Home for the Holidays

We recently went back down south for our first Christmas stateside in 3 years. It was important to us to be ‘home for the holidays’ this year and we wanted Forest to experience a traditional Christmas full of fellowship with family and friends. We arrived to New Orleans late on the evening of December 21, so Forest pretty much went straight to bed, since he was exhausted from a day of traveling. The next morning he slept til almost 9 so we were ecstatic to have jet lag finally working on our side for a change! 

Jonathan’s brother Bradley and his wife Brittany were visiting Louisiana from Dallas so that morning they came to meet Forest for the first time, and we got to hang out with them for the first time since their wedding in June 2013. It is really unreal that you can go a year and a half without seeing your siblings but that’s just the season of life we are all in right now. It was so good to hang out with them for the day. 

We just explored Fontainebleau State Park and then Jonathan took them to lunch while Forest and I went back to my parents’ house for his morning nap. That night we left Forest with my parents while we drove to Baton Rouge to celebrate Jonathan’s youngest brother’s (Bryan) graduation from college. Bryan recently had a baby girl back in September so it was our first time to meet our precious niece, Rayne. 

We ended up getting home pretty late but luckily Forest again slept til 9 (!) and we ended up having a day of relative relaxation time before the Christmas festivities began. On Christmas Eve, Jonathan’s parents, Bryan, Megan and baby Rayne joined us and my parents for Christmas Eve church service. It was Forest’s first time to meet his newest cousin so we made sure to take lots of pictures. 

Christmas morning was busy busy as I helped my mom prepare dinner for 22 guests! My mom is an incredible hostess and always goes above and beyond to make sure everyone has plenty to eat. 

Forest had plenty of people who were more than happy to babysit him while I worked in the kitchen. After lunch it was time to open presents and of course Forest racked up the gifts! 

He really had a fun time opening his presents this year, and even more fun playing with all his new toys. Of course his favorite thing was pulling the ribbons off of all the presents so by the time Christmas actually rolled around, hardly anyone received a gift with a bow still attached. 

I was just happy he went for the ribbons and not the ornaments on the tree. We actually made it through the entire holiday without a single Christmas decoration getting broken, which is surely the true miracle of Christmas. My mom goes all out when it comes to decorating for the holidays and there wasn’t a single surface of the house that didn’t have some sort of décor on it, so I was pretty pleased that our toddler tornado left most of it alone. 

After Christmas we had one day to recuperate before heading to Orange Beach for the week. We were going to be staying with Jonathan’s parents at their condo whereas my parents and siblings would be staying a few miles down the road in their own condo in Perdido Key, Florida. 

I was a bit apprehensive to leave the crib at my parents’ house behind and trade it in for a pack n play in Alabama since the last time we had used a pack n play it was the worst Forest has ever slept. But I was hopeful he’d be so spent from swimming in the indoor pool and running on the beach that he would be tired enough to sleep anywhere. Luckily, he cut his final canine on Christmas day so at least I knew we were done with that particular culprit until the 2 year molars started coming in. 

It stormed the whole entire drive to Orange Beach which made for pretty exhausting driving. I guess the bad weather kept Forest from being able to sleep as well because he only napped for a few minutes during the 4 hour drive. Luckily he stayed pretty calm the whole way! When we got to the condo, Jonathan’s parents had Forest’s room all set up and ready to go. We decided to take him swimming in the indoor pool since it was still raining outside and we felt bad for keeping him cooped up on the drive. Forest absolutely loved the pool! 

It was really warm in the room and the pool temps were almost as warm as a baby bath so it was perfect. Jonathan’s parents got Forest an inflatable baby raft but we learned pretty quickly that Forest could flip it (of course) so we had to keep a really close eye on him. He’s definitely his father’s child when it comes to the water. 

I could go the rest of my life without swimming but Jonathan and Forest are both gaga for any sort of water. The plan is to get F-man scuba certified as soon as possible, which I believe is now 10 years old. Oy vey! But at least Jonathan will have a buddy to go with him one day because there is no way I’m swimming in shark waters. 

I’ll never forget when we went snorkeling in Hawaii. It took me 10 minutes to muster up the courage to jump in, and upon doing so I saw a fish (like a regular old fish) and immediately started hyperventilating (like- couldn’t breathe, vomiting, all out panic!). Jon asked what happened once I calmed down on the boat and I said ‘I saw a fish!’ and he sheepishly said ‘ that’s sort of the point of snorkeling…’. I think he realized in that moment that his hopes of me ever scuba diving with him were never going to happen. I have an irrational fear of fish. Sorry babe. Only nine more years and you will have a scuba diving partner again! 

The rest of the trip was spotty with weather. We had a few overcast but dry days where we were able to take Forest down to the beach but we spent a lot time at the pool.  

We also went over to watch the LSU bowl game (I don’t want to talk about it…) in the community room at my parents’ condo. 

Despite LSU’s pitiful performance (I don’t want to talk about it…) it was so nice to get together with fellow fans and drink Abita beer for the game. Forest got to spend some good time with his cousins from my side of the family, and finally met his final cousin (Corbin- who was sick the last time we went home) and his last uncle (Dan who stayed home with Corbin while my sis and her youngest boys came to visit us in Louisiana). 

So it only took 14 months but he’s finally met his entire family! Sigh….It’s so tough to be spread out sometimes! 

As a bonus while we were on the gulf coast, my BFF from high school was staying 2 hours down the road in Destin at the same time. We agreed to meet halfway for a little playdate for our boys (moreso for us) at the Gulf Breeze zoo. It was the perfect size zoo for their age and they had a blast. Kye just turned 2 so it was fun to observe him and try to imagine what Forest will be like in 10 short months. Judging from Kye, it seems like as a two year old, Forest will be just as busy but with the ability to talk. 

Those boys are a fun-filled handful for sure! It was so good for my soul to spend time with Talia and her sweet and beautiful son, as well as her momma who came along to help with the boys. 

Sometimes you just need to be around people who knew you growing up. I feel like I’m constantly meeting new people, which I LOVE and wouldn’t trade for anything, but sometimes you just want to be around people who not only know your backstory but were part of your backstory. While in Covington I also got to hang out with my friend Tracy who I know from both high school and my sorority days, and it was just so effortless. 

That’s probably what I miss most about being home. Sigh. Anyways, back to the beach vacay… 

Forest did really well in the pack n play. He had one rough night where he was up crying for 15 minutes or so but Jonathan was able to calm him down and put him back to bed pretty quickly. Other than that, a few skipped afternoon naps were the biggest drama, but that happens all the time at home so I can’t really blame the portable crib for that. 

Something that really helped was my Aunt and Uncle got Forest a toddler sleeping bag for Christmas. He’s a bit too young to use it by itself just yet but we put it down inside the pack n play and I think it made it much more cozy for him. 

We’ll for sure be using it during a trip to Tahoe later this month so hopefully it continues to work it’s snuggly magic! 

For our final 3 nights we drove back to Covington and spent some more time with my parents, brother, and grandparents and played plenty of mahjong. 

We also finally went to see a movie for the first time since Forest was born! We saw Unbroken which was powerful and moving but only a fraction as powerful and moving as the book was, so if you haven’t read it, I suggest you do so. More book suggestions coming up on the blog soon... 

The flight home was a direct flight and went as smoothly as possible. I was really impressed with Forest’s traveling behavior, but I will write a separate post about the actual logistics of getting to Louisiana and back. This post is already obnoxiously long so I will go ahead and wrap it up now. We have a wonderful trip home and were so grateful for the hospitality our families showed to us. It’s never a breeze traveling with a baby, but they sure made it as easy as it could possibly be! Thanks again for everything!