Sunday, July 7, 2019

Let's Talk Vacationing

A long running joke in America is that women can't pack light.  I always took pride in being the exception to that rule.   I could pack 1 back back for a 5 day trip.  Fast forward 10 years to when Harli Belle was a baby.   Car was loaded and packed full for the days away.  I took a crib,  high chair,  food,  breast feeding supplies and snacks.  All of it was necessary and expected.   I was so ready to get back to a time when I could pack light.   I avoided over night trips and vacations at all costs. 

I knew I couldn't keep doing this and we promised the older kids we would try and take a trip this summer.   So, after planning and research we decided kalahari would be ideal.   All you really needed was swim suits right?!   Wrong.  Harli Belle has always had insomnia.  We worked really hard and developed a bed time routine that works. One consistent factor is leaving her alone to fall asleep.  So my biggest worry about 3 days at a water park was not sun burns or drowning,  it was sleep deprivation.  I packed an entire duffle bag just for night time routine.  
5 people for 3 days away and we had 9 bags!  I couldn't see out of my rear window but I was ready to get away from daily stresses. 





 We get there the first day and check in went rather  smoothly.  We get all 3 kids upstairs and organized.  (Because I'm one of those people who use hotel drawers).  I need accessibility with Harli Belle.  We get everyone changed and head down to the pool.  Kids are ready to play but I still have to move the car out of temporary parking.   I send them on there way and head off to get a locker and move the car while dad takes the kids to play.   I get back and finally get to enjoy some play time before dinner.   I knew the first night would go fine for Harli Belle and sleep because she was exhausted.  She passed out on me like she used to as a tiny babe. It brought a sense of peace to me,  because every night since she's been in her own room I have had to fight the urge to let her cuddle me until she fell asleep. 

Day 2 rolls around and Hunter wakes up early with us.  We head down and play until close to lunch time when dad and sis joined us.   We take the kids out to eat and to my surprise no meltdowns during dinner.  Harli Belle even ate a bunch of her brothers fettuccine Alfredo.  



Since she refused a nap on day 2 I thought bed time would go ok again.  

You see this is where it all went wrong!  The thing is hotels don't have Netflix or any streaming capability what so ever..... So we did not have our wind down shows.  We had Willy Wonka. This DID NOT go over well at all. She didn't go down easy, not at all.  We spent an hour playing hot lava with couch cushions until she literally ends up crashing around 930. The rest of the family came up around 10 and we all fell asleep pretty quickly.

 In  my deepest sleep...... I feel a tiny Harli hand on my cheek with a voice saying "awww" "Awww".  I'm thinking to myself aww baby cuddles, but man am I tired, So I peep an eye open and see its 3 am.  Oh no child it is not time to get up!  So I say " Ok baby let's go back to your bed".  I change her diaper,  refill her milk and lay down with her.  She polished off her milk and it was on like donkey Kong!  She spent the next 6 hours running around the hotel room telling me to shhhh.





We finished day 3 with a few meltdowns over lines for the slides and lack of sleep,  but the smile on my face is not going away.   I'm so proud of her for trying all of the big scary slides.  She learned how to keep herself above water and no longer requires me to hold her up.   She had one slight hesitation on a tube slide,  tried it anyways and went right back up the stairs to try again. 



I may not be in the pack light stage yet,  but now I know travel is possible again.   We just need a bedroom for Harli Belle.  We can go to Georgia for thanksgiving this year and stay with family to avoid insomnia meltdowns.  I escaped my every day stress and got a few days of fun in.  The best part was seeing how happy the kids were. 



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