We decided to head up early Friday morning, missing eating tacos and night 1, but we figured this might be better in case Theo couldn't sleep in the tent, we could have a whole day of fun with my family before a sleepless night.
We planned to leave anytime Theo awoke after 5 a.m. on Friday. Like life works, he woke at 4 a.m. for a feed and went back to sleep at 4:40 a.m. He slept until 8:30 a.m. and then Jay and I ran around doing last minute packing. The night before I had not gotten everything done because Theo needed putting to bed three times. We got packed up with so much stuff and left before 9 a.m, We were bringing 2 loaves of bread and a dozen hamburger and hot dog buns, so everything seemed to take up lots of space. Crammed car or not, we still forgot things, like my pillow.
We got into camp at 9:50 a.m. Jay did a wonderful job setting up the tent while I carried things from the car 1 handed and Little Foot traipsed along behind me (because why would Little Foot relax when he could be underfoot?). My parents, Jared and his family, and Lisa and her kids arrived about 45 minutes later. They had been down by the lake. We had just missed them.
They were glad to see us, and not just because we had brought the bread, meat, and peanut butter for lunch. While camping we played cards, painted a craft with the kids (Daniel Mark was very good with the detail work), hid in Lisa's huge 10 man tent during rain showers, found out that the tent Jay found at a thrift store is water proof, played with Jay's blow gun, ate hamburgers and hot dogs and lots of fruit, the kids went on an exploring adventure with their Uncle Jay, Theo played with his older cousins' toys, and Theo even napped -- once in the Pack 'N Play and once in the arms of his mommy or aunt. I guess also worth noting is after dark the kids except Caleb had all gone to bed and we played games. Then Caleb found an enormous beatle on him, which he stomped until definitely dead.
When we were in Lisa's tent, I heard Kaiana and Sedona playing with barbies. Sedona made her barbie say something about getting a boyfriend. Kaiana replied, "Well okay, but only if you're 16."
Kaiana, the older cousin, is an influence for good, making sure no one gets a boyfriend too early ;)
It was a warm day and cool night. I dressed Theo in a onesie, sweat pants, a thick wearable blanket with thick long sleeves, and a cap. This was fine at first, but the temperature kept dropping. Somewhere in the middle of the night I realized he was too cold and didn't have the heart to take him out of his wearable blanket to add more layers beneath it. Bed sharing is something I have never done before with Theo -- it's safer not to -- but I put him in my sleeping bag and laid close, both so I could hear his breathing and also because there wasn't really enough room for just me between the Pack 'N Play and the side of the tent. And now Theo was there too (no, I didn't collapse the Pack 'N Play. I was tired). I spent the night on my side because there wasn't room to lie flat on my back. Theo slept really well for longer than he usually does, I think. I forgot my watch and my phone was off, so I actually don't know. I think he slept for 5 hours straight. This isn't unheard of for him, but since he has been teething and wakeful recently, this was very good. I slept less well, so it's good it was only for 1 night.
Camping with a crawling baby would have been a lot harder if there weren't so many adults willing to hold and entertain him. He did love exploring tents, but outside we hardly put him down. Today we walked by the lake. I carried him in my arms because he was asleep at first, but then I used my sister's k'tan baby carrier. When I faced him out and he could see his daddy and dog ahead on the was back, he jabbered happily. It seemed like 70% of the people we passed on the trail were either excited to see such a cute baby or such a cute dog. You never know how popular you can be until you have such good company.
He had a very nice time until 11 minutes before we got home when he had a major meltdown. We got home, I changed him and fed him and Jay set up his Pack 'N Play and he got a good nap. On waking, Jay changed him and I gave him a bath, which he hated. It turned out he was hungry. After eating he calmed down. He typically loves baths, but I think he had not eaten very well camping because of all the excitement, fun people, and new things to see. Now he was at boring home and so remembered he was hungry.
He then played nicely in his room while the dog got a bath too.
We got a loud, crazy monsoon thunder storm after we got home. Theo thought it was great, leaning WAY forward in his bouncer seat, attentively watching the downpour. When Jay got him out of the seat and faced him away from the windows, he pivoted around on his tummy, crawled up to the window, and pressed his forehead to the glass. We have a storm lover!
I will have to get pictures later from my camera. I don't know that I took too many. My hands were so often busy caring for my baby or my old man dog. I will have to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment