Beach and Park

Summer is coming to an end!
Luckily, we got to squeeze in 2 small adventures before summer comes to a close.  These last 2 weekends, Jeff, Caitlin, and I crawled out of our hermit cave, shielded our eyes from the harsh natural light that we have not seen in what seems like years, and dragged our pasty selves about outdoors.

You see, we (or at least I) are not hermits by choice.  With Caitlin being short-tempered, and you don't know when she is just going to flip out and become hysterical, it makes going out in public very difficult.  And when we *do* go out, they are only brief trips, doing things we *have* to do like pick up a few groceries.  I actually get uncomfortable when people ask me if I "take Caitlin places, like the park or Mommy-and-me movies".  I find it difficult to explain that Caitlin doesn't exactly behave a lot of times, so going out is a huge chore.

Well, two weekends ago, cousin Connie invited us to join them at the Santa Monica Pier and I 'm glad she did.  We had a lot of fun and it was Caitlin's first time at the beach!  And the best part was, Caitlin patiently sat through lunch and made it to the beach and back without flipping out hysterically.  In fact, quite the opposite, as she was full of squeals and smiles the entire time.  Caitlin also didn't ask to eat, which was great since I don't really know how to breastfeed when it's not done in my bed. 

Last weekend, we took Caitlin to Clover Park in Santa Monica to soak up some grass and sun.  It was such a beautiful day.  Caitlin had a little fun, but maybe 30 minutes later, she started complaining so it was time for us to pack up and go.  Oh well, at least we all had fun during those 30 minutes!

Sadly, I don't foresee us venturing outdoors in the near future (bummer, since tomorrow is Jeff's birthday and Caitlin's 6 month birthday).  We are on lock-down in this house since we are now training Caitlin to be on sleep/eat schedule.  (I actually HATE the idea of putting a baby on a schedule, but since Caitlin just can't settle into her own routine naturally... unlike other babies... we have to do it for her).  If you look at her schedule, you will see that throughout the day, she gets put down for a nap every 1.5 hours.  It's difficult to feed Caitlin, leave the house, hang out, and return home, all within 1.5 hours.  And Caitlin's new bedtime is 8pm, with a nighttime routine starting 7pm, so there goes our night life!  =(  How in the world do people with babies go out?