrasound room was 'when are we going to try for another one to have a girl?'. WHAT???? I told him to ask me again after baby #2 is 6 months old and we'll see how we both feel about having more kids. We no longer have infertility insurance so it would take a true act of God for me to get pregnant again ...... and plenty of wine to even make me consider it :)

Working on walking...

Our first video post - thanks for the help Sarah :)

Lazy days by the pool....

We've officially hit pool weather here. Here's a couple of pictures of our lazy day in the big pool and in the new baby pool from Grandma and Pepe.

Passport Stamp #3......

Dan says "I'd really like to do another golf trip in September" .... and my obvious answer was "Well that's going to cost you another family vacation in the Caribbean". So off we went :) Nicholas got his 3rd passport stamp for our trip to Aruba. I had originally thought I wanted to do the trip in September but since I have been feeling good, I'm not too big yet and US Air was running a killer promotion we decided to book a last minute trip right away.

For this trip I insisted we buy Nicholas his own seat and it was worth every penny! SO much easier when he has his own space. And we actually get to relax a bit while he slept since neither one of us had to hold him. Since Dan and I both have preferred status on US Air, we qualify for free upgrades when available and can both upgrade one person for free - that would be Nicholas in this case. We lucked out and got upgraded 3 out of the 4 flights! Such a sight to see Nicholas in his own seat in first class. So spoiled! And they even had envoy seating on our way home from Aruba! These are the seats that fully recline and you have to get up to reach your bag under the seat in front of you. Yup - he had his own seat on that one too :)

Now onto the trip. We decided to stay at the Radisson and not go all inclusive this time since I am pregnant and Nicholas still barely likes his purees. The hotel was great! We got moved to the main building since they were doing construction and the only way to our original room was via a flight of stairs (impossible with the stroller!). The second day there Dan was able to get us a deal to upgrade to the club level. Here we got free breakfast and then they had a happy hour from 5-7 every night with premium liquor and hot appetizers! It was so much food and drink that we didn't even need to head out for dinner a couple of the nights! Dan was sure to make sure we got our money's worth every evening at the cocktail hour.... and I made sure we got our money's worth in the morning at breakfast :) And the nice thing was it included unlimited water which we took full advantage of for making bottles. Since the water from the tap is safe to drink, I had no problem using it to wash bottles, but I still wanted to use bottled water for Nicholas' bottles and sippy cups.

It was HOT while we were there! It was 92 during the day and 83 at night. Luckily there was a wonderful tradewind that made it feel much cooler. We decided to rent a cabana by the pool everyday to guarantee we had plenty of shade for me and Nicholas. They set up a cooler every day with ice and waters and also set up a pack n play for us. Nicholas didn't nap in it but he enjoyed playing in it while hanging out around the pool. In fact he went crazy in it a couple of days just bouncing off the sides since there was nothing for him to get hurt on - it was a funny sight! Looking back we probably could have just snagged one of the huge umbrella areas for free but the cabanas were so cheap and it was nice to have the pack n play as a place to put Nicholas while we were eating/organizing something.

Nicholas hasn't been much of a pool person at home so we were pleasantly surprised that he liked the one in Aruba. It was a zero entry pool with no stairs so he could sit by himself in the water to play and it was shallow enough for him to stand in the water and play along the edge. He also did great with the ocean this time! The water in Aruba is so calm and warm so you can just hang out and not worry about crazy waves. His favorite thing to do in the ocean was to dip his sand shovel in the water and suck the salt water off it. He is definitely becoming a salt lover! He also loved watching the boats zoom by! Such a boy. Nicholas also enjoyed playing in the sand for the first time. We would sit him in the wet sand along the water and he would dig and play with the sand. He even let Dan cover him with sand a couple of times which he had not enjoyed on previous trips!

I like that Aruba has a cement pathway that spans all the hotels on the beach. We went for many walks in the mornings and evenings to check out the other hotels and grab coffees. We really liked being able to walk so much in Punta Cana so this was a great fit. My sister Erin and her husband Dave have been to the Hyatt many times so we stopped by there one night to show Nicholas the black swans and giant goldfish. While there, Dan spotted the football player Joshua Cribbs. For anyone who plays fantasy football with me, you'll remember he was my man the year we changed to league to get big points for kick returns. So it was exciting to say we saw him - not that I would have recognized him! Anyways... I digress...

Nicholas loved meeting new people as usual. He is such a ham wanting to get everyone's attention. He was all smiles (in public) and everyone commented on how handsome and well behaved he was. We still had the standard meltdowns in the room before naps and such. But overall he was really good this whole trip. And he was amazing on the flights! He would sleep, play or 'talk' to the other people around him.

For this trip, we decided not to bring a 'nanny'. Which seemed to work out fine but Dan and I didn't get any alone time. The heat and sun also really wore Nicholas out so he took a lot of long naps. Dan and I split our time in the room, taking turns so the other one could go out by the pool and relax.

I would say this was a great trip! Aruba is very kid friendly and we did not feel out of place with a baby at all. I loved not having to deal with the tap water being safe in terms of Nicholas drinking it by accident in the shower or when cleaning bottles. I 'earned points' for actually being calm on the flights this time.... but Dan was a HUGE help and did all the diaper changes :) I would definitely return to Aruba because of the calm ocean waters and guarantee of sunshine 365 days of the year. We ended up spending the same amount of money as we would have if we went all inclusive and it was nice to not have to deal with buffets and really make our own choices this time.

The top things I was glad we brought this time:

- A bumper pad for the crib! Nicholas ended up sleeping in between us the whole time while we were in Punta Cana because he kept hitting his head on the crib bars. Dan gets major points for thinking of this one!

- Dan's cousin Bethany had suggested that I buy this toy with lots of gadgets that fits over the tray table for the plane and this was a HUGE hit this trip! Nicholas is really into buttons, snaps and zippers right now so this kept him busy for quite a while on the flights.

- Since Nicholas is too big for the infant seat now, we had to bring a stroller and his large carseat on this trip. Rather than lugging them both around the airport, I bought a wheely contraption to connect to the carseat and checked the stroller. It worked out great being able to wheel Nicholas around and not have to carry him and the carseat separately. It also allowed for one less item to have to move during layovers and we didn't have to gate check anything. I still need some practice attaching the thing to the carseat but once it was on, it worked great!

So - now on to some pictures :)

Taking an evening stroll on the beach.....

Hanging out on the balcony.....

Playing in the water while taking a walk.....

Family portrait :)

Hangin' at the Hard Rock.....

Playing on the beach..... not sure this rash guard will fit his budha belly for much longer :)

Dan enjoying happy hour....

Getting covered in sand by Dad....

Playing in the pool....

Lounging on the plane......

Nicholas had a problem sleeping in his carseat on the flights down - his head kept flopping. So Dan bought him a head rest ..... a stuffed snake :)


Wow Dad - we sure are up high!


Enjoying his envoy seat in first class .....