Friday night, Brandon came home early from traveling for work, which is totally backflip-worthy, so we kicked off our weekend by heading into the backyard with the cooler. I know, we are totally predictable. Some good jams, our hammocks & these two babes made for a pretty perfect evening.

 Swing, Lace Headband

 Saturday morning, we celebrated a belated Mother's Day by going out for breakfast at my favorite spot, the Original Pancake House. I couldn't help but take pictures of Harper's HOT MESS HAIR. We were dying at how crazy her bedhead was, I tried to tame it with a bow but failed miserably.

Purple One Piece, Headband

 Saturday night we celebrated a friend's birthday out at our house, which consisted of cupcakes, burgers & beer pong. Always classy.

  Green Tassel Top, Giraffe Necklace, Maxi (Soprano from Von Maur last year)

We woke up again to thunderstorms on Sunday morning, but finally got some sunshine in the afternoon to get outside for a walk, bubbles & sidewalk chalk. Harper also got to eat a piece of bacon two days in a row. This is a sure fire way to make your kids picky eaters, nobody is going to be impressed with Cheerios after that.

Dress, Bow

I don't think she'll be too pleased to hear that as a child, I once scraped an entire piece of yellow sidewalk chalk along the rim of a water pitcher to turn it into lemonade & then drank the whole damn thing.

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments on our beach pictures, we really had an amazing time & can't wait to do it again! :) Overall, Harper did extremely well on the roadtrip & dealing with a messy schedule. As promised, I've compiled a list of our favorite products, tips & tricks for traveling with a baby for your summer vacation!

Here are some of the other things that we found to be helpful when traveling with a baby/toddler:

If all else fails, stick cheerios to your kid's face for entertainment.

We have also flown with Harper a few times & other than most of the things I have already mentioned, the best advice I can give is to feed them when you take off or land (to help with their ears) & try to plan flights during nap times. Another thing we learned is for just one of you to take advantage of priority boarding with your stroller/carseat/bags (if you are traveling with both parents of course) & to have the other person stay off the plane with the baby until the last minute. (We had her sit on our laps, not in her carseat on the plane since she was so young) Sitting on the plane waiting for others to board can add another 15-30 minutes to your time spent in your seat! Last time, Brandon went ahead with our bags & got everything situated, while Harper & I walked around a little longer & grabbed a snack. Then we waited until the very end to board & it helped so much.

I think that just about covers it, feel free to ask any questions in the comments section & I will do my best to answer or update the post! :)

 Romper, Bow

I know what you're thinking. Oh My Gross. You let your child eat goldfish off a hotel couch?!

No, I didn't really. She was way past the point of eating them here, she was merely playing with them. Making a mess of them. Giving us two seconds of peace & quiet (aka. pretzels & Nutella). Let me tell you about the actual unsanitary shenanigans that took place in this hotel room.

I will preface this by saying that if you haven't already stayed in a hotel room with a baby/toddler, it is nothing short of a nightmare. I've seen people put hotel remotes in ziplock bags while they use them because of the germs. I'm really not much of a germaphobe, but I draw the line at hotel rooms, especially hotel rooms on the beach that college kids & their beer bongs may have just checked out of. One of those places where you just never know if your child is going to pull a piece of bologna out of the bottom nightstand drawer. Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do, other than keep them contained in their play yard, but that's not really fair (and isn't going to help much when you put them in there to sleep), so just be prepared to go through eight hundred packages of Hand & Face Wipes.
On to the story.

We came upstairs one night after dinner, Harper was up waaaaaypastherbedtime, so we were instantly in tag team mode trying to get the show on the road before there was a meltdown. Harper, of course, is running around the room like a mad woman, ornery as ever, squealing with excitement about being awake.  Five seconds into the "you get the baby, I'll get the bath water, everybody panic" routine, I realize my phone has gone missing. We decide that it probably fell out of the beach bag on the way upstairs, so I step out for a second to look for it in the hallway. Of course I find it immediately, lying on the ground outside of the elevator & rush back into the room.
I hear the water running in the room & peek around the corner to catch Brandon trying to blow up the portable tub that we brought along to shelter our child from the diseases that probably lurk in that giant, wet, porcelain ashtray of a bathtub.
I giggle for a second, then quickly realize Harper is not in there. Brandon sees the panic on my face & assures me that she is in the back room. NAKED.
As I come around the corner, I look down & will never forget what I saw.
My sweet, precious baby girl, wearing nothing but her sunglasses, squatting down on the carpet, taking a shit on the floor.

 A disgusting, human shit. With a huge smile on her face. Which she then proceeds to stand up & walk through, tracking it all across the maroon shaggy carpet.
HOLY. MOTHER.
I scoop the kid up, run to the bathroom in horror & drop her straight into the very tub that I swore we wouldn't touch with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole. Of course I scared the daylights out of her, so now she is screaming bloody murder, sitting in a half-filled-cold-water bathtub, surrounded by particles of floating poop.

Needless to say, the rest of the night was a literal shit show, we called the hotel to get them to do whatever was necessary to "sanitize" the area(s) & spent the rest of our unfortunate stay tip-toe-ing around the contaminated room. It's like when you see a spider & then instantly feel one crawling on you? Yea, like that. Poop, everywhere. I feel like I need to wash my arms just retelling the story.

