Trip disaster
Warning: this post might make very little sense as my brain has stopped functioning a couple hundred miles ago...and none of these details were made up (unfortunately) This is what I have been doing since we last spoke.
Have you ever taken a trip where you KNOW you need to go and it's totally the right thing to do, but your entire being is screaming at you the entire time "BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA!"
That's what happened to us this past (very long) weekend. We needed to go to my grandfather's funeral. That's not something you can go back and get a second chance to redo once life is easier (ha), and it was important to support my family this way.
I was praying for a smooth trip. Unfortunately, Addison and Carter had different ideas.
We left Wednesday evening with the kids all ready for bed, tucked into their carseats around 7:30pm. I stared longingly at my warm house and conveniently well stocked nurseries that make my life so much easier as we loaded up and prepared for the long trek from Vermont to Port Huron Michigan.
The ride over there wasn't horrible- just exhausting. Aaron's passport had just expired and we didn't have time to get a new one before the trip, so we had to add 4-5 hours onto the trip because we couldn't cut through Canada. Aaron drove most of the way, but I stayed awake to keep him company and we had wonderful conversations (oh yes, Aaron got pulled over for speeding about 15 minutes into the trip. Yes. I talked him out of a very expensive ticket. Yes, I talk my way out of a lot of tickets, but try not to mention it lest I jinx my good fortune) oh and yes, I accidentally flashed a toll booth attendant while pumping in the front seat. I had just given Addison my blanket and the toll booth just came out of nowhere...
It was really that first night in the hotel that left the "BAD IDEA!" chorus forefront in all of our minds. What is it about staying in a hotel that turns two well sleeping, angelic babies into DEMONS? It's like they know that the stakes are raised, so why even try being good...
Addison and Carter both got over exhausted from the trip. First up, Carter was so tired from his schedule being off that he SCREAMED bloody murder for three hours straight. I COULD NOT get him to stop screaming (so frustrating and scary). His screaming kept Addison up which eventually led her to working herself into a congested lack-of-breathing state. I passed out on the bed, exhausted, right before that happened so Aaron (being the wonderful daddy that he is) took care of it all himself. He set up a little bed for her in the bathroom and got so much steam going in the shower that he set off the fire alarm. I woke up to the loud screams of the detector combined with Addison's cries while Aaron was desperately working to get it turned off before it woke Carter up again. (Seriously, why were we not kicked out of this hotel?) In the many, many times that I got up to feed Carter that night, I saw Addison finally passed out in the bathroom with her faced pressed up against the cool porcelain of the toilet (um. gross)
That night was like a 12 hour incident of being repeatedly kicked in the face.
Between hanging out with family and such, we then found out that Aaron had been somehow been signed up as a pallbearer for the funeral. Since there was no nursery, this meant that I alone was responsible for my two rugrats during the funeral. Thankfully my sister Andrea helped out with Addison, but the stress of not having Aaron's help with the two combined with the lack of sleep just about put me over the edge. (So pretty much I drove 15 hours out there to watch my kids nursery style during the funeral)
(and just as it was all concluding, Carter found it prudent to vomit all over my crotch...minutes before I saw family that I seriously haven't seen in decades)
So a long weekend of keeping both kids entertained- going from activity to activity with lots of long driving time was wrapped up when we finally headed out again Saturday evening.
All was going well until Addison started getting all congested again with a strong barking cough. We realized she was struggling to breathe and we were in the middle of nowhere. We stopped to get her some Vicks and a personalized steam maker (some of the hot water burning my finger pretty badly as I was dumping it out and while applying the steam, some of the water dripped onto her carseat, burning her leg)
She was crying, choking, struggling to breathe...and we were all packed up in the van with eight hours still standing between us...home...and her Pediatrician.
Then, we had to keep driving with NO STOPS. Because every time we stopped, Carter woke up and started to cry, getting Addison all riled up and messing with her breathing again.
Which meant that as one of us was driving, the other was trying to sleep between feeding Carter, reapplying Vicks on Addison, making sure Addison was still breathing, propping eyelids open...and attempting to not burn anyone else with the personalized steam maker.
We stumbled our way across the country seeking to appease two whiny children (and to keep breathing for Addison) in the trip that would NEVER end. (we got in at 11am this morning after a straight night of driving)
I am seriously so tired. As soon as we got home, Aaron took Addison to the doctor and she is now all medicated with hopes for a soonish recovery (she has croup). Therapy is canceled for tomorrow...I have about 20 loads of laundry to do and two little people's schedules to whip back into shape.
But we made it. Bad idea and all. And I'm glad that we did this (in theory), and it was WONDERFUL to see family again.
