The Gaga Diaries

With a living veteran in our family (we love you, Bampi!!), we all know and respect the true meaning of Memorial Day.  While we have not lost any immediate loved ones in combat, we empathize with those who have and are so grateful for their ultimate sacrifice. The ladies in my family have a longstanding tradition of visiting the cemeteries of veteran and non-veteran relatives over Memorial Day weekend to honor them and decorate their graves.  After this, another nice use of the extra day off is to enjoy spending time together as a family. 

This year’s holiday weekend was filled with cousin sleepovers, lobstah at the beach, playgrounds and parks, fireworks (Baby Gaga *DID* inherit my fascination for them!!), grilling, and lots and lots of soft serve. 

Looking forward to lots more of all of the above throughout the rest of this summer! 

                                       Cousin FaceTime Love. 

One of the many fun parts about co-vacationing with your family and sharing adjoining rooms? GOLDFISH SNACK PARTIES BEFORE BED! 

1) Babies are capable of staying up 13 hours with only 30 mins of napping if enough stuff is going on that distracts them. Oy. Travel days seem to last forever! 

2) You get a lot of sleep when your baby, the world’s lightest sleeper, conks out by 8pm every night in your hotel room.  

3) You also get first dibs at the buffet breakfast the next day when you wake up at 5:30am while on “vacation”. 

4) Going to both the pool AND the beach constitutes a busy day.

5) Babies love pico de gallo and some have even been known to eat it by the bowlful whenever it is placed in front of them. 

6) Going to the beach isn’t quite the treat one’s parents imagine it will be when you hate sand…

…with a passion.

7) Sand isn’t quite so terrifying when you are wearing shoes.

8) Even if you hate sand, it’s pretty hard not to love the water.

9) You don’t always need to speak the same language to make a new friend. 

10) Just when you are finally starting to adjust to the time change and your new vacation schedule, it’s inevitably always time to go home.

Thanks for the memories Cancun! 

I guess you could say sometimes I do things a little backwards.  While I never went to Cancun for spring break in college, I did go there for nine glorious days with my baby and my husband for our first official family vacation last week. 

We actually co-vacationed with Baby Gaga’s cousins and uncles, as well.  

Believe it or not, if you time things right to ensure you miss MTV and all the college coeds, Cancun can be quite the perfect place for a tranquil, rejuvenating, family-friendly getaway! 

While in Mexico I learned that vacationing with a baby is definitely a lot different than when it used to be just Papa Gaga and me.  

We slowed waaaaay down and did a lot more vegetating and a lot less go-go-going than we used to.  

We also returned home almost as pale as when we left.  We definitely sought out shade at all costs for the especially fair-skinned, redheaded member of our family! 

Our first vacation together sure was a lot different than our Papa Gaga and my previous vacations as a twosome used to be.  While a part of me was a little sad that we didn’t get to experience beachside massages, swimming with dolphins, or rappelling down ancient pyramids, more of me was thrilled to be able to witness the looks on our son’s face as he dipped his toes in the Caribbean Sea, listened to a mariachi band during dinner, or tried papaya for the first time. 

One successful family vacation down and hopefully many, many more to come!

This week I did something I have never done before. I watched two babies under two for two days since my niece’s usual caretaker is under the weather.  And you know what? Not only did we all survive with our hair still in tact, but we even managed to get out of the house quite a bit.  The first day we met up with a mama friend and her son in Harvard Square for a cup of hot chocolate and grabbed some frittata to-go on the walk home.  Today we were back over at Harvard where Baby Gaga participated in another study for their Child Development Lab. After that we also hit up the library and Whole Foods.

I know this may not sound like a big deal to many, especially to those without kids, but this was unknown territory for me.  I wasn’t sure how it would be to juggle two of everything — two mouths to feed, two bums to diaper,  two heads and sets of hands to bundle up for the cold etc.  Wrangling multiple children is no walk in the park, but I was excited to find myself getting out of the house relatively easily and realizing that this was do-able.  Baby Gaga was such a good sport and didn’t seem to get too jealous either.  I made a conscious effort to shower him with extra attention and praise, and he made a conscious effort to shower me with extra hugs and snuggles to be sure I didn’t forget about him, which was pretty adorable.

I also thought it was interesting how much more attention one attracts when traveling with two. Perhaps it was having a baby strapped to me and pushing a stroller along that made me really stand out, but I had so many people stop to smile at me, tell me to go ahead and take the elevator before them and their suitcase, ask if the babies twins (ha! for so many reasons), or even pull out their cellphone telling me about they can relate and proceed to show me photos of their FIVE children! 

I’m not sure exactly when the Gaga Family will expand (although I can promise you that I will never have FIVE children unless I miraculously have quadruplets next!), but it never hurts to sneak in some practice runs here and there.  Besides, how could I ever resist any opportunity to sneak in some snuggles and quality time with the adorable Cousin Gagita.  At three months old she is already developing the sweetest little disposition… and making Baby Gaga look like a GIANT. Amazing what a difference nine more months can make!