"Santa Belle" Island

Before I get to our adventures on Sanibel Island, I'll back track a little bit. On Sabbath, we went to Forest Lake Church as usual. We saw Eric Badillo - - whom I haven't seen in nearly three years - - and his parents who were visiting the church. Eric surprised his mother for her birthday. It was a nice treat to see them. The big news was that Calleigh indeed made it through the whole church service as I was hoping would be the case since I had a new arsenal of entertaining supplies. She just barely made it though. The problem remains getting her to talk in a quiet voice. After church, we had Aunt Wanda, David, and Yully over for lunch.

After lunch, my mom and I did some quick packing and then it was off for the roughly four hour trip to Sanibel Island ("Santa Belle" according to Calleigh) - - which is just north of Fort Myers for those not familiar with the area or if you're REALLY not familiar with the area, it's about two hours south of Tampa. It would have been great if Duncan could have accompanied us but he was off on a trip to Chicago for a work related conference starting Saturday night. So that left just the three of us girls. To break up the trip, we made a stop in Bradenton to see the McDougalls which now includes Katie's little girl, Kenzie, who will be turning one next month. It surely is amazing the difference between a one and two year old and you really do forget it. It's difficult to remember that there was a time that Calleigh wasn't walking or talking!

We arrived at our condo right around sunset. The condo was very nice with a bedroom with two double beds, a kitchen, and living room that had a pullout. My mom found out that the pool could be used until dusk so she and Calleigh immediately put on their bathing suits for the first of many swimming pool excursions. Calleigh thoroughly enjoyed herself - - especially trying to sit on all of the steps. Of course, many of them were over her head when she sat down so we had to keep telling her that she couldn't sit on them even though she kept saying "Sit right there?" over and over.

Since we were in a strange place, it took her some time to fall asleep in her pack and play but I stayed in the room with her and she finally succumbed at about 9:40 - - which meant I finally got to eat some supper! My mom and I had some hot dogs that we had brought although I had forgotten the ketchup. But hey, as long as we had our mayo, we were in good shape! Right after that, I tried to contact Duncan who was arriving in Chicago but we soon realized we didn't get cell reception in the condo. That was the only downside to things. But no worries. I went out in the parking lot to chat.

Calleigh slept very well through the night and woke up the next morning pretty much at her normal time. We headed out to The Island Cow for breakfast where I had a delicious order of coconut french toast. After that, it was off to the beach which was just a short walk from our condo. The weather was beautiful and the water was actually pretty warm - - surprisingly so. Calleigh had not been to the "ocean" in over a year so we were curious to see her reaction. She was was apprehensive at first but within a few minutes and with Gigi's encouragement, she was soon splashing in the waves. Gigi loves the ocean so I was glad to see that Calleigh was not a disappointment to her in this regard. I went in a little bit but spent most of my time relaxing in the beach chair while the two of them played around. Calleigh also did some shoveling with her bucket and pail. And of course, other things got her attention such as some teen aged boys that were building some sort of sand wall and trench. She wasn't the least bit shy about going over and peering at what they were doing and trying to sit in the trench. Fortunately, they were good sports about it. We stayed there for a couple of hours and I managed to get a decent tan.

I had brought some food with us for Calleigh to eat for lunch which she did in the condo and my mom and I had a microwave meal. Calleigh took her nice long nap while I napped and read a book. After she woke up, we drove around a little bit, stopping at a marina before we headed to Cheeburger, Cheeburger for supper. The meal went very well but we ran into one of my little pet peeves - - no bendy straws! It's so annoying, honestly. They bring out a drink in a paper cup but a straw that doesn't bend. Try having a little kid take a drink out of a regular straw and you'll see why it annoys me. They have to tilt the cup at a weird angle and inevitably, they'll either get nothing out of it (because it's tilted so far) or the drink will start spilling out of the top. So I kind of keep track of the restaurants that have them and those that don't. Another one that immediately comes to mind that doesn't is Cracker Barrel. Of course, this isn't always that big of an issue for me because most of the time, I bring food for Calleigh which means I don't need to order her a meal which means I don't get her a drink (which usually comes with the meal).

