Homesticker
[img_assist|nid=248|title=Our one photo op|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=100|height=67]I just got back from the world’s shortest vacation. It was supposed to be four days at an inn near Keene, New York in the Adirondacks. We were there less than 24 hours.
I hasten to add that it has nothing to do with the Bark Eater Inn itself. It’s a lovely place. The staff were exceedingly kind to us and we felt really bad about leaving the morning after we showed up. With any luck, some day we’ll go back.
This was to be Mallory, my and Irene’s first night away from home since we got back from the hospital with her after her birth in January.
We had already postponed a trip to my dad’s because of a house-related calamity.
We (mostly Irene) had been planning for this trip for weeks.
Cognizant of the need to import familiar elements of home, we brought a dirty pillow case, a blanket and a few other toys.
What we failed to bring was a life-size mural of every wall, floor and ceiling of every room in our house that we could put up before Mallory entered the room.
The pillow case alone might have done it but only if we’d put it over Mallory’s head.
Our normally swivel-headed baby was so excited she couldn’t eat. Every step, every corner turned offered a new vista of sights, sounds and smells. She was so excited, she could barely focus on eating. And sleeping? Well…
Mallory’s distraction issue paled, however, in comparison to her parents’ issues.
Where to pump? How to clean the equipment? How to feed Mallory at night? How to do all this in only one room while the other adult sleeps?
Staff at the inn were very accomodating.
Farm staff were asked to use another entrance to give us privacy around ours. We could use the fridge to store the breast milk, and the sink to wash up. Still, the kitchen was busy and we had to find moments when we wouldn’t inconvenience the staff. Irene had to pump in three different places and lug cleaning equipment back and forth. The pumping routine seemed to take twice as long as usual.
I did appreciate sleeping on a real bed (as opposed to a mattress on the floor) and I did appreciate falling asleep to the sound of crickets.
Of course I did have to go to sleep at 9:30pm because we couldn’t leave Mallory alone in a bed three feet off the floor. I was, in a twisted way, therefore, grateful for the fact that she went to sleep 90 minutes later than normal, otherwise I would have been staring at the ceiling for much longer than I actually was.
Ah well. Between Irene pumping, two feedings and a walk-to-sleep, we were parading in and out of our room all night.
Morning found the three of us exhausted.
We scarfed our breakfast, packed our colossal amount of gear into the car and fled, quite cognizant of the fact that we were going to get all the grief of the long journey, and none (apart from Ben and Jerry’s in Lake Placid) of the good stuff.
See, Mallory’s recently started hating the car and can guarantee us at least 30 minutes of max volume wailing per trip, with general fussiness the rest of the time. Old MacDonald Had a Farm looses its magic after the first 24 renditions. There are only so many farm animals you can add. And it’s about four hours from Ottawa to the Adirondacks.
I think our next trip, though longer, will have an easier destination. We’ll be more at liberty to transform my dad’s place, won’t have to skulk about among “strangers” and will have a better idea of what to expect from Mallory.
I hope. Oh, how I hope.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Chris and Irene (and Mallory):
I feel your collection pains….The wife and I(and son) were finally going to get up to Algonquin this summer….Well, the little miss decided that the first night at the hotel in Huntsville was NOT where she’d sleep…so, after 45 minutes of driving her around(which normally works like a charm) and walking the halls for 30 minutes, until angry glances out the doors told us we