'Madeline'
'Ahhh... Madelina! Princesa!'
Maddie became known to all of the resort staff as Madelina during our trip. By the end of the trip all of the servers remembered her and she would give them all huge smiles when they came over to say hi. The bleach blonde hair and blue eyes were a hit down there!
Our schedule changed a bit compared to past vacations since we were on vacation with an 8.5 month old, but it was still just as relaxing and definitely more fun with her there! We got used to going out to dinner at 5:30 instead of 7:30 every night since Maddie went to sleep at 7:30. My mom stayed with Mads when Ben and I went out to dinner and I was starving by 6:00 because I had gotten used to eating so early! All her playing and swimming in the hot and humid weather wore Maddie out. She slept great at night and had extra long naps every day!
The first day there my mom and I ventured out to Walmart to buy groceries for the week. We had a full kitchen in our room, so we planned on doing most of our breakfasts and lunches there. There was a market at the resort, but we thought it'd be cheaper to get our own groceries. Looking back, I probably would've just paid more to get groceries at the resort instead of taking a taxi to the store. It was definitely an experience though! We packed our own food for Maddie since I wasn't sure what we'd be able to find that she liked. The best thing I brought along on the trip for her was baby puffs. Maddie hadn't eaten them a ton before we went on vacation, but she LOVED them on the trip. Whenever she was getting anxious down at the beach or at a restaurant all we had to do was bring out the puffs and she'd be a happy camper. They were a life saver!
I was so excited to show Maddie the ocean, but as you can tell from the pictures she was not a fan! The ocean must've scared her because she cried when we set her down and clung to me until we walked away from the water. We decided the pool would be a better first attempt at the water and it was definitely a hit! I have never heard her squeal with delight as much as she did when swimming in the pool for the first time. We brought a floatie along for her to use, but she really loved just swimming with Daddy. Ben used to be a swimming instructor in high school and he knew exactly how to make Maddie comfortable in the water. By the end of the week she was laying on her back with her head in the water and eyes open!
Maddie swam at least twice a day and would get so excited every time we walked near the pool because she thought it was time to swim again. Maddie also warmed up to the ocean pretty quickly after the first rough attempt. She would laugh every time the waves came up and her feet got wet. I was worried that Maddie would eat the sand when playing on the beach since basically everything in her hands eventually finds its way to her mouth, but she didn't try to eat the sand at all! The resort had perfect little huts on the beach for us to sit under and relax with little Mads.
Two exciting milestones happened on the trip as well. Maddie learned how to clap! I was actually just telling someone last week that I never clap to her, so she probably wouldn't learn for a while. I guess I was wrong because she was crawling around one day and then sat up and started clapping! The other more exciting milestone for me was when she did the milk sign to me when she wanted food. I have been signing the word 'milk' to her when I feed her for a few months now and this is the first time she signed it back to me. I am so proud!
It was such a fun trip! We are excited for many more trips to come with our little sweetie!
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