An update on our crazy world and our crazy kid...
Pregnancy
I'm 18 weeks along, feeling well, and all seems fine. I'm just starting to show and think I've felt a bit of movement from the baby. We have an ultrasound next week but won't be finding out the gender. I keep hoping to join a prenatal yoga class, but so far I've been to just one.
Rachel's fun and favorite things
Rachel is really hilarious, and makes us laugh every day. She's really interested in singing the ABCs, trying to count everything, trying to recognize letters and numbers, putting her dolls or any object to sleep under many blankets, hanging up clothing on a clothes hanger, pooping in the middle of the night, reading books, being chased, eating, snuggling.
Snuggling is, in fact, such an interest of hers that it is a serious workout to detach her monkey arms and legs from my body if I want to get anything done. For the last 5 weeks, every minute that I have been home she has been attached to me or crying or asleep or strapped into a car seat or her eating chair. The last two nights finally seem to have seen a renewed interest in regular play and hanging out with Daddy.
Things she is not so interested in: sleeping, wearing clothes, having anyone wash/rinse/touch/brush/style her hair, wearing enough clothing appropriate for a cold winter, staying in her bed, sleeping under blankets, going anywhere in a hurry, transitioning from one activity to another, using the potty, having her diaper changed, wearing shoes, wearing socks, wearing a coat.
Rachel is being a very typical 2 year old only child that is running the show. She is very particular about how things have to go, and we try to pick our battles. For example, it's ok with us that she'll only eat her bagel when it flies across the room, makes plane noises, spins around, and lands on a green plastic plate that's just in the right place on her place mat. And if she take 40 minutes to get dressed when we have to leave for school, a full wrestling match and serious pressure to keep her down so we can get her dressed is appropriate even if she's screaming the whole time and spends the next 5 minutes undressing the newly donned clothes while I try to buckle her car seat or chariot buckle over her first.
I think it's fair to say that she usually wins, and is succeeding in the 2 year old attention seeking and parent manipulating behaviours... it's hard to keep up and stay one step ahead of her.
Jason's job
Is crazy busy. Jason is teaching blocks 2,3,4,5,6,7 and not teaching blocks 1 or 8 this semester, which means he gets no lunch and no social time with other teachers. He has frequent evening meetings, early morning meetings, lunch meetings, field trips, conferences out of town. He's even going to California in April to take some kids to a national conference. He's in charge of the school credit union, school store, FBLA and DECA clubs. He's the tech rep (computer geek for other teachers who can't use computers) and a 'google ninga' (some other dorky computer geek thing that helps other teachers).
Other teachers love him and he's great at his job, but we're looking for ways to make next year less hectic so he isn't always on the go all over the place.
Meggan's job
Business is booming at Altitude PT. Since early December, our phones have been ringing like crazy and it's been hard not to work overtime every week. I'm often behind. I've recently put the word out there that I need to slow down, change my schedule, and cut back in some way because it's too much. Although I'm really proud of myself for this, it's hard to know quite how it will actually play out. I've cut back my hours starting the week of Feb 18. However, I might move those hours over to Friday just to be able to avoid working nights and see Rachel more in the evenings. If I don't add hours on Friday, I will lose my benefits, make less obviously, and have to pay to join Jason's health insurance plan.
We are still discussing what my job options will be after my unpaid 12 week mat leave June 19-Sept 30. I'm aiming to work 3 mornings per week, but this may or may not be possible.
I have my board exams on March 15 and feel quite behind in my review. I have been working hard a putting in hours of study time, but it never feels like it's enough and each week I fall further behind. I need the next 6 weeks to be very disciplined.
Sleeping
Sleeping is still a disaster, but we do have a few coping strategies that are making life a little easier. We are taking turns sleeping in the guest room bed in the basement, so that at least every other night one of us gets to sleep.
As far as strategies go, it feels like we have tried everything. Bringing her into our bed, sleeping beside her, leaving her to cry, ignoring her crying for hours, locking her in her room, lights on, lights off, fan on, fan off, stuffed animals in, stuffed animals out, noise on, noise off, night light on, no night light, heater on, heater out, many layers of clothing, different blankets in different locations, etc.
She is good at stalling, and will make many requests to try and get an adult to stay with her longer. Requests can include the following, to which we try and say 'No, Rachel, it's night night time." Over and over and over.
"Hug me!"
"I want to snuggle in the chair"
"I pooped in my diaper" (true about half the time)
"I need something from my playroom"
"I want the fan off"
"I'm cold"
"I want a bagel"
"I'm hot"
"I need a drink of water"
"Do you want to put my blankets on me?"
"I want my step stool"
"I want my light on"
"I want to read stories"
"I want to play"
"I want to sleep in your bed"
"I don't want to sleep"
We have tried two different things recently. First, we put her crib back together yesterday. Although she had slept well in her day bed from August until November, a crib seemed like a much easier option for us. The railings would force her to sleep in her crib, possibly putting her closer to her blankets and keeping her warm. Plus, to go in and check on her I could use my voice to calm her and perhaps a quick peek to inspect her diaper, without having to pick her up. If she is asleep on the floor, opening the door requires a pick up and it can take major effort, injury, and screaming to pry her clinging arms off me when I try to leave the room. So last night, the crib seemed to be a great idea. This evening, however, she figured out how to climb out of it and I only had the energy to put her back in it 4 times in a row before giving in to the idea that she will sleep on the floor forever more.
The second thing we started trying tonight is a bedtime snack. Many people have asked if Rachel might be hungry in the night. Possibly. Certainly we know Rachel has a crazy metabolism, eats frequently, eats well, and often eats quite a lot. We know Rachel has had trouble getting through phases before because she was hungry. Solving this one is a little tricky though, and requires more effort in our evening routine than we might be able to keep up with.
I'll explain. Jason picks Rachel up 3 nights per week while Meggan works late and he and Rachel get home by about 5:30pm. If dinner is not ready to go in 3 minutes, Rachel is given a snack because she is hungry and because she is then strapped into her chair and Jason can go about making dinner. Often dinner is not ready until after 6pm, and then it takes 30 minutes for Rachel to eat it. Let's assume dinner is over at 6:30pm. We usually play for a while and then start bedtime routine at about 7:20pm so that Rachel can have lights out and scream at her door ... oops I mean 'sleep'... by 8pm. So when do we fit in bedtime snack? The ideal answer is to have her eating dinner at 5pm, but that really isn't realistic 3 nights per week. So if we can get meals prepped the night before or the weekend before and have them all cooked, then Rachel could eat proper dinner by about 5:40pm. She could then have bedtime snack at 7:30pm, and perhaps this would help her get through the night. We're hoping to try harder to have meals cooked ahead of time and try bedtime snack. This requires major organization - something we've really lacked recently.
