(Continued…)

On the seventh day of Christmas the big mistake I made… traveling with a 7 month old. (Want to crawl and walk, not sit on lap! No nap! No nap! No… WAAHHH TIRED!)

On the eighth day of Christmas the big mistake I made… assuming she would sleep fine. (Even cosleeping. We’re at my parents’ for Christmas. New bed. New sounds. New people. New room. The whole first day exhausted baby Would. Not. Sleep. Not even in my arms, nursing.)

On the ninth day of Christmas the big mistake I made… planning to actually get shit done. (Two words here people: Separation Anxiety. I cannot leave the room without her throwing a FIT. I have a grandma dying to babysit an uncooperative baby. This is new – I think it’s all the strangeness.)

Thankfully after that first day of travel it’s going much better! I felt so bad for her. The day before we left I was in the car all day running errands, so she was catching naps on the go. Then we were packing and she was picking up on our anxiety and wouldn’t fall asleep until we finally crashed. Then the alarm woke us all up at 4:30am so we could get up and catch our flight. From that point onwards she only napped when she was so exhausted she literally crashed in my arms, there was just too much going on. When evening came and I tried putting her down for a nap it wasn’t even in our own bed! You could really see the confusion on her face as she stared around the room. She didn’t want to nurse, she was beyond tired, she was clingy and whiny, she was so freakin exhausted. I had to wrap my arms tightly around her and rock her and sing to her and finally she dropped off for a little bit.

Getting a full night’s sleep in her help tremendously. She awoke frequently, but would fall right back asleep. I think she got a good 12 hours the first night. The week before we left left I was keeping her up later and later, not going to bed until 11 or 12 and then sleeping until 11 in the morning. That wasn’t exactly intentional, it was more because I had so much to do in the evenings I wasn’t going to fight with her, but I didn’t try to fix it before our vacation. So now that we are 3 hours different she’s going to bed at 8 and waking at 9am. Perfect. I never have any jet lag when I visit my parents because I do the same thing. Yesterday we didn’t go out anywhere and I made sure to keep to her naps and wouldn’t you know it she went down pretty easy – very easy, considering how it was the day before. She’s actually been dropping off to sleep better than at home. She’s learned to roll onto her belly to sleep, which is helping keep her asleep for a good hour.

Wouldn’t you know it, by yesterday evening she was her normal happy not-whiny self! I’m so relieved, and so proud of my little trooper. She thinks my parents are funny, my dad thinks she’s a pretty cool baby – he’s not a fan of kids in general, so to see him sitting and chatting and laughing with my little one is pretty damn awesome. And she loves my brother. My brother is a surly, tattooed, hasn’t-grown-up-yet 25 year old, and he lays on the floor with her, sets up blocks for her to knock down, and holds her hands as she walks around shrieking happily. I think he’s a little taken by her! My old dog really couldn’t care less. The only bummer is that my brother’s huge rottweiler – who loves people – is just way too hyper and HUGE to let him near her. He barks at her, which scares her, and to be honest we just don’t know him well enough to know how he’ll react with a baby. So he’s staying downside for our stay.

I’m always just overcome with a sense of peace when I’m here – “home.” Yes I have a home, a family… but visiting my parents and this house that I grew up in, it’s full of so much comfort and familiarity. There is no Christmas quite like Christmas here in Canada.