Beach Boy

It is wonderful to see life "normalling out" for our one-year-old.  He has done many firsts: first swim, first plane ride, first tooth (not quite in yet, will let you know), first solids, and now his first trip to the beach!  We increasingly understand the importance of a normal life no matter the limitations of James' feeding tube.  We just have to find creative ways to make the challenges work.

It is a challenge traveling with any child, but we had head-scratching moments when it came to caring for James' differences on the beach.  Since he can't sit it looked like playing in the sand and water was out.  We were also worried about finding a suitable way to feed him on the beach without getting sand in everything.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a solution when it came to sitting.  I did let him lay on his stomach on the edge of a large blanket and put his hands in the sand.  That didn't last long as his eyes and mouth were much too close to the grainy substance.  We tried carrying him into the ocean, but the water was surprising cold for an East Coast beach in August so he wasn't too fond of that.  We did find that he enjoyed laying with me on the blanket, watching the waves and listening to everything that was going on.  I guess he is a true beach bum.  And, when it came to feeding, draw-string sport bags came to the rescue!  It was easy to pack and carry all his feeding supplies (machine, syringes, oral food) and the material kept the sand and water out.  And, when it came time to hook him up to the pump, we could keep the machine in the bag and just run the tubing out the top.  We did have to bring his car seat down to keep him in place while he ate, but it worked great for his mid-meal nap!

By the third day we ditched his bathing suit all together.  He received cute trunks from his Aunt Nancy and we bought a rash guard to cover his tube, but James still can't do the shirt-pants combo without scratching or pulling on his tube and we couldn't risk the sand getting in!  We ended up just using a one-piece tank outfit.  Luckily, sand isn't much of an issue in the clean pool so he will get good use out of his cute bathing outfit!

Even with these questions it almost felt easier to travel with James for five days than it did for an afternoon out, reason being we were taking suitcases and could just pile multiples of everything we thought we might possibly, remotely, probably not need into the back of the car (including that nebulizer that, luckily, hasn't made an appearance since March).  And I had Mark to help me.  And we made lists, lots of lists, and checked them twice, more like ten times.

We are very lucky that James loves the car, it made for an easy ride.  He loves the windows rolled down (I wonder where he got that from?) and his new favorite thing is to throw his hands in the air like he is on a roller-coaster.  I'll post a video of this when I finish editing.

It was great to vacation with my family, another fun, normal first with James.  He loved all the attention!

Check out our beach boy:

Sunbathing with Mommy.

Putting his feet up in the car seat.

With love.