Potty training
You may remember we were relatively successful with our first potty training attempt, which Rachel initiated stubbornly on her 2nd birthday in October. She did quite well until about mid November, when things all fell apart and she refused to use the potty and requested diapers again. Daycare was struggling with forcing her on to the potty, so we all agreed to revert back to diapers and try again later.
Daycare recommended a 30 day countdown calendar. Every day we put a sticker on a calendar to count down to the BIG day on which Rachel would wear underpants and only wear diapers at night.
We started the 30 day countdown at the beginning of January, and the BIG day will be this Friday, Feb 1st. We're terrified and pessimistic because Rachel's sleeping is going so badly that it doesn't seem like a great time to ask anything of her and we have no patience. We're praying that, but some miracle, this one thing will be a success and that February will be the start of a whole new world for Rachel.
Fun and Exercise
Jason runs Wed nights and occasionally gets another 15-20 min run in around the neighbourhood. I've been to one yoga class in the last month, been for 3 runs less than 20 min, been on the bike trainer 2 times, and today I swam 1000m. First swim in almost 6 months and felt great! We have skied 3-4 days, walked a bit, and I went snowshoeing with Rachel last weekend. I'd say we're in about the worst shape of our lives.
The local resorts have finally had some snow recently and we are planning to head up this weekend, despite the difficulty it might pose on potty training. We are hoping to get some downhill skiing in and try to resume a more regular workout routine of some kind next month.
Mental Health
As you can tell, we're struggling a little. Each day we remind ourselves that all the important things are good. We're all healthy. We have a lovely house. We're each lucky to have jobs. We love each other. We have loving friends and family. Rachel is a delight and a blessing, even though it is fun to laugh at all the challenges she poses. We're a little bit apprehensive about the upcoming few months, and hoping that our sleeping world can improve before a newborn arrives on the scene and guarantees us disturbed sleep for some months to come.
Thanks for reading this far and sharing in the joys, adventures, and struggles in our lives. I do my best to make these things funny, since it's my only hope right now in getting through each day. This blog is our best way to stay connected to friends and family and to give some honest insight and reflection to our own lives.
Wishing you all a fabulous February!
January 30, 2013
January 23, 2013
Crested Butte Avalanche Course
So we drove Thursday night to Crested Butte, arriving at about 1am. We stayed with our friend Sarah's brother Chris, although we actually did not see him because we snuck in late, crashed on the floor, and left by 7:30am.
Along the drive we continued to get updates from Aunt Karen back home with sick Rachel. They had gone to the doctor, had some tests, and went to the hospital for a chest xray. A while later we learned that Rachel had a little bit of pneumonia and RSV (virus that produces bronchitis and gives you a cough). Poor Aunt Karen had to alternate giving her medicine every 3 hours throughout the night on Thursday, and was giving instructions to take Rachel straight to the ER if anything should change for the worse. Thankfully, Aunt Cynthia and cousin Kelly came to spend the night at the house as well for support, in case anything did go wrong.
I'm still pretty surprised that Jason and I actually left town given all that was going on. I'm sure some would judge us harshly for doing so. But there were several things that lead us to this decision:
1) Aunt Karen is a very smart, calm, resourceful person and we trust her completely
2) Aunt Cynthia, cousin Kelly, cousin Kelsey, and cousin Jeannie all happened to be around for added support
3) Jason and I have really needed some time away together and had been looking forward to this for months
4) We have paid a lot of money for the course itself, time away from work, bringing Karen in from California, renting Karen a car, etc.
5) Being pregnant, I only have so many ski days left in me and I don't expect I'll be able to get away without kids for some time to come in the future. We've been away from Rachel for 1 night before and I think that's it... so if it takes us another 2 + years to get another few nights away, our opportunities are limited.
6) We have been really exhausted, stressed, frustrated with Rachel and lack of sleep, missing each other, and needed to have a break from being parents in the worst way.
So, judge away if you will. It was a hard decision.
Friday morning we got the update that Rachel had slept well (thanks to her meds) all night, even though we knew Aunt Karen had not had much sleep.
At 8am we arrived at the mountain guides office to meet our guide and our group. At this point I was nervous, not sure if we should go or not, but very excited as well. There were 3 couples taking the course and one guide named Jake.
At about 9:30am, we said goodbye to Aunt Karen, left our cell phones in the car, and donned skins on our skis. We skinned about 3 miles to arrive at our 'hut' for lunch. This was the most luxurious hut we had ever been in. Electric heat. Running water. 4 bedrooms upstairs. A full kitchen downstairs. A shoveled path to the outdoor outhouse. Snacks and hot drinks going most of the time. Luxury!
We spent the afternoon doing beacon / rescue practice in the snow next to the hut, learning different search techniques and the best ways to find someone should they be caught in an avalanche. That evening, we had a nice dinner and had a few lectures on snow, weather, terrain, etc.
We slept that night from about 9:30pm until 6:30am and we felt as though we were in heaven. Best sleep we've had ... well... in a very long time. Certainly since November we have not slept through the night, and it felt fantastic.
Saturday we had some more lectures, and also a skin/tour to go look at different snow conditions and learn about safe and not-so-safe slopes. We skinned up one hillside and happened to see an avalanche on the opposite face of Gothic Mountain (the one behind the hut in these pictures). An amazing learning experience, and great to see it from a safe position on another mountain, but close enough to learn what might cause one and what it might look like.
After hiking up a slope, we had lunch and learned to dig pits in order to assess the safety of the different snow layers. We hiked a little more, and the removed our skins for our descent. This is the part where my ego got crushed. Skiing down, with a small pack on, in variable conditions, with 6 other people watching was intimidating. I had several falls and felt like I was learning to ski all over again. I snow-plowed down our skin track and felt my legs dying. Finally we hit some lovely powder and enjoyed the excitement and grace of fresh tracks on the last part of our descent, even though I fell again here.
Saturday night we had some more lectures and got to know our other course participants better with games, dinner and fun stories.
Sunday we packed up, had our last lectures, and left the hut. Our packs felt heavy and we went out for a long tour. I felt good on the climbs and learned a lot about making kick-turns to get up the switchbacks of the mountain. We went up to 11,400ft for lunch. We skinned for about 5.5 hours before we found our descent. An easy ski down the road and then a little bit of fresh snow was about all I could handle with sore legs and a full pack. But it was beautiful around us and the weather was excellent.
We returned to our car at about 4:15pm, had a short debrief meeting and changed, and left town. We arrived back home in Lafayette at 10pm to get the updates from Aunt Karen. Rachel was already asleep, and was back to her old habits of turning her light on, blinds open, and falling asleep on the carpet by her bedroom door without any blankets on. She woke up again at about 1am and wanted to snuggle and play.
The avalanche course and hut adventure was a huge success, and we were thrilled by the experience. We will forever be in debt to Karen for her amazing care of Rachel for 3 days and 3 nights including a significant medication regime and not a lot of sleep.
