Thanksgiving

Just back from Thanksgiving travels.  We did the split-the-holiday routine in only three days.  It helps that both of our parents reside in the same state, but it was still a little hectic.  First we went to my parents’ home so we could see my brother, who is getting ready to leave on a church mission to Brazil for two years.  Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gone to see them until Christmas.  Then we went to J.’s side of the family for the actual Thanksgiving meal, and stayed over until Friday.  It was nice to see everyone, of course, but with such short visits I feel as though I did not spend enough time with anyone.  However, considering how awfully difficult Kate was, I don’t regret not staying longer.  She has real issues with sleeping in her playpen.  The first night away she did okay, basically sleeping through the night, so I was deceived into thinking she would be fine the next nights.  Not so.  The next two nights were just dreadful; filled with lots of screaming and little sleep.  She wanted her own crib, and there was nothing that would calm her down.  Holding her, bringing her to sleep with us – nothing was acceptable.  It’s at those hopeless two o’clock in the morning hours that I swear I will never travel again!  Naturally, today she was extra grouchy from all of her sleep deprivation.  I got her to take a nap, to my great relief, but only 40 minutes later, to my absolute horror, I find Sophie and her cousin jumping on the bed in the room Kate was sleeping in.  Kate was jumping up and down in her playpen laughing along with them.  I did not laugh.  For the rest of the afternoon Kate was just unbearable – until she fell asleep in the car coming home.

Well, that’s all seems a bit negative!  Really, aside from the sleep issues, the holiday was good.  In keeping with the spirit of the day, I will say that I do have so many blessings in my life that I am thankful for!