Yup, We Were Crazy

The fact that I'm sitting typing this post will show you that I did survive our first camping experience with Sam and Anna.  In fact, all of us did survive.  But, because of the extraordinary events that happened this past weekend, there were times that it truly felt like survival wasn't necessarily a guarantee!

We arrived Friday evening and things were okay at first.  Sam and Anna took 1 hour 20 minutes to fall asleep at bedtime in our pop up camper, but I expected that.  That's why we put them to bed at 8 pm more like usual without letting them stay up later.  While they were asleep we sat around the fire with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law.  At that point, our dog Bella found some rotten eggs off in the brush and had a heyday rolling around in it.  Things went downhill from there pretty fast.

The adults went to bed at 11 pm and just as I was falling asleep around midnight, Sam woke up crying.  I could tell pretty quickly that he had a dirty diaper (which has not happened during his night sleep for him since he was a little baby!) so we took him out to our car to change him to avoid waking up Anna.  He really would not go to sleep after we were done.  We spent 3 hours trying.  Thankfully Anna did not wake up- a small bone God threw us since the challenges we were going to face on our camping trip were just beginning. 

At about 2 am ( I had not slept at all yet) I started to feel ill.  I should probably mention that Anna had thrown up Wednesday night and there was a bug going around daycare.  I handed Sam off to my husband and booked it to the bathroom... a 5 minute walk away.  While I was headed there, it started to rain so I was soaked by the time I got back to our camper.  Let's just say that bathroom and I spent a lot of time together in the next 24 hours.  I should also add here that there were car alarms going off multiple times at around 3 am.  Anna again did not wake up (Sam was already awake).  If Anna had woken up, I probably would have marched over there and given that campsite a piece of my mind!

Sam finally fell asleep at around 4 am.  Anna woke up at 6:30 am.  I got 2 1/2 hours of restless sleep.  Sam got less than half of his usual night sleep.  Smarter people would have probably packed up and headed home at that point.  We did not.  Besides, I wasn't sure I could handle the 2 hour drive anyway.

Saturday, both  Sam and Anna were super cranky and fussy because they were so overtired.  They had fun, but any little thing would set them off.  I felt horrible.   We couldn't go for any long hikes in the woods or anywhere because I needed to be close to the bathroom.  My husband gave our dog a bath so she didn't stink.  I should also probably add in here that we spent over an hour trying to put up a screened shelter borrowed from friends without directions and eventually gave up.

Saturday afternoon Sam took a 1 1/2 hour nap ( I did too), which wasn't stellar, but at least it was something.  Anna slept for 3 hours.  While Anna was still sleeping, we discovered that Sam and gotten bit by a deer tick on his arm.  Since it had to be in for less than 24 hours, we shouldn't have to worry about Lyme's Disease.  We had a super time trying to hold him down and get that thing out though.

I started to feel a little better around dinner time and ate something for the first time that day and was able to keep it down.  Sam and Anna took 20 minutes to fall asleep at bedtime, so that was an improvement.  We headed to bed at 11 pm again after sitting around the fire and our night # 2 began.

This time Anna woke up when we tried to get in the camper, with her usual bloodcurdling scream-cries.  She had a dirty diaper this time, so like the night before with Sam, we took her out to the car to try to avoid waking up Sam.  And just like with Sam the night before, she would not go back to sleep for hours.  Around 2 am we finally succeeded, but I couldn't fall asleep because of the mosquitoes that had apparently gotten into out camper.  Then from there on out, Sam and Anna took turns waking up off and on for the rest of the night.  The mosquitoes were probably bothering them too- because the night before they had gotten quite a few bites on their faces while the slept.  This time, when they woke Sunday morning, they looked like they had chicken pox from all the mosquito bites. (I called them my polka dotted kids.)  It is also possible that they had trouble sleeping because they were cold. 

We ended up putting them in bed with us as a last ditch effort.  I was amazed that Sam co+slept pretty soundly but he was ridiculously overtired and that's certainly why.  Anna kept waking up off and on between us while I slept on about an inch of bed space.  They woke for the day at about 7:30 am.  I may have gotten more sleep the second night, but not by much.  What I did get was in short bits mostly less than 45 minutes each time.  I lost track of how often they were waking around 2:30 am.

You can imagine we were quick to pack up Sunday morning and head home but before we left with our overtired, cranky polka dotted toddlers, we noticed that this time Anna had gotten bit by a deer tick on her arm.  Of course.

So I'm not sure what the icing on the cake was of Sam and Anna's first camping trip- our dog rolling in something rotten?  The double toddler tick whammy?  Having the flu and the bathroom being impossibly far away?  We figured they wouldn't sleep spectacularly, but gosh, it would have been nice if they would have at least slept the worst on the same night so we could have had one decent night.  Who would have imagined all those other things happening too???  And this is minor, but I forgot to add that somewhere in the woods we lost Sam's amber teething necklace.  We are now discovering just how helpful that little necklace was to ease his teething discomfort.  I will be ordering a new one, stat!

We packed our camper and have no plans on using it again for a long time.  Maybe by next summer, the memories will have faded and we might be crazy enough to attempt camping trip #2 with two  2 1/2 year old toddlers.  But if I read this post again next summer, I really doubt it!!!

