Bedtime Routine

We've been getting into a rhythm with Adelaide at bedtime. The times can vary by up to an hour, but the basic routine is:

• 8:00pm - change from her regular clothes into a sleeper
• 8:00pm to 8:30pm - she's very chatty and enjoys some attention
• 8:30pm to 9:00pm - a bit of feeding to help her get to sleep
• 9:00pm to 10:00pm - she naps while Emily and I play the Wii
• 10:00pm - she wakes up, has another feed, then everyone sleeps until about 1am

Of course this never goes as smoothly as we would want. Tonight, it's past midnight and she's strapped to me because she couldn't seem to fall asleep in her own bed. Emily is exhausted because Adelaide is waking every two hours to feed, so I'm going to write this blog and do some coding.

But whatever happens, Adelaide does know when the bedtime routine is meant to start. A few days ago it was 8:15pm and I was changing Adelaide's diaper. She was happy and still in her regular clothes, so rather than change her into a sleeper I decided to dress her back up. After the first button she was in tears! She got this horrified look on her face and just bawled!

Similar thing again today. Emily and I took her out to see 10pm fireworks, and all is going fine until about 8:45pm. Suddenly Adelaide realises that the sun is going down and she's not in her sleeper. A happy and content baby suddenly turns to tears and sad, sad cries.

I've been told that parents can distinguish between their child's cries. In this case, we definitely can. This crying is not a "I have tummy problems!" scream or a "I'm bored!" protest. It is more like the cry when you realise you left your toddler's favourite teddy bear at the last petrol station. Or when your child is lost in a department store and can't find anyone they know. It's a "They forgot me!" kind of cry. Absolutely adorable, but it also gets you moving quickly. :)

Anyway, I'll get some coding done while Adelaide is still sleeping. I expect her to wake up within the hour for her next feed. Seems like she's not teething as we thought - it's just another growth spurt.

Our Camping Challenge

We recently took Adelaide on her first camping trip. We mention to this to people afterwards and we get told "That was brave!". I was always told that bravery is "doing something stupid but surviving". :P Maybe if we'd known in advance we wouldn't have tried! :)

The ideal room temp for baby to sleep in is 21c, but the overnight tent temp was 11c (Emily will tell you all about my tent, which is an Australian design and has a lot of mesh walls). A lot of co-sleeping (bed-sharing) was necessary to try and keep everyone warm enough overnight.

We had hesitated to do co-sleeping because Adelaide was so tiny, and I have a tendency to roll with my elbows outwards. In the tent we had no choice, and honestly it worked out far better than I'd hoped. We both got a much better handle on Adelaide's sleeping habits, and I think we all feel a lot more connected as a family. Sharing every waking and sleeping moment does help to feel that connection.

To keep ourselves sane over the course of the trip, we alternated between camping and motels. At one point we ended up at Sunpeaks Resort, a ski-resort which turns into a hiking destination in the summer. Emily just told me that Sunpeaks saved the trip. Without that break, we probably would have given up and headed home. A proper bed, with TV and a microwave, is a very nice break from cold nights and mosquitoes.

And oh yes, there were a lot of mosquitoes no matter where we camped or walked. Emily breaks out in swollen itchy patches after a mosquito bite, but I just bleed from the holes. We couldn't dare to put mosquito repellent on Adelaide, and by proxy we couldn't put any on Emily. So Emily spent a lot of her time inside the tent or car, while I spent a lot of time setting up the tent or lighting a campfire. Not complaining, but it's these little role restrictions that make camping with an infant a little bit harder.

Halfway through the trip we met up with Stella and Timothy at a motel in Clearwater. We spent a few days in Wells Gray Park (awesome waterfalls!), and then made our first attempt to camp as a unified family. Stella had brought a tent and a big outdoor mesh. The mesh was big enough to cover a picnic table with extra chairs, which meant that Emily and Adelaide could spend a lot more time outside. Unfortunately Stella's tent leaked during our first camping night and she and Tim had to head home too soon.

Once Stella and Timothy left, the three of us headed to Kamloops and spent a few nights camping there. The temperature rocketed up to 36c in the daytime, and so we spent parts of our days in malls, the cinema (we were almost the only ones seeing Toy Story 3 in 2D!), or hiking up and down mountains. We will have to return to Kamloops another time. The entire area reminds me of Muswellbrook, except they have sub-alpine meadows nearby... :)

Was it worth it? Well, it was always going to be a challenge. We managed to take Adelaide camping, hiking, to waterfalls, to the movies, to the zoo, with family, in the cold, and in the heat. It was not a comfortable trip, but we got it all done. And that's what made it worth it. :)