But NEVER again. (seriously)
Ok, I'm done whining. Time to go get some rest so that I can get things back to normal tomorrow...
(deep breaths)
Have you ever taken a trip where you KNOW you need to go and it's totally the right thing to do, but your entire being is screaming at you the entire time "BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA!"
That's what happened to us this past (very long) weekend. We needed to go to my grandfather's funeral. That's not something you can go back and get a second chance to redo once life is easier (ha), and it was important to support my family this way.
I was praying for a smooth trip. Unfortunately, Addison and Carter had different ideas.
We left Wednesday evening with the kids all ready for bed, tucked into their carseats around 7:30pm. I stared longingly at my warm house and conveniently well stocked nurseries that make my life so much easier as we loaded up and prepared for the long trek from Vermont to Port Huron Michigan.
The ride over there wasn't horrible- just exhausting. Aaron's passport had just expired and we didn't have time to get a new one before the trip, so we had to add 4-5 hours onto the trip because we couldn't cut through Canada. Aaron drove most of the way, but I stayed awake to keep him company and we had wonderful conversations (oh yes, Aaron got pulled over for speeding about 15 minutes into the trip. Yes. I talked him out of a very expensive ticket. Yes, I talk my way out of a lot of tickets, but try not to mention it lest I jinx my good fortune) oh and yes, I accidentally flashed a toll booth attendant while pumping in the front seat. I had just given Addison my blanket and the toll booth just came out of nowhere...
It was really that first night in the hotel that left the "BAD IDEA!" chorus forefront in all of our minds. What is it about staying in a hotel that turns two well sleeping, angelic babies into DEMONS? It's like they know that the stakes are raised, so why even try being good...
Addison and Carter both got over exhausted from the trip. First up, Carter was so tired from his schedule being off that he SCREAMED bloody murder for three hours straight. I COULD NOT get him to stop screaming (so frustrating and scary). His screaming kept Addison up which eventually led her to working herself into a congested lack-of-breathing state. I passed out on the bed, exhausted, right before that happened so Aaron (being the wonderful daddy that he is) took care of it all himself. He set up a little bed for her in the bathroom and got so much steam going in the shower that he set off the fire alarm. I woke up to the loud screams of the detector combined with Addison's cries while Aaron was desperately working to get it turned off before it woke Carter up again. (Seriously, why were we not kicked out of this hotel?) In the many, many times that I got up to feed Carter that night, I saw Addison finally passed out in the bathroom with her faced pressed up against the cool porcelain of the toilet (um. gross)
That night was like a 12 hour incident of being repeatedly kicked in the face.
Between hanging out with family and such, we then found out that Aaron had been somehow been signed up as a pallbearer for the funeral. Since there was no nursery, this meant that I alone was responsible for my two rugrats during the funeral. Thankfully my sister Andrea helped out with Addison, but the stress of not having Aaron's help with the two combined with the lack of sleep just about put me over the edge. (So pretty much I drove 15 hours out there to watch my kids nursery style during the funeral)
(and just as it was all concluding, Carter found it prudent to vomit all over my crotch...minutes before I saw family that I seriously haven't seen in decades)
So a long weekend of keeping both kids entertained- going from activity to activity with lots of long driving time was wrapped up when we finally headed out again Saturday evening.
All was going well until Addison started getting all congested again with a strong barking cough. We realized she was struggling to breathe and we were in the middle of nowhere. We stopped to get her some Vicks and a personalized steam maker (some of the hot water burning my finger pretty badly as I was dumping it out and while applying the steam, some of the water dripped onto her carseat, burning her leg)
She was crying, choking, struggling to breathe...and we were all packed up in the van with eight hours still standing between us...home...and her Pediatrician.
Then, we had to keep driving with NO STOPS. Because every time we stopped, Carter woke up and started to cry, getting Addison all riled up and messing with her breathing again.
Which meant that as one of us was driving, the other was trying to sleep between feeding Carter, reapplying Vicks on Addison, making sure Addison was still breathing, propping eyelids open...and attempting to not burn anyone else with the personalized steam maker.
We stumbled our way across the country seeking to appease two whiny children (and to keep breathing for Addison) in the trip that would NEVER end. (we got in at 11am this morning after a straight night of driving)
I am seriously so tired. As soon as we got home, Aaron took Addison to the doctor and she is now all medicated with hopes for a soonish recovery (she has croup). Therapy is canceled for tomorrow...I have about 20 loads of laundry to do and two little people's schedules to whip back into shape.
But we made it. Bad idea and all. And I'm glad that we did this (in theory), and it was WONDERFUL to see family again.
But NEVER again. (seriously)
Ok, I'm done whining. Time to go get some rest so that I can get things back to normal tomorrow...
(deep breaths)