National Lampoon's Vacation

I know the posts have been few and far between lately, but when you have a 4 week old kid, not much happens in your life! I will admit that the long nights started to take a toll on me last week. It is hard to look cute with huge dark circles under your eyes! Even with makeup, it was obvious I had some rough nights. But I think I may have figured out the answer because the last couple of nights have been great! If I give her a 4-5 ounce bottle around midnight, she will sleep for 4-5 hours. That gets me to 4:45-5AM! Now that is doable!!! (Hmm, maybe the magic formula is an ounce to an hour of sleep! Do you think I can get her to eat 8 ounces?!)

Anyway, Chris and I have declared Sunday to be "Family Day." We thought it would be nice to dedicate one day during the week for just the three of us to spend the day together. Last Sunday was our first "Family Day" and we were very excited. We had grandiose plans to have lunch, walk around Balboa Island - maybe look at some open houses and potentially look at some cars so that I don't break my back every time I try to get Ashley in and out of our sedan.

Lunch went great. We had a lovely al fresco meal at Sharky's and then decided to head over to look at an Open House for Mark McGuire's old home in Shady Canyon. Neither of us had ever been into that development, so we thought it would be fun to check out. Homes range from 3.2M to over 15M! They were gorgeous! So we dreamed about which one we would choose if we ever won the lottery! I decided to try out the Baby Bjorn, which is basically a backpack for your kid, as we toured McGuire's house. It was so fun to have Ashley snuggled up to my chest! She seemed to really like it too!

After that, we decided to take a quick trip to Irvine BMW before our walk around Balboa Island. I took Ashley out of her car seat to strap her into the Baby Bjorn while Chris ran ahead for a bathroom break. I was having trouble getting her in because I hadn't undone one of the straps and was starting to sweat (it was 85 degrees out!) and she was starting to cry! I finally got her in as Chris returned and we shut the door to the car. Immediately, Chris and I realized WE HAD LOCKED OUR KEYS IN THE CAR! The diaper bag was also locked in the car - so no diapers, no bottles, no pacifiers! I was annoyed, but what better place to lock your BMW keys in the car than at a BMW dealership, right? WRONG!!! Apparently, they have to call a locksmith or break your window to get into the car. SERIOUSLY?!

About this time, Ashley decided she was hungry, so she started crying. Mind you, I have no blanket to cover myself with if I decided to feed her there. Just me, my kid, my tank top and our Baby Bjorn. GREAT! We asked them if there was a courtesy shuttle that could drive Chris home to get the spare car key. Of course not! They don't work on Sunday! So, we called a cab which arrived 20 minutes later and Chris paid $50 to take it to our house to get the key. (Oh, by the way, our house key was locked in the car too. But Chris managed to get in with a "secret" key.)

Meanwhile, I hunched in the corner of the Irvine BMW Customer Lounge to feed Ashley - but was basically exposed to the entire world. As each salesman poked his head in to check the score of the Yankee game, I just said, "Oh, don't mind us!" And of course, my daughter decided that should should eat for the ENTIRE hour that it took Chris to cab it home and drive back. Nothing like breaking into the reality of motherhood with your boob hanging out at a car dealership! Ugh!

After Chris got back, our little piglet of a daughter passed out in her carseat, so we decided to salvage the day with our Balboa Island walk. The sun was setting, the weather had cooled off and we had a very nice end to our first "Family Day."

Please read the following with a French Accent:



Ha, Ha, Ha ... Bonjour. I am le bébé Ashley. My mom has promised a photoshoot worthy of French Vogue! I shall try to cooperate this week. Bonsoir!