Why Staycations Are Good For My Soul

Ahhh...the totally relaxed feeling I have after such a nice week! Now I am a big lover of traveling, seeing new places, eating new foods...all of it! I don't even mind staying in hotels (in fact, that can be half the fun for me!), but there's something about a Staycation! A week (or however long) of sleeping in (in your own bed), being comfy on your couch, having access to all your clothes (not just what you packed) and just taking each day as it comes!

One thing I will say is I'm not a TOTAL go with the flow sort of person and I have developed busy body syndrome, so I did plan a little something for the days, but it wasn't too much and we still got a lot of down time. Honestly, the things I did plan just made us (at least me) appreciate what down time we did have.

Here's a bit of a breakdown of our week:

Saturday and Sunday (the 4th and 5th) were spent playing with blocks, trying on new accessories, and watching animated animals dance and sing in preparation for our week off.

Monday I made plans to visit some day care centers near us. With a second baby on the way I worried having 2 under 2 to watch while Larry worked might be a little much so I figured we should go price day cares and see if there were any we liked, just in case. We visited with 3 of them, 2 we really liked and 1 was a no go. Larry still doesn't like the idea and after seeing how much they cost I became okay with his confidence. He said the only positive to putting Cara in day care would be he'd finally get to see her excitement with him when he picked her up - like she gets with me when I get home (queue the AWWWWs from my heart) - but overall he really didn't like the idea of someone else taking care of her. I hope that it works out that way!

Honestly, I loved the 2 we liked, and it made me excited about the possibilities, but the money was a big stressor for me. Even still, I did get some ideas of a good schedule to have Cara on and good day time routines for her (in fact it convinced us to move her nap from 1:30 to 12:30 just to see if that would help her go to bed...we'll be trying that next week to see the effects) so visiting them wasn't a total loss.

Cara caught onto the Staycation vibes REALLY quickly haha

Tuesday we had some Dr appointments in the morning. We did the eye doctor and pediatrician for Cara's 15 month checkup. I'm happy to report that she's gaining weight at a very healthy level (I was nervous switching her to solids and off a bottle would make it hard to match the calories, but she's actually closer to the 50th percentile rather than 30th now) and her head is just as big as ever haha. I also made it a mission to finish up my Seasonal Totes while we had this week off (a 2 hour midday nap really makes it easier to get stuff like that done). I finally printed off my labels and we went to Hobby Lobby to get some good thick paper and got them all ready. We also decided to stop off at the Asian Buffet nearby (SO yummy...and I'm not normally a big Asian food person) for lunch. Cara loved all of it, but mostly the watermelon (of course).

My tote labels...Cute, right?

Wednesday we had some more Dr appointments. This time was the dentist in the morning and then I had my general checkup in the afternoon. I decided while we had a little grass left we should have a play in the sprinklers outside time. Cara didn't care too much, but I had fun with it haha. She did end up running around on the trampoline while the water hit part of that and she appeared to have fun with that. I also took my first nap in forever while Cara napped. It was only an hour, but it was nice to say I actually got to take one! I don't know if that'll happen once #2 is here. Overall it was a really fun day. Totally relaxed, got a nap, had fun!



Thursday was an unexpected day, but turned out to be one of the funnest days! I had originally wanted to go down South - one of the towns near Provo was having a festival with a petting zoo and pony rides (I mean could you just imagine Cara on her first pony?!). I was SO excited to go, but the unfortunate timing with this week was the awful fires in Provo were making the air REALLY bad. We got a warning on our phones Wednesday night that the air was SO bad that we shouldn't be outside unless we had to. Even though I still wanted to try going, Larry convinced me that for Cara's and my own (pregnant) sake we really shouldn't! I found I couldn't just sit at home all day long though so my pregnancy hormones dared him to find an alternative to our plans. His suggestion: Furniture Row and Ikea! Okay, he totally wins with this one! We hadn't been there in SO long (we went ALL the time right before Cara was born and I kind of missed those days) and I was excited to see what was new. Furniture Row had some cute couch/love seat combos that had me convinced we needed to buy them to replace our living room sectional (to be moved to the basement)...they had cup holders, automated recliners, were SO comfortable, and would give us a little more room in our living room. While I was ready to find a salesman to ring one up, Larry explained that moving the couch to the basement with only himself would be too difficult and we could wait on any large purchases...I realized he was right and on to Ikea we went. I got SO many awesome home ideas at Ikea, including some fun planter ideas for outside and some shelving ideas for one of our front rooms (the one I like to call our activity room that I'd love to put built-ins for games and books). And even though I did get some comments about how big I was and should be due "any day now" (gee...thanks!), it was still such a fun time! Plus I ended up finding a couple fun toys at Ikea for Cara...I'm REALLY bad at waiting for Christmas to shop for her. We got home in time for lunch and Cara's nap (movie time for me!) and Larry mentioned we might want to go walk a mall or something. I also hadn't been to South Towne in a bit so I thought that would be a lot of fun. We went there, checked out any stores we wanted (I got some Christmas ideas there), browsed Fall scents at Bath & Body Works, and just let Cara burn off some more energy. Dinner in the Food Court was just the cherry on top (I LOVE Melty Way's triple cheese sandwich with the tomato soup for dipping!). I think this day might have been my favorite of all the days!



Cute planter idea!

Friday..oh Friday. We knew it was the end of the work week time off so we had to make it worth it. Larry finished digging up ALL the grass and our old planter boxes so we can officially start our yard makeover (yes, this is going to be a LOOONG project). Larry had his general checkup that afternoon while I finished up the my totes (putting the binders in the correct sized containers, moving them to the basement, cleaning out my old office supplies boxes to consolidate into one, etc.). Overall, it was our most productive day ever! Unfortunately, Cara got a bad bonk to the head when she ran into the corner of our dining table, so I got some cuddle time with her while I put on Sesame Street (she loves those puppets!).

 

 

 

 

Saturday and today, while also still days off, have been such a bummer for me. I know I should enjoy them, but I really just hated that our time off is over. I LOVE spending time with my family so much! They are just my favorite people and we have so much fun! I have decided we need to do more of these staycations in the future! I have a few actual vacations planned for next year that will eat up my PTO, but I'm definitely going to need to make more time for these awesome days where we just get to enjoy being together!