I love reading those blogs where a family with five kids goes on a trip and they all do wonderful on the plane and sleep soundly in a hotel room and go to bed on time. I read them and think charming.
And then my family goes on what I thought would be a mini-vacation to watch my beautiful cousin get married, and I end up in survival mode the whole time.
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.
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We left Saturday morning at 6:50 AM. I kind of felt like super mom getting everything packed in the van (with the help of my husband, of course) and both kids up and ready so early, without tears, mind you. It was a nice 3.5 drive. No turbulence along the way, both kids napped. We are happy.
We eat breakfast, do some swimming. And even ALL nap for a bit in the hotel room. Why yes, this is sounding like one of those blogs where everything is smooth and lovely. But wait. Just wait.
And then we get to the wedding. Naomi decides she wants to eat right when the processional begins. And there is only one door out. So after I attempt to nurse her in the sanctuary, I dart out with a hooter hider around my neck before she gets fussy. While the grandparents are being sat. Classy, I know. [Thank goodness I left though, because as soon as I was done nursing, Naomi uh, released herself really loudly.]
One of the very few pictures from the weekend. In fact, I didn't get a chance to take even one picture at the wedding. I passed my camera off to have my sister try to capture the night.
And then we head to the reception. But first drive around an extra ten minutes to make sure Naomi goes to sleep. She's out. We are at the reception. Everything appears to be going smoothly. Until it's time to nurse again. I head to the bathroom thinking if I can get her in a quiet place, surely she will nurse. That's a no-go. I then sit in our van for the next hour and attempt to soothe and nurse. I miss the bride and groom, the food, the cake. Everything.
And then we leave the reception early and head to the hotel (although I was tempted to drive all the way home, because I was that stressed). My two-year-old has an opinion (and I thought this didn't happen until they are like 12) and wants to stay at the party and dance. She is our dancing queen, no doubt. So she stays back with my brothers and sisters. Thankfully, my sister snapped a picture of her breaking it down on the dance floor.
I just noticed, that she isn't wearing her own shoes in this picture. Interesting. But not surprised, she loves putting on other people's shoes.
And then, we finally get Naomi asleep, after not really nursing. Audrey doesn't get asleep until about 11pm. And then I'm up every two hours feeding Naomi, which she previously had been sleeping through the night. And then, Audrey is up at 5am. Doesn't go back to sleep. And my morning begins at 7 after trying and trying to get Audrey to sleep again.
And then we get on the road to head home. What was suppose to be a 3.5 drive, ended up being 8 hours because of this:
Oh wait, you say, you can't see anything? Yeah, neither could we while driving. That was our visibility when driving home in a blizzard.
Don't worry, there is a happy ending to all this.
The girls did fabulously in the 8 hour trip. We made it home safely. The girls are now asleep in their own beds. And we are watching It's a Wonderful Life.
Because despite, my crazy, no-sleep weekend, it really is a wonderful life. And I'm so thankful to be home.
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