Seasoned Travelers

Yesterday Paul, Charlotte and I got home from our 5 day trip to visit Paul's parents up in Northport Washington. If you've never heard of it, you're normal. It's literally a 3 block strip of buildings on a highway you probably wouldn't be on unless you're going to Northport or a town you've also never heard of in Canada.

The time leading up to our trip ended up being far more eventful than I had expected. My Oma died Saturday night which led to a week of making arrangements for her funeral. I wasn't too involved in all of this other than having to learn some hymns to sing for it, but it still felt like I had lots to do. Still, I managed to get all three of us packed so we could catch our flight the next morning.

I learned quite a bit in traveling with our baby. First, Southwest has a customer for life. They were very accommodating and even made a copy of Charlotte's boarding pass for her baby book. They also let us take her carseat on the plane both ways (something you usually have to pay for) for no extra charge.

Having the space to ourselves in the loft was extremely nice. Right now our living situation is one where we have no option but to have Charlotte sleep in the same room with us. This makes sleep training virtually impossible. After one night of fussing, Charlotte slept nearly the entire night in her own room the rest of the time we were there. She also napped longer during the day. It was delightful. It was also blissful to have Paul around to take on some of the parenting duties. He changed her and put her down for her naps most of the time during the day.

I took two things away from this.

First, we need a home of our own asap. Charlotte's new favorite activity is to pull herself up and stand on her own. We don't have a crib that fits in our tiny bedroom and is deep enough to keep her from toppling over the railing. She also doesn't sleep as long knowing mom is a few feet away. It was so nice having a space of our own and having her things in her room. I miss it even now as I sit in my bed trying to keep my computer out of her reach as I type. Her reach that shouldn't even be an issue because she should be asleep in her crib in her own room right now rather than wriggling all over my bed at 11pm.

Second, Paul needs another job. I'm grateful that he has a job that provides him with a minimum of 40 work hours, decent pay, good benefits and vacation time. I am not grateful for the mandatory overtime that takes away his weekends and nearly any time he could spend with Charlotte during the week, the graveyard shift that has me dealing with Charlotte alone at night and has him sleeping during they day leaving him barely functional when he is awake, and his never being able to take his vacation time when he wants it. Having him present and awake was a reminder of the kind of dad he could be if he was able to be home after a solid night's sleep and of how much easier parenting is when you don't have to do it by yourself all of the time.

Okay, so perhaps I already knew that I wanted our own house and for Paul to have a day job that didn't require him to work 50+hour work weeks, but getting a glimpse of what that might be like made me want it more. Perhaps having a taste of what we're working for will be what we need to get things moving!