Cruisin' in the Western Caribbean and 7 months for Jace

     Somehow I convinced my Dad to take all of the kids on a cruise this year for our Christmas present. I don't know how I actually got him to agree to it, but this year, the Blatter's took a trip to the Western Caribbean the week before Christmas.

    We left on Friday the 12th of December and all flew into Houston Texas at different times of the day. Paul, Jace, my Mom, Tallus, and I were all on the same flight and we arrived sometime around 2 ish. We had an uneventful flight and shuttle ride to our hotel for the night. Sadly we were pretty much in the ghettos of Texas half a miles walk from any sort of food place. Once we got to the hotel we were starving and walked the half mile to Burger King to get something to eat. We did have a small scare while checking in to the hotel when Jace, whom I didn't strap into his stroller because we were just walking inside, leaned too far forward and fell out face first onto the tile. Paul was terrified that he had cracked his skull, but thankfully everything was fine. He didn't hit his head at all. Jace just cried for a little bit and then calmed down. 

    Dad and the rest of my siblings, (minus Tyson and Yulia, who couldn't come because of work), arrived around 5 or 6 or so. We then braved about a mile walk through a semi scary neighborhood to get some food. We ate, got back to the hotel and just sort of hung around the rest of the night. Aunt Julie, Uncle Tim, and my cousin Brytt showed up around midnight but we didn't see them until morning. 

     Saturday the 13th we boarded the Norwegian Jewel. Boarding was a cinch and they took such good care of all of the passengers. After dropping off all of our carry on luggage, you better believe we hit up the buffet first thing. In my defense, it was a few hours past lunch and we hadn't eaten since breakfast, so food sounded great. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship, hanging out, and just resting. Jace was a major hit. EVERYBODY loved him. All the waiters and waitresses just loved to talk with him and play peek-a-boo and hi- five him. He made lots of fun friends throughout the trip. 

    Sunday was a day at sea. We really didn't do much. We played lots of games together as a family. took some Sunday naps, and played more games. We kept ourselves busy with shuffleboard, cribbage, and hand and foot. 

     Sunday, Jace turned 7 months. I tried to keep up with the stats for him so I will give a little rundown. Jace still hates pureed baby food. for a month now he has been doing baby led weaning and we are having a huge success. He chews his food a lot more than he did in the beginning. He gets more food in his mouth than he did at first also. He is most likely around 20 lbs. I haven't weighed him in a while, but if I had to guess, he is probably 20 or so. He has gone mobile. He has been pushing back to his knees and rocking like crazy and can army crawl for sure. He could sort of scoot around before, but now he scoots with purpose and can basically get anywhere he wants. Jace still doesn't sleep through the night. We are certainly working on it. He still has trouble putting himself to sleep as well. He goes down for a nap and bed time just fine as long as I nurse him, but eventually he will need to put himself down, and so that is a work in progress. Lately Jace has been obsessed with pooping in the bath tub. I don't know if he does it on purpose or if it just happens, but the past few weeks almost every other day he is in the tub we have had to drain the water and start over because I find little poops floating in the water. 

     Jace has done such a good job so far on the cruise. He is trying new foods, and being introduced to so many new people and doing just so well. I am excited to see how well the rest of the cruise goes for us.

This is how Jace plays with his toys. He loves to climb inside of the toy box to get all the good ones that hide in the back. Lately though he has been trying to pull himself up onto the toy box which is a little dangerous because it is so wobbly. 

Jace hanging out with his Aunt Nena before the cruise. She loves him and he loves her!

We are all just chillin in the hotel room waiting for our taxi to the cruise port. Jace is loving all the attention he is getting from his Aunts and Uncles. 

First night on the boat we played some cards. Jace was happy for some of that. He was napping originally but didn't stay sleeping for long. Eventually he woke up but was able to entertain himself for a while before the adults had to intervene and play with him. 

Day at sea #1. Just playing some games on the balcony and trying to get a little bit of sun in the process. 

We discovered that Jace LOVES watermelon. He eats it like crazy, and tries to stuff his cheeks so full that he can't fit any more into his mouth. This is a picture after he devoured most of his watermelon. The rest he is saving for later in his little cheeks like a chipmunk!  

After dinner we played outside on the deck while everyone took turns playing shuffleboard. Jace played with his toys and practiced his army crawling. 

Our cute family. Jace was pulling faces most of the time so this was the best picture we got. 

I just love the little towel animals that they leave for us every night. Our first night we got a puppy. Jace was more interested in eating the eyes than anything else about it, but it was fun to take pictures of him with the animals each night.