Babies and Briefcases

Warning: lots of complaining to follow.

It has taken me awhile to recover from the whirlwind week I’ve had.  Originally, I was very much looking forward to last week, as we had a little trip planned to head over to Whidbey Island (just a short ferry ride away) to spend a few days in celebration of my brother’s wedding.  My brother and partner had rented two large houses on the same property where the wedding was being held and we were planning on staying there, along with some other friends and my brother-in-law’s family (about 20 other people).  The plan was for us to head over there Wednesday evening and stay until Sunday.

However, as the date neared, I started to get a bit of anxiety.  Scott and I are both very routine-oriented people and I think having a baby has made us even more so.  I tend to get stressed anytime we are thinking of going on an overnight trip because I know it will disrupt Decker’s normal routine.  On top of it all, Scott was pretty sick with the same stomach bug that had already struck Decker and me and had to stay home from work on Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday morning I woke with a horrible headache that was a cross between a migraine and a sinus headache.  I spent most of the day just laying around and figured it would go away after I slept that night.  I woke up Thursday and the pain was still horrible, so I ended up going to the doctor, who said it appeared to be more related to stress/tension.  He gave me muscle relaxers and percocet.  Even though it was no fun being sidelined with a massive headache, I was somewhat relieved that we didn’t have to leave for our trip until Friday morning.

By Friday morning, things were looking up.  It seemed like all three of us were finally healthy, after almost a month of being sick, and I actually was able to get packed up with time to spare.  We made it over to Whidbey and got to our room in the house.  This is when it hit me that we would be sharing a room with Decker and also my best friend, Vanessa.  The room had 4 bunk beds and limited space.  Being that we have never slept in the same room with Decker since he was 2 weeks old, this caused me a bit of anxiety.

Overall, the trip was not as bad as I feared, but it was definitely exhausting!  Some observations and lessons:

• Co-sleeping is not for me.  The first night of sleep was rough.  Decker woke up when we came into the room to get in bed and a couple more times that night.  At 3am, I pulled him into bed with me because I didn’t want him waking everyone else up.  He kept tossing and turning and kicking, which meant that I didn’t get much sleep.  We were hoping he would sleep in due to playing and running around so much, but no luck.  He was up at 6am.
• Sharing a house with a baby and 20 other people just doesn’t work.  I’m really kicking myself for wondering why I accepted the invitation to stay at the house with everyone else.  Having a baby is really not conducive to the needs and wants of the other house guests who want to stay up late and party.  Additionally, I HATE being cramped and sharing space.  Yeah, 25 people trying to get ready for a wedding in one house….not fun.
• Sharing a house with a toy poodle and 20 other people just doesn’t work.  We brought Shiloh along and unfortunately had to leave her in our room most of the time.  In the big house, I was just too worried about someone leaving a door open and her slipping out.
• If it’s not one thing it’s another.  First Decker hurt his wrist, then he got a stomach bug and then on Saturday, we realized he had a humongous boil on his butt.  Poor guy.  I’m still waiting for the day he is totally healed up.  On top of that, he is still in the “I want to be held by Mommy all the time phase,” which made it hard for me to fully enjoy myself.
• I will never understand those people who bring their babies to weddings.  Since this was a family affair, of course we brought Decker.  However, if I have the choice in the future, you won’t be seeing us bringing him along to a wedding.  He was pretty well-behaved during the ceremony and reception, but between trying to keep him occupied and making sure he didn’t run off and get into trouble, it was hard to enjoy ourselves.  Scott and I were both very relieved when we were able to put him to bed and finally enjoy our night!
• There’s no place like home.  Decker slept better on Saturday night, but woke up at 6am and we wasted no time in getting packed up and heading home.  It was such a relief when we got home and put him in his crib, in his dark, quiet room to nap.

In hopes of saving this post from sounding like the weekend was an entirely horrible experience, I will say that the wedding was beautiful and we did enjoy spending time with our family and friends.  The weekend was just another reminder of how life changes so much when you have a baby and what used to work, often doesn’t anymore.