it's 8pm and everyone in my house is asleep right now and after the 34 hours we just had, i really should be too. but i'm wide awake. and i'm sure it'll come back to bite me tomorrow.
we decided to take a mini-vacation to the beach for 2 nights. zane got a new teaching job for the fall and it finally started to feel relaxed and summer-like around here. it was going to be a really fun experience! nevermind the fact that we haven't spent a night away from home in a year (last summer's trip to kansas city). or that we have a 6 week old. who gets up 3 times a night to eat. we realized we all may not sleep much but we'd have fun, darnit.
with low expectations for a trip, you'd think it would be a good experience no matter what.
HA! well, at least zane and i are trying to have a sense of humor about it. he called it 'the comedy of errors'. i called it 'i want to get in the car and drive home even though it's 10:30 at night and we have a zillion bags to pack and put back in the car'.
short recap:
it started when avery missed most of her nap on the trip there. we timed it so she'd be sleepy and sleep in the car. which she was, and which she did. until nola woke up to eat and cried.
we got to the hotel and as we're going past the front desk, the reception woman says "oh! two little ones. ooh, and another on the way?!" um. i realize that i look 5 months pregnant still, but there's no way nola looks much older than 6 weeks, much less 5+ months. think before you speak. *sniffle, sniffle*
go to the beach for the afternoon. un-eventful. phew.
avery has a MAJOR meltdown on the way to dinner. screaming for the "amimals!" that she saw in the hotel lobby (stuffed animals) try to get her to eat mac and cheese and fries, but she is screaming so loud we leave the outdoor restaraunt. good thing, 'cause zane was wearing nola and she was having none of the stillness of sitting down. the poor thing (the older one) was beyond tired, probably starving, and in desperate need of her routine and normalcy.
bedtime. i'll spare a lot of the details and choice words between zane and i. avery passed out around 10:30 in bed with zane. nola sleeps next to my bed.
avery wakes before 5 to start the day. spends most of her time in fits/tears over something/everything.
at this point, zane and i decide we all need to sleep in our own, familiar spaces tonight and we'll leave after a morning at the beach and some lunch.
i break the one beach chair we have. :(
feed and soothe nola on a flimsy beach towel, huddling under our umbrella.
finally!! avery has a blast playing in the wet sand with zane. yay for kids doing what kids do best at the beach :)
we got home this afternoon, attempted to put avery down for a nap, and set loose a creature i hope to never see again. the poor thing was frantic beyond recognition and embodied the phrase "basket case". we both felt like terrible parents for putting our children (mainly the older one) through the torture of little sleep, an unfamiliar environment and overstimulation. luckily, avery settled down, had some chinese food for dinner and has been sound asleep for over 2 hours now.
it will be a LONG time before we attempt to go away overnight with the 2 of them again. and i think we're all okay with that :)
i do plan on posting about the positives during the trip sometime tomorrow. in the midst of all the un-fun-ness, there were some really good parts. really, there were.
ps,
just to show how exhausting it all was. here's nola. typical (read: crucial) sleep-time preparations=swaddled, in her chair, with her white noise machine and sometimes a pacifier. she hasn't been a "lay me down wherever and my limbs can flop and i'll sleep flat on my back" baby for weeks now (maybe since we left the hospital?) but here she is, just minutes after i set her down so i could pick some stuff up in our room before heading back downstairs. she was out cold for well over an hour.
4 comments:
Oh my! This makes me thankful that we didn't stay the night on our little road trip. We probably would have had the exact same thing happen. I wish we lived closer we could have watched Avery.
Oh, my, too! Well, it seemed like a really good idea,,,,,,,Poor Avery, Poor Mommy & Daddy. The picture with her ditty on the balcony makes me cry!!!!! You'll have plenty of time for better family vacations in a year or 2. (Actually, as I recall, they are always pretty 'trying' with little ones - but better than this one!!!) LOVE, mommawalsh
Sorry you had such chaos on your mini vacation. I don't recall having such a time on vacations with mine, which at that stage was usually to see relatives or to spend a few days at Lake Okoboji. But it did recall a time when Ken & I went to the Sioux City mall to do some shopping with 3 (before Karen). Ken must have been in charge of Terry-but, I had Kitty and Kathy with me. They were having a ball--running thru the clothes racks and inspecting everything they got a chance to--and I was so busy trying to keep them under control, I got very little shopping done. I was in tears before we left. I'm sure the shop-keepers were thankful when we went out their doors. Told Ken I'd never take them with me again to go shopping. And I didn't! So, the moral of this story is Don't go shopping with them for yourself until they are at least 7 or older! GGma
I think the photo of Avery sums it all up nicely.. When I have 2 children some day I will use your story as a warning of such things happening to me :O) Glad you and hubby can laugh about it all now :o)
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