Edisto Beach Vacation and What to Bring to the Beach for 4 Month Old Baby

We have been going through some serious 4 month sleep regression or just adjusting to the craziness after being on a week vacation!  Little did I know (or rather even think about) that babies don’t adjust as well as adults when it comes to travelling and new places.  #rookiemommove

Aside from our frustration with the lack of sleep that Reid is having at night/no napping during the day, life around here is pretty great!  We had our first long family vacation that lasted 9 full days 🙂 It was a wonderful trip and really allowed us to wind down and connect as a new family.

We headed down to Drew’s family’s beach house for the Fourth of July weekend.  We have been going there every Fourth of July since moving to Greenville.  It is the perfect time to plan a vacation as Drew gets a day off for the 4th and perfect place to celebrate Independence Day!

We invited our good friends, Megan and Brandon and their 4 month old baby, Watson, down for the long weekend and we all enjoyed watching our babies play with each other (or rather just stare at each other!).  It was definitely a different type of trip from years past as we now have two little ones, but we all still had a great time! I am excited to watch as the boys grow up and change year after year–I have an inkling that this year will be the most peaceful one we will have for many years to come!

Drew’s sister, Meredith joined us for both weekends and it was fun to have her spend time with Reid.  Of course, I think Scout was the most excited to have her aunt visit as she gets lots of attention (poor girl has been on the back burner lately).

We did a lot of cooking (only ate out once, which is unheard of for vacationing) and I am happy to report I only went to the grocery store ONCE!  We hit up the local seafood market and fruit/vegetable stand to get a lot of our food for the week.  It was great to support local businesses, plus the produce and seafood we bought was delicious and fresh!

Since we went for a long time, we were able to go on a few boat rides and even went to Botany Bay for an evening walk.  We will definitely be coming back to Edisto for another long beach vacation next year.

Things we learned from beach time with a 4 month old baby:

• a collapsable wagon is a great investment (with a baby there is a TON more to bring to the beach and the added assistance is well worth the price)
• tailgating tent and baby tent are must haves (the tailgating tent allowed us to be able to stay at the beach longer because we could play with Reid while still being in the shade; and the baby tent allowed Reid to be as sand free as possible and provided a great napping spot with wind flow)
• bring lots of diapers and wipes to the beach (we put Reid in just his bathing suit bottoms without a diaper/swim diaper and having a fresh wipe and diaper was nice to put him in following a little dip)
• rashguard, hat, bathing suit (2x)–I would just keep Reid in a rashguard and diaper or just diaper when under the tent and would just take off his diaper and replace with bathing suit for when he took a dip in the ocean
• pacifier!! I can never say enough about these, ever!
• nursing cover–I ended up nursing a few times on the beach and it worked well!
• Things I didn’t need:
  • bath tub to put ocean water in and let him play in (I found that it was more trouble than worth, plus I just sat with Reid in the ocean which worked out perfect)
  • baby sunscreen–since he is so young they advise against sunscreen but I brought it just in case, Reid was covered head to toe with sun-protective clothing so we didn’t end up using sunscreen (which I feel better about!)
  • sheet for the beach–I saw this as a “baby beach hack” but found it got way too sandy and the baby tent worked better for keeping him occupied
  • little fan–I thought that we would use this, but the ocean breeze was enough to keep Reid cool
  • swim diaper–I so don’t know why I brought this as it doesn’t matter if he peed in the ocean, definitely do not need at the beach!

Despite being a totally different beach vacation from years past, we had a very fun and enjoyable time together.  If only vacations lasted all year long…