Archive for March, 2023

It’s been three months since I’ve done one of these posts and in that time it feels like Isaac has officially made his transition from baby-hood to toddler-hood.  Three months ago his vocabulary consisted of just “mo?  mo?  mo?” (more, more, more) and “UH-OHHHHH!”, but now it’s “Dada” and “cah!” (car) and “bah-bah?” (bottle) and “buh-buh!” (bubbles) and “nana” (banana) and the sweetest exclamation of “Mama!” when I walk in the door in the evening.

And my personal favorite, “JUUUUUUU-YEH!” (that boy loves his sister).

Oh, and “cheeeeeese!” (cheers), said with much gusto when he has a sippy cup at hand.

He’s on the move all the time, sprinting down the hallway, running circles around the kitchen and living room, and then begging to go outside, desperate for extra room to roam.  He’ll perch at the window for a moment…

…start jiggling the front door handle…

…and then grab his shoes, thinking these are the golden ticket to a backyard play pass.

Sometimes he brings me his boots before his pants.  It’s a good look, actually.

We take a lot of short walks and he’s just so happy to be outdoors, where there are a hundred different things for him to get into.  Typically eighty of those things are off-limits, like strangers’ front doors and gutter grates, so we do a lot of redirecting.

I’ve started taking Isaac on Saturday morning stroller walks down to the water and while it takes a lot of snacks and warm milk to keep him strapped in for an hour, he does seem to love the view.

Current favorite toys are this tambourine, which he bangs so hard my head rattles.

And CARS.  Some friends gave us a bag full of Hotwheels that their son had finished with and we spend a lot of hours zooming them across the coffee table.

He’s getting more into books, though he still rarely has the patience to sit in my lap and let me read something cover to cover.  He much prefers to flip pages at his own warp speed.

We’ve dabbled with art projects, mostly with crayons, but I pulled out the paints on what felt like a particularly long Sunday afternoon.

Bathtime follows painting time.

Isaac can be a little grumpy, like all one year olds, and has hurt Juliette’s feelings on more than one occasion when she leans in for a hug and he pushes her away with a huffy NNNNNNNNNNO!  But he’s also starting to show the first signs of empathy and will trail after her if she leaves the room in tears, patting her head with his chubby little hand in an effort to right his wrong.  It usually works.

He’s a rascal, but he’s also irresistibly forgivable.

 

On that note, Isaac, I forgive you for the way you insist on clutching my hand as you drift off to sleep.  It’s not convenient, per se, but I sure do love the warmth of your hand in mine, the sight of your eyelids fluttering closed after a full day of play.  You are running, talking, growing, changing all too fast and I’m hanging on for dear life.

 

Ooof.  March thus far has been a month of too much work, too little time with the kids, and no time for myself, but I daresay I’m over the hump and able to carve out a couple of hours to sit in a coffee shop and reminisce about our final days in Maui.  MAUI.  Already feels like a lifetime ago that we were there.

Juliette and I had booked a snorkeling trip with the Chens early-early on Wednesday, so we walked to their hotel in the dark and perched at our favorite photo op while I sipped my coffee.

The sunrise boat ride out to Molokini Crater was actually one of my favorite parts of the whole expedition.  So serene and pastel – I love Maui in the morning.

Juliette was super-excited until the moment we anchored and people started flipping into the water.  You mean, I have to get in?  All the way?

But after a little coaxing, several snorkel adjustments, and one more in-water pep talk, she went for it and we both ducked our heads underwater.  And front and center, as if they were waiting for us, were so many fish.

Thumbs-up for pushing through the nerves, Kiddo.

Meanwhile, Shane and Isaac lived their own best lives.

We all hopped back into the boat after an hour of snorkeling and started to zip toward shore when our guide quickly brought us to a halt so we would all watch the mama and baby whales playing in the water remarkably close to us.

Stunning creatures.  Top moment.

We made it back to the boys just as Isaac was wrapping up his morning nap.  Time to swim some more, I guess!

Isaac added the word whoa to his vocabulary while on this trip and would say Whoa!  Whooooooooooooa! as we spun him in the water.

You look good, Buddy.

Our family pool time was really one long, sweet continuous top moment.  What a treat this was.

And speaking of treats, since it was our last full day in Maui, I splurged on an overpriced poolside pina colada.  Worth it.

We took a short sun-break back at the room after lunch, but Juliette was begging to go swim with N after 30 minutes, so back out we went!  Maybe it’s because our trip was winding down and I was so intent on soaking in every last detail, but goodness, the sky looked extra-blue and the grass looked extra-green that afternoon.

Juliette and Isaac played hide and seek and tag and I sat in the shade.  For two minutes.

And for record, “playing tag” is really us chasing down Isaac and trying to get him into his stroller.

