The first few weeks that Meredith joined our family were crazy… and not just because we had a newborn in the house. Recovering from birth, caring for Meredith, and acclimating to the new normal with the twins seemed like a piece of cake compared to having to move to a hotel for ten days!

When Meredith was two weeks old, we had a slab leak downstairs, ruining the floor and forcing us out during demolition and reconstruction. Serves me right for wishing we could replace our downstairs floor for so long. I was happy about the new flooring, but wished we could have had better timing!

We packed up all our baby gear to move 30 minutes up the coast into the Marriott Newport Coast Villas for ten long days while the downstairs was under construction. Considering we were right next to the beach with plenty of entertainment for the twins and a kitchen so that we didn’t have to eat out much, it was not a bad place to stay by any means.

However, there’s no place like home… especially when you’ve just had a baby!  All I wanted during those two weeks was to be home with everything back in place and life back to normal. It really takes a crisis situation to show you what’s important in life!

Fortunately, my mom was still in town to help out, so she stayed with us while we were in Newport and performed her job as entertainer-in-chief with the twins admirably. I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the hotel situation, recover from the birth and take care of Meredith without her and Jake keeping me sane.

But wait… there’s more! The horror of the slab leak pales in comparison to what happened during reconstruction. While the contractors were working in the kitchen, they apparently flipped a breaker without realizing it, shutting down our fridge and freezer for who knows how long. By the time they realized what happened, it was too late. All our food had spoiled!

This wouldn’t have been so terrible, except for the fact that I had spent the last few months preparing freezer meals for when the baby came. MONTHS  of work, blood, sweat and tears.

All the times I had made and frozen double batches of soup, chicken or whatever else we were having for dinner had gone to waste, not to mention countless Saturday mornings of work preparing and freezing breakfast and dinner meals. I had several Dream Dinners freezer meals my mom and I had spent several Saturday mornings making that were also ruined.

I cried more over my freezer meals than I did over the slab leak! Even though the contractors compensated us for everything we lost in the fridge and freezer, nothing could compensate for my time! Every time I open my freezer, I have a moment of silence in remembrance of my freezer meals. Still bitter!

Here’s us making the best out of a not-so-fun situation:

Meredith’s first “vacation.”

Due to our chaotic displacement, Meredith was seriously regretting deciding to join us a few weeks early.

Breakfast with a view.

Enjoying the sunset with Meredith.

Surfer girls.

There was a kids activity center on the property, which had a daily schedule of events, including movies, koi fish feeding, and themed craft days. They also had a few pools, a playground, air hockey, foosball, and a s’mores and hot dogs night around the fire pit, which was fun for the girls and Jake.

Busy crafting with play doh.

The girls colored and made masks on the Mardi Gras themed day.

Koi fish feeding was one of their faves.

Amelia shows off her crown, wand and tutu she made during the princess themed morning.

They even made a crown for Meredith.

Even though I was dead tired, It was nice to take walks with Meredith and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Meredith took the whole ordeal in stride and was the least of my worries! She is a dream baby.

Some of the girls’ favorite activities during our stay:

During the day, Jake took Bandit to work. Bandit enjoyed camping out in his office and learning about the law.

I mostly stayed in our room with Meredith, but if I could time her feedings right, we were able to get out and lounge by the pool.

Meanwhile, Grandma took the twins out to activities at the villas and around Newport every day. It’s hard to say who was more tired… me staying up at night with a newborn, or Grandma getting the twins tired out all day. Thank goodness she was still in town to help!

Meredith loved to “shade bathe.”

Samantha and Amelia made the best of it, considering they just had a new member of the family usurp their authority as sole attention-getters and were now staying somewhere unfamiliar. They were usually pooped for nap, but were cranky and clingy during the day many times. It was a lot of change all at once for them, poor things!

The girls were very helpful entertaining Meredith.

Such sweet big sisters.

The villas had a shuttle that went all over the place, including across the street to Crystal Cove Beach and down PCH to Laguna Beach, so we really didn’t even need a car. Grandma and Jake took the girls to the Spectrum, Pretend City, and to the beach a few times, just to change things up a bit. Even though the villas had plenty of activities, staying anywhere but home got old fast.

Allison, Zack and Noah had originally planned on meeting Meredith at home, but with the construction going on, they came to see her at the hotel instead. As a bonus, the twins got to swim with Noah!

The Smith family lives nearby and they came to visit us as well. The girls had a blast swimming with Kennedy and Sebastian.

The Smiths meet Meredith.

After ten days of living in a hotel, our house was finally ready! We celebrated our last night in Newport Coast by going out to dinner at the Beachcomber in Crystal Cove. My mom had flown back to Utah that weekend (sob!), so this was our first official dinner out with our whole family, without extra help.

We got a lot of stares as our circus barged in, but I must say, all three girls were well behaved and received many compliments.

Maybe the s’mores had something to do with the good behavior?

Meredith begged for a beignet.

Farewell, Newport Coast! We made the best of our impromptu vacation, but were so glad to go home! And yes, I am still mourning my freezer meals.

Lots of love,