Needless to say, traveling with an infant alone is very, very hard. Thank goodness I had the help of friends on the other side to help us with the impossible bits -- there is NO way I could have managed to carry a suitcase, a diaper bag, a stroller, a baby, AND a carseat onto an airplane. Just couldn't happen. Thankfully, I was able to secure a borrowed carseat on the Maine end, thanks to Chris's lovely mom Julie, and what was probably quite a lot of legwork by his sister Natalie.
We spent most of our time at Chris's family's "camp" which, translated from Northern-speak, is basically a little house on a (gorgeous) lake, with an extra cabin on the side. Jess, Ben, Jhonen, Calina and I had the cabin all to ourselves. We were a bit worried about the babies keeping each other up all night long, but they actually did quite well. I think Calina slept about what she usually does these days: 7pm-7am-ish with a half-dozen breaks for snacks.
Our second day there was filled with a fantastically fun and perfectly lovely day -- a big get-together to celebrate Chris & Leslie's wedding (on the anniversary of the ceremony we all missed going to). Perfect, perfect weather, great food, beautiful water, fun conversation, awesome cake. It was so nice to just enjoy the company of a ton of people who were all pleasant and having a good time.
Having just barely survived a 4-day trip on my own with Calina, I'm thinking it might be a while before I try it again... Though we are planning a trip our to Oregon at some point in September. At least Colin and probably Gramma will be going along for that one, though, so... That should be much easier. It was really just the fact that I didn't get any break whatsoever. She'd scream if I put her down for even a second to use the bathroom or take a shower.
She seems to have hit a little bit of a rough patch the last couple of weeks. I don't know if it's helmet-related (if this one's getting too small), or teething-related, or illness-related, or just baby-getting-older, but she has been so much more difficult lately. Crying a ton, having trouble sleeping, drooling, chewing, eating a bunch then spitting it all up, and basically being a grumpy mess. Super fuss-face.
She was in rare form for Colin's Mom who came to visit over the past few days. I'm not sure if she's still recouperating from our trip or if she's really just taken a turn for the worse, but she's just terribly touchy, scared, exhausted and unwilling to nap, and antisocial with everyone except me and Colin (and gramma to some extent). She's decided that napping will only happen either in the Moby wrap on Colin or me, or on gramma's shoulder in her new rocker. Maybe in the carseat if she's really tired, but if she wakes up in the car, it's all over.
It was still great for Peggy to get to see her only grandchild for a couple of days, I just wish she had been in better spirits.
She was just being a baby,I well remember those days! I did get some enjoyable playing time in with her, and with Colin, you and Gramma. "Ticket to Ride" was a ton of fun... particularly since I tromped you guys! HA HA! Love ya lots!
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