Finally, though, Isaac was strapped in and Juliette was dropped off with her best bud.  Buddy and I walked over to the market for iced coffee and a box of souvenir cookies.  We came back an hour later to these two living large.

I mean, it’s hard not to be giddy when you’re in an ocean-front cabana.

We walked back our place to rest and freshen up a bit before meeting up with the Chens for a final round of Mai Tais.

We don’t do a lot of kicking back on vacation in this current season of life (love you, Isaac!), but this was as good as it got!

And one last sunset…

I love our family time, but vacationing with friends is next-level.  So thankful for these people.

Whooooooooa!

Baby footprints on the beach!  Freeze-framing that one, too.

These five spent several minutes standing at the edge of the waves, wanting to see how far into the sand their feet would sink.  Isaac played that game for about four seconds and then opted for his own game of seeing just how many baby footprints he could leave in the sand.

One more game of chase-the-waves…

A round of high-fives for a top-notch day…

And goodnight, sun.

Shane tucked in Isaac while Juliette traded in our swimsuits for dresses and grabbed a shirley temple and a matcha mojito at the hotel bar.  There was a guitarist playing cover songs across the room and when he started crooning Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar, Juliette and I bopped along.

My grown-up girl…she makes a good date.

We talked about school and friends and Isaac and sports while we ate our matcha creme brulee.

Thursday!  Just a few precious hours left…

One last acai bowl, one last round of beach play…

(You can see from Isaac’s onesie that he very much enjoyed the acai as well…)

We got our mileage out of these $5 sand toys!

Keeping Isaac from destroying Juliette’s masterpiece wasn’t easy.

DON’T DO IT, BUDDY!

Pure mischief, this kid.

A final dip…

A final rollick with friends…

And a final group pic.  See you in Seattle, Chens!

Isaac really got the hang of the beachfront showers.  Life skills!

A quick pause at the lucky mermaid, where I made a quiet wish that I’ll see her again next year…

Mahalo, Maui.  Our trip didn’t start quite as planned, but gosh, those last few days were a dream.

Shane awoke on Monday feeling right as rain, so he made plans to play some island pickle ball while I took Isaac for a sunrise walk.  A pre-sunrise walk, actually.  Buddy was up at 5 am and jiggling the door handle begging to go outside by 5:30…  The hotel coffee shop opened at 6am and I was first in line!

Dark, schmark.  This boy was ready to roll.

A new day dawns in Maui!  Such promise…

Isaac loved this wide-open lawn.  I thought I’d sit down with my back against that tree and finish my latte while he ran wild, but then he tried to cut in on a couple of guys playing football, then he tried to climb the rocks down to the ocean, then he started chasing after a stray cat, and then I gave in and the two of us played a too-early game of tag.

We headed back to the room around 7:30 to find sister still snoozing.  Rise and shine, girl!

We walked up to the market for acai bowls and a sausage scramble.

Morning nap for the early riser…

And then pool time!

So much pool time.  The four of us felt so good to feel so good.

Isaac dug his first water slide.  Next year he might be zipping down this thing on his own!

Juliette’s freckles were poppin’ by this point, which made me so happy!  (They’ve already faded by now…)

We did the slide circuit several times over, lunched at our lounge chairs, and then got back in.  I had a fleeting thought that maybe we should go exploring, go see something new, but then again, if it ain’t broke…

At this point I think Isaac officially pooped out.  WE DID IT!  We exhausted the energizer bunny!  Afternoon nap was goooooood.

There was some late afternoon beach play…

And then dinner at the Chens’ hotel, where Isaac refused to sit still at the table for even a minute (bunny was BACK!), so Shane and I took turns playing with him out front while the other parent ate.

Evening zoomies on our favorite lawn…

And then a set of pushups to round out the day?  We walked back to our room and Isaac snoozed deeply while Shane, Juliette and I watched Rookie of the Year, which was just how I remembered it from 30 years ago, for better and for worse.

Tuesday morning brought more coffee and scones in the dark.

I will say, I do very much enjoy watching the sky turn from blue-gray to lavender to pink.

Isaac stopped to take a call on the grass…

And then Juliette joined us as Shane was heading out for pickle ball day 2.  This girl does not awake with quite the same joie de vivre as her brother, but she comes around…

His pants were soaked and came off within a minute of us landing on the beach.

And then the onesie…  I tried to teach this kid a healthy respect for the ocean, but when the water is that warm and the waves are that gentle, it’s a hard lesson to learn.

Just one more quick dip, Mom!

Ok, now she’s awake!  And ready for a game of tag!

We dried off back at the room and then settled in for a little doze.

Isaac has the best surfer hair post-nap!

We beached a bit before lunch.

And pooled a bit before lunch…

And then actually got in the car for the first time in several days, to grab fish tacos and sandwiches at the food trucks at South Maui Gardens.

