Bats Don't Fly Low

This was my favorite quote of our trip to Nova Scotia. I had gotten up about 4:30 one morning to go downstairs to the bathroom. When I came back up, a bat had apparently come in from downstairs through the open door. As I was crawling back into bed, I heard the wings flapping around and saw it darting around the room. I woke Duncan up to tell him there was a bat (goodness knows I didn't want just let it be in there). He came to long enough to mumble "Bats don't fly low" just as it whizzed by his head. And that was that. He was back to sleep and I was left to sit there in the darkened room hoping the bat didn't attack me or my sleeping children. Thankfully the bat seemed to tucker out pretty quickly and must have found a resting place. The next night, he was back with a vengeance but Duncan manned up and took care of him. When I told Calleigh about it (because she did see the bat the next night when we were sitting on her bed reading a book - - that is, until I went running for the door leaving her on the bed) I insinuated that Daddy taking care of it meant that he caught him and let him outside to go back to his home. The reality of it was that the only way the bat was returning home was in a body bag! I was very much relieved.

Other than that, we had a great trip! We left by mini van on Friday afternoon the 8th at about 2:30. We got to my parents around 2 the next afternoon. We normally made the trip in about 20 hours when we were kidless. I must say, the trip even exceeded my expectations. The girls were great. Calleigh watched her movies and Aubree slept a lot. The only downside was having to stop a little more often than I had hoped because Aubree didn't really want to take a bottle so I would have to nurse her. The other downside was the stinking state of Connecticut which always seems to have traffic no matter what time of day we go through there. I HATE that state. Anywho, the hardest part was definitely feeling tired but we managed to trade off well. We spent a few hours resting at my folks and then drove through the night Saturday night to get to the cabins. On the way back, we broke up the trip by staying overnight at my parents - - we didn't have to do two nights of driving in a row. That was very nice but I would equate the 24 hours at my parents (they were still in Nova Scotia at the time) as a small taste of hell - literally. It was about 100 degrees in their non air-conditioned home and then the air purifier hadn't been on (with no one home) so my allergies were absolutely horrible. I could not wait to get in the car for the long trip just so I could escape!

Although we were on vacation, it was very much a working vacation for the men. They were busy building 12 x 16 foot cabins for six of the ten cousins that decided to build one this year. Fortunately Ricky was able to help Duncan and Shawn build theirs respectively. It did take pretty much the whole 12 days we were there and they worked from about 8 am until dark. So needless to say, we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with our men until the evenings and on Sabbath. Speaking of Sabbath, Aubree and Camden both got dedicated on the 15th just as Calleigh was so that was a special day despite the heat. I'm sure it was the shortest baby dedication on record because we were too hot to be outside for long. Yes, it was very warm most of the time we were there. And I mean warm for anyone not the 72 degrees it gets to and then the locals think it's a heat wave. It was probably in the upper 80's for most of the time. We were glad to have a lake nearby to take frequent swims (well, not me so much but everyone else).

I enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with Camille and Camden. Camden has a very similar personality to Calleigh when she was that age - - which is the age she was during her first trip up there. He doesn't like to just sit. He wants to be held and even then he gets antsy and sometimes crabby. Yup, that was Calleigh. But he is so adorable it makes up for all of it. Aubree was a little angel the entire time. I could put her in her little chair and she would just sit there and not make a peep. She barely cried once the whole time we were there. The nights went very well too. She was going to bed around 9:15 and sleeping until around 7:00. It was strange - - I wanted to keep them on American time (which is one hour earlier) but somehow they both transitioned to Canadian time automatically the first night so that's what we did.

I'll leave the trip at that. I don't have it in me to recount anything else that went on. We got back here on Sunday, the 22nd and finally think things are back to normal. I have finished the endless pile of laundry. Yay!

Oh, one bummer about my trip is that my camera, sunglasses, and favorite flip flops all broke. So that was a bit of a blow. I've already replaced the sunglasses (with an exact replica) but Duncan's still working on the camera (I think we're going with a drop proof Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1) so that is why you won't see any non-vacation pictures posted here. Yes, my camera that I paid to have fixed back around Christmas has the same problem so I think the lesson to be learned here is that I should have just bought a new one then. Lesson learned.

We have settled into a nice sleeping routine at least at night. I'm so excited - - Aubree is now going to bed at the same time as Calleigh so my evenings are free once again. Yippee! Her bedtime is now 8:15. I nurse her for the 30 minutes prior to that so that means that Duncan has drawn the task of getting Calleigh to bed every night. So that has been very helpful. I've contemplated moving Aubree's bed time up even earlier but schedule wise, I just don't think it will work. Since I have to nurse beforehand, I don't think I want to start that any sooner than 7:45 or else there will be a schedule conflict with supper, clean up and a little Daddy/Aubree time. And I'm definitely not going the route of giving a bottle every night like I did for Calleigh. I don't know, it must have been all the pumping I did that go round (three times a day) that has now completely turned me off from pumping. I will avoid it at all costs!

So the night time routine is nice but I'm still working on what to do for naps. Around this age for Calleigh (well, until she hit five months and stopped napping regularly), I think she was napping in the mid-morning and then mid-afternoon. The problem is that I don't really want to put Calleigh down in her crib in the mid morning because that is when we go out and do stuff. I hate to be home bound. So I'm thinking that if Aubree gets up at 7:00, I could try to put her in her crib around 9:00, she would wake up at 10:00, nurse, and then we would be free at 10:30 until 12:30 when we would be home to nurse again. At 1:00, Calleigh and I eat and then Calleigh is down to nap at 1:30 and I start working. Last week I would then put Calleigh in her little chair, swaddle her, and she would sleep for a good two hours. But starting on Sabbath, I've been putting her in her crib to take her nap. She slept about 1.5 hours that time but now yesterday and today it was only 45 minutes. I'm hoping she'll just get used to it. Obviously she can't sleep in her chair forever. And to clarify, I haven't tried the 9:00 nap yet (she's just been sleeping wherever she is) but I need to do that starting tomorrow. It would really be nice to get her into a routine.

I think I will end here. I hope to get into a better routine of posting now that vacation is over and my nights are more free now. But before I end let me share this Calleigh quote from today. We were at Walmart today picking up a few groceries. She was sitting in a cart that has seats for toddlers in the front - - there are straps but she can get out of them and hop out. I ended up having to bribe her with animal crackers so she wouldn't try to escape while I was at the register. Well, she had some Cheerios prior to that so when we got to the car, I told her she had enough animal crackers and of course, this made her start bawling. She was crying and crying so I told her that I didn't talk to cry babies. I would only talk to her again when she calmed down. To that she stopped crying long enough to say "I'm not a cry baby. I'm a cry girl." She sure doesn't like to be called a baby!