Miami: Volume Three

To say that I did not enjoy Miami at all would not be accurate. Despite our mishaps along the way, I did love our time at the beach. It was Hudson’s very first experience and he absolutely loved it. He loved digging into the sand with his hands and feet. He loved pouring sand everywhere. He loved the seagulls, even though they almost stole his bottle and were completely obnoxious. He even loved the waves (he got really mad every time they receded and wanted to chase them).

I enjoyed watching my son experience the beach for the first time. I am a beach girl through and through, so I am glad he loved it because there will be many trips to the beach in our future together. You better love it, boy! One downside to beach discovery — ingesting sand. It was almost impossible to keep him from eating fistfuls of it, so I gave up after my millionth attempt. He did not sleep at all that night and I wonder if sand was the culprit.

I think my other favorite thing about being in Miami was hearing all kinds of different languages everywhere. English was surprisingly rarely spoken, so I felt like I was in a really diverse place. I even heard Estonian, which is usually quite rare. The flip side to this? Ninety-nine percent of the time I had trouble being understood or understanding others. A lot of people simply didn’t speak/understand English at all, which was surprising, but made things fun.

And as long as we are talking about favorite Miami moments, I have to share about our diaper emergency. It may not have been a favorite moment when I was living it, but it will certainly become one with time. I packed something like twenty-four diapers for a four day trip. That’s roughly six diapers per day. Hudson doesn’t usually go through that many, so I figured we should be fine. I should have known better. I so should have known better.

I don’t know if it’s because we were in a new place, but my sweet baby had what I suspect anxiety-induced fits of pooping. He did not increase his intake, but he certainly at least tripled his output. Boy, did he ever. So the day before we were supposed to fly home, I counted up my dwindling diaper supply and realized that we only had five diapers left. Five diapers would have to last us for roughly forty-eight hours.

I knew I needed to do something to make these five diapers last. I suppose we could have (and should have) bought some diapers at a nearby pharmacy/mega store, but I really didn’t want to spend the money and have to stuff our carry-on suit-case with whatever diapers we didn’t use. I was trying to be frugal and wise, so please remember this as you read the rest of the story.

I had packed a couple of swim diapers because for some unknown reason I thought our hotel had a swimming pool. It didn’t, but I am still thankful I packed those suckers. Just so you know, swim diapers do hold poop and pee, just not a whole lot of either. They definitely do not in any way compare to any major brands of regular diapers, so do not try this at home. Unless, of course, you are desperately trying to be frugal during your trip to the Moon, or Mars, or Antarctica.

Hudson pooped his way out of the first swim diaper and then I decided to let him nap wearing the second swim diaper. I knew this was not a good idea and totally went against my better judgment anyway. I will spare you the details. Let’s just say the front desk was called and a new set of crib sheets was requested. His entire outfit may or may not have been washed in the bathtub with Dove soap and hung out to dry.

At this point we were down to the wire and, having used up swim diapers, I had to get creative. And get creative I did. One good thing about staying at this hotel was an endless supply of towels and washcloths. You probably know where I am going with this. I requested extra hand towels and washcloths and used my hair bands to make cloth diapers. Let me tell you — I gained so much respect for the creators of BumGenius, it’s not even funny.

So, without further ado, here is our homemade mess of a diaper:

Hudson is really trying to smile here, but you can tell he thinks his mom has gone too far. His expression is priceless.

Anyway, with the help of these homemade cloth diapers, we made our last four disposable diapers last for the rest of our trip. We had another leaky mishap in Atlanta airport (I was holding Hudson while ordering dinner and suddenly the left side of my body felt strangely warmed. I was hoping for a Wesleyan experience, but got soaking wet with baby pee instead). We did make it home just fine, but Hudson was wearing the last diaper for the last three-four hours of our trip, which made me a little nervous.

So, to sum things up — Miami was mildly fun, but I would never want to visit there again. Ever. The end.