We laid low the rest of the afternoon, having hit our sun limit by 1pm.  But when the cloud cover rolled in, back to the pool!  I walked Juliette over to the Chens’ pool so she could swim with N, then circled back to our pool to hang with Shane and Isaac.  I wish I could freeze-frame the sight of the two of them swirling and laughing together, caught up in their own world…  I mean, you know I tried to freeze-frame it, but pictures hardly capture how sweet it was.

Isaac’s afternoon nap had done him good.

Back to the beach!

I waded into the water with Isaac and let the waves lap at his legs.  Juliette said she was too tired to play anymore, but her fatigue was short-lived.

Seriously, these are the gentlest waves ever, but the look on her face!  Such drama!  I love her.

It was so cloudy that night that it was hard to tell when the sun actually set, but I’m fairly certain it was below the horizon by the time we headed in.

Ok, I’ll stop now.

…after ice cream.  Another two glorious days in the books.

When planning a vacation with two children, one of whom is a strong-willed, rambunctious toddler, there are a number of emotional stages a parent goes through in lead-up to the trip.  Case in point:

Stage 1 (6 months prior to trip):  Unbridled excitement.  Trip is booked!  Maui in February!  Let’s gooooo!

Stage 2 (1-2 months prior to trip):  Mild anxiety.  Gosh, I hope we don’t get sick and have to cancel our trip.

Stage 3 (one week before trip):  Cautious optimism.  There’s so much to do before we leave.  But Juliette is positively bouncing off the walls with glee and we all feel good and I can’t wait to see her zip down that waterslide!  

Stage 4 (2 days before trip):  Utter forlornness / temptation to bail.  I “got an early start on packing” but really just have a pile of clothes and diapers that can’t possibly fit into our three suitcases.  The house is a mess.  And, wait for it…baby boy just got sent home from daycare because he threw up after naptime.

Stage 5 (night before trip):  We have come full-circle back to excitement!  Baby’s bug seemed to just be a one-day thing and the rest of the family is unscathed.  Bags are packed.  House is clean, with much help from the determined-to-swim nine year old.  Out-of-office assistant has been turned on.  Alarm is set.  We’re really doing this!

WE WERE DOING THIS.  We arrived at the airport early Friday morning and we were pumped.  Isaac was in good spirits, I had packed a couple of special toys and snacks to keep him entertained on the six-hour flight, and Juliette was adorably over the moon.  Seriously, let’s goooooooooo.  We could almost taste the shave ice…

We were stuck on the runway for about an hour due to a minor maintenance issue, but we rolled with it.  And then, just as the plane was cleared for take-off, Juliette looked at me, the color immediately draining from her face, and said the three words no parent wants to hear on an airplane:  my stomach hurts.  I encouraged her to take a few deep breaths and close her eyes and she fell asleep almost immediately, her dozy brother following suit and collapsing against my chest before we’d even left the ground.

She opened her eyes 20 minutes later and smiled weakly, saying she felt better, and I thanked my lucky stars, but the relief was short-lived and suddenly we were reaching for the barf bag with five and a half hours left on our flight time.  Ugh, that poor girl.  She used up all the sick bags in our row within an hour and I had to ask the flight attendant for another, at which point she handed me a ginormous garbage sack.  I thought that was a bit much, but Juliette spent most of the flight with her head in that bag, heaving at 15-minute intervals, whimpering in between that she just wanted to turn around and go home.  It was brutal.

Isaac, thankfully, was content for most of the flight, playing with the window stickers and suction spinners I’d ordered from Amazon earlier in the week.  Shane and I took turns with the kids, but he did the majority of the bag-holding and I in turn bear-hugged Isaac through his 30-minute crying fit as we neared the end of our flight.  We’re a good team.

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to step off a plane, though Juliette was still feeling awful and clutched her garbage bag all the way to baggage claim.  I sent Shane ahead to pick up our rental, not wanting to make Juliette walk any farther, and then stationed her behind a column where could discreetly wretch while I chased Isaac around between yanking our suitcases off the conveyer belt.  That whole fiasco was in my top five toughest mom moments, no doubt.

But Shane arrived curbside with the car, hero that he is, we loaded our circus into it, pit-stopped at Target for electrolyte water and wine, and checked into our room at the Grand Wailea without any of our usual “Hooray, we’re here!” photos because all we cared about was tucking our sick child into a clean bed.  Juliette melted into the sheets, relief flooding her face.  The worst was behind us.

I walked up to the market with Isaac to pick up some dinner for Shane and me and we ate on our patio, very tentatively easing into vacation mode.  I took Isaac for a walk to burn off the last of his pre-bedtime steam and introduced him to the magnificent Pacific.  

He was undecided about the squishy, uneven ground.

