If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that we have been on vacation for the last week and a half, and I have to be honest with you -- it was a struggle to find a moment each day to post for my #100happydays challenge!

As in the past, we jammed lunch down the girls' throats and threw them in the car right at nap time, to try to make the most of their time asleep in the 2.5 hour car ride.  I had just gotten Jane and Emma into a new routine to match their new day care schedule (more on that in a future post), so of course, they did everything to buck that routine the second our feet hit the shores of Avalon.

We quickly settled into a vacation routine, which actually means NO ROUTINE AT ALL.  Sleep when they want (which was hardly ever), do whatever we could to try to wear their energy down, and then wake up 6-8 times each night, at least 3 of those wakings being Hershey and I trying to calm them both down since they woke up scared shitless since there were other people in the room with them...and then starting all over again between 5:45-6:15 every morning.











It also didn't help that on day 2 of vacation, both girls started getting in every tooth that they didn't already have when we left for vacation.  I mean it.  Every.Single.Tooth.  We should have taken out stock in baby Tylenol and infant Motrin before we left.  Who knew?

That all being said, there were glimmers of hope in those 10 days.  First of all, we are LIGHT YEARS from where we were this time last year.  Last year, the girls were still on apnea monitors, and we were still getting up every 3 hours to feed them, and we didn't even step foot on the beach.  And right when I thought I was at my breaking point between exhaustion and patience, Hershey and I got to sneak out for a night for dinner after the girls went to bed.  It was so nice to reconnect and decompress, especially since it's been forever since we've been on a date!

The bonus to being in Avalon for the week and a half was that there was constant entertainment there for Jane and Emma.  That constant entertainment was a mixed blessing - we were really happy that the girls got to spend time with everyone in Hershey's family...BUT...the girls also then fought sleeping and eating because they were so excited (although they DID eat a LOT of sand/rocks/shells/baby clams), which was frustrating for Hershey and I because we wanted to enjoy our family, the beach, the girls, and our vacation, too!  We just kept on looking back at last year and thinking of how far we've come, and hoping that next year will also be better!

We were also really super happy that Jane and Emma finally got to know everyone!  Up until last week, the girls were so scared of every stranger they met, and weren't retaining who people were, so they would cry hysterically every time they saw Hershey's father.  By the time we were about halfway through vacation, they really latched on to their grandpa, and were loving every second that they got to spend with him.