vacation's all i ever wanted, vacation, have to get away

sadness - i ended up having to return those dresses to gymboree. they're too small! and they didn't have any more in the right size. boo. so instead, i picked this one up:
still cute, but i really loved those dresses. oh, well. i do love to put cute clothes on the bean, and luckily the hub is so enthralled with the cuteness that he loves everything she wears - even stuff he would have turned his nose up at, pre-daddyhood. he loved this one:


and when we were out shopping the other day, i'd packed a bottle so that i wouldn't have to whip out a boob when she got hungry. i don't do it very often (which makes my bitching and moaning about her not liking bottles kind of wack), so i was surprised when she did this:

holding her own bottle! with not much bottle experience to speak of. i was impressed and a little sad - she's just growing up too damn fast. and today, i laid her down onto her little activity mat for some "tummy time" (stupid name for basically putting her on her belly to gain strength in her arms and neck and stuff) and SHE ROLLED OVER.

holy shit. that's just the first step towards mobility - one i knew was coming any day now, and yet i was dreading like mad. from there she'll start scooting, then crawling, and standing. before i know it, she'll be walking, and she won't be my little teeny-tiny bean anymore. *tear*

ahem. um, so anyway...

we finally made a decision about where to go for spring break - and it won't even require a passport! i'd been a little hesitant after learning that i'd need a notarized letter of permission from the kid's dad to take her into mexico - and let's just say that he's not necessarily the most cooperative of human beings. [raising eyebrow and rolling eyes]

so we'd started looking at a trip to washington d.c. - see the sights, take a tour of the white house, the smithsonian, etc. - basically, try to get some kind of educational value out of it while having fun at the same time. but she's going to have an opportunity to go there next year with her 8th grade class, and so she wasn't too thrilled about that idea.

"let's go to new york!" she said.

i'd already looked at trips to nyc, but had vetoed it because the airfares were running rather high at the time. but i checked it again on a whim, and managed to find round trip, nonstop airfare on american airlines for $280 per person!

so now i'm looking for a decent hotel - and suddenly remember why i really vetoed it before. oy. my cousin, who lives in brooklyn, suggested checking out vacation rentals instead - and craigslist has a plethora of 'em for much less than hotel prices.

cross your fingers that i can talk the hub into this. he doesn't even like bed & breakfast joints, so selling the idea of renting someone's apartment for the week is either going to be the greatest idea on the planet, or it'll get him to increase the budget he gave me to work with.

guess which option i'm hoping for?