Although we got off to a late start, our bed and breakfast has officially opened for the season. Last weekend we welcomed our first guests, our friends Liz and Andy. They drove up from Atlanta with their boys who are two-years and eight weeks. Yup, they traveled with an eight-week-old baby. As my boss said, "They're as crazy as you! Traveling with ones that little..." and then she shook her head. Perhaps that's why we've been friends so long - mutual insanity!
To an outside observer, the weekend was probably utter chaos given that the petite princess was the oldest of the five children in the house. But honestly, it was the best weekend Jeff and I have had in a long time. Definitely the best weekend since the boys have been born. (We've had good moments, but never a good weekend.) We mostly just kicked back and had a great time.
On Saturday at R's request (i.e. demand), we put the kiddie pool in the backyard. She and their oldest had a great time that morning splashing and running around. It turns out that he likes pouring water from one container to another as much as she does, so they were content for quite a long time with just some old yogurt containers, measuring cups, and random plastic containers from the hospital. After his morning nap, M wanted in on the fun, so he and I even joined them in our massive, 4' diameter pool for awhile. I haven't seen the pictures yet (I'm kinda scared) but I'm sure we looked pretty hilarious all scrunched into that little pool.
The kids actually all took afternoon naps, and even I was even able to sleep awhile. It was heavenly. We were able to make fajitas for dinner before we started the group's bedtime madness. It's all hazy now, but I think we were even able to enjoy some grown up time with just their itty-bitty before passing out for the night.
On Sunday, we had a Big Adventure. We took everyone to the beach. All of us. Although we lacked baby beach supplies, they came armed with a giant beach tent that provided shelter on three sides, and we were able to pop all three babies in there. They all played in there, mostly happily, the whole time we there. Jeff and I were as delighted as our boys to discover that they sit really well in the sand, so we kinda scooped out spots for them. L especially sat and played almost the whole time.
Meanwhile the big ones were in the water. They couldn't get enough. At one point, Jeff was off swimming, and we had all the kids up near the tent. I was busy with a baby and realized I hadn't heard from R in awhile. That's when I looked up and saw her - she was a good 50 yards away and getting dangerously close to the water. Apparently she as going to head right on in by herself. I took off running and reached her just before she got there. She didn't seem phased...perhaps she has become a bit too independent!
With all the adults in the house, we were actually able to cook again on Sunday night (real food two days in a row!) and had a fabulous lasagna dinner. For the night, R was no longer eating any of the components of the meal, but these things happen. The rest of it enjoyed it.
After dinner, we watched the movie Cars, which is their little boy's favorite movie of all time. R had never seen it, and in typical fashion, she asked a million questions. At one point, Andy gave up and just began narrating the movie. This was good. Unfortunately, by this time I was exhausted (I had only slept 3-4 hours Saturday night) and not a lot of fun, but as Jeff said, "I'm so used to it, I didn't notice anything was different."
The biggest reason for my grumpy mama bear behavior is that L has not been sleeping. At all. He has been getting up to check on things a lot, sometimes once an hour. So we decided this had to end. We flirted with the cry-it-out method, but I just couldn't get into it. It just feels so wrong. And it didn't seem to work with him. Where we used it (reluctantly on my part) with his two siblings, and they did fine, L prefers to scream until he vomits. No kidding. So our newest strategy is from a book called The No Cry Sleep Solution. No word yet on its effectiveness, but at least we are trying.
And we need our sleep. Not only to function, but so we can actually enjoy all the guests at our crazy little hotel this fall. In the next two months, we will be visited by my parents, Jeff's parents, and Alex and Reiko. Crazy times!
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