Tuesday, September 05, 2006

So Much Catching Up To Do

We're back.

Ernesto's toll wasn't too bad; we had a couple of rainy days but Friday afternoon was salvageable. There was some localized flooding, but we didn't have to evacuate or anything. The weather for the first part of the week was gorgeous, at least.

The worst part about rainy days in a beach house with four little boys under four? Four little boys under four. Gah. "Relaxing" really has no part in a vacation with children; you're just taking the show on the road.

Does this fill you with fear? It should.

There was no pretend peeing this year, but Lumpyhead's diaper leaked several times, twice on me. This time, the urination was for real.

There was only one vomiting incident, and thanks to our one game of Flip Cup, it wasn't even me doing the hurling. Woo hoo! (Still feeling shitty though, and have had a visit from the Vomit Fairy since we've been home.)

I'm feeling a little hesitant about next year, realizing how hard it will be with another child. Every time Bump and I watch families wrangling two children, our eyes glaze over and we shudder a little bit. The week was such a contrast to what I've come to expect from a beach week, when the day used to contain a short window of bleariness between hungover and drunk again, and the usual schedule was party until early morning, sleep past noon, nap on the beach, read by the pool, repeat. Even though Aunt Bob's Little Guy has joined us on previous beach weeks, he 1) sleeps like a hibernating bear and 2) wasn't my responsibility. His presence didn't change my schedule at all.

This year, we struggled with Lumpyhead's sleep patterns and once got to sleep past seven. Lounging by the pool happened only during naptime, with a baby monitor at our side instead of rum-laced punch in a tumbler. The single burning question of "Is there enough ice in the beer cooler?" was replaced by a litany of "When was he changed last? Does he want a snack? Does he need more sunscreen? What did he just put in his mouth? Should we do something to stop the wailing coming from that other child?" just to name a few.

I was sober the whole time, which made the whole un-beach-weeky feel of things sting even more.

Maybe I can be drunk the whole time next year.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe next year we hire some sort of night nurse nanny person who can stay sober.

Or, just take two teenagers.

Anonymous said...

We went to the beach this weekend too. We had so much crap in the car that there was no room for another person. So on top of the general anxiety of having another kid some day, there is the question of where will they sit in the car? OR... maybe we need to learn to not overpack. ;)