Cozumel April 22nd, 2009 - Day 5

We got to sleep in this morning, but only because Haylie decided she needed to wake up at 3:30 AM and get a bottle.  That allowed us to sleep in until 7!  Lazy and late. LOL.  Colleen went down to the fitness center for her workout and I stayed in the room and watched Haylie.  We've decided to try shift eating where we're going to have her in the room as much as possible.  It just seems that she's getting over stimulated and when she does, she melts down so quickly we cannot solve it other than to get her into some place calm and familiar.

Breakfast was late and included the "updates" tour from the vacation club.  Despite our best attempts to get Colleen out of it they wouldn't let us start until she got there so she didn't even have time to change and had to go to this breakfast in her workout clothes.  The gentleman seemed a bit odd and unsure how to take someone through his pitch that didn't need his pitch.  I gave him the information about our experience, our package and he got a free breakfast.  If they truly make the sales force pay for meals around here, I'd be one annoyed employee.

After Haylie decided she'd reach for my cup of coffee and dump it into her stroller (fortunately it was pretty cold by then so no chance for burns) we decided it was time to get to the office to wrap this thing up.  She was working on borrowed time and I knew a real meltdown was going to happen soon.  The updates wound up being mostly about answering my questions, clarifying my understanding of the program and other nonsense.  I got some good information and was actually pleased that I didn't get pushed to purchase something else.  If I have to go through this every year, though, I'm likely to get beyond aggravated.

Today was a special day.  I had promised Colleen when we came here last year that she'd get to swim with the Dolphins at Dolphin Discovery this year.  They wouldn't let her last year because she was pregnant.  We booked the Dolphin Royal Swim for Colleen after we learned that Haylie had to be at least a year old which meant I'd have to stay with her.  I couldn't very well make Colleen give up her chance at it two years in a row.  She definitely enjoyed the experience.  I tried to get movies of the two swim encounters and I think I did OK.  Haylie got really overheated and I had to keep moving to allow air to stir.  Also, I had to get her into some shade at one point to let her get out of the back pack.  I do like using it to carry her around though.  Easier to manipulate compared to the stroller.

We got her back much later than I'd anticipated.  Haylie was overdue her nap, which means she'll either collapse when we get her back or she'll fight it tooth and nail.  In this case, it was the fight.  She screamed at the top of her lungs for at least 30 minutes until I came in and smelled she'd gotten so upset she'd pooped.  I changed her diaper and then put her right back into the crib.  She was taking at least some semblance of a nap no matter what she thought.  I managed to get her down to sleep for 45 minutes, but we both knew that would mean there'd be no chance in hell we'd risk her at dinner.  During her nap, we had a bottle of wine the resort had provided us for our anniversary.  We intentionally booked so that we'd celebrate here and I thought it was nice of them, but Colleen seemed to be convinced they only paid attention to that because I'd shared that with them during the update pitch.

It was Italian night at the buffet, and I let Colleen go first.  Haylie and I had some quality time on the floor and she tried to grab at as many things as she could.  I made sure the things that were left out were not threatening and thus she stayed fairly happy.  I went to dinner after Colleen got back and the Italian wasn't bad.  At least the red wine was the same as we'd had during the nap so I wasn't mixing too many alcohols.

Back in bed again by 10.  We were mostly hammered but no tequila so maybe the hang over wouldn't be too bad.  I don't know what kind of vacation this was supposed to be, but I feel mostly like a failure as a father and as a husband.  I can't figure out how to make this vacation good for either of them and it is eating me alive.

Cheers!