A week of pleasure and pain

We just returned from a week at my parent’s cabin in Door County, a place that five generations of my family has been flocking to. This was Adeline’s second trip there, the first one being about a year ago. It was a wonderful week of new experiences, great mega family bonding time and the worst fits of hysteria we’ve ever witnessed from our daughter. Let’s start with the good…

We watched wheelbarrow-fulls of fireworks launched in our front yard. (P.S. Psycho X-Girlfriend? Not that exciting. Just surprises you by practically igniting in your face).

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Ear protection was required for the littlest of spectators.

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We rode in the Bailey’s Harbor parade and didn’t get ticketed for throwing candy from a moving vehicle.

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We beached our brains out.

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We crafted. Yes, even Daddy got involved.

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And we bonfired.

And at nighttime, when it came time for sleeping, we watched our sweetie pie of a daughter morph into a crazed, anti-bedtime lunatic who would stop at nothing to avoid going night-night.

She screamed. She cried. She flailed and flung and hurled herself around. She climbed out of the pack n play repeatedly. She threw up from being so upset (at least it was on Daddy). It was as if sleeping was the worst torture in the world and, after nightly, hour-long battles over bedtime, we were at a loss as to what to do. And then we caved, and let Adeline sleep in bed with us, something we had never done before out of fear that it would lead to bad habits.

And she slept, although it required a much later bedtime (10:00pm vs the usual 8:00), reading every children’s book ever written and singing 1,000 versus of the Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round. And finally, she would give in and drift off, only to wake us up at 5 am with accidental I’m-just-trying-to-get-comfortable kicks, jabs, pokes and fists to the face.

By Thursday, Daddy had moved out to the couch.

Since Adeline wasn’t sleeping well, and overall seemed thrown off by so much new stuff coming at her, she was prone to tantrums and extreme clinginess during the day. For the most part, she was great, but definitely wanted to stick by Mommy’s side.

While we didn’t anticipate any of the sleep issues from our normally awesome sleeper of a kiddo, it was still a fantastic week. I am endlessly grateful for the quality time with my husband and daughter before another little babe enters the picture. And I find myself not wanting to go back to the reality of having to leave Addy for work at 7 am on Monday. Vacation is a wonderful thing, but I hate how it always leaves you wanting more.

As for Adeline, she is slowly readjusting to being home and remembering her regular bedtime routine, one where I don’t sing about every person and thing on a bus and one where she sleeps in a crib with a blankie and elephant to harass in the morning rather than a mom and a dad. The hour-long battle is down to 15 minutes, and I hope with each day we’re home that it gets better and better.

By the way, did I mention that we’re doing this again in 2 weeks? I’m planning on having my vocal chords warmed up and going to bed with a little girl and a face mask.

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