Back from vacay, straight into Xmas

Back from vacay. Had a fab time, although it was hard to get a real break since we most of our day rotated around the little one. What made it a lot easier is that neither of us was distracted by work or life, so we ended up spending lots of time on the beach, or driving, or cooking, or eating out. Pretty much perfect. Even baby-boy understood the new routine fairly quickly and loved it out there. We found a perfect "baby beach" with very shallow water and minimal waves. Baby boy loved the water as much as he did the sand. He had lots of time to explore, and would sleep lovely long naps as a result.


We came back on two flights from hell. WestJet has had a new bright idea that all babies should be put in the same section of the plane. While I sort of understand there might be a logic in that, the issue is that when you have 8 babies/toddlers on the plane and 5 of them are crying, it turns into a nightmare journey for everyone. Baby-boy just wanted to go to sleep but was prevented by the other little ones who were displaying their displeasure in the only way they know how. Arrived home at around 2 a.m. Needless to say we were all shattered. Had a broken stroller that turned out after 11 days of carrying the baby around in our arms, not to be broken after all.


Baby boy slept extremely well two whole nights in a row. Probably just catching up on sleep, poor sod, because nights are now back to their usual pattern of disruption. I'm trying to wean him completely off night breast feeding so that he doesn't build a habit. It's going ok in the sense that he can get back to sleep without feeding, but of course, he still wakes up regularly. I'm hoping a few more months of growth will improve things.


Exciting news is that baby boy is now taking a few steps on his own, without any assistance. It's really quite cute. He's learned to hold his arms out in front of him for protection (even though most of he sways sideways). He can get started from standing still and launch in my direction. Sometimes it's quite a violent launch. It seems he's more eager just to be in my arms, than the process of getting there on his own. But he does seem pleased with himself too.


We've managed to set up a Xmas tree in spite of all the travel and even collected a fair amount of prezzies to go under it. It's really starting to feel like the holidays and we're all breathing a little more easily and taking things a bit more slowly. Happy holidays everyone!