Vacation Days 1-2: The Revelation

I'm just going to jump right into it and be honest about the first 24 hours of our family vacation: they were horrible. By Sunday morning, Eric and I were convinced this entire week was not going to happen.

We woke up before eight Saturday. We were in good spirits, Vaught was happy as could be, and we were on the road by 11:30. We'd made plans to stop for two days in Meridian, MS, then continue on to the beach Monday morning. Vaught slept a good bit of the way to Eric's grandparents'. We made one stop then were back on the road. We arrived at 2:30, where things quickly began going downhill...

The only photo I was able to get of Vaught at his great-grandparents'. This was about fifteen minutes after we arrived.

I'm very in sync with Vaught. If you're a mom too, you totally get it. You can tell when something is up with your kids. My mom could always tell when something was wrong with me, and I can definitely tell when something is different with Vaught. From the moment we stepped inside the house, he began acting odd. He seemed grumpy and confused. He'd been there before with Eric's mom and stepdad, so I felt sure he remembered the place somewhat at least. Even if he didn't, new places have never been a problem for Vaught; he's always such an easy-going, calm baby. But this was totally different. Within an hour, he was in a fit. I assumed he just needed a nap, so I finally got him to go down.

After an hour, he woke up, and it was time for dinner. He couldn't be satisfied by anything and fussed off and on while we attempted to eat. He didn't want anything to eat, didn't want a bottle, just wanted to be held by his mama. We shrugged it off as teething, and by nine, we got him to go down for bed. In a new place, I expected to wake up once during the night, but I figured it would be several hours later. At 11 that night, he was wide awake. Screaming. Once he was in my arms, he seemed to be fine. At 1AM, he was still fussing, and Eric and I decided we weren't getting any sleep that night.

I was able to make these delicious brownies at one point that night. I didn't really help with dinner (per Vaught), so I made dessert!

3AM: still crying, so we decided to take him for a drive. He loves riding, so we figured this would help. It did, and at 4AM we returned with a sleeping baby. Nine out of ten times, I can carry a sleeping Vaught into our house and put him down. Even if he rouses a little, he'll still go back to sleep once I lay him down. Eric pulled Vaught out of the car. He stirred a little as we walked up the porch. The moment we entered the house, he began wailing.

At this point, I was crying too. We finally just put him in bed with us, where he cried for an hour. He began quieting down but was still kicking his legs and whining a little. After five kicks to the boobs, I said screw it and threw myself into the floor where I used a folded comforter for my pillow. Sometime around six, he finally fell asleep.

He was awake again at 8AM on the dot with more crying. Eric and I had never felt so outdone. We both contemplating returning home that very day. We'd packed nice clothes to wear to church with Eric's grandparents. I'd even gone to Kohl's earlier in the week to get something special for Vaught. Needless to say, church was not happening for us. Vaught cried off and on all morning.

Red eyes and nose from crying but a tiny grin trying to break through.

He finally settled down when he was given a couple of teething tablets. He napped for a little under two hours and cried some more when he woke up. By that time, Eric had decided that we would go to the beach a day early with the sole purpose of seeing how Vaught did there. "If he does this at the beach tonight, we're going home tomorrow morning," he told me. I was so exhausted by that point, that I just said, "Okay."

We were both so baffled by Vaught's behavior at his great-grandparents'. Vaught's been sick with 104 degree fever before and never acted like that. He's been really congested before and never behaved that way. Yes, he's cutting teeth, but he's been cutting teeth for a few months and has never acted like that. Most everyone thinks it was teething, but Eric and I feel differently; something was wrong with our baby, and we're just not convinced it was teething, not entirely at least. We didn't have to give him a teething tablet or medicine the rest of the week. Something else was wrong with him. I may never know what.

Even though we decided to leave that day, we still had another stop to make to see Eric's other grandmother, his dad's mother. We travelled twenty minutes down the road to visit with her, where Vaught acted totally normal. We visited with her for two and a half hours, and Vaught was perfectly happy. He sat in Grandmommy's lap, played with the dogs, played in the floor, and was so sweet. Eric and I were baffled and just a tiny bit peeved. Really, Vaught??

By five, we were headed to the beach. Vaught slept a good bit of the way and didn't fuss until we were exactly twenty miles away from Orange Beach. My parents were kind enough to keep him while we unloaded and got squared away at our condo, so we dropped him off at 8. I asked two things of my mother: one, don't let Vaught go to sleep. And two, let me know how he acts when we return.

We picked him up just a little after nine and were told that he was playful and happy the entire time. We were worried about how he would sleep in our condo, but he went to bed in his pack-n-play by 10:15. He woke up at 1:45 but was back down at 2 and slept until after 8. It was at two o'clock that Monday morning that I had "the revelation." Vaught was obviously acting much better, and even though he woke up in the night, I told myself that it was all going to be okay. We'd had a rough night the previous night, but I decided that one bad night is not going to ruin the vacation we've been looking forward to for a year. When we came to the beach last year, we just couldn't wait for our next vacation, when Vaught would be with us. I told myself to calm down and just be thankful that we were there. I realized that there are so many mothers out there who would give a lot to see their children again... There are couples who are aching for a little one, even if he does wake up half a dozen times during the night. Count your blessings, I told myself. You're going to be okay.

And you know what? I was. It was all okay.

Days 3 and 4 will post tomorrow, so come back to read about our first two days at the beach!

And come back later today to learn a little about the detox I'm doing for the next five days! It's easy--you can do it too!