Our First Family Vacation - Maine and Boston

A couple of weeks ago we headed north to Maine and Boston for a week.  Jason was registered to run the Boston marathon, so we figured we'd make a family vacation out of it.

 

Matilda loved the airport.  Everything we read said to take a night flight if you have babies so they would sleep, but that didn't quite work out.  She still did okay though on the plane both ways.  The first plane was less than half full, so that helped a ton.

 

 

The first night we stayed at a hotel near the airport.  Matilda had a really hard time sleeping after the excitement of traveling, so it made that night and next day really tough.  But, we took the next day rather easy.  We drove to the cabin we were staying at between Portland and Freeport in Maine.  Jason visited the Allagash brewery that afternoon while Matilda and I walked down to a park along the coast.  She was pretty worn out, so that was pretty much the extent of our activities that day.

 

After a good night's rest, we were all in better spirits the next day.  It was a rainy morning, so went to the children's museum in Portland, which Matilda really enjoyed. Then we went to LL Bean in Freeport for a quick shopping trip and lunch at their little café.

 

It was about this point in the trip I realized that it only looked like Matilda was on vacation, and that we better take some pictures with us to prove we were there too.  Ha. 

 

That afternoon we visited the Maine Beer Company brewery and then went for a hike a Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park.   

 

 

For most meals, we'd just pick something up in town and take it back to the cabin to enjoy.  Speaking of the cabin, how cute is this?  We loved it and would definitely stay there again.

 

The next day, we walked around the Old Port neighborhood of Portland, got a lobster roll and chowder for lunch, and then visited the Portland Head Light.  

 

We headed to Boston after lunch and walked part of the Freedom Trail which was crazy crowded with all the extra people in town for the marathon.  Then we met Jason's parents (who also came to Boston to watch the race) for dinner in the neighborhood we were staying - Jamaica Plains. 

We took the next day rather easy since Jason needed to rest up for the big race.  Jason had to return the rental car and get his race packet that morning, then we went to the Cambridge Brewing Company for lunch, and Matilda and I went to a neighborhood playground that afternoon. 

Weather for the race day was terrible.  Cold, rainy, and windy.  Not the best running conditions.  Luckily, Jason's parent's hotel room overlooked the race course, so Matilda and I were able to camp out in there until Jason ran by.  Jason did great (even though he'd say otherwise) and ran it in 2 hours 58 minutes.  Matilda and I were so proud of him!

 

After resting, we met his running buddies and parents for dinner at an oyster bar.  Poor Matilda was running a fever though (not sure if she had a virus or if her 12 month vaccinations from the week before were causing it), so we had to duck out rather quick.  

 

The next evening we headed back to Houston and boy were we glad to be home!  It was a good trip, but definitely harder than we expected with a one year old.  I don't think we'll be planning another family vacation any time soon unless it involves a lot of sitting, sleeping, and eating because I think that's all we can handle.  Matilda is feeling better now and is still trying to catch up on sleep.  She is so happy to be back in her own space though, and I don't blame her!



One Year Old!

My baby is one!

Stats: At her 12 month checkup, Matilda weighed 17 pounds 12 ounces (19th percentile), was 27.5 inches long (5th percentile), and had a head circumference of 17.32 inches (25th percentile).  She's slowly growing out of 12 month clothes and heading into 18 month clothes.

She has four teeth now (the two lower central incisors, the upper right central incisor, and the upper left lateral incisor).

Sleep: Matilda officially dropped her third nap this month.  Her morning nap usually lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, and her afternoon nap is usually an hour to two hours.  When she's not in a napping mood, she'll crawl off her floor bed and play for a bit before we have to go in and try to put her down again.  She's still waking twice a night, but I'm hoping as she weans from nursing the night wakeups will stop.

Eat: Matilda is a pretty good eater.  She likes everything except onions, which she hates with a fiery passion.  She likes trying to feed herself with a spoon, but she's not very good at it yet.

She likes drinking water, either straight from our cups or from her sippy cups.  I guess we'll try to start giving her cows milk soon. 

We're still nursing the same number of times a day, but I think her intake has gone down significantly.  Sometimes she rejects nursing and points to a cup, so I definitely think the weaning process has started.  It will be bittersweet when it's over.

Play/ Milestones: This month Matilda is all about cruising and walking assisted with her little chairs or her new wooden walker.  She is starting to let go and stand for split seconds by herself.  She is getting closer and closer to walking unassisted.  She also likes to climb things and rough house.

Matilda's language has exploded this month.  She can say Momma, Dada, hi, dog, up, book, duck, mooo (as in "what does the cow say?), baaa (as in "what does the sheep say?").

She enjoys reading and looking at her books and sorting through cabinets and seeing how the objects interact with each other (putting things in and out of other things).  This month she has also started to give kisses which is super cute.   We also go on daily walks and she visits parks at least four times a week.

 This month has been a month of celebrations.  We went to Dallas for her cousins' birthdays.

We celebrated Easter with two Easter egg hunts.  The big one was the day before Easter at the church.  Afterwards, we went for a walk around Hermann Park.

On Easter day, we went to church, then met her uncle Jared at the park, and went out for dinner together.

This past Saturday we had her birthday party, which turned out really nice.  She loved playing with her cousins, seeing all her family, and opening her presents.  I made strawberry cupcakes from scratch, but she was only interested in eating the strawberry on top, not the cupcake itself.  She enjoyed the rest of dinner (pork sliders, baked beans, and pasta salad) though.

The next day, we had her baptized since our family was already in town.  It was a really fun weekend overall.

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update: No update here.  Just a couple more weeks wearing her brace at night 3x a week, then we go for a checkup in June to see how everything looks.