But give it time, Buddy.  You’ll love it here!

We came back to find a slowly-recovering sister.  She was still up every hour or so, choking up her few sips of Gatorade, but she managed small bouts of rest in between and by 9pm she was sleeping soundly.  Praise the Lord!  

Then I threw up at midnight.  DAMMIT!

My stomach woes were short-lived, but I was a little achy and low-energy on Saturday and spent much of the day napping in the room.  The kids had a good day, though, and I was so happy to see Juliette on the mend and enjoying pizza by the pool.  If anyone had earned the right to feel good that day, it was her.

The pool threw Isaac for another bit of a loop, but like the ocean, I assured him he’d learn to love it.

I napped while Isaac napped (and then some), but there are worse rooms to be confined to…

By late afternoon I felt good enough to take Isaac for a nap-walk in the Ergo, though that tuckered me out and after a watching a sunset rainstorm pass by our patio, we fell asleep together at 7pm.

Sunday!  Gosh, on Sunday I was a new woman!  Isaac and I had each logged 11 hours of sleep and I felt great.  I headed out the door with the kids at 6:30 for a sunrise breakfast.

Isaac cheats at cornhole, by the way.

Reunited!  The Chens had landed the previous evening and the kids met up for a round of super-sized chess.

Juliette decided that if Isaac was a chess piece, he’d most definitely be the Queen, going any which way he pleases, mowing down anything in his way.

That Maui morning light is so beautiful here…

We headed back late morning to see if Shane was up and ready to play.

Since we’d skipped the leis upon our arrival, I went to the front desk and asked if we have a first day do-over – they were happy to adorn Juliette and me with fresh orchids.

Shane, unfortunately, was the last soldier to fall and needed to spend much of the day sleeping off his aches and pains.  Storytime with Isaac took most of the energy he could muster.

It was a bummer to see Dad down and out, but the kids and I managed to find our groove – Isaac grew fonder of the pool, Juliette grew fonder of Isaac in the pool, and we all grew fonder of Maui in general.  This felt good.

Like, really, really good.

SO GOOD, you guys.  What a joy to see these two play in the water together – this was the trip I’d been dreaming of six months earlier.

Isaac took a late morning nap with his dad and then Juliette and I headed out to work on the hotel scavenger hunt.

She was looking very Carmen Sandiego in her hat and glasses.

We made it through most of the scavenger hunt and then popped back to the room to pick up brother for poolside (in-pool?) iced tea.

Shane turned a slight corner and joined us for a bit.

Juliette and I crossed the last item off her scavenger hunt list on our way back to the room and swung by the front desk for prizes.

Isaac weaseled his way into getting his own prize and was very pleased about it.

Watch out, though – his fish bites!

It took us upward of 20 minutes to get from the front desk to our room as the kids zig-zagged the lobby and played 13 rounds of hide and seek near the elevators, but the lack of need to get anywhere fast was one of my favorite things about this trip.

Juliette wanted to do some swimming with N at his pool in the afternoon, so I dropped her off with him and took Isaac up to the market for a smoothie break.  One slurp of my avocado smoothie and he was all grins, asking, “Mo?  Mo?  Mo?”

More, Mom?  Pleeeeeeease?!

I picked up a cheap set of sand toys for Isaac, feeling like we’d delivered Christmas in February, and then it was back to the room for afternoon nap (or so I thought).

LaV and I toasted with poolside Mai Tais while the big kids swam and the little kid (didn’t) nap with his dad.

At 5pm Shane and I called off hopes of a late nap and I took Isaac down to the beach to try out his new sand toys.

Again, looking a little concerned…

But…that water looks kind of fun?

Let’s do it.

I held Isaac’s hand as the water lapped at our feet and he clutched my fingers tightly but cracked a small smile.  Ease into it, Kiddo!

It was ultimately the trusty plastic shovel that made him forget about the strange feeling of sand between his toes.  Once I pulled that out, he spent a good 30 minutes filling his pail, a few grains at a time.

The boy was focused.

The beauty of Maui is largely lost on a one year old, but there were moments that I felt like he understood, just for a flash, how spectacular this place really is.

Juliette, meanwhile, was enjoying being the Chens’ second child.

But…wait.  Is that Sister?!

Such a sweet, happy reunion, Isaac bolting toward her, yelling, “Joo-yeh!!!”

I say this every year, but every year that we watch these kids get such a kick out of playing tag with the ocean, my heart swells.  The magic lives on.

Isaac watched from a distance, but I could see him scheming.  That looks fun…

And then, he was off, with a major case of the beachfront zoomies.

We chased each other until the sun dipped below the horizon, Isaac’s butt soaked, our feet caked with sand, my cheeks sore from grinning.

Goodnight, Maui.  More joy (with a fully-healthy family) on the horizon!