My kids love their grandparents. Katie in particular is crazy close to them and LOVES seeing them and going to their houses... which is good cause their houses are 2 and 6 hours away....
She used to go to my parents house all the time for overnights cause they are the closer of the 2. She even has her own bed there...
So, yes, we hate the drive and we realize everyone is going to be a little off - but we pack it up and head up for Thanksgiving.
We leave early Wednesday - pick the kids up from daycare and start out drive.
Of course, we hit traffic.
Of course, my kids decide they don't want to be in the car. Katie didn't even want to watch tv - which is our fail safe for long car rides.... Ben screamed, and screamed - even though Dave was squished in the backseat between them talking/playing with him.
It was a stressful 3 hour drive.
We got to my parents house and I had already told myself - next year we are staying home. It's too much work packing up, leaving early, driving, etc.... and I just want to enjoy a peaceful, restful holiday.
I called my parents and told them this while we were stuck in traffic. I was grumpy already.
Then, we got there and all was right with the world for about 4 hours until bedtime... Ben freaked out during his bath (he never does that)
and Katie and I had to share the big bed in one room and the boys slept in the other room in the crib/twin bed respectively. Katie moves so much she kept slamming into me, waking herself up. She woke up and screamed bloody murder for about 5 minutes - mostly incoherently. I couldn't calm her down and she just kept freaking out. I finally got her to sleep and then Ben woke up - so Dave took him downstairs to keep him away from the sleeping people and he was loud and played for hours.
Katie woke up again... crying over god knows what.
They were both awake by 6:30 Thanksgiving morning.
The next day we put katie in the twin bed by herself and moved the crib into the other room with the big bed. She woke up again, screaming and yelling and wouldn't stop until DADDY went in there.
He talked/sang/gave her water - she was still freaking out. She calmed down and he left - she freaked out again. At this point, all the grandparents were sleeping in the house and we wanted to minimize the crazy interruption of screaming kids - so Dave took a blanket and slept on the floor next to her in the other room.
Luxurious right - the things you do for kids.
Ben woke up after she was done and didn't go back to bed until after 3 - so I was up from 10 til 3.
Awesome.
We decided then and there we were leaving the next day because clearly the kids just couldn't handle it.
Of course we ended up staying - because we all like going to Mimi's house and she volunteered to stay on the floor with Katie in case she was scared. (mimi's rule)
So, like idiots - we were like... ok - we'll stay.
She did it again - screaming and yelling bloody murder.
Until Dave went in.
And slept on the floor again.
So... Moral of the story is:
As much as we love seeing our families for the holidays and all being together in one house - the kids clearly can't handle being away from home - particularly at night. So... we will stay home for Christmas and we will stay home for the holidays next year.
It sucks, but we are just going to have to stay put for awhile so that the kids get their sleep and we don't have a stressful, crazy, hectic visit.
I am writing this here so that next year when I get the bright idea that it won't be that bad - I will be reminded of just how bad it really is - I swear, we aren't going. Thanksgiving will have to be at our house - wherever that is and no matter how small the house.
P.s. the kids have both slept wonderfully and peacefully since we got home and Katie even took a nap sunday - so I think it was just a little too much excitement for them and there is just too much going on right now in our lives for them to be able to handle that.
I swear - we are staying home for all the holidays next year. It's just tooooo much stress and toooo much sleep deprivation and it's hard to watch and entertain your kids in a different environment.
Maybe when they are 10 mom!;)
She used to go to my parents house all the time for overnights cause they are the closer of the 2. She even has her own bed there...
So, yes, we hate the drive and we realize everyone is going to be a little off - but we pack it up and head up for Thanksgiving.
We leave early Wednesday - pick the kids up from daycare and start out drive.
Of course, we hit traffic.
Of course, my kids decide they don't want to be in the car. Katie didn't even want to watch tv - which is our fail safe for long car rides.... Ben screamed, and screamed - even though Dave was squished in the backseat between them talking/playing with him.
It was a stressful 3 hour drive.
We got to my parents house and I had already told myself - next year we are staying home. It's too much work packing up, leaving early, driving, etc.... and I just want to enjoy a peaceful, restful holiday.
I called my parents and told them this while we were stuck in traffic. I was grumpy already.
Then, we got there and all was right with the world for about 4 hours until bedtime... Ben freaked out during his bath (he never does that)
and Katie and I had to share the big bed in one room and the boys slept in the other room in the crib/twin bed respectively. Katie moves so much she kept slamming into me, waking herself up. She woke up and screamed bloody murder for about 5 minutes - mostly incoherently. I couldn't calm her down and she just kept freaking out. I finally got her to sleep and then Ben woke up - so Dave took him downstairs to keep him away from the sleeping people and he was loud and played for hours.
Katie woke up again... crying over god knows what.
They were both awake by 6:30 Thanksgiving morning.
The next day we put katie in the twin bed by herself and moved the crib into the other room with the big bed. She woke up again, screaming and yelling and wouldn't stop until DADDY went in there.
He talked/sang/gave her water - she was still freaking out. She calmed down and he left - she freaked out again. At this point, all the grandparents were sleeping in the house and we wanted to minimize the crazy interruption of screaming kids - so Dave took a blanket and slept on the floor next to her in the other room.
Luxurious right - the things you do for kids.
Ben woke up after she was done and didn't go back to bed until after 3 - so I was up from 10 til 3.
Awesome.
We decided then and there we were leaving the next day because clearly the kids just couldn't handle it.
Of course we ended up staying - because we all like going to Mimi's house and she volunteered to stay on the floor with Katie in case she was scared. (mimi's rule)
So, like idiots - we were like... ok - we'll stay.
She did it again - screaming and yelling bloody murder.
Until Dave went in.
And slept on the floor again.
So... Moral of the story is:
As much as we love seeing our families for the holidays and all being together in one house - the kids clearly can't handle being away from home - particularly at night. So... we will stay home for Christmas and we will stay home for the holidays next year.
It sucks, but we are just going to have to stay put for awhile so that the kids get their sleep and we don't have a stressful, crazy, hectic visit.
I am writing this here so that next year when I get the bright idea that it won't be that bad - I will be reminded of just how bad it really is - I swear, we aren't going. Thanksgiving will have to be at our house - wherever that is and no matter how small the house.
P.s. the kids have both slept wonderfully and peacefully since we got home and Katie even took a nap sunday - so I think it was just a little too much excitement for them and there is just too much going on right now in our lives for them to be able to handle that.
I swear - we are staying home for all the holidays next year. It's just tooooo much stress and toooo much sleep deprivation and it's hard to watch and entertain your kids in a different environment.
Maybe when they are 10 mom!;)
I think you might have just rewritten a previous post cause I know you have complained...I mean talked about not traveling again. JC never sleeps right when we are away so I feel you...minus when we were in Disney but we walked that boy so much there was no way he wasn't crashing.
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