Well we just got home from 9 glorious days of sun, sand and ocean in the Mayan Riviera! Our skin is sun kissed, our bodies rested, and our hearts are full. We couldn’t have asked for a better vacation!

After our ‘shitty’ trip to Florida in the spring we were both VERY hesitant and nervous to take Jaxson on another holiday. Especially one out of north america. I packed SO much ‘just in case’ stuff for Jaxson that he got an entire suitcase to himself. What if he got an ear infection? What if he got thrush from taking the antibiotics we got filled to give him if said ear infection arrises? What if this congestion he’s been battling gets worse and settles in his chest? What if he gets backed-up? What if poops his face off? What if he gets a rash? What if he doesn’t eat the food there? I HAD IT ALL COVERED!!!

After a long travel day, we finally arrived at our resort and were ready to get into full vacation mode. Our days were all the same and blurred together. Which is just what we wanted! Baby woke us up at sunrise, we saved beach chairs, went for breakfast, hit the beach, gave Jax his bottle, stuck him in the tula, walked the beach as he had his morning nap, played in sand, floated in the water, moseyed on up to the snack shack for lunch, back to the beach to play in the sand and float, back to the room for showers, afternoon bottle and nap, get ready, go have a drink in the lobby, supper, back to room for bedtime snugs, bottle, CPAP, sleep for baby, a beer and snacks for moms, bedtime for the stragglers. REPEAT, EVERYDAY!

The resort we stayed at was beautiful, clean, nice beach, good food (although by the end of the trip we were totally sick of it), amazing staff and all around a great experience.

Of course in true Jaxson style he made MANY MANY friends! Jax was seriously in his version of heaven. A typical meal time for Jaxson consisted of a tray full of untouched food while he had himself turned 90 degrees in his highchair to grab everyones attention. he would wave at passers by, grab the staff as they came to refill our drinks, and if for some absurd reason a table close by was not paying full attention to him, he would ‘talk’ very loudly AT them to get their attention.

Throughout the week we were able to have many wonderful conversations about Down syndrome with our new friends Jaxson made for us. We met on a couple different occasions retired special education teachers. Which was so neat to be able to talk about Jaxson, development and his future with people who have first hand experience. Halfway through the week we met a French Canadian woman who has a daughter with Ds who came to their family at the age of 13 as a foster child. She is now in her early 20’s ❤

The absolute highlight of our vacation was the chance to meet our Instagram friends (@rafigrowsinbrooklyn) from NYC! We have followed each other since Rafi was only a few weeks old, and I have always felt a different kind of connection to this family. So when we by chance figured out we would all be vacationing in the same vicinity at the exact same time there was no question that we would be meeting! Enrica, Jake and Rafi made the one and a half hour trek from Cancun down to our resort and spent the day with us.

IT WAS AWESOME! I LOVE meeting other Ds families, and this amazing little family was everything and more. Let’s start with 8 month old Rafi. He is the absolute cutest, sweetest, most lovable little bug ever! His eyes melt me. His buddha belly gives me urges to blow raspberries. And his soul, his soul is just so perfect. Holding another baby with Down syndrome just takes my emotions to a whole new level. There’s just something different, magical, more special and calming about it. Meeting Rafi was just so good for my soul!!

Let’s move on from the star of the show and talk about those people who gave him life 😛 Rafi’s parents Jake and Enrica are our soul mates. Within 10 minutes of meeting we discovered that we have both spent some time in the exact same small little unknown surfing village in Costa Rica. That sealed the deal for us and at that exact moment we knew they were the coolest people ever! We all got along marvellously. It was so neat to hear about their fast paced NYC life, life with Rafi, and to hear about their own personal journey with Down syndrome. At one point Jake was making a comparison from a child with Ds to a typical child and used the term “ordinary kid”. I seriously love that term so much and think it’s the funniest thing ever! Enrica tells Jake he has to quit using it because he’s going to offend people, but I just can’t get enough of it. HAHAHA!

It was a wonderful day seeing the boys interact and play together. The sand always makes for an interesting time with 2 babies who put everything in their mouth and rub their eyes! Jaxson made Rafi cry a couple of times by pulling his hair (poor Rafi!). But all in all they had a lot of fun together.

We can’t wait until the next time we get to hang out with this awesome little family. Hopefully it will be in their neck of the woods as I’ve been itching to get Alex to NYC for a while now.

As with all good things, it must come to an end. As much as we loved every second of our vacation, it was nice to be home, in our own beds and eating our ‘normal’ food.

And for the record, we didn’t need to use any of things from the ‘just in case’ med stash! YAHOO!!!!