New Year's Tradition With a Twist

It has been a family tradition of ours to go to Pensacola Beach for New Year's. We have been doing it since my sister first moved down there almost 10 years ago. One of the only times I missed the celebration was the year I met Nicholas in Nashville (a story that has it's own post, which I am still working on). Anyway, since we were at home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and since Zayd is now 3 months old, we thought it would be a good time to venture out. Believe me, we had our reservations, but we thought if other people can do it, so can we.

We decided that leaving first thing in the morning would be the best for everyone, so we got up on Wednesday and got everything together (no easy task), I fed Zayd, pumped some milk for the road, and we were off. Now, Zayd has been known to scream his head off in the car, so we were prepared for a miserable ride, but as usual, just when you think you know what they are going to do, they surprise you. He did really well, he pretty much slept, fussed a little, took his bottle peacefully, and he even sat quietly for part of the ride. It also helped that we timed our stops pretty well so that we could give him a break from the seat and change and burp him. Anyway, so we got there in pretty good time, and went straight to Jerry's Cajun (another family tradition). Thank God for my mom, if I haven't said that enough. She kept him pretty well under control while we were eating. We stayed at my parent's beach condo that night, and Zayd slept from 8 til about 6:30 in his pack n' play. I think that was because he was super exhausted from his stressful day. It was really strange sleeping in the same room with him. On the one hand, it was great, because he was right there, and I could hear him breathing the whole night (actually Zayd snores, which is pretty cute). But, on the other hand, I was nervous to even move all night because I was afraid to wake him.

We got up and walked on a path next to the beach and then walked out on the beach on Thursday morning. Zayd was nestled tightly in Nick's Ergo carrier, so he was pretty much asleep for his first encounter with the ocean, but I was super excited that he got to experience it for the first time at such a young age.

The next day was New Year's Eve. We were planning on staying at my sister's house since we were going to put all the kids to bed and go to a late dinner. Everything went smoothly with that, and we had a wonderful evening celebrating the New Year and my dad's birthday. We had a great dinner and then watched the "pelican" drop. It was pretty snazzy for a small town.
The rest of the weekend we spent lying around not doing much. My sister, mom, and I managed to go to a movie and go shopping, while the boys looked after the kids. Apparently, Zayd was acting a little crazy while we were at the movie, and the boys got so desperate that they gave him a bottle about 1 hour after I had already fed him, and put him in his pack n play crying with the hairdryer running at 7 o'clock. He eventually fell asleep, but then woke up ready for the world at 1:30 in the morning. And, guess who got to enjoy that? Me, of course! Incidentally, I heard him moving around a lot before he finally cried for me to get him, when I looked in he had rolled completely over, was facing the opposite direction that we had put him down in, and busted halfway out of his swaddle! There have been a handful of times that we have gone to get him and he's on his side, but that time he rolled all the way over!

I have to give credit to my bro, Faris because he took care of Zayd when we went shopping the next day (Nick was out for a couple of days with the stomach virus, I'll spare you the details on that). But Faris fed him (on time), changed him (for the first time in his life), and even put him to sleep (which usually only me or my mom can do with any success). I consider it a nice life lesson for my 19 year-old brother.

We had a good time, but we were pretty happy to get home. Zayd slept through the night the first two nights, but then woke up once the next two nights. I think he knew he wasn't in his house, because he has been doing much better since we got home. I was really glad he got to be on the beach and hang with his cousin Adam. Here are some pictures we managed to get over the weekend.

Me and Nick at Global Grill on New Year's Eve, the night before the stomach virus body snatched my husband.

Me, Mom, and Dima very excited to be without the kids, but also tired. My mom had been asleep for about 2 hours before our 9:30 dinner reservation.

The kids of the Pacha family, minus my brother Tarek.
My Mom and Dad. She thought this was going to be a picture of just her (she likes to do that every time we take pictures), but Dad thought otherwise.
The birthday boy! I have to give him the credit for Mom, D, and I getting to go to a movie and shopping. He insisted we go, when our husbands were less than enthusiastic about it.
Zayd and Cousin Adam. Adam is 7 months old, and Zayd 3 months and 1 week. Very soon, that will be a negligible difference in age, but now it seems like a lot. Anyway, they loved hanging out with each other.
This is what I like to call a "money shot." It was taken by me while my sister was making all kinds of crazy ridiculous noises.