After supper, it was another quick swim and then time for bed for Calleigh. This time she woke up at about 5:30 and as no surprise to me (because I could smell it) she announced "I have poo-poo." We did a quick diaper change and then she asked to sleep in "Mommy's bed" and since it was nearly morning, I let her in. Of course, I didn't position her quite right and I ended up on a little sliver of the bed where I was afraid to move for fear she would wake up. That's why I don't like her sleeping in my bed. It's never an enjoyable experience for me! She did end up sleeping until just before eight and since we wanted to get in another beach outing, we ate breakfast in the condo. That left us about an hour on the beach before checkout.

We left shortly after eleven with me at the wheel. We called Aunt Shirley and Uncle Clarence and they were able to meet us for lunch at a Ruby Tuesday just north of Bradenton. We had a very nice meal with them and they got to see Calleigh. From there, it was back to Orlando with a stop at the airport to drop off Gigi. Her flight left at 7:30 so she had some extra time to spare but since we were basically going by the airport on the way home, it's the way it worked out. It was very sad to see her go since we had spent so much time together over the last few days. Calleigh has become very attached to Gigi and would love to say Gigi over and over again. If Gigi was in another room, she'd immediately start saying "Gigi, Gigi" and start looking for her. She did NOT want to be separated from Gigi! But, the good news is that we'll be seeing Gigi again in a little less than 6 weeks so that isn't too bad. I told Calleigh that Gigi would be back when little sister comes and she's probably repeated that fact about five or six times now.

Calleigh and I got back home around five and then it was the fun part of having to get unpacked and getting the house cleaned up - - since I left it in a rather messy state after Sabbath dinner. After Calleigh had supper, we also took a trip over to Ron & Elaine's to check on the cats and water the plants. Back home I gave Calleigh a bath and then put her to bed. She was out like a light. Often times she'll be in her crib for up to an hour (not crying but just hanging out in there) before falling asleep but last night, she was asleep in no time flat. The same happened to me when I went to bed just after eleven. There's nothing better than being in your own bed!

Today things have gotten back to fairly normal - - although Duncan isn't here so it's not exactly normal. I did some laundry this morning and then it was off to story time. Calleigh has gotten pretty good at her colors (finally!) so she was able to participate in that part of the program today. She insisted on sitting by herself (instead of near me) while the stories were being read which made it difficult for me to keep her quiet. The teacher was reading a book and Calleigh would very loudly make comments - - "Boy has a hat on" or "There's a strawberry!" Keep in mind that none of the other kids are generally saying a peep so Calleigh's loud comments are quite obvious. You hate to quiet her down though because she just likes to be involved and what she's saying is true after all.

This afternoon was Opening Day for the Red Sox since it was cancelled yesterday. The game started just as Calleigh was getting up from her nap so she got to watch some of it with me while I folded laundry. I told her about all of the players and I explained a home run to her when Pedroia hit one in the first inning and then again when Varitek hit one - - how they got to run around all the bases. It must have stuck in her mind because later on she said something about a home run and started to run crazily from the living room to the kitchen. I guess that was the equivalent of running the bases!

Megan and David came over this evening and I helped them with their taxes. Now I'm just sitting her typing this blog as I wait for Duncan's arrival. His plane has landed and he's driving himself home. Can't wait to see him. Three days seems like a long time and I know he's missed Calleigh terribly. Who wouldn't, right??

One final note. I talk to Calleigh now and then about baby sister and how she can help me change diapers, get her dressed, etc. I think I mentioned to Calleigh that the baby would have a binky. Calleigh got concerned that it would be HER binky so I had to explain to her that no, baby sister would have her own little tiny baby binky. It would not be Calleigh's binky. So now Calleigh keeps talking about baby sister and a binky and then she'll shake her head and say "Not Calleigh's binky." I'm sure this comes as a great relief to her!

Okay, that was supposed to be the final not but here's the real final note. The pregnancy, which is at 33 weeks now, is really starting to hit me. Last night I was drinking a cup of tea and I couldn't take more than a few sips of it because the heartburn was so bad. Down the sink it went. But worse than that, I'm starting to walk like a pregnant woman. No, not that!! But yes, I'm starting to get pain in my lower back on the left side and it's making me walk funny (or perhaps, even waddle??). The worst part is having to carry Calleigh up and down the stairs. That 28 pounds is starting to feel REALLY heavy now. There's only six weeks to go from today, though, so I'll have some new pains to talk about after that!