Jason and Karen went skiing at Copper Mountain Resort on Monday (MLK holiday) while Meggan worked. Rachel was deemed safe to return to school and seemed to be a very energetic and happy little girl. Monday night we got together with extended family for a lovely dinner.
Work and the 'real world' are kicking our butts this week.
Rachel continues to get up in the middle of the night and frustrate and exhaust us. But we are thankful that she is healthy. We are thankful that we got to go play in the mountains. And we are thankful for each other and our wonderful extended family.
Along the drive we continued to get updates from Aunt Karen back home with sick Rachel. They had gone to the doctor, had some tests, and went to the hospital for a chest xray. A while later we learned that Rachel had a little bit of pneumonia and RSV (virus that produces bronchitis and gives you a cough). Poor Aunt Karen had to alternate giving her medicine every 3 hours throughout the night on Thursday, and was giving instructions to take Rachel straight to the ER if anything should change for the worse. Thankfully, Aunt Cynthia and cousin Kelly came to spend the night at the house as well for support, in case anything did go wrong.
I'm still pretty surprised that Jason and I actually left town given all that was going on. I'm sure some would judge us harshly for doing so. But there were several things that lead us to this decision:
1) Aunt Karen is a very smart, calm, resourceful person and we trust her completely
2) Aunt Cynthia, cousin Kelly, cousin Kelsey, and cousin Jeannie all happened to be around for added support
3) Jason and I have really needed some time away together and had been looking forward to this for months
4) We have paid a lot of money for the course itself, time away from work, bringing Karen in from California, renting Karen a car, etc.
5) Being pregnant, I only have so many ski days left in me and I don't expect I'll be able to get away without kids for some time to come in the future. We've been away from Rachel for 1 night before and I think that's it... so if it takes us another 2 + years to get another few nights away, our opportunities are limited.
6) We have been really exhausted, stressed, frustrated with Rachel and lack of sleep, missing each other, and needed to have a break from being parents in the worst way.
So, judge away if you will. It was a hard decision.
Friday morning we got the update that Rachel had slept well (thanks to her meds) all night, even though we knew Aunt Karen had not had much sleep.
At 8am we arrived at the mountain guides office to meet our guide and our group. At this point I was nervous, not sure if we should go or not, but very excited as well. There were 3 couples taking the course and one guide named Jake.
At about 9:30am, we said goodbye to Aunt Karen, left our cell phones in the car, and donned skins on our skis. We skinned about 3 miles to arrive at our 'hut' for lunch. This was the most luxurious hut we had ever been in. Electric heat. Running water. 4 bedrooms upstairs. A full kitchen downstairs. A shoveled path to the outdoor outhouse. Snacks and hot drinks going most of the time. Luxury!
We spent the afternoon doing beacon / rescue practice in the snow next to the hut, learning different search techniques and the best ways to find someone should they be caught in an avalanche. That evening, we had a nice dinner and had a few lectures on snow, weather, terrain, etc.
We slept that night from about 9:30pm until 6:30am and we felt as though we were in heaven. Best sleep we've had ... well... in a very long time. Certainly since November we have not slept through the night, and it felt fantastic.
Saturday we had some more lectures, and also a skin/tour to go look at different snow conditions and learn about safe and not-so-safe slopes. We skinned up one hillside and happened to see an avalanche on the opposite face of Gothic Mountain (the one behind the hut in these pictures). An amazing learning experience, and great to see it from a safe position on another mountain, but close enough to learn what might cause one and what it might look like.
After hiking up a slope, we had lunch and learned to dig pits in order to assess the safety of the different snow layers. We hiked a little more, and the removed our skins for our descent. This is the part where my ego got crushed. Skiing down, with a small pack on, in variable conditions, with 6 other people watching was intimidating. I had several falls and felt like I was learning to ski all over again. I snow-plowed down our skin track and felt my legs dying. Finally we hit some lovely powder and enjoyed the excitement and grace of fresh tracks on the last part of our descent, even though I fell again here.
Saturday night we had some more lectures and got to know our other course participants better with games, dinner and fun stories.
Sunday we packed up, had our last lectures, and left the hut. Our packs felt heavy and we went out for a long tour. I felt good on the climbs and learned a lot about making kick-turns to get up the switchbacks of the mountain. We went up to 11,400ft for lunch. We skinned for about 5.5 hours before we found our descent. An easy ski down the road and then a little bit of fresh snow was about all I could handle with sore legs and a full pack. But it was beautiful around us and the weather was excellent.
We returned to our car at about 4:15pm, had a short debrief meeting and changed, and left town. We arrived back home in Lafayette at 10pm to get the updates from Aunt Karen. Rachel was already asleep, and was back to her old habits of turning her light on, blinds open, and falling asleep on the carpet by her bedroom door without any blankets on. She woke up again at about 1am and wanted to snuggle and play.
The avalanche course and hut adventure was a huge success, and we were thrilled by the experience. We will forever be in debt to Karen for her amazing care of Rachel for 3 days and 3 nights including a significant medication regime and not a lot of sleep.
Jason and Karen went skiing at Copper Mountain Resort on Monday (MLK holiday) while Meggan worked. Rachel was deemed safe to return to school and seemed to be a very energetic and happy little girl. Monday night we got together with extended family for a lovely dinner.
Work and the 'real world' are kicking our butts this week.
Sick little gal
So... you may remember we've recently been sleep deprived and Rachel refuses to sleep in her crib with any blankets on.
Tuesday afternoon, daycare reported that Rachel had a bit of a cough that we might want to watch. Tuesday night at 10:30pm, she woke up crying. I went in, frustrated that she was already awake, to find her burning up with a bad fever. I brought her into our bed for the 3rd night in a row, sure we would never sleep without her in our bed again. We couldn't find our thermometer to measure her temperature, but decided she was too sick to attend school on Wed.
Now, we don't have any immediate family in the area. We have two cousins but they both work. We have no back up care option when daycare is not an option. These are the days when we wished so badly that a grandparent or sibling might live nearby. But instead one of us parents has to call in sick. It's a stressful thing. Jason has sick days and can get a substitute teacher... if and only if he is prepared for the upcoming day and could tell a sub what to do. I (Meggan) get 2 sick days per year and have used them up already. My first patient was at 7am and I did not bring any notes home so I did not have access to any patient's phone numbers to contact them. My receptionist started Wed at 8:30am.
After some discussion, it was decided that I would try to get patients' phone numbers but if I couldn't get through to people (which I couldn't) then I would have to take Rachel to work with me until I could cancel the remainder of my patients.
So we packed up toys, diapers, snacks, water, extra clothes, and children's tylenol and headed to work at 6:10am to treat my first few people. Rachel played on the floor beside my treatment bed while I treated my first few people. Any chance I had, I called the rest of my patients and canceled who I could. I saw three people and then left work. Aunt Cynthia was in town visiting from Virginia so she came over for a while to play and allow me to get a few things done at the house. Rachel was happy and energetic and playful, but had a funny cough now and then.
