Today, after a morning of play and carousel riding, we made the trek home from my parents house to ours. Its about a three hour drive, pretty manageable nowadays! We left right before nap, and didn't have to stop once. A bit of holiday traffic, but not tons. Whew!
While we were on the road, I remembered and recounted the hellish hellish trip from hell I made down there by myself a few summers ago, with two tiny infants about 2.5 months old, a toddler, and a carsick (puking) dog. Thanks to various mishaps and TONS of traffic -- thanks in part to a roadside wildfire -- that trip took 7 hours (!) instead of 3. The babies needed to nurse every hour or two and cried non-stop, I ran out of food for Emma and had to figure out how to buy dinner (a drive-through) and feed everybody (at a local park, by myself, with a two year old, two babies who needed to nurse and/or be lugged around in infant carseats, and a crazy dog who barked non-stop and couldn't be left in the car because it was a HOT HOT day). OMG, pretty much any car trip since then has compared favorably. Which I guess is good!
Anyway, the return to our frigid house today was enthusiastically embraced by the kids. While they LOVE Grandma and Grandpa's house, the return to their familiar spaces and belongings is very satisfying for them. Emma in particular is pretty thrown by changes in routines and she was pretty giddy with being home, saying how much she loved our house and our toys and our living room and our kitchen. Aw.
We left the house last Tuesday in the middle of a cold snap/snow storm, and turned the heat down a little too much, I think, because it was COLD in here and is still not up to temp 4 hours later. We immediately started a fire in the fireplace, though, and after tidying and cleaning up the disaster of a house that we left, it's feeling really cosy and comfortable again.
As a sidenote, I've decided it is impossible for us to leave the house in decent shape when heading out on a trip -- the sheer amount of work and it takes to get us out of here means both adults (if we are both going) are consumed with packing and prep work, leaving the kids to their own devises for long periods of time. I was WAY more prepared and organized this time than previous trips, but there is still so much stuff to do before we head out! It's nuts!
One trip-related issue that is worrying me somewhat is that I'm fairly certain we left the baby monitor charger at my parents (!), which means some time tonight, we are going to be WITHOUT A MONITOR! I realize my girls are 2.5 years old and no longer babies, that they sleep on the same floor as us, fairly close and could, in theory, come find us if they need us since they are no longer in cribs, but yeeps! I am very monitor-dependent, partly because they still wakeup in the night, and with twins sharing a room I like to get there before they make a big fuss and wake the other. And, I think they are more reassured and easily soothed back to sleep if I come to them promptly.
There is also the fact that we have worked and worked with them to stay in bed at night; that we will come to them if they need us. This has worked well for us -- while it is a pain for me to have to get up and go to them, sometimes multiple times a night (less now than a year or two ago, at least!!!), I feel better about them staying put and not roaming the house or risking them constantly coming to our room in the night. But, will I hear them in the night without the monitor? Will they wake up each other, or Emma in the next room over? I realize at some point you ditch the monitor, but when? We did it with Emma around this age I think, or maybe a tinge later, but she was reliably sleeping through the night and E & D are not yet. And, her room is a smidge closer to ours, and I feel like I can hear her a lot better.
So. Wish us luck tonight! What are your thoughts on baby monitors -- do you use them with your kids? When did you or will you stop, do you think? Inquiring minds want to know!
