Gracie Girl goes to the beach

We are continuing to make this the summer of Gracie, to say the least. 

When we finally got home from being inpatient, Nikko and I decided that we wanted Gracie to not be limited by her mecial needs, but to experience and see as much as we can offer her. After all, she had been living in one room for all 8 months of her little life. 

Well we've had an annual beach family trip planned with Nikko's whole family since before she was born. We of course, didn't know if it was doable or if we should even try, but we knew it was coming. 

This past week, we not only tried, but I have to say, rocked our first trip with a medically complex baby.

We packed allllll the medical equipment, all the baby stuff (because ya know, she's still a baby who needs baby things), all the beach baby stuff, and our stuff.  If you've ever had a baby, you know JUST baby beach stuff is a lot, now add on the medical equipment. 

We spoke about worst case scenarios and made just in case plans.  And ya know what? Shit went wrong, it was hard, but I am so glad we did it. And I'm so proud of us.

We drove her longest trip ever in the car, went on the boardwalk, in the pool, she put her feet in the sand and her toes in the ice cold ocean. She took the most amazing beach naps and snuggled up right on mama. We went into Cape May and took our photo in front of the sign.  We wore different swimsuits different days and even took professional family beach photos. 

Not only did we learn while hard,  we can do it,  but we also learned our daughter is amazing.  She is so go with the flow, carefree, and happy. She napped where we were,  stayed up way too late, slept in our bed (she kept waking up scared in her pack and play), was in the hot and humid weather, sectioned all day long and yet she still smiled through it all. 

She is such a blessing and we will continue to show her the world as best as we can. 

For now, we can certainly say, Gracie is a beach babe!