Wed night we started debating who might call in sick on Thursday. Neither of us wanted to. Jason had student presentations to hear and grade. I had patients that I had moved from Wed schedule to Thursday schedule and had a very busy Thursday planned.
Wed evening at 7:30pm Rachel had a temperature of 104F. We started her on medication right away and it brought her fever down. It also made her pass out. When she woke hours later, we gave her more medication. She was in our bed again, but seemed more sick.
Thursday morning she came to work with me. She slept on my back in her ergo carrier for nearly two hours, which have me the ability to treat 4 people relatively unscathed. I actually did an entirely thorough lumbar spine/pelvis assessment for a brand new client while Rachel slept on me. I was pretty impressed with myself, even though I am not entirely certain the patient thought it was the most professional visit. Rachel sat on my lap while I treated two more people's necks. She livened up a little and played while I treated one more person, and they were very sweet to take her offers of pretend pizza slices and carrot slices from her 'store'.
At 11:30am, managing to survive my morning and only cancel a few of my more labor intensive people, I dropped Rachel off with her car seat at Aunt Cynthia's and raced back to work for my next 10 patients. Aunt Cynthia did lunch, played and did more medication before Aunt Karen arrived in from California to save the day. Aunt Karen took Rachel home in her rental car and Rachel had a great nap.
Back at work, I was panicked. Rachel had seemed quite lethargic all morning and her fever raced back up as soon as her medication wore off. Jason and I were due to leave town Thurs night to go away and have Aunt Karen stay at home to watch her. Due to the recent lack of sleep and general craziness, our house was a mess and we were not very prepared for our trip.
I decided I could not leave town until I heard a doctor tell me that she would be ok. So we were able to get an appointment for her Thurs night at 7:30pm. We decided we would have Karen take Rachel to the doctor's, and we would start our 5 hour drive to Crested Butte. If Rachel's condition seemed more serious, we would turn around and come home.
... for those of you who read Karen Oliver's blog, read it...
I will continue the rest of this story from our perspective on the way to Crested Butte, and let family members who know Karen read her version of the weekend on her blog.
... to be continued...
Tuesday afternoon, daycare reported that Rachel had a bit of a cough that we might want to watch. Tuesday night at 10:30pm, she woke up crying. I went in, frustrated that she was already awake, to find her burning up with a bad fever. I brought her into our bed for the 3rd night in a row, sure we would never sleep without her in our bed again. We couldn't find our thermometer to measure her temperature, but decided she was too sick to attend school on Wed.
Now, we don't have any immediate family in the area. We have two cousins but they both work. We have no back up care option when daycare is not an option. These are the days when we wished so badly that a grandparent or sibling might live nearby. But instead one of us parents has to call in sick. It's a stressful thing. Jason has sick days and can get a substitute teacher... if and only if he is prepared for the upcoming day and could tell a sub what to do. I (Meggan) get 2 sick days per year and have used them up already. My first patient was at 7am and I did not bring any notes home so I did not have access to any patient's phone numbers to contact them. My receptionist started Wed at 8:30am.
After some discussion, it was decided that I would try to get patients' phone numbers but if I couldn't get through to people (which I couldn't) then I would have to take Rachel to work with me until I could cancel the remainder of my patients.
So we packed up toys, diapers, snacks, water, extra clothes, and children's tylenol and headed to work at 6:10am to treat my first few people. Rachel played on the floor beside my treatment bed while I treated my first few people. Any chance I had, I called the rest of my patients and canceled who I could. I saw three people and then left work. Aunt Cynthia was in town visiting from Virginia so she came over for a while to play and allow me to get a few things done at the house. Rachel was happy and energetic and playful, but had a funny cough now and then.
Wed night we started debating who might call in sick on Thursday. Neither of us wanted to. Jason had student presentations to hear and grade. I had patients that I had moved from Wed schedule to Thursday schedule and had a very busy Thursday planned.
Wed evening at 7:30pm Rachel had a temperature of 104F. We started her on medication right away and it brought her fever down. It also made her pass out. When she woke hours later, we gave her more medication. She was in our bed again, but seemed more sick.
Thursday morning she came to work with me. She slept on my back in her ergo carrier for nearly two hours, which have me the ability to treat 4 people relatively unscathed. I actually did an entirely thorough lumbar spine/pelvis assessment for a brand new client while Rachel slept on me. I was pretty impressed with myself, even though I am not entirely certain the patient thought it was the most professional visit. Rachel sat on my lap while I treated two more people's necks. She livened up a little and played while I treated one more person, and they were very sweet to take her offers of pretend pizza slices and carrot slices from her 'store'.
At 11:30am, managing to survive my morning and only cancel a few of my more labor intensive people, I dropped Rachel off with her car seat at Aunt Cynthia's and raced back to work for my next 10 patients. Aunt Cynthia did lunch, played and did more medication before Aunt Karen arrived in from California to save the day. Aunt Karen took Rachel home in her rental car and Rachel had a great nap.
Back at work, I was panicked. Rachel had seemed quite lethargic all morning and her fever raced back up as soon as her medication wore off. Jason and I were due to leave town Thurs night to go away and have Aunt Karen stay at home to watch her. Due to the recent lack of sleep and general craziness, our house was a mess and we were not very prepared for our trip.
I decided I could not leave town until I heard a doctor tell me that she would be ok. So we were able to get an appointment for her Thurs night at 7:30pm. We decided we would have Karen take Rachel to the doctor's, and we would start our 5 hour drive to Crested Butte. If Rachel's condition seemed more serious, we would turn around and come home.
... for those of you who read Karen Oliver's blog, read it...
I will continue the rest of this story from our perspective on the way to Crested Butte, and let family members who know Karen read her version of the weekend on her blog.
... to be continued...
January 14, 2013
2013 goals
(Meggan)
I'm scared to actually write these as goals, and I'm not really one to call them resolutions. I take goal setting very seriously and if I write a goal, I want to make it specific and measurable and make sure I complete it. So I'd say at this point I'm still brainstorming goals for 2013.
1) Write huge OCS exam on March 15 and pass. This is a board certified orthopedic specialist exam that is 6 hours of grueling multiple choice. From now until then, most of my free time will be spent reviewing like crazy. If I do not pass I will be crushed. I really want to get this certification before having a second child.
2) I want to have a healthy pregnancy and be proud of my labor and delivery. I had a great pregnancy with Rachel and so far this one is going well. On paper, Rachel had a good healthy delivery. In my mind, I don't look back and feel proud of my birth with her, although I do feel thankful that she was safe and well. I want this labor to be a positive experience that I look back on and feel thankful for and proud of myself (and Jason) for.
