Stuff People Google 49

It's been a while since a weekly edition of Stuff People Google has featured a Teen Mom phrase.  It's been too long.

leah messer feet

Baby on a Beach

As you now know, I was on vacation last week.  A tropical Caribbean vacation.  It took a couple planes to get there, one being a 10 person puddle jumper, and once on sandy ground there wasn't much to do other than soak up sunshine.  Picture clear blue water, tiki umbrellas and a light ocean breeze.  My husband and I read lots of books, wore lots of sunscreen and ate lots of dessert.  It was peaceful and relaxing.

You can imagine the scene, yes?  Remember the photo from Tuesday's post (below)?

Okay.  Add a baby to that photo.  Add a 6 month old baby.  Add a stroller.  And a baby bjorn.  Does that image work for you?  Can you picture a baby on that beach?  Day two of our vacation, there was a 6 month old baby on that beach.  He was breastfeeding one tiki umbrella over.  

You know I'm baby crazy.  So first things first, I ooohed and ahhhed at the baby's cuteness.  He was adorable.  Once I moved on from him and his fantastic striped onesie, I pondered whether I would have the balls to bring a 6 month old to the Caribbean.  Then I pondered whether it was balls or whether it was an easy going attitude or whether it was lunacy.  The parents seemed functioning and stable, but appearances can be deceiving.

I started to consider all the reasons why one would or would not bring a baby on vacation: Will bringing your baby enhance/detract from/not effect your vacation? Will bringing your baby enhance/detract from/not effect other people who are vacationing beside you?  Practically speaking, is it even an option to bring or not bring your baby?

Image from a story on Raising Kvell
about a family's trip to Barbados with
their toddler who got croup and needed
foreign medical attention...ugh

First, only you know whether you want need mommy/daddy time or family time.  Are you going to stress without your baby (are your in-laws feeding him donut holes...again) or are you going to miss your baby to the point of not being able to enjoy the away time?  Have you not have 5 minutes alone with your husband since the baby's birth?  Next, is your baby mellow and adaptable or is your baby cranky and high strung?  The adorable baby on my vacation didn't cry, at all.  It's likely he went unnoticed by most sunbathers.  I doubt most babies could follow his act.  What is your baby's tolerance for new faces and new spaces?  Last, sometimes practical issues will make considerations one and two moot.  If you don't want to take your baby on vacation, you need a babysitter.  Do you have one or can you afford one.  If you do want to take your baby on vacation, you also need to bring baby things.  Will you need a stroller?  Can the baby deal without a pack n' play?  Bottles?  Diapers?

Just writing about all this is scaring me away from the idea a vacation post life with baby.  I'm not sure I have the patience to weigh the pros and cons, much less bring the baby.

What baby vacationing experiences do you have?  Did you fly a plane or opt for a driving vacation?  How old was your baby?  Regrets?

I'm Sorry

Please accept my apology.  I didn't post at all last week, as I'm sure you noticed, and I'm sorry.  I went on vacation and I decided to take a week off from blogging.  I'm usually proactive with setting up some posts that automatically go live while I'm away, but I failed on that front last week.  Poor planning on my part.  So, again, sorry!!!

Where I was for a week (aka Heaven)

While I'm apologizing for last week's failure, I figure there are a few other apologies that I owe you.

First, I'm sorry for screwing up the post title on The Blue Ivy Conspiracy.  The post was originally and accidentally entitled The Blue Ivry Conspiracy.  Ooops.  It stayed that way for about 3 hours until a friend gave me a quick text message to the effect of, "you screwed up Beyonce's baby's name".  I don't know why I wrote Ivry instead of Ivy.  It was a mistake...but kind of a big one.  What's more is that because I originally used "Ivry", even after changing the title to Ivy, the URL of the post remains with Ivry (http://nextstop-baby.blogspot.com/2012/01/blue-ivry-conspiracy.html).  I apologize to you, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Blue Ivry...errrr, Blue Ivy.

Blue Ivy Carter

I'm sorry for not following through on the Holiday Gift Countdown.  Last November I came up with a plan to blog a gift idea for each day of December leading up to Christmas.  I knew it would be labor intensive going in, but I already had accumulated a bunch gifts that I adored, so I figured it would be manageable.  I had a head start.  I skipped December 6.  I skipped December 10-13, and made one, big post on December 14.  By December 20, I called it quits.  So, I'm sorry about that.  If I do a holiday gift countdown again this year, I'll come up with a plan that works better for all of us.

The first day of the 2011
Holiday Gift Countdown,
still one of my favorites.

I'm sorry for posting about baby hats so much (here, here, here and here).  I know there's more.  I love baby hats and I can't help it.

This hat (here) remains my favorite.
I just love it.

I probably owe you a couple several more apologies for poorly conceived posts and lingering grammatical errors, but I'm going to stop before I feel like a terrible, horrible, really bad blogger.  I hope you can forgive last week's missing posts and continue to follow and read NSB.  I appreciate your readership, encouragement and support.  And I'll try to lessen the number of times per month that I write about baby hats.

Stuff People Google 48

After last week's edition of Stuff People Google (the horror), it's time for something a little light and a little weird. 

tiny toes baby bunny felt shoes 

Was this a search for baby booties in the shape of bunnies?  If so, was the reference to "tiny toes" necessary?  Maybe we're just looking at the product of a less-than-savvy internet searcher.  It's all about key words.

The Hardest Sacrifice

What's the hardest sacrifice that a woman has to make when she gets pregnant?  Don't think too deeply on this one.  I'm not talking about life-altering, emotional sacrifices like choosing the needs of one's unborn baby over oneself.  I'm talking about the opposite - shallow, temporary sacrifices.  Today I'm polling this question for no other reason than satisfying my curiosity.

Which of the following would be, is or was the hardest thing to sacrifice during pregnancy.  If I don't list your vice below, please feel free to spell out whatever else it is that you will miss/are missing/have missed for 40 weeks.  Kindly leave your choice in a comment.


ALCOHOL - This has to be top on the sacrifice list for most, or am I just a wino?

image here

LARGE AMOUNTS OF CAFFEINE - You are correct if you believe that small amounts of caffeine on a daily basis are no big deal (at least this is what I read after a stitch of research).  But, if you're a pot of coffee a day type lady, there will be necessary cut backs.  A cup of Joe a morning is fine, a half dozen espressos is probably not.

image here

SUSHI - I've recently heard that as long as you're eating reliable sushi, you're allowed to keep the soy sauce flowing.  Reliable sushi being sushi from a restaurant/vendor that you know and trust to be 100% bacteria/parasite free.  But, it's very hard to know when you're eating reliable sushi, so for most this will be a sacrifice.

image here

RECREATIONAL DRUGS - I just put it on the list to see if anyone was interested in admitting their habits in the publicly accessible yet judgment free forum provided on NSB.

image here

CONTACT SPORTS AND EXTREME SPORTS - I'm not an ob/gyn as you may have known or guessed.  But, from what I have learned through the journey of blogging on NSB, activities like horseback riding, bungee jumping and lacrosse become less easy to do when you're pregnant.  And, there are some studies showing that they present a risk to the little one.

image here

Now go ahead and comment with your vote.  I'll vote too.