Vacation's End

I hate when vacation comes to an end. I start stressing about it at least three days before it's even over. I get sad and depressed and wonder when my next vacation will be, or what I will do once I get home. The worst is when we don't have anything planned in the next few months. The end of vacation is AWFUL.

I've now been in the US for 2 1/2 weeks. The end of my awesome vacation is approaching far too fast. I started stressing on Monday. All these crazy thoughts start running through my head...."How am I going to fit all of this stuff in my suitcase? I hope the flight home goes smoothly. How many extra bags will I have to pay for? We have way too many things. How much stuff will I have to ship? I bought too much stuff. I can't believe three weeks has flown by so fast." It is a never ending inner-monologue that keeps me from focusing on anything else during the day and keeps me from sleeping at night. The only solution I can ever come up with is this - vacation should never end.

I've had such a great time with family and friends. Introducing Alexa to everyone has been amazing. She is such a lucky little girl. She is so loved by so many people! Thank you to all of my friends and family for making time to see us. Thank you to my dad and stepmom and my mom and stepdad for having us stay with them. I am so glad that Alexa was able to spend some good quality time with all of her grandparents!

Until next time...

Urbano Family Madness!

I have a HUGE family. HUGE. My dad has seven brothers and sisters and those seven brothers and sisters have husbands and wives and children and children who have children. We make up an entire wedding without trying. We are a party everywhere we go. The word silent or quiet is an oxymoron to us. That is what I was brought up being a part of....crazy, loud, loving, fun, kissing, hugging, cheek pinching, story telling, fun loving, picture taking family. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. It is devastating to me that Alexa will not have that constant, crazy madness in her life.

We had a family barbecue for everyone to come and see Alexa (and me!) at my dad's house. It was amazing! ALL of my aunts and uncles were there which made me sooooo happy. My baby was held, rocked, snuggled, kissed, bounced, and played with by so many people that day...and she adored it!

Here are just a few of the pictures we took...

 Alexa and her Great Aunt Donna

 Great Aunt Loretta, Cousin T and Alexa

 Great Aunt Loretta and Great Uncle Tom

 Cousin Lennox and her mommy Ashley with Great Aunt Donna, Great Aunt Loretta and Alexa

 Great Uncle Tom, Grampa, Great Uncle Tom, and the back of Great Uncle Bob's head

(note the hairline...this is where Alexa's hairline comes from!)

 Great Uncle Tom and Great Aunt Cathy with Alexa

 Happy baby!

 Best favorite cousins: Alexa and Lennox

 Great Aunts: Donna, Loretta, and Andrea

Me and Aunt Donna

Tuturific!

A friend of mine bought Alexa these two ridiculously adorable handmade princess tutus from Handmade Tutus in Ireland.

I thought they were so adorable so I ordered them for all of my little princesses in the US!

The girls absolutely adored playing in their princess tutus!

Thank you again Handmade Tutus , you have made these little princesses very happy!

Best Friends

Alexa is in her glory here! She has so many little friends and cousins and is eating up the attention!!

Lily and Alexa

Lily absolutely loved playing with Alexa on the floor and singing all kinds of songs to her.

"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!"

Dakota and Alexa

Dakota was like a little mommy with Alexa. It was so cute to watch her hold Alexa and check on her while she was playing on the floor. 

Josi, Alexa and Juliana

 A Nan, a Pose and a Bean! Visiting with the Patti's in Pennsylvania was awesome! The girls thoroughly inspected Alexa and gave her a passing grade. Kara sent me a conversation between Jules and Josi after our visit and it cracked me up...

         

          Pose: I don't like babies.

          Nan: but you like Alexa...

          Pose: only because she is pretty.

          Nan: so if she was ugly you wouldn't like her?

          Pose: exactly

 Alexa, Juliana and Grace

Josi, Alexa, Jules and Grace

Visitation Station

It has been absolutely amazing watching my daughter meet all of my friends and their children and see how she interacts with someone other than myself! We have been completely surrounded by family and friends since our arrival. Alexa has never been around so many people, all at the same time, all vying for her attention...and she LOVES it!

Our week in Delaware was so much fun. I was able to spend some real quality time with John and Andrea and Alexa was able to spend some serious playtime with the girls!

Best Friends

We had a great time visiting our cousin Janice who also lives in Delaware. I thought I took a bunch of pictures, but apparently that was with her camera!  Alexa was spoiled from one end of the state to the other! Karen's mom made the most beautiful quilt for her! (Pictures to follow) She was snuggled and loved and then snuggled and loved some more!

We had a wonderful visit with  my friend Siobhan, whom Alexa just adored.

Siobhan and Alexa

The entire week was fantastic and ended with John and Andrea's wedding! Aunt Les came down to be in the wedding as well, and we all had a great time hanging out and spending time together.

Aunt Les, Me, Alexa, and Auntie Andrea

Alexa makes friends

Alexa has been having a blast playing with all of my friend's kids! On Friday, she met Dakota and Lily and was just in awe of the two of them.  Saturday she met the Patti girls and played so hard all afternoon. We even had our first Girl's Day, including cool tutus from Handmade Princess Tutus.
Alexa spent so much time wiggling around, cooing up a storm and following the girls around that she slept through the night!!

                                                          Josi, Alexa and Juliana

                                                             Three pretty princesses!
     

I can't wait to see how she is when she meets all of her Great Aunts and Uncles next weekend!

A travel bean

Next Thursday, my little string bean and I will be leaving for the US to visit friends and family for a few weeks. I have been trying to plan out in my head what I'll need to bring for myself and for Alexa for our trip. Now, normally I can fill a large suitcase just with clothes and shoes for myself. This trip, however, I could probably just bring a carry on with my clothes in it because I'm at that awful in-between stage of post pregnancy where nothing fits. I still can't fit into any of my regular jeans, shorts or pants, and most of my shirts are now too tight in the boob area. I know what you're thinking..."just wear maternity clothes!" If only life were that easy! Most of my maternity clothes are now too big. I still have a left over baby bump, but it's not quite big enough to rock most of my maternity pants. One pair is passable and I live in them or my yoga pants. I have been searching and searching for some kind of jeans or capri pants in my new in-between size, but apparently they don't exist here in Austria. APPARENTLY, Austrian chicks pop out kids and immediately go back to stick figure sizes! That is so not me.

Anyway, I've found a packing list on Baby Center that looks pretty decent, so I think I might follow it and see how things go. I also know that I don't need to bring quite as many clothes for Alexa as I normally would need because so many family and friends have bought a bunch of stuff for her. This, hopefully, will make packing a little easier.

Packing Checklist for Traveling with Baby

Pre-birth I was so excited about my trip to the US and not nervous about traveling with an infant at all. Now, I realize that I have booked the worst possible flight imaginable. The layover is nearly impossible and we will be lucky to make our connection. Good thing I've been working out! Maybe I'll be able to sprint from one terminal to the next with a stroller, a baby, her diaper bag and my carry on! (Good luck!) Just thinking about the entire trip makes me a little queasy. I'll be traveling nearly 13 hours alone with a 3 month old. People keep telling me not to worry too much, that not knowing what to expect is the worst part. I just hope my little bean likes the airplane. She's pretty good being calmed down with white noise or sleep machines, so hopefully the hum of the airplane will lull her to sleep and we will have an uneventful trip.

Any suggestions or tips on traveling with infants or what to pack?