3) I want to stay as positive as possible about work until mat leave. I have 24 weeks left of work. My job is fine, and I am trying to be thankful that I have a job at all. But I dream of working less hours, with less of a commute, seeing less patients, getting paid more, getting better benefits, different hours, with more learning. I know none of those things are going to happen right now, so I am trying to tough it out until July. I am certain my job situation will change after that (in what capacity is still to be determined), and I am looking forward to some reflection on my career in the summer to see what I want with my environment around being a PT.
4) Go to at least 2 new states, and one new national park. We hope to do this during a family road trip to Virginia after the baby arrives.
5) Plan out an international adventure for the next 1-2 years. We are hoping to resume a backpacking trip to somewhere far far away, either next Christmas or during the summer of 2014.
6) I don't have a specific athletic goal. This is a tough thing during pregnancy. I want to stay as fit as possible during the pregnancy and get back into shape as quickly as possible while being safe and smart afterward. I want to attend prenatal yoga weekly, and get my swimming back up to swim 1 mile continuously. I plan to run a 10km trail race in the fall of 2013. But a little of this is beyond my control.
7) House projects: garage clean and organized. Office papers away and books clean and organized. Nursery set up. Basement set up as guest room. Fence, deck, yard and garden together.
8) Enjoy my time with Rachel and the baby. It's so easy to get stuck in the go-go-go of life and miss it. Rachel is growing so fast! We don't plan to have any more kids after this one. So I need to slow down, enjoy Rachel, play with her and laugh with her. Enjoy the pregnancy. Enjoy holding and nursing a newborn when the time comes. Try to cherish the moments and be positive and thankful for them, instead of feeling like everything is a chore. Some days this is easy, and of course some days this is tough. Make more days feel easy.
I'm scared to actually write these as goals, and I'm not really one to call them resolutions. I take goal setting very seriously and if I write a goal, I want to make it specific and measurable and make sure I complete it. So I'd say at this point I'm still brainstorming goals for 2013.
1) Write huge OCS exam on March 15 and pass. This is a board certified orthopedic specialist exam that is 6 hours of grueling multiple choice. From now until then, most of my free time will be spent reviewing like crazy. If I do not pass I will be crushed. I really want to get this certification before having a second child.
2) I want to have a healthy pregnancy and be proud of my labor and delivery. I had a great pregnancy with Rachel and so far this one is going well. On paper, Rachel had a good healthy delivery. In my mind, I don't look back and feel proud of my birth with her, although I do feel thankful that she was safe and well. I want this labor to be a positive experience that I look back on and feel thankful for and proud of myself (and Jason) for.
3) I want to stay as positive as possible about work until mat leave. I have 24 weeks left of work. My job is fine, and I am trying to be thankful that I have a job at all. But I dream of working less hours, with less of a commute, seeing less patients, getting paid more, getting better benefits, different hours, with more learning. I know none of those things are going to happen right now, so I am trying to tough it out until July. I am certain my job situation will change after that (in what capacity is still to be determined), and I am looking forward to some reflection on my career in the summer to see what I want with my environment around being a PT.
4) Go to at least 2 new states, and one new national park. We hope to do this during a family road trip to Virginia after the baby arrives.
5) Plan out an international adventure for the next 1-2 years. We are hoping to resume a backpacking trip to somewhere far far away, either next Christmas or during the summer of 2014.
6) I don't have a specific athletic goal. This is a tough thing during pregnancy. I want to stay as fit as possible during the pregnancy and get back into shape as quickly as possible while being safe and smart afterward. I want to attend prenatal yoga weekly, and get my swimming back up to swim 1 mile continuously. I plan to run a 10km trail race in the fall of 2013. But a little of this is beyond my control.
7) House projects: garage clean and organized. Office papers away and books clean and organized. Nursery set up. Basement set up as guest room. Fence, deck, yard and garden together.
8) Enjoy my time with Rachel and the baby. It's so easy to get stuck in the go-go-go of life and miss it. Rachel is growing so fast! We don't plan to have any more kids after this one. So I need to slow down, enjoy Rachel, play with her and laugh with her. Enjoy the pregnancy. Enjoy holding and nursing a newborn when the time comes. Try to cherish the moments and be positive and thankful for them, instead of feeling like everything is a chore. Some days this is easy, and of course some days this is tough. Make more days feel easy.
Too cold to be bright
"She's so bright!" is a familiar comment we hear when people hang out with Rachel. And we're flattered. We do believe Rachel is a very verbal, bright girl who is too good at problem solving for her own good. She's 27 months old.
But in the middle of the night, she loses all intelligence and reminds us that she is a toddler through and through.
Let's back up a little. Remember she was getting up a LOT throughout the night? Last week improved minimally.
So when a cold snap moved in and rendered all of Colorado FREEZING COLD, we hummed and ha-ed about weekend plans. We had pre-booked a hotel in Silverthorne for Friday and Sat night and were committed to the cost of it. Temperatures during the day in the mountains were estimated to be highs of 3F (-16 C), with a little tiny bit of fresh snow and cold wind. Not our favorite ski conditions. Not easy to entertain a 2 year old. So, we decided adding more cost for gas and guaranteeing sleep issues was not worth it, and decided to stay home this weekend and catch up on sleep and housework.
Friday and Saturday nights were not so bad. Once Rachel got to sleep, she slept pretty well and we were happy. It seemed that locking her in her room and ignoring her screaming at the door for hours had paid off. She continued to get up at 5:15-5:30am but did not wake much at night. So we were hoping this phase was over.
Rachel has had some interesting habits in her room overnight over the last few weeks. Let's first explain that our house has one thermastat that controls the temperature for the whole house. At night, the temperature drops to 60 degrees F (15 C) in the house. We have put a space heater in Rachel's room and she sleeps with 4 warm fleecy blankets over her. She has one heat vent in her floor that allows the house heat to warm up her room. She sleeps in the dark. She has three light options in her room: the main ceiling light, controlled by a switch on the wall, a star shaped wall night light, controlled by a switch on the wall, and a noise maker that also has a light that sits on her little table. She can reach the latter with no help.
So in the last two weeks, Rachel has decided several things. 1) she doesn't like the dark 2) she does not like the space heater 3) she likes to cover up the heat vent on the floor, 4) she wants to put herself to bed without our help and 5) she wants to have access to her step stool in her room. This is so she can take it to the door, stand on it, and turn on her light switches, and then move her step stool back to her heat vent and cover it up.
Sunday night it was -5 F outside (-20 C). So she 'puts herself to bed'. This means we put toys away, change into pajamas and night time diaper, brush teeth, read stories, turn out lights, turn on space heater, turn on noise maker, and leave the room, locking the door. An intelligent person would lie down in bed with 4 warm blankets over her and go to sleep.
