hill country hooligans

this weekend, we packed up and headed to San Antonio for a relaxing weekend at the hyatt hill country. we had quite the adventure!

friday when we arrived, we took Sofia swimming and explored the golf course. our goal for the evening was to wear her down so she would fall asleep without a struggle. last time we took a trip, things got ugly so we wanted to avoid bedtime troubles. Sofia entertained herself all night evening long going up and down the hills on the golf course. she would giggle all the way down as she ran. it was precious. she was exhausted after all the fun.

right around 9:00, i decided to ask the receptionist if we could borrow one of the rocking chairs from the lobby so that Syd could rock Sofia to sleep in our room. to my delight, they had a chair to our room within 10 minutes. we decided to make a palette on the floor for her since she tends to roll and Syd got her to bed immediately. things went smoothly...a little too smoothly.

so at 4:00am Syd and I awake to a little person standing at the side of the bed. Sofia was calling us, "Papa", "Mama". surprise! she was awake and she showed no signs of wanting to go back to sleep. let me digress for a moment- I've read that toddlers often awake in the night but at home, Sofia puts herself back to sleep by turning on her lullabies so we have never encountered this situation before. back to the story: i picked Sofia up, went straight to the rocker, and began her nighttime routine once again. i rocked her for 20 minutes. nothing. she was fighting me. i woke Syd up and told him i didn't know what to do so he took her to the other bed and laid with her. she fought him too. big mistake. what Sofia doesn't realize is that although she's strong willed, her papa is the strongest willed person i've ever met. so here we are at 4:30am, surrounded by sleeping hotel guests and Sofia starts wailing. literally, you could hear her down the hall. of course it's every child's typical reaction to not getting what they want but it's not normally at 4:30am that they do so. she cried and cried and cried some more. she did NOT want to sleep and Syd just held her, comforted her and told her that it was time for bed. she cried for a good 20 minutes, then silence. she wasn't actually sleeping but she had realized that her tactics had failed and she had no other choice but to go to sleep, so she did.

saturday, we all woke up refreshed after finally getting to bed. Sofia was happy to play outside, float down the lazy river and swim. the resort was beautiful and very kid friendly. they even had a mini spa for the little girls, Sofia was just a tad too young for it all. saturday afternoon, Syd got Sofia down for a nap, no problem. after Sofia's nap, we went on a walk, ate dinner and then played taboo! soon, it was bedtime and both Syd and I were nervous. thankfully, Sofia went to sleep quickly and quietly. Syd slept with her in a separate bed and she slept all night long. throughout the night, i would hear her breathing loudly and think "oh no, this is it, she's awake." i was so glad to wake up at 9:00 and see her sound asleep in the bed next to me. i'm sure our neighbors were relieved too.
sunday, we celebrated Father's Day in San Antonio. Syd loved his gifts and the card Sofia made him. we ate Sunday brunch together, walked around and relaxed. i think Sofia knew it was a special day for papa because she seemed to pay extra special attention to him. she also gave Abuelo extra love. when we got home, she talked to Opa Rudolph and told him how much she loved and missed him. what a darling little girl we have and what amazing men we have in our life. we loved celebrating Father's Day and glad to be back home, in our own beds!

side note: for those of you wondering, yes, Sofia recovered from her Friday night sleep deprivation today. she took at 2 hours nap. what an angel.