My polka dotted kids

This Time I'm Saying Something

Last year about this time, I received a nasty comment. At the time I was third-trimester-pregnant with twins, trying to get through the same hustle and bustle holidays bring that everyone goes through. I was ready for a few days off of work, like most people are. I chose not to dignify the comment with acknowledging it on my blog, but it hurt. I simply posted a comment stating- if you don't like what you read on my blog- then DON'T READ IT. The negativity of the words affected me so much that the stress of the holidays combined with the hurt of the comment caused me to go into preterm labor and spend the night in the hospital, deathly afraid that my babies would be making their appearance at 26 weeks. I have kept this to myself since then, and I am only including it now in the hopes that people stop and think about how their words affect other people before blasting off a comment under the protective cloak of anonymity. I have moved on from that comment, but I have not forgotten it and have tried to keep a nice balance of the truthful, honest record of our lives and happy baby moments.

The fact of the matter is though, that this is my blog. This is my place to record what goes on with our lives. Someday I will go back and read my words and not just remember the fluff that the pictures show, but that I was a strong mom that got through the hard times too. I also think it is important for people reading to know that it isn't all sunshine and roses on the other side of the IF wall. If you are expecting that, then you will have a hard time once your IF is resolved. You will feel guilty for struggling or having a hard day- but you need to know that IT IS OKAY. Being a parent is hard. It is full of amazingly wonderfulness, but it can still be hard at times. Twins are not easy, severe reflux is not easy, being a working mom is not easy. I know I am not the only one walking in these shoes, which is precisely why I share my experience on this blog. I blog not only to have a permanent record of my IF journey, my pregnancy and my twins' first year, but to get that shared life experience of "me too."

This morning I received another nasty, negative, hurtful comment. This time I'm saying something- but then will delete this post sometime in the future so I don't have the negativity saved forever in my blog archives. My top pet peeves are: eye rolling (because it is disrespectful), improper use of apostrophes (the teacher in me), and hypocritical people. It boggles my mind when people throw harsh negative words around saying that they hate reading things they perceive as negative on someone's blog. First off- who are you to exempt yourself from being negative? If I am in fact truly being negative (although I don't feel I am), at least I don't direct it at someone and tell them that I pity the people that interact with and love them. Secondly, going back to my point I mentioned before- DON'T READ IT IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT. No one is holding a gun to your head. Move along and find a blog that doesn't depress you- it sounds like you might need it anyway if sharing my life depresses you any way. I don't feel like my life is depressing- I think it is amazing- full of excitement, never dull, wonderfully blessed and I would change very little of it if given the chance.

In my last post, I wrote how I got through a week of solo-parenting. In writing that, I am not complaining- I am celebrating my success in coming out at the end of the week still happy and able to get things done. My children were fed well, clean, and clean-clothed; my class was taught well and report cards were completed, and I did all that by myself. I am putting it in writing so that once several trips are under our belt and I feel like doing it on my own is not such a big deal, I can look back and remember when that wasn't the case. Just like how I felt proud of taking Sam and Anna out of the house by myself at 5 weeks old- but now its a routine practice and no big deal. I'm proud of how far I've come. If I was whining or complaining about the flu, I would have typed- "it's not fair that we got sick" or something along those lines. My reason for adding that we got the flu shot? Not so that I gave the impression that we shouldn't have gotten sick, but to avoid comments from people asking if we did or telling me that we should have.

If I was going to fill my blog with complaining posts- I would have post after post discussing the fact that Sam and Anna have not slept through the night in weeks. I would have post after post about the lack of support I get from my family. I would complain about how my mother could care less about what my children are doing, but constantly brag about my nephews. I would describe how sad it makes me to have missed seeing Anna roll both ways for the first time, miss her first tooth popping through (it has since receded), or that Sam and Anna light up when they see their daycare provider, but don't always even smile for me when I pick them up. I would have posts expressing how I wish my children were sitting better, crawling better or doing things it seems like other babies their age are doing. If I was complaining, this blog would be all about that. But it is not. Instead, I share their monthly milestones. Cute pictures that make me melt inside every time I look at them. Their progress in being good eaters.

I get it that this time of year is very difficult for many people. I have been there. I am still infertile even though I hold two babies in my arms at night. I have not forgotten. But any pain you feel does not give you the right to take it out on another person. EVER. I hope I can teach my children to be empathetic people and learn that. The world needs more empathetic people in it. The world needs to remember the longstanding rule: if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. If I don't like what I read on someone's blog, I don't comment, or if I continually don't like it, I stop reading- it is as easy and simple as that. SO please, if you don't like what you read around here- please stop reading. Do both yourself and my family a favor. Other people must like what I write- I get hundreds of views for each post I write, and I am the 3rd top multiple blog on Top Mommy Blogs, so if you don't, please move along.

I have always allowed anonymous comments, in the hopes that it will give courage to lurkers to comment and connect with others. Unfortunately, I cannot allow negative comments like this to bring me or my blog down any more, so from now on, all comments will be moderated and anonymous comments will not be allowed. I still hope people have the courage to comment on my blog, even if it is just a "me too." Thank you to those that read and supply positive comments often. If you are a lurker, thanks for reading as well, and I'd love to hear from you, too!