Less is More

Re-reading my last blog, from the very start of our vacation - back when I was young and naive, I see that I was still deluded that 5 weeks with my two children here at my parents was a great idea. Big sandy beach which a nice, swimmable lack, what could go wrong? Now, 4 weeks in, I feel the need to rethink the wisdom of this trip.

First of all , to take a two year old for this long from his routine has been less than wonderful. He's so far out of his usual element that he's overstimulated, constantly underslept and often plays so much that he is plain worn out by late afternoon. He refuses to nap, falls asleep in a chair at about 5 and then will not go to bed properly and the next day, we start all over again. The result has been a cranky, clingy child - one who is prone to screaming child when he's frustrated about something or sometimes even if just leave the room. Add into this mix a 3-month-old, who, wonderful though she may be, is still only a 3 month old and "WILL NOT BE IGNORED, DAN" (yes, that is a random Fatal Attraction reference) and you have a not-so-relaxing vacation.

So, I'm exhausted as well. Since Eric (more on him later) has just arrived, today is the first day that I feel more relaxed. No coincidence this is my first blog update since he left. Other vacation firsts...today was my first time out in the kayak, first time lying down in the hammock and last night, the first time I have had a block of sleep longer than 4 hours.

Of course, Eric's arrival has already helped enormously. Not that my parents don't help because they TOTALLY do (not to mention that I don't have to cook, clean or do laundry), but unlike with my parents, I don't feel guilty asking him to do anything or better yet, he just DOES it. Guilt, unnecessary though it might be, is exhausting.

Now for Eric. He is currently sitting in the Emergency Room at hospital. Again. Playing baseball back at home two weeks ago he slid into second base (SAFE!) and in the process ripped off a grapefruit sized patch of skin on his leg. To make a long story short, this has resulted in a serious infection, 2 trips to the walk in clinic, 3 trips to Emergency, twice a day nurse visits and round the clock intravenous anti-biotics, both at home and here. (My 4 hours block of sleep was accompanied by the rhythmic wheezing and occasional beeping of Eric's IV pump. )

After scrambling to arrange for his nursing care here (he thought he's be done on Saturday), not to mention trying to arrange security clearance to fly with his cooler full of liquid medicine, he arrived yesterday all IV'd up. When he showed us the wound I cannot imagine how it looked before the 14-day course of antibiotics because it still looks hideous. Kieran, who was so happy to see his Daddy, took one look at his leg and wouldn't go near him after that- and still won't unless the wound is properly bandaged, and thus hidden away. Frankly, I don't really blame him. And obviously, IV at camp, with a baby and a toddler, is less than ideal. He cannot swim, sauna, play on the beach or give children baths. Having Kieran climb on him is nothing short of an act of pure courage and Kaya has already yanked on the tube with her surprisingly strong baby grip.

Anyway, I suspect today's trip to the hospital will result in an yet another extension this continued nightmare since I'm quite sure that no doctor worth his degree will look at the leg and take him off the antibiotics just yet. The minor upside for Eric (besides having his family around him) is that he now gets his nursing care on the deck overlooking Lake Superior.

So, I'm looking forward to heading home and getting back into regular life. I'm going to have to break Kaya of numerous bad habits that she has acquired here (Napping in swing? Check? Sleeping in my bed? Check. Nursing to sleep? Check.) Most of all, I want my sweet two year old back. Hopefully, the clingy, cranky version stays here....

Road Trip

We have arrived in Thunder Bay...finally. We had a relatively bad trip...keeping in mind, of course, that the bar for bad trips was set quite high last summer when, six weeks pregnant, I threw up every 45 minutes for two solid days. This time, I think the trip would have been GREAT, and started off so, until we were about 45 minutes past Sudbury.

Sailing along, making great time, we came to a dead stop at a motorcycle/car accident that looked as though it had happened about 3 minutes earlier. We were about 10 cars behind the actual accident and after about 10 minutes or so 8 cars in front of us managed to get by until the police/ambulance arrived and stopped everyone. And so we sat on this highway for at least an hour, and as there was only one car in front of us, we saw quite clearly, the whole thing. We watched as they loaded what we now know was a dead body into the ambulance. Then the OPP came up to our car and said they were closing the highway for the next 4 hours and that we had to turn back.

Now, what you may not realize if you are not from the north, or any other area that can legitimately be called "the boonies", when this happens you are out of luck. There is no alternate route. No back roads that join back to the highway. The OPP does not set up a detour to keep the traffic moving. Nothing. So, unless we wanted to travel back 3 or 4 hours to join the only other highway that will take you through Timmins and Cochrane (umm, no thanks) we were stuck. So, we headed back to Sudbury which took forever as we had to travel though ANOTHER OPP blockade that was questioning all cars about what they saw in relation the accident. We assume they were trying to find witnesses or possibly there was a hit and run element to the whole thing. The accident happened around 3 pm, and we know they finally opened the highway at 11 pm, so I guess we're lucky we were among the first to find a hotel.

So, yeah, we ended up staying in Sudbury, which worked out fine as the hotel had a pool that Kieran loved and was quite nice. Except the next day our drive was 12 hours. That's 12 hours not including stops for breast feeding, diaper changes, wails of "uppy! uppy!" or just persistent baby screaming that needed attention. What a long day. We arrived here at almost 10 pm and were exhausted.

Let the vacation begin....we need it!