Hello Beach Baby
I still remember my husbands face when I told him I wanted to get married and jet straight off to be at the beach the very same day as the wedding. Now this wouldn't have been a problem, but we had a 7 month old baby who we had never taken away before. We decided to do it despite being nervous to take our lovely little baby away. We got married in the morning and made it to Stansted airport for our afternoon flight to Gran Canaria.
The first thing I did that everyone told me not to do, I panic packed! 5 suitcases and a pram later we were checked in and ready to go through security. Poppy was still on formula milk so we pre-ordered her milk with Boots and picked it up when we got through security so we didn't have to worry about it taking up too much baggage allowance (even though I packed 5 suitcases). We had begun to wean her onto food so we brought the baby food sachets which I did put in the suitcase which didn't take up too much space at all! I always used to love a morning flight, but actually travelling with a baby, the afternoon flight worked really well as it fell into Poppy's afternoon nap, she slept the majority of the way! I also had a bottle ready for take off, sucking helps reduce little ones ears popping so I would definitely recommend having a bottle or dummy to hand! We finally reached Gran Canaria, at this point I realised I really did not need to pack 5 suitcases and my new hubby was pretty worn out from carrying them about. As the holiday went on it was just too hot to put Poppy in all the lovely outfits we had for her and it ended up being just a nappy or an undergrow so she kept cool in the evenings meaning some of those cases didn't even get opened!
Arriving at the Mogan Princess in Gran Canaria I was ready for my Blue Lagoon cocktail. We had got their just before sunset so we headed off for dinner and drinks and watched the sunset to celebrate our wedding and it was perfect. The next morning however was a different story. Poppy was awake at 5am, she had just started to crawl the week before and all she wanted to do was get down and explore. Our room wasn't really made out for a baby who had just started crawling. So 5.30am we're up and out to go for a walk and explore. At this point we were thinking oh my god what have we done, breakfast wasn't open yet, nothing was open in actual fact and we had a baby that just wanted to crawl and we were here for two whole weeks. We walked around the hotel grounds and on our travels we actually found a little soft play room. It was quite hidden and I don't actually think we would have found it if we hadn't have gone for that early morning walk. That room became our go to place when the weather got too hot for Poppy and we needed to sit in a room where she could safely go and explore and play with some new toys, plus it had air conditioning! When it was an acceptable time to grab a sunbed we made our way down to the childrens pool, something we had never had to do before. We set up camp, both laid down on our sunbeds with Poppy in the pram in between us and then it hit us, how are we both going to sunbathe at the same time now we had a baby?! So we decided to take it in turns (I know it sound ridiculous) it didn't actually last very long as when it was my turn to have some Mummy time and sunbathe, I just wanted to be in the pool with my new hubby and our baby. After a few days we invested in a blow up baby boat, this is the best thing you could possibly get for a baby to enjoy the water.
Our second week came and we were yet to go to the beach, we had planned a day to the market in Puerto Mogan which is the next bay along from Playa Taurito. The hotel lays on a free shuttle bus to Puerto Mogan on market days but we decided to grab a taxi as we had the buggy and didn't want to wait around in the sun, it only cost about 5 euros so was well worth it! Before we went on holiday I brought a sun umbrella for the pram, without a doubt I would recommend to anyone travelling with a baby to get one, it kept Poppy cool and in the shade while we walked around the market. We noticed a boat trip which took you to Puerto Rico Beach, I knew this beach was meant to be lovely so we decided to be spontaneous and brought some tickets and off we went to the beach, our favourite place to be. Poppy absolutely loved it, despite eating the sand she loved kicking her legs in the sea and splashing about! It turns out she's a complete and utter beach baby! I had a bottle of talc in my bag which is the best thing without a doubt for getting sand off when your leaving the beach.
All in all I probably had about 2 hours sunbathing the whole holiday and nowhere near as many Blue lagoons as my holiday self usually would. I would never change it for the world though and our first family holiday will always hold a special place in my heart. I think it is one of the most important trips you will take as a family and since we went on ours I always give as much helpful information that I can to other families going away. I have a never ending list of hotels which I have researched into that have a little soft play room for little ones to keep out of the sun. Please feel free to contact me if you would like me to recommend some hotels which are great for babies or you want a fellow mum and travel expert who knows how nerve racking it can be taking children away to take the stress away I am here to help.
You'll be pleased to know since our first family holiday we have welcomed another little girl, Phoebe to our family making us a family of 4! We are due to go back to Puerto Rico in a couple of weeks with two, yes two toddlers! I'll be doing a blog about hints and tips we get from our first holiday with toddlers shortly after, wish us luck!
