Our Life

My Family has been going to this particular spot for vacation for 20+ years (I think). Vacations were a week there… and as my parents got older, they extended it to 2 weeks, with the kids (my sister and I) only invited for the last week. As our collective lives got more complicated (job schedules, family schedules, time off request timing, work load, other obligations) it has come to “We will be down there these weeks, come when you can.”

Chris, Corinn and I went last week. We consulted our friends, family, and extended family for advice on the travels with the WeeOne. Some said “go at night, they will sleep”, others said “dont go at night thinking they will sleep… the car noise and streetlights, etc, will keep them up.” With the advice pretty much 50/50, we went with the gamble of Night Travel. It worked for us. Sure, we got up at 0400 to drive 6 hours… and we were tired. Travel, it seemed, was a piece of cake.

Pics of Corinn at the beach Pics I took at night

What no one did warn us about, was that “Vacation” no longer means what it used to mean. With Corinn @ 10 weeks, and breast feeding exclusively, the “Vacation” was more of a change of location for the backdrop of the same ole same ole. Still the feeding, still the crying, still the changing, everything but “where” was the same except: Grandparents! Whoopie! So, occasionally it was “Feed.. she’s napping! WERE OFF!!”

We would then run down to the beach, and hop in. After a little bit, I would run back to check (I like being in the sun the least between Chris and I) and signal from the deck if Mommy needed to come back in.

The grandparents were funny. We heard them go through the same confusion about Corinn’s crying as we did:

• “Oh, she must be hungry!” nope just fed her…
• “Oh, she needs a diaper change!” nope, was just changed…
• “Oh… uhhh… HERE MOMMY!” hehehehe…

At the end of the week, they found the Groove too.

We didn’t want to leave. We had to, I had to go back to work. We left 2200, after last feeding. She slept the whole 6 hour drive, minus one stop to eat.

And so I went back to work today. All the frustrations, issues, and stresses – waiting for me to return.

Luckily I was warned ahead of time. “Be prepared for the most ‘pierce you in the heart’ cry when she gets shots”. It was true.

She got the shot, and did one of those things where the wind up to the cry to follow was silent… and when the wave crested, the cry that spilled out was agony to hear. Worse still was the face she made.

The doctor needed to put her on her stomach, to check some things, and said “yer not gonna be happy… yer going to be face down on the mat for a bit…” Little did she know Corinn can hold her head up, and hold herself off the ground. She was a bit surprised: not a lot of babies can do that @ 2 months. She was also impressed at the controll she has over her head.

She said that the muscle control, and tone, is a characteristic of high intelligence babies. I see the “why?” game being a challenge for us, later.

Corinn is almost 2 months old now, and it only feels like a month. We were looking at some pictures, and wow! Corinn is getting so huge! We go for another well-checkup next Friday.

She is starting to smile a lot, and sleep a bit more. We like that. She has also developed some other cries, other than the ONE she had when we brought her home.

Oh, and I updated the blog software.