one night in lakeside

Don't go thinking we had a perfect vacation this year.  Sure it was fantastic and all but there was one night, our last, that will live on in my memory.   Now, whenever I get that, all too often asked, question:  'Liz, tell me about a time when you thought you might actually go insane?' I have an answer.

Mike left the cottage on Monday to head back to work and other family members were arriving for phase II of the week.  I was lucky enough to hang around for a couple extra days with my girls, but that meant that we would have to become roommates.  How bad could that be?

The first night went fine so I believe I went into the second night with a false sense of confidence.

Just to set the scene of our room:  Bunkbeds.  Eloise was in the top bunk.  I was in the bottom bunk.  Harriet was 3 feet away in a pack 'n' play.  Our bedroom was on the second floor of the house which included 3 other kids in nearby rooms and their parents. There were also people sleeping on the first floor.  When I retired to my bunk that night both girls were sleeping soundly.  Goodnight.

At some point Harriet woke up with a few little cries and couldn't seem to get back to sleep.  I got up to check on her, realized she had a dirty diaper so I decided to change her real quick.  Looking back, I think that this was the exact moment things started to go downhill.

Harriet got more and more upset which woke Eloise up.  She started talking to Harriet and telling her jokes and stuff.  I tried to explain in my best whisper-yell voice that I was attempting to get Harriet back to sleep and let's just quiet down and go back to bed please, lovely and sweet and precious child.  If you ask Eloise she might describe my phrasing a little differently.  Please don't ask her.

I put Harriet back in her 'crib' after giving her a  mysteriously hysteria-causing drink of water.  Of course she didn't want to go to sleep!  She could see us right next to her!  Also,  have you ever tried to put a baby back to sleep while a 5 year old giggled and told knock knock jokes to her nearby?  It doesn't work.  She cried and screamed and I just held her because I didn't want to wake up the entire household.

This scenario, and variations of it too grisly to divulge, went on for about an hour and a half.  I think it was an hour and a half but I wasn't entirely sure because I had lost my watch earlier that day.

Finally, I said 'fuck it' and decided that we would just get up and get packed and leave first thing after breakfast in a little bit.  Great plan.  I turned on the light, Eloise and Harriet read books and colored.  I proceeded to strip the beds, break down and bundle up the pack 'n' play, get everyone dressed, pack all the suitcases, and wait to hear some other signs of awakening in the rest of the house.

Nothing.

I ducked out of the room for a minute so I could find a clock and figure out what was going on.  The first thing I noticed once downstairs was that it was pitch black out.  Not a good sign.  I rounded the corner of the dining room into the kitchen and focused my eyes on the microwave clock.  Just because there was no way that could have been right, I confirmed the time with 4 other devices.

It was 2:15 a.m.

I hurried back upstairs, now, in a real panic.  I got into the bedroom just in time to see Harriet fall backwards off the bunk bed ladder she had climbed halfway up.  That went about as you might expect.

I announced that it was the middle of the night and we would all be going back to bed.  There would be no more talking or playing and we would just have to go to sleep.  As the words were leaving my mouth, again, in a very polite and loving way, my eyes traveled to the stripped beds and the now nonexistent pack n play.  Dear God.

The phrase, 'caged animals' kept popping into my head.

Eloise climbed back up to the top bunk, I threw her a fitted sheet and a naked pillow and said goodnight.    I told her if we both stopped talking to Harriet she would eventually just fall asleep (I was trying to convince myself). I think Eloise saw the fear and panic in my eyes because she finally, finally quieted down.  I lay down on the floor and Harriet, who had not received the memo about playtime being over, continued to wander around the dark room alternating between singing and crying and yelling.

The next thing I remember was waking up to daylight (!!) in the bottom bunk with no sheet or blanket or pillow.  Was I back in college?   I looked over to find Harriet asleep, face down, on the carpet also with no sleep accessories.

We all made it through the night.  Now, all I had to do was get everyone and everything into the car and embark on a 3 1/2  hour drive to grandma and grandpa's without falling asleep.  That will seem like a piece of cake.

the girls happy in their room on the 1st day of vacation.  

seeing this room again gives me a knot in my stomach.