Our Dominican Disaster

FLORIDA.  BRING IT ON.

We woke up bright and early, let Maks release some energy and said goodbye to Louisiana - embarking on our 3 day road-trip journey to The Sunshine State.

What a gorgeous Fall morning!

I WILL miss this yard. 

"Don't drink and slide."  Leave it to this kid to find the lone beer bottle that Daddy left on the patio.

I was lucky enough to travel in a car with a carseat-hating toddler and a 65lb dog.  Bryon did his part by driving the UHaul through some intense winds and rain.  Neither were very rewarding.  But, we made it to Florida.  What we haven't done is get settled.  We technically moved here October 1st, although our house wasn't ready for us to move in until November 1st.  Bryon started working right away.  And let me tell you, watching after a toddler and a dog while living in small quarters and out of a suitcase (while pregnant) is not a walk in the park.  Sunrise strolls like this helped to make it better:

For the first 10 days, we stayed in a Temporary Lodging Facility on base at MacDill.  I'm sure the housekeepers there thought we were crazy because we took the queen mattress off of the bedframe and moved in onto the floor of the living room.  Since it was only a 1 bedroom unit, Bryon and I slept out in the main area (so that he could get ready for work and leave in the morning without disturbing Maks, and so that we could stay up/run errands in and out of the apartment after Maks went to bed at 6:30pm) while Maks slept on his twin mattress that we brought from home in the bedroom.  It was a rocky transition at first, but Maks slept his 12 hours at night and eventually took some decent naps during the daytime.

We went a little stir crazy.  For example, these mommy fails:

Fail #1:

He looked so uncoordinated running down the sidewalk...only to find out I'd put both of his feet through the same leg of his shorts!

Fail #2 is visible by looking at his nose.  He'd been deciding to unbuckle himself and jump out of the jogging stroller while in motion.  When he wouldn't listen to me, I let him continue to do so (to try and teach him a lesson).  All he learned was to slide off on his belly the next time.  And I was fortunate enough to deal with the horrified looks of bystanders as my jogging stroller conveniently rolled over my child's body.

And we spent a lot of time at the park and zoo.

Just a tad concerned that whenever he sees a meerkat he excitedly yells, "Da-da!".

I'm kind of loving the signs at our park!  And Maks loves chasing said squirrels more than playing on the equipment.

Since after 10 days our lodging came out of our own pocket, I figured that I'd rather spend money on a real vacation/hotel rather than simply pay for a hotel in Tampa.  So, we'd booked a week-long trip to the Dominican Republic.  We'd made the mistake of not going on a baby-moon prior to Maks' arrival and didn't want to make the same mistake this time around.  However, Maks would be trekking along with us.  So, we chose an all-inclusive (not our typical style) beachfront resort with infant/childcare facilities.  A nice week to de-stress, relax and soak up some sun.

Prepping for Punta Cana in the Florida sand!

Punta Cana.  It was awful.  Let me elaborate...
*DISCLAIMER: We did end up with some decent tans, and some nice photos to share!  Don't be fooled by how fun it looks; we won't be traveling back to the Dominican anytime soon!

For starters, the day before we left, Maks woke up from a nap with a funny sounding cough and mucus-y spit up.  I didn't think much about it because it only lasted about 10 seconds and he seemed find.  Around 8pm that night, I was out picking up food for Kira to eat while we left her with a friend.  Bryon called me stating that Maks woke up with a horrific cough (he NEVER wakes up from sleep) and needed to go to the ER.  He'd called his step-mom, who is a doctor, and she was concerned about whooping cough as well.  So, off to Tampa General we went.

To make this story much shorter than it actually was...Maks was in awful shape but couldn't sleep the entire time we were at the hospital.  We finally left at nearly 2am with a diagnosis of croup and an upper respiratory tract infection, a few prescriptions from the doctor and the advice to continue on with our trip as planned (it was too late to "cancel" at this point anyhow!).  We were also given medicine for whooping cough, although the results of his test wouldn't be available for a couple more days.  This way we'd have the meds in case his test results came back positive and we needed them.  Better safe than sorry.

THIS was a big hit!

Fast forward to our plane ride, which included Maks not sleeping until we were within an hour of landing in the Dominican Republic around 9pm at night.  We'd been so busy running around picking up prescriptions for Maks, etc., that when we landed, we realized that we hadn't brought ANY cash with us and all we had were our credit/debit cards.  Luckily we met a nice couple on the plane who lended us some cash for our visas, and we were able to pay them back after paying a ridiculous currency transfer fee at the airport.  Lesson learned!

Beachside kisses.

After an hour transport from the airport to our hotel, we arrived only to find that they'd not placed a crib in the room for Maks.  (I even double checked with the front desk upon check-in, too.)  We called housekeeping and they assured us that the crib would be delivered asap.  Then we called back no less than 12 more times.  Once 1am rolled around, we put Maks to bed without a crib.  At nearly 2am, they called to see if we still wanted it delivered.  "No, thank you.  Let's try again tomorrow."

Cutest booty in the Dominican Republic.

Oh, and we chose this particular resort because of the fact that they had a well reviewed "babyland" where we could drop Maks off to play and swim in a special area so that we could go on excursions/enjoy a meal/sit on the beach for a few hours on our own.  Anyhow, the staff let me know upon check-in that Babyland was under COMPLETE RENOVATION AND WOULD NOT BE OPERATING THROUGHOUT OUR ENTIRE STAY.  Um, shouldn't they have told me this prior to reservation? 

Babyland was obviously a bust...so we hung out at the pool with adults instead.

Maks reports that this is the best way to travel.

Maks attended his first foam pool party!

Maksim refused to nap every day, but remembered to be cranky.  The only way we finally got him to nap on the last day was to let him cry for an hour in the ergo carrier while we walked on the beach.  Once he fell asleep, Bryon got to sit motionless in the hot, hot sun for 2 hours while Maks napped (and Bryon sweated).  Maks also woke up no later than 4:45am every single morning.  Not horrible, but the hotel restaurants didn't open until 7am, which made for a long morning without ANY food.  We ran into the same problem at dinnertime.  The resort restaurants didn't open for dinner until after Maks went to bed for the night - which meant that every night Bryon and I took turns going to dinner and eating alone while Maks had to stash up on food at other meals throughout the day.  

This dismount could use a little work.

Maks' cough and infection cleared up fairly quickly, but Bryon caught it later in the week.  Alternatively, my pregnant self caught some sort of food/water poisoning (despite solely using bottled water).  Maks was lucky enough to catch the water bug at the end of our trip as well.   

"See ya, Mama!"

Free drinks!

Mazel tov!

So, for the most part, we spent each day dreading how many days we still had left before we were able to go back home.  Not the vacation we'd planned.  It was a total bomb.  Live and learn.  (And go by ourselves next time!)

Finally back in the USA.

Here's Maks' layover workout in Miami.  He did this at least 10 times.

Happy to be back in Florida...but still don't have a "home" to go back to just yet!