Before vs. After

A day at the beach before Bailey went something like this:

Toni: Hey, let's go to the beach today.

Me: Okay, let me put on my suit and grab a towel, chair, and book.

15 minutes later we'd be there laying out and reading in peace on the sandy shores of Oceanside.

A day at the beach this summer:

Toni: Let's go to the beach today.

Me: Okay, let me get ready and I'll meet you there.

First, get Bailey dressed in beach gear and grab a back up outfit in case of extreme spit up. Find her sun hat because she doesn't like the sun in her face (but where is that dumb hat; I'm always misplacing it). Oh yeah, I should bring a bib because that saves outfits lately from spit up; and I need to bring a back up spit up rag--again in case of extreme spit up (are you sensing a theme here yet?). Okay, now I need to have at least two blankets. Now to work on the bag. I need to get her formula filled for the day and at least two bottles ready with water. Oh, no clean bottles? let me clean them. Do I have diapers? yes, but I need more wipes. I should pack that diaper rash cream just in case. I have her back up pacifier in case one is lost. Let's see what else... I need to get dressed and find a book to bring! Should I try to eat something before we go? I think we're ready to go pack up the car. Car seat, jogger stroller, my chair, umbrella, beach blanket, towel, and water. Good thing I'm meeting Toni at the beach because my car is full. Let me run through my mental list again to make sure that we are totally set.

I have that routine down and set in about 20-30 minutes these days. I'm not complaining, just amazed at the difference in my life. We have been going to the beach a lot this summer because that's what I think the summer is all about. When we're at the beach Bailey is pretty good about either sleeping or being happy. I have been able to do a lot of reading under the umbrella while holding a sleeping baby this summer, so it's been a good summer.

Here is a picture of Bailey sleeping peacefully at the beach last week. I had been holding her for a while, but I wanted to set her down. It was a rookie mistake on my part because as soon as I took this picture, the next picture happened.

Wide awake and ready to eat her whole hand!

Life has been really good this summer! We've had tons of mommy and me time and good relaxing days at the beach. This is a funny picture of how much fun Bailey can be sometimes:

In case you ran't read the irony in her shirt, it says Huggable. Doesn't she just look huggable? She is in the slobber zone lately. Brian keeps asking what can be done about the amount of slobber, but I keep telling him it's just part of being a baby. I really did try to get this picture taken while she was smiling, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

To get her in a good mood, all I have to do is give her a bath. She loves it! I love how she looks when I get her out of the bath.