A 2 year old that loses all sense of things at 8pm onward would get up, poop, scream at her door, and wait for us to change her diaper. Repeat above process.
After we leave the room, Rachel does the following. 1) turns off and unplugs heater (this is a safety concern that we question at 1am) 2) turns off noise maker and on light on the table 3) gets step stool and turns on light switches and returns step stool to cover the heat vent 4) goes to door and cries for Mamma gently until she falls asleep without any blankets on at the door on the carpet.
At 1am, Rachel cries. One of us goes in. Rachel is wet and freezing cold and shivering, and we feel like terrible parents. It's super cold in her room. Turn house heat up to 66 F. Change her diaper, put on two pairs of pajamas, put on her dressing gown. Plug heater in again. Remove step stool from room and reduce lighting. Snuggle her up under blankets in chair for 30 min and hold her cold little hands, trying to warm them up. After 30 min she is barely awake. Lay her down in her bed with blankets on and leave the room. This process takes nearly an hour.
30 seconds later Rachel is screaming at her door for her step stool.
Fearful that she will seriously harm herself getting too cold, we bring her into our bed. She sleeps great from 2:30am until 7am, a sleep in time unheard of in our world. We sleep so-so, getting prodded and kicked and pushed throughout the night but better sleep than we had all last week. Jason had to get up at 5:45am to go to work, but I work late on Mondays so I enjoyed the sleep and snuggle.
7am a happy girl gets up and goes on with her happy 2 year old self.
Forecast for tonight: -1 F (-18C). Our only solution is to put her crib railing back on and hope she can't climb out of it so she can't get to heater to turn it off. We think she probably can climb out of her crib, though, so who knows what adventures await us tonight!
We leave for Mexico in 10 weeks for some heat and sunshine. Aunt Karen comes to town Thursday so we can take off on a 3 day, no child adventure. Thank goodness the temperatures are supposed to rise to normal again on Tuesday.
But in the middle of the night, she loses all intelligence and reminds us that she is a toddler through and through.
Let's back up a little. Remember she was getting up a LOT throughout the night? Last week improved minimally.
So when a cold snap moved in and rendered all of Colorado FREEZING COLD, we hummed and ha-ed about weekend plans. We had pre-booked a hotel in Silverthorne for Friday and Sat night and were committed to the cost of it. Temperatures during the day in the mountains were estimated to be highs of 3F (-16 C), with a little tiny bit of fresh snow and cold wind. Not our favorite ski conditions. Not easy to entertain a 2 year old. So, we decided adding more cost for gas and guaranteeing sleep issues was not worth it, and decided to stay home this weekend and catch up on sleep and housework.
Friday and Saturday nights were not so bad. Once Rachel got to sleep, she slept pretty well and we were happy. It seemed that locking her in her room and ignoring her screaming at the door for hours had paid off. She continued to get up at 5:15-5:30am but did not wake much at night. So we were hoping this phase was over.
Rachel has had some interesting habits in her room overnight over the last few weeks. Let's first explain that our house has one thermastat that controls the temperature for the whole house. At night, the temperature drops to 60 degrees F (15 C) in the house. We have put a space heater in Rachel's room and she sleeps with 4 warm fleecy blankets over her. She has one heat vent in her floor that allows the house heat to warm up her room. She sleeps in the dark. She has three light options in her room: the main ceiling light, controlled by a switch on the wall, a star shaped wall night light, controlled by a switch on the wall, and a noise maker that also has a light that sits on her little table. She can reach the latter with no help.
So in the last two weeks, Rachel has decided several things. 1) she doesn't like the dark 2) she does not like the space heater 3) she likes to cover up the heat vent on the floor, 4) she wants to put herself to bed without our help and 5) she wants to have access to her step stool in her room. This is so she can take it to the door, stand on it, and turn on her light switches, and then move her step stool back to her heat vent and cover it up.
Sunday night it was -5 F outside (-20 C). So she 'puts herself to bed'. This means we put toys away, change into pajamas and night time diaper, brush teeth, read stories, turn out lights, turn on space heater, turn on noise maker, and leave the room, locking the door. An intelligent person would lie down in bed with 4 warm blankets over her and go to sleep.
A 2 year old that loses all sense of things at 8pm onward would get up, poop, scream at her door, and wait for us to change her diaper. Repeat above process.
After we leave the room, Rachel does the following. 1) turns off and unplugs heater (this is a safety concern that we question at 1am) 2) turns off noise maker and on light on the table 3) gets step stool and turns on light switches and returns step stool to cover the heat vent 4) goes to door and cries for Mamma gently until she falls asleep without any blankets on at the door on the carpet.
At 1am, Rachel cries. One of us goes in. Rachel is wet and freezing cold and shivering, and we feel like terrible parents. It's super cold in her room. Turn house heat up to 66 F. Change her diaper, put on two pairs of pajamas, put on her dressing gown. Plug heater in again. Remove step stool from room and reduce lighting. Snuggle her up under blankets in chair for 30 min and hold her cold little hands, trying to warm them up. After 30 min she is barely awake. Lay her down in her bed with blankets on and leave the room. This process takes nearly an hour.
30 seconds later Rachel is screaming at her door for her step stool.
Fearful that she will seriously harm herself getting too cold, we bring her into our bed. She sleeps great from 2:30am until 7am, a sleep in time unheard of in our world. We sleep so-so, getting prodded and kicked and pushed throughout the night but better sleep than we had all last week. Jason had to get up at 5:45am to go to work, but I work late on Mondays so I enjoyed the sleep and snuggle.
7am a happy girl gets up and goes on with her happy 2 year old self.
Forecast for tonight: -1 F (-18C). Our only solution is to put her crib railing back on and hope she can't climb out of it so she can't get to heater to turn it off. We think she probably can climb out of her crib, though, so who knows what adventures await us tonight!
We leave for Mexico in 10 weeks for some heat and sunshine. Aunt Karen comes to town Thursday so we can take off on a 3 day, no child adventure. Thank goodness the temperatures are supposed to rise to normal again on Tuesday.
January 9, 2013
Francie's Hut Jan 6/7
Sunday Jan 6th we headed out for a wonderful winter adventure: a HUT TRIP.
Our friends Julie and Patch organized this hut trip for themselves, us, and 3 other families with young kids. A 2 mile skin into the hut, a beautiful hut for one night, and an easy descent the next morning out.
The hut had 5 bedrooms, a wood stove, 2 indoor composting toilets, a kitchen with 4 propane stoves, solar powered lights, and a large common area... a perfect easy-access, luxurious winter camping destination for families.
FOR PICTURES, CLICK HERE
Logistically, everything worked out well. Jason pulled Rachel in the chariot with some things and I carried a bigger but not very heavy pack. Jason had a small day pack.
Each family had their own room, and even though Rachel and another child named Seth cried often throughout the night, it didn't seem to bother others nearly as much as we feared it may.
