Norwegian Getaway June 2015

In late June, we flew to Miami and set sail on the Norwegian Getaway for a week long vacation! My parents, Eric, Madison and I had an amazing vacation. I will admit, I was nervous about taking Madison on a cruise and also being 23 weeks pregnant. I was nervous how she would behave, if she would sleep well and if she would go stir crazy not having her toys. I am happy to say that all my reservations were worked out just fine!  There were many times that she was nervous with all the new things.  We decided to not fight the fight and let her have her Wubbie whenever she wanted.  I'm not sure there are many pictures where she doesn't have her Wubbie in her mouth...

We joked that she had narcolepsy because she would be talking up a storm and then fall asleep a minute later. On the runway, in her stroller, on the boat to the beach, in her bed...#wheremadisonsleeps

We flew into Miami on Friday, June 26th. It was a long travel day and we flew through lunch and nap time. Madison slept for over half the flight and then played on the iPad, colored and ate snacks for the last hour. Once we landed, we got to the hotel, ate an early dinner and all slept very well that night. 

The next morning, we left the hotel around 10:30AM to head to the cruise terminal. We had a relatively easy boarding, partly due to having a toddler and being pregnant. Once we got on the ship, we went to eat lunch at a pub style restaurant that Eric had read about online. It turned out to be yummy and we are there a couple times during the week. Madison loved the booths.  When we got back to our room that night, Madison had a surprise in her bed from Lolli and Pops! Her bed was decorated with a SpongeBob good night gift.  {Norwegian contracts with Nickelodeon, so there was a lot of SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer}

As we set sail that night, we then had 2 sea days, stopped in St Thomas, USVI and Tortola, BVI, had another sea day and then stopped in Nassau, Bahamas before returning to Miami on July 4th.

On our sea days, we had a routine of spending a couple hours on our balcony in the morning, eating breakfast, then heading to the splash pad. We would then eat lunch, take a nap, explore the ship, spend time on our balcony, eat dinner, walk around outside, then finish up the night on our balcony before bed. Madison was up by 7:30AM each day and stayed up until around 10:00PM each night. She was such a trooper each day!

Madison loved sitting on the balcony with everyone. We were able to open the door between our room and my parents, so we had a large balcony. It may seem silly, but I think my favorite part of the trip was getting to spend time together on the balcony.

The splash pad area was perfect for Madison to be able to run around and splash.  She even got brave a few times and wanted to go in the big pool.

In St. Thomas, we walked around for a while, shopped and took a taxi downtown to walk around and get good pictures of the ship. The weather was not terribly hot, so we stayed off the ship for a few hours. 

Tortola ended up not being very developed at this time. There weren't any areas close by to walk around, so we didn't stay off the ship long. We headed back and let Madison play at the pool. 

In Nassau, we did an excursion to a nearby beach called Blue Lagoon. It was a private beach in a cove, so the water was calm. Madison had a blast playing in the sand, walking in the water and looking for rocks. It was a long day and we were tired once we got back to the ship. 

It was such a special week to get to spend time with my parents, Madison and Eric. It was a different vacation than usual, but I wouldn't have changed anything. We all balanced doing things together and splitting up/taking turns watching Madison so everyone got to do what they wanted. 

I think one my most special memories will be our mornings on the balcony. We drank coffee and juice and relaxed in our pajamas with Madison. 

Life Lately

Time, please slow down! I really feel like it was just the beginning of March. Now I blinked and we are in mid-May and counting down to the last day of school. We had 4 weddings to attend in a 7 week period. Throw in Spring Break, Easter, Eric's birthday and Mother's Day...no wonder these past couple months have flown by!

1. Madison is finishing up her 2nd week of swim class. We enrolled her in the Infant Swim Rescue (ISR) program. She goes 5 days a week and each day the lesson is one-on-one for 10 minutes with her teacher. Madison isn't loving lessons, which really breaks my heart. Eric keeps reminding me the purpose of the lessons is to teach her to save herself if she falls in the pool, not to have fun swimming. We are planning to do 2 more weeks of lessons. One big success...after 7 days of lessons, Madison was able to floating her back unassisted for over a minute! 

2.  We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Mother's Day a couple weeks ago. Friday morning, I went to Muffins with Mom at Madison's school. My heart was overflowing to be able to spend that time with Madison. Saturday morning, we went with Lolli and Pops to Froberg's to pick strawberries. Madison crushed strawberries, fell in the mud and loved every minute of it! We had strawberry shortcake for dessert that night. Sunday, we spent the day just the 3 of us going to breakfast, taking a nap and running errands. It was a wonderful weekend. 

3. Madison's speech has taken off again. She is speaking in 2-3 phrases, able to tell us what she wants, answers questions and understands commands. We are so proud of her! We often hear her saying "come here, sit down, where's Wubbie, read book, more snack please, water please, all done and be nice".

4. Madison also loves singing! She sings Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Clean Up song, I Love You a Bushel and a Peck, Rain Rain Go Away, Row Your Boat and the ABC song. 

5. Get ready summer...we're coming for ya!

Konesheck Family...Party of 4!

We have some news to share....

Madison's going to be a big sister! We are excited and beyond thankful to be able to welcome Baby #2 into our family in Novemeber.  Madison and the baby will be 2 years and 2 months apart. Let the fun begin!

I am almost 15 weeks and have been feeling wonderful. We had our first idea that I might be pregnant on our anniversary, March 8th. We confirmed a few days later that I was in fact pregnant.  In this short time, my 2nd pregnancy has been much different than my 1st in more ways than one. Our biggest concern this time is making sure Madison has a good transition to big sister.  We look forward to continuing to share about our journey to a family of 4.