Back in June, our new family of 6 made the trip to Tennessee. We celebrated a dear friend's wedding reception and my dad's birthday, and got to show off Beckham to dozens of friends and family. Besides much of our family being in middle Tennessee, the golden light, the lush landscape, the open fields... there's no place quite like it. Tennessee hasn't been our home for 6 years now (hard to believe!), but it will always be a place of rest and respite for us.

Our mini-vacay to Wilmington.

On the porch of our little cottage for the week

Strolling through dreamy Southport, NC

On the beach at Oak Island

I probably set my hopes a little too high for our first ever family vacation. Because of our crazy schedules these days, it's rare that Shawn and I have one day a week that neither of us has to work, much less 5 days in a row. So we booked a lovely little bungalow in downtown Wilmington on Airbnb. It's only supposed to be a 2.5-hour driving trip, but 15 miles from our destination, our car overheated (the first time it's ever done that, of course), so our 2.5 hours became 6. That really doesn't sound so bad in hindsight, but with two nap-less kids and melting breastmilk in the back of your car, it feels pretty terrible. When we finally made it, we were sweaty, bedraggled, and exhausted. (Thanks to the mini-fridge in the mechanic's garage, the breastmilk survived.) I was begging for us to just turn around and go home. 

Thankfully, my much more level-headed other half said that no, we'd be staying and making the most of it. I'm so glad we did. The days were long and tiring - as all days are with a two-year-old and a 7-month-old - but we got some much needed time together that wouldn't have happened had we stayed at home and stuck to our normal routine. By the end, Shawn told me, "I think their love tanks are full." I totally agreed. 

Our last day there was by far our best: a trip to Southport, NC and then to Oak Island to meet up with some friends. We'd heard about Southport from friends but knew nothing about it until we rode the ferry just before sunset (so beautiful!) and drove into town. We immediately recognized it from seeing Safe Haven a few years ago... the movie was filmed there. And it's every bit as charming as it was in the movie. Liam learned to love the ocean at Oak Island, which we'll never forget. He had been so timid around the waves until he saw his little buddies from Raleigh jumping right in, and he finally got in and loved it. I've rarely seen him so delighted. 

We also loved Betsy's Crepes in downtown Wilmington enough to eat there twice in two days. (Hello, gluten-free crepes!)

The aquarium at Fort Fisher was also wonderful... Liam even got to touch a starfish and feed a horseshoe crab. 

Now we can't wait to explore it more. Being just two hours from the ocean is a pretty big perk of living in Raleigh.

#TBT

It's Throwback Thursday in social media land, so I thought I'd add a throwback blog post that should've been posted months ago. Better late than never.

When our little family traveled to Germany this summer, we knew we wanted to keep our European travels pretty limited (traveling while pregnant and with a toddler isn't the easiest), but Shawn really wanted me to see Basel, Switzerland. He attended boarding school for high school not far away, so it was a special place for him and just a gorgeous place to visit.

Basel (pronounced BAH-zuhl, not like the spice) is just a train ride away from where Shawn's parents live in the Black Forest of Germany, so "Baba" and "Suzu" were gracious enough to spend the day with Liam while Shawn and I snuck away. You know, to Switzerland. I'm still pinching myself.

Switzerland - and Basel specifically - feels much more international than the small town where we stayed in Germany, so it was easy to get around (for me, who doesn't speak German) and we saw so much diversity. We met up with a good friend of Shawn's for lunch, walked over the bridge that separates Germany from Switzerland to see both sides of the border, and had chocolates and tea at kaffeetrinken ("coffee drinking time"). It drizzled rain for most of the day, but we didn't care. Having a date day to explore a very old, very beautiful European city just couldn't be topped.

First haircut.

We decided while we were in Germany that Liam should get his first ever "real" (not by Mommy and Daddy) haircut. The hairdresser, Charlette, had cut Shawn's hair since he was a little guy, which made it so special. At least to me. Liam? He didn't enjoy it so much.

This watermelon sucker was my best and worst idea. I thought it would keep him distracted, but it quickly got pieces of hair stuck to it, which then went in his mouth, which then led to a total spitting meltdown.

Apparently cutting a toddler's hair requires an entire team: mommy wearing the cape, Charlette the hairdresser snipping what she can, and Gramma "Suzu" keeping him distracted. 

Before we were done, he'd had enough, resorting to kicking the hairdresser. Awesome.

Charlette did a fabulous job, especially with her very wiggly, spitting client who didn't cooperate too well. I have to admit - I miss the wavy mullet - but it's growing back already and it makes this mommy's heart so happy. 

Flying internationally with a toddler.

This looks deceptively serene. I should tell you it was on the first flight from Raleigh to NYC - by far the easiest leg of the journey - and he fell asleep five minutes before we touched down.

As you know, we just returned from 10 days in Germany. A few of you have asked how flying internationally with a toddler went, but for most, this is (clearly) unsolicited advice. Feel free to take it or leave it. It's what worked for us, but really, every child and every flight is different. Every age is different, too. From my experience, flying with a baby is much easier than flying with a tiny mobile person.

Anyway, here we go. I'll try to leave out the most obvious things.

You have not because you ask not. That's Biblical. It's also super practical when it comes to long flights with a lap child (i.e. a child under 2 who does not have a purchased seat). By not buying a ticket for him, we risked boarding a packed flight and having Liam sit on our laps for the duration. But before both Transatlantic flights, we asked the gate agent if there were any rows with an empty seat, and they gladly switched us so we had a row to ourselves. It was life changing (no exaggeration), and I don't know how we would've survived 9 hours with Liam on my getting-smaller-every-day lap.

Choose a red-eye flight. On our trip to Germany, we flew through the night. We put on Liam's jammies, gave him his pacifier and blanket, and as soon as the plane took off, he fell asleep for 6+ hours of the 8-hour flight. On our trip home, we flew during the day, and Liam slept for 30 minutes of the 9-hour flight. It made for a much longer, much more exhausting trip for all of us.

Bring way more food than you think you need. Thankfully, both our international flights had gluten-free meals that we had requested in advance, but they were small and bland. And because Liam didn't technically have a seat, he didn't have a meal. So we brought a backpack nearly full of snacks - applesauce pouches, granola bars, animal crackers, fruit snacks, string cheese, yogurt, plenty of drinks in sippy cups - and they really saved the day.

Bring new toys he's never seen. The dollar store is perfect for this.

Bring headphones that fit him. I wish we had.

Our travel day home, which included three flights instead of the planned two, was one of the worst travel days we have ever, ever experienced. (I can hardly talk about it without wanting to cry. It was terrible. Thankfully, we were awarded vouchers - but still.) On our final flight, Shawn and I swore we would never travel internationally with a toddler ever again. But really, the toddler wasn't the problem at all. He was a trooper - it was just a ridiculously long day where things just didn't go our way.

Looking back on it after a few good nights of sleep, we are so thankful we had the guts to make the trip happen: 20-month-old in tow, 14 weeks pregnant and all. And we're so utterly thankful for the time spent in Shawn's home with his parents in this season of our lives.

Bonding.

Having grandparents that live in another state, much less on the other side of the world, is a complicated thing for a one-year-old. It's hard for anyone to bond over FaceTime, and I would think especially hard for a toddler. Sure enough, though, I think all those FaceTime sessions actually worked. Liam embraced these two wholeheartedly and it was the sweetest thing in the world to watch.