It was beautiful. Jason and I got to play in the snow and practice beacon rescues (more on that in weeks to come). Kids went sledding. Adults played fun games. All the kids got along well. We met some great new people.
Looking forward to doing more hut trips again... the next one will be without Rachel (wow!) and in the future when we take Rachel, we hope she can sleep a bit better!
Our friends Julie and Patch organized this hut trip for themselves, us, and 3 other families with young kids. A 2 mile skin into the hut, a beautiful hut for one night, and an easy descent the next morning out.
The hut had 5 bedrooms, a wood stove, 2 indoor composting toilets, a kitchen with 4 propane stoves, solar powered lights, and a large common area... a perfect easy-access, luxurious winter camping destination for families.
FOR PICTURES, CLICK HERE
Logistically, everything worked out well. Jason pulled Rachel in the chariot with some things and I carried a bigger but not very heavy pack. Jason had a small day pack.
Each family had their own room, and even though Rachel and another child named Seth cried often throughout the night, it didn't seem to bother others nearly as much as we feared it may.
It was beautiful. Jason and I got to play in the snow and practice beacon rescues (more on that in weeks to come). Kids went sledding. Adults played fun games. All the kids got along well. We met some great new people.
Looking forward to doing more hut trips again... the next one will be without Rachel (wow!) and in the future when we take Rachel, we hope she can sleep a bit better!
No sleep since Thanksgiving
Sorry it's been slow on the blog posting lately...
it's because we are too busy trying not to strangle our precious and wonderful 2 year old.
Since Thanksgiving (USA version), Rachel's sleeping habits have gotten worse and worse. Since coming home from Canada, she has been up a LOT. It's like having a newborn again, without the nursing. Is it because she's processing the new baby? Maybe. Is it because we've traveled so much lately? Maybe.
Last week she was up every hour.
We have resorted to locking her in her room and letting her scream for hours as we try to ignore her. It's really fun. She has cried for 3 hours in a row for many nights over the last week.
Common things Rachel will say between 12midnight and 3:30am:
- MAMMMMMMMAAA!
- DADDDDDDYYY!
- I have to poop!
- I want a bagel!
- I want cream cheese!
- I don't want the heater on!
- I want to play!
- I want to go downstairs!
- MAMMMMMMMMMAAA!
- DADDDY!
Thankfully, the only thing keeping us sane is that Rachel is super cute and during the day makes us smile. Things she says during the day include:
- Is there room in Mommy's tummy for Rachel?
- We're going to the mountains! That's so eskiting!
- I want to do a puzzle!
- And then, my Daddy will come and pick me up from school and we will go home and cut food.
The other interesting thing Rachel has done recently is start stuttering. It started on our trip and it seems her brain is moving to fast for her mouth to keep up. She will say: "I want I want I want I want I want I want ... to go upstairs with my mommy and do the alphabet puzzle." We are trying to be patient and wait it out but's it's a surprising stage for us.
Potty training update:
At about Thanksgiving, Rachel refused to wear underwear and refused to use the potty anymore, so we gave up. Recently, her interest seems renewed so we are going to stop wearing diapers on Feb 1st. We have a potty calendar countdown and are hoping February brings us more long term success!
Baby update:
Everyone wants to know how I'm feeling and the answer is good. 15 weeks and all is well. Heard a good heart beat at 14 weeks. We are not going to learn the gender and are thinking of names, thinking of nursery decor, trying to find time for birthing classes and prenatal yoga. It's a busy time!
Here are old ultrasound pictures from 10 weeks
Thanks for keeping up with our lives!
it's because we are too busy trying not to strangle our precious and wonderful 2 year old.
Since Thanksgiving (USA version), Rachel's sleeping habits have gotten worse and worse. Since coming home from Canada, she has been up a LOT. It's like having a newborn again, without the nursing. Is it because she's processing the new baby? Maybe. Is it because we've traveled so much lately? Maybe.
Last week she was up every hour.
We have resorted to locking her in her room and letting her scream for hours as we try to ignore her. It's really fun. She has cried for 3 hours in a row for many nights over the last week.
Common things Rachel will say between 12midnight and 3:30am:
- MAMMMMMMMAAA!
- DADDDDDDYYY!
- I have to poop!
- I want a bagel!
- I want cream cheese!
- I don't want the heater on!
- I want to play!
- I want to go downstairs!
- MAMMMMMMMMMAAA!
- DADDDY!
Thankfully, the only thing keeping us sane is that Rachel is super cute and during the day makes us smile. Things she says during the day include:
- Is there room in Mommy's tummy for Rachel?
- We're going to the mountains! That's so eskiting!
- I want to do a puzzle!
- And then, my Daddy will come and pick me up from school and we will go home and cut food.
The other interesting thing Rachel has done recently is start stuttering. It started on our trip and it seems her brain is moving to fast for her mouth to keep up. She will say: "I want I want I want I want I want I want ... to go upstairs with my mommy and do the alphabet puzzle." We are trying to be patient and wait it out but's it's a surprising stage for us.
Potty training update:
At about Thanksgiving, Rachel refused to wear underwear and refused to use the potty anymore, so we gave up. Recently, her interest seems renewed so we are going to stop wearing diapers on Feb 1st. We have a potty calendar countdown and are hoping February brings us more long term success!
Baby update:
Everyone wants to know how I'm feeling and the answer is good. 15 weeks and all is well. Heard a good heart beat at 14 weeks. We are not going to learn the gender and are thinking of names, thinking of nursery decor, trying to find time for birthing classes and prenatal yoga. It's a busy time!
Thanks for keeping up with our lives!
Christmas in Canada
FOR PICTURES, CLICK HERE
Friday Dec 22 travel day
Friday Jason worked, Rachel went to school, and Meggan had the day to pack our stuff and finalize presents and travel plans. When Jason got home, we packed the car, stopped for pizza, and went to the bus stop. We knew our flight was delayed 40 min, but wanted to get the earlier bus just because the airport might be busy. A bit rushed, we shuttled stuff from our car to the bus stop in the cold. We had 5 large bags, a car seat, and each of us had a backpack... Not our lightest trip! Rachel took a nasty spill and hit her forehead on the sidewalk as we rushed to make our bus.
Our original departure time was 9pm, but our actual flight left at 10:55pm. Rachel didn't fall asleep until 10:30pm but then slept on the flight. We landed at about 1am. It took a LONG time for our bags to arrive and we snagged a wheelchair for free to help carry our bags, since the carts were $5. Rachel slept in the carrier on Meggan's chest for a bit while Jason struggled to get our 5 bags and car seat on to the car rental bus shuttle. It took a while to get our rental car. We weren't able to add Meggan as a second driver. We eventually got an awake Rachel into her car seat with all 5 bags and drove out into the pouring rain.
