Our First Trip -- the dirty details

Just got back from Aspen ... our family real family trip. I have to say, before going out there, I had no qualms at all about traveling with her. Although I was nervous about the plane ride (and being "those people"), lots of folks have told me that babies just get lulled to sleep by the engine, so I figured that would be the worst of it.

On our flight from Dallas to Vail, Claire did not sleep. She wasn't exactly "that" baby, but she refused to settle down, didn't want to take her (overdue) nap, and was not happy being confined to a seat. Luckily, it's only a 2 hour flight, there was an empty seat in our row so that we could spread out, and our flight attendant didn't mind when I ended up walking with her up the aisle. She fell asleep as the plane was landing. I give Claire a C- ... James gave her an F.

My parents picked us up in Vail to drive us the hour and a half to Aspen. Claire, who usually sleeps in the car, proceeded to have a meltdown for the first 15 minutes or so. I gave her a D ... James gives her an F.

Once in Aspen, things were much better. We all had a touch of altitude sickness ... the worst of it for Claire was when we went up the Aspen mountain gondola and Claire threw up (not spit up) while we were up there. I give me and James an F for putting our baby through that ordeal. :(

The biggest drama of the week ended up being a non-pooping baby. Claire was a VERY poopy baby (think multiple times a day) up until she started solids and formula a month ago. Since then, it's been a little bit more here and there, but never more than 2 days. While in Aspen, she went from Friday until Wednesday without doing her business. It became a pretty big deal to where I called the pediatrician to ask for advice. They suggested brown sugar w/water first ... Claire didn't like it much, but she drank it. Nothing. Next, diluted apple and/or prune juice; Claire didn't like either. How did I end up with a child that doesn't like sweets?! So, nothing. Added in a little rectal stimulation. Still nada. In the end, we ended up with the suppository to do the trick, and suddenly we went from fussy to happy baby!

So, again to summarize ... Saturday through Thursday were "eh", poop on Thursday morning, and then Thursday and Friday were fabulous! Saturday (this morning) Claire did a great job on the trip back to Vail (A) and was the best baby ever on the plane (A+!).

The trip itself was good. I love seeing my whole family together, and everyone loves Claire so much. Claire had tons of firsts, growth, and development -- she's sitting up on her own without tripoding, she holds her straw like a real adult, she went in the pool for the first time -- and it was nice to hang out with her for long periods of time. I haven't been able to spend just normal days with her since my maternity leave, so I really enjoyed this quality time.

Next vacation ... Outer Banks in October for Daphne's wedding! I'll have my supplies ready. :)