So the next time you're in a hotel room and you drop a goldfish & still consider eating it or think about taking a seat on the floor to chat on the phone?
Think twice. My kid shat there.

One more fun vacation recap post before we get back to reality! :)

I seriously could not get over her baby bikini, I'm not sure if it's the belly or the rolls, but it was certainly the cutest thing I have ever seen. It gets a little awkward with sizing though, we went a size up, but once you cram a diaper in the bottom (we used these swim diapers) it was perfect. The top was a little too big (don't worry kiddo, mama's got the same problems), but hopefully she can still wear it next year! ;)

And for the record, baby powder really does work like a charm in removing sand!! Putting her straight into the bathtub when she was sandy was a horrible idea (more on that later), using baby powder to clean her off outside is totally the way to go.



On our way from St. Pete Beach down to Bradenton, we had to make a pit stop at Mazzaro's, our favorite Italian Market that we used to visit every weekend when we lived there. Harp loved it just as much as we did! :) And for those of you who have asked, we LOVE the Origami Stroller, talk about the absolute MOST fun stroller to push! It is such a smooth ride, opens & closes at the touch of a button & it charges your cell phone?! Total win!

4Moms Origami Stroller, Striped Sun Dress

Updated: Stripe Halter Maxi (Red Haute from Von Maur last season, similar here)

The rehearsal dinner was Friday night, where we ate the most delicious food at the most beautiful restaurant... string lights & all! :) Harper tried bruschetta, asparagus, steak & garlic mashed potatoes, but favored the dinner rolls more than anything. Like mother, like daughter! (I secretly love little pads of restaurant butter, so gross, I know)

The entire thing was going on much past her bedtime, so it wasn't long before she got overly tired & lost her shit.

Saturday was the wedding. Since we were both in it, Harper spent the day at a friend's house, so we were kid free for a few hours! We had so much fun with the bride & groom (and the entire wedding party), it was a beautiful wedding! And open bar... holla!

Harper joined us halfway through the reception & of course, loved dancing her little booty off on the dance floor. This is the only picture that we managed to get of the three of us (epic fail) but after hours of dancing & stuffing our faces with wedding cake, we were a HOT MESS.



But hey, that's what weddings are all about! :)

First, I'd like to wish all of you beautiful mamas a very Happy Mother's Day!! We spent the entire day driving (apparently my husband didn't get the memo to buy me a plane ticket) so we will be celebrating next weekend instead :)

Today, I am sulking because vacation is over, but of course very thankful that we made it home in one piece. Traveling (basically spring-breaking in this case) with a baby is bit of a challenge, but overall we had a complete blast! I mentioned before that this was our first vacation, we never took a real honeymoon since we lived in Florida when we came back to Iowa to get married, so we took a lot of time off work for the wedding (and were still living on post-college funds). The beach means a lot to us since we lived there for a while, so we loved getting to take Harper to all of our favorite places.

She was a total beach babe & loved every second of it.

She was all smiles until she dug up a cigarette butt out of the sand & tried putting it in her mouth. Every single one of us said NO! at the same time, which lead to an immediate bottom lip & tears. It was too cute not to take pictures of, although she looks so incredibly sad.

She loved the water. Every time the waves came up to our feet she would get so excited & pant like a puppy with her tongue out.

Confetti Swimsuit (Gap), Coverup, Sunglasses, Jeweled Black Two Piece, Fedora (Target last year, similar here & here)

 She even wrote her name in the sand ;)

 Aside from the sandy beach, we also had a blast in the pool! Harper was so little last summer that she could only go in the pool once or twice for a few minutes, so it was fun to see how much she loved it this time around. Don't worry she had a floppy hat & shades on most of the time except for in this pic right before we hopped out of the pool :)

Green Punk Floral Bikini, Neon Yellow Swimsuit from Gap last season (similar here)

I want to go back.... right meow.

Up next... Vacation Recap Part 2 (aka. more photos), Roadtripping & Beach Essentials & our firsthand account of why hotel rooms are one of the most disgusting places on earth.

It's official, Harper loved the beach!

 

She couldn't get enough of the ocean & found the sand to be endless entertainment. We rock-paper-scissored for who got to walk her into the sand for the first time (Brandon won), and were lucky enough to have friends around to capture her first steps into the ocean with both of us holding her hands. It was a pretty magical moment seeing her eyes light up & listening to her say "oooooooooooh!"

  Thank you all so much for the sweet comments on my last post & on Instagram, we have all been having such a fun time! We feel so blessed to be able to make these fun memories as a family. (I didn't go to the beach for the first time until I was twenty!) The rest of the weekend will be filled with wedding festivities (champagne & chicken dancing) & our 7 hour drive back on Sunday. (Is it too late to ask for a plane ticket for mother's day?)

Can't wait to share more pictures when we get home. For now, we are sending lots of sunshine your way!

Sources: Confetti Swimsuit (Gap), Coverup, Sunglasses, Jeweled Black Two Piece, Fedora (Target last year, similar here & here)