Fun with Baby, Beach, and Bottles!!

We went on our first road trip with Colton to Anna Marie Island on the Gulf with my parents and brother. My aunt has a house close to the beach on an inlet and allowed us to borrow it for the week.

The trip down turned out great because we left really late and so it was bedtime for Colton and he slept until we got settled into our hotel in Valdosta (about a 4 hour trip)

The next day we met up with Brigette's parents and brother at a family friend's house. Colton tries, but cannot fight a nap in the car after about 30 mins. usually, so we were good. We then headed over to my aunt's house for dinner and met up with several cousins and other aunts/uncles (my mom is one of 10!). It was great to see everyone again and introduce them to Colton. He did great being passed around to everyone and despite taking 2 hours to go to sleep, he did fine overnight also.

We went on over to the Gulf of Mexico for a week near the beach and it was a great time. Fishing off the dock, swimming pool (was really too cold for Colton to get in when he could be in the shade and try out his super cute bathing suit/swim diaper), and just relaxing. Was great to have some extra folks to help out with Colton and Justin and I even got to go fishing in the Gulf with my uncle for a few hours, which was awesome!!

Beach

We took Colton to the beach one day, although kept him out of the sun. The beach was HOT but pretty empty, which worked well for nursing. :-) Nice breeze off the ocean. Colton could only take it for about 2 hours but did chill in his homemade cabana for a little while.

We also took him to watch the sunset and also put his feet in the ocean at dusk one night. He really seemed to enjoy it!!

Bottles

Colton will be starting daycare in October and Justin and Brigette are very sad but know that is what we have to do. The place we have chosen is very close to home and very nice, highly recommended, but we both hate the idea of not being with him all the time and 'strangers' caring for him. ANYHOW, child is breastfed exculsively and we have had some disasters trying to give him a bottle before (flow was way too fast for him--choking) so we spent some time on this trip trying out bottles. Brigette got these no-drip nipples to use so he could only get milk when he sucked and would therefore not really choke. But he HATED those so we tried another early stage nipple and he didn't really like it but took it and we think that will work for him at daycare. Brigette had to hide while he took the bottles from Justin and her mom so Colton would know other people give him bottles when I am not there but I will nurse him when I am around. We will have trial run next week for the first 3 days I'm back at work when my mom will come to our house and keep him before he goes to a full week at daycare. Hopefully I can keep pumping while at work to be able to provide enough milk for him during the day. Too much info? Sorry. :-)

Colton got to meet his Uncle Eric and 'Uncle' Clark finally on this trip and he loved them, of course!! It was a great time but Brigette and Justin sured missed their annual trip to Yellowstone in the fall. The beach just didn't do the same thing for them, but we were glad to have a new adventure with Colton!