We arrived at our hotel at 4am and Rachel, for the first time in her life, refused to sleep with us in our bed and begged for her travel crib, which she slept in until our wake up at 6am. We had breakfast at the hotel, drove to the ferry terminal, and got on the ferry without concern. The 8:30am ferry landed in Sidney, BC at 11:10am. During the ferry ride we ran around, tried to read, and Rachel had a huge melt down while we forced her to get dressed. She then fell asleep on the ferry floor, totally exhausted.
At about 12:15pm we pulled into Uncle Jeff and Auntie Janelle's driveway and joined them for their open house all afternoon. Rachel slept in the carseat for a while and then enjoyed playing with her cousins Teagan, Griffin, and Cooper. We caught up with old friends before Pops, Uncle Tony, Auntie Adrienne, and cousins Ella and Benson joined in.
Day 1 and 2 of our trip were complete, and we happily laid down to sleep!
Highlights of the next few days include:
- seeing the Woolly Mammoth at the BC Museum
- hanging out in downtown Victoria
- Christmas morning with Jeff, Janelle, Teagan, Griffin, Cooper, Pops
- Nana making Rachel a Raggedy Anne doll with matching dress
- Christmas dinner with awesome food made by my aunt Jocelyn and seeing the Bjornson gang, Eric, Jo
- funny and awkward family photos at Nana's house on Dec 26
- seeing how well my grandmother (GG) is doing - she will turn 91 this year!
- visiting with my old friend Megan Smith at the park while Jason and Ella played pirate ship
- seeing family dance on Wii
- watching Canadian Junior hockey games with Tony and Pops
- Jason got to go on an awesome run with the Penticton buttercups in the fresh snow
- seeing our Penticton friends, including Amber Dearin, running crew, and Caithy and Sean
- seeing Dana and Robin and kids and spending a thrilling New Year's Eve playing ipad pictionary with them as we tried hard to stay up until midnight
Travel notes
Although it was way cheaper to fly into Seattle than into Vancouver or Victoria, it was pretty tiring. On Monday the 31st, we drove 5 hours from Penticton to Vancouver. On the 1st, we drove 3 hours from Vancouver to Seattle. Returned the car with great service from Alamo. Shuttle to the airport. Watched planes with Rachel at the beautiful Seattle viewing area. Flew 2.5 hours home to Denver while Rachel was awake for the whole flight. Waited in the cold evening Denver air with car seat, tired child, 5 bags for a crowded bus. 1 hour bus ride to bus station. 10 minutes of dragging all of our stuff and a sleepy cold Rachel to our car. 20 min drive home in the cold car.
Next time we go to Canada will likely be in August, with two children and possibly only one adult. I hope we can save enough air miles before then that we can fly directly in and out of Victoria.
All in all, it was lovely to catch up with dear family and friends. Our Canadian crew is a hugely important part of our world and it's hard not to see them more often, but this was a great quality visit.
Friday Dec 22 travel day
Friday Jason worked, Rachel went to school, and Meggan had the day to pack our stuff and finalize presents and travel plans. When Jason got home, we packed the car, stopped for pizza, and went to the bus stop. We knew our flight was delayed 40 min, but wanted to get the earlier bus just because the airport might be busy. A bit rushed, we shuttled stuff from our car to the bus stop in the cold. We had 5 large bags, a car seat, and each of us had a backpack... Not our lightest trip! Rachel took a nasty spill and hit her forehead on the sidewalk as we rushed to make our bus.
Our original departure time was 9pm, but our actual flight left at 10:55pm. Rachel didn't fall asleep until 10:30pm but then slept on the flight. We landed at about 1am. It took a LONG time for our bags to arrive and we snagged a wheelchair for free to help carry our bags, since the carts were $5. Rachel slept in the carrier on Meggan's chest for a bit while Jason struggled to get our 5 bags and car seat on to the car rental bus shuttle. It took a while to get our rental car. We weren't able to add Meggan as a second driver. We eventually got an awake Rachel into her car seat with all 5 bags and drove out into the pouring rain.
We arrived at our hotel at 4am and Rachel, for the first time in her life, refused to sleep with us in our bed and begged for her travel crib, which she slept in until our wake up at 6am. We had breakfast at the hotel, drove to the ferry terminal, and got on the ferry without concern. The 8:30am ferry landed in Sidney, BC at 11:10am. During the ferry ride we ran around, tried to read, and Rachel had a huge melt down while we forced her to get dressed. She then fell asleep on the ferry floor, totally exhausted.
At about 12:15pm we pulled into Uncle Jeff and Auntie Janelle's driveway and joined them for their open house all afternoon. Rachel slept in the carseat for a while and then enjoyed playing with her cousins Teagan, Griffin, and Cooper. We caught up with old friends before Pops, Uncle Tony, Auntie Adrienne, and cousins Ella and Benson joined in.
Day 1 and 2 of our trip were complete, and we happily laid down to sleep!
Highlights of the next few days include:
- seeing the Woolly Mammoth at the BC Museum
- hanging out in downtown Victoria
- Christmas morning with Jeff, Janelle, Teagan, Griffin, Cooper, Pops
- Nana making Rachel a Raggedy Anne doll with matching dress
- Christmas dinner with awesome food made by my aunt Jocelyn and seeing the Bjornson gang, Eric, Jo
- funny and awkward family photos at Nana's house on Dec 26
- seeing how well my grandmother (GG) is doing - she will turn 91 this year!
- visiting with my old friend Megan Smith at the park while Jason and Ella played pirate ship
- seeing family dance on Wii
- watching Canadian Junior hockey games with Tony and Pops
- Jason got to go on an awesome run with the Penticton buttercups in the fresh snow
- seeing our Penticton friends, including Amber Dearin, running crew, and Caithy and Sean
- seeing Dana and Robin and kids and spending a thrilling New Year's Eve playing ipad pictionary with them as we tried hard to stay up until midnight
Travel notes
Although it was way cheaper to fly into Seattle than into Vancouver or Victoria, it was pretty tiring. On Monday the 31st, we drove 5 hours from Penticton to Vancouver. On the 1st, we drove 3 hours from Vancouver to Seattle. Returned the car with great service from Alamo. Shuttle to the airport. Watched planes with Rachel at the beautiful Seattle viewing area. Flew 2.5 hours home to Denver while Rachel was awake for the whole flight. Waited in the cold evening Denver air with car seat, tired child, 5 bags for a crowded bus. 1 hour bus ride to bus station. 10 minutes of dragging all of our stuff and a sleepy cold Rachel to our car. 20 min drive home in the cold car.
Next time we go to Canada will likely be in August, with two children and possibly only one adult. I hope we can save enough air miles before then that we can fly directly in and out of Victoria.
All in all, it was lovely to catch up with dear family and friends. Our Canadian crew is a hugely important part of our world and it's hard not to see them more often, but this was a great quality visit.
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