Our Little Traveler

So we headed out on our first vacation with Rylie and had really no idea what to expect. I was hoping that the drive to California would go great as she has been really good in the car up to this point...and we were not disappointed! She did amazing! Brandon had a half day on his last day of school, so we picked him up and headed out. We stopped on the west side of Phoenix for lunch and did a quick diaper change and then we made it to Quartzite (about 3 hours) before we had to feed her. After that, she went all the way to Fullerton, CA without stopping and actually, without even waking up or crying. The drive really could not have gone any better.





When we got to Brandon's Mom's house, Rylie got to meet her Uncle Blake for the first time. She did pretty good sleeping in a pack and play, but to be honest, she still would rather just be in someone's arms to sleep. She absolutely hates being on her back, so sleeping in general can be somewhat of a challenge. We also decided that maybe we should try to work on a feeding schedule, but after a few days of going every 4 hours working great, she seemed to be unhappy and hungry a lot more often, so we kind of scrapped the schedule for now. After a few days in California, things seemed to completely change for her. She got way more fussy during the day and in the evening she would cry hysterically for quite awhile. It is pretty evident that her stomach hurts, so we are working through all of that (Brandon and I both had our first all nighters with her!).

We had a great time in California. Rylie went and visited Gammie at work, went shopping at the Irvine Spectrum, was given a "Come and meet Rylie" party, had her first visit to Downtown Disney (no, we did not go to Disneyland...this time, anyways! :) ), and met her Great Grandma. One night, Brandon's mom babysat and Brandon and I were able to go get coffee and enjoy some time together, just the two of us. I had read a book while I was pregnant that strongly suggested that you and your spouse go on a date within two weeks of bringing a new baby home from the hospital. While life circumstances didn't allow for us to do that within two weeks, we finally were able to go on our first date! I know that this is something that will be extremely important for our marriage and I will definitely make it a point to keep dating!

















All in all, Rylie traveled extremely well. We had her all over Southern California and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself!