WEEKLY BLOG POST NUMBER TWO! WOOT WOOT! So, since last I posted, my mom and I took the kids to the coast for the weekend. Jeff is on a business trip to Asia and my dad is in Haiti on a mission trip, so when the dudes are away, the ladies will play. Well, as much playing as one can do while responsible for an almost four-year-old and a 17-month-old. The kids and I all came down with colds the night before we left and so sleep was not plentiful that night before we left or the first night there, and the lack of sleep heaped on top of the early stages of a cold for me- bless my heart, I was struggling but bless my mom’s heart, she knows how to carry the team and she totally did.
But things actually went pretty smoothly and we had a great time. It was an especially great time for me because even with the colds, this was by far the smoothest trip with the kids since…well, ever. They slept better (aside from that first night), and that is the kicker. The struggles we have experienced on all previous trips, both with Cam in his only-child days and with both of them, have hinged on sleep. Cam always struggled with sleep, even at home, and after we would get Kenzie to sleep, Cam would frequently be belligerent at bedtime and would wake her up and then there we were, way too late a night, hours and hours from home stuck in a hotel room with two unhappy and awake kids, the baby unable to yield for the toddler and the toddler unwilling to yield for the baby. And then trying to have fun the next day with two exhausted kids? Fugeddaboudit. We have spent probably 90% of our time away from home with the kids running on a thimbleful of sleep, stressing over the logistics of tired kids and naps that likely wouldn’t go well, and more than a little ticked off that THIS is what our “vacations” had come to. Can anyone relate? Am I speaking directly to anyone’s experience right now?
But this trip had a different feel to it. Even with the colds, the kids settled in and slept pretty well and it felt so much less fragile than it did before. And really, our kids are pretty flexible and easy-going, sleep is the killer (and really, that’s probably 75% about Cam…but that’s another blog post).
So I’m feeling really grateful now. Grateful for the time at the coast, grateful for the time with my mom, REALLY grateful for the time my kids got with my mom, particularly Kenzie who is just now getting old enough to get really attached to her grandparents, grateful that we had the means to take the weekend away, and grateful that the stress of traveling with the kids these past few years CAN get better for us. I have so many friends whose kids are medically fragile, or have developmental disabilities or delays that mean that travelling with them will ALWAYS be stressful and precarious for all involved, or they have food allergies or just a whole mess of things…just feeling blessed.
Please enjoy some pics from our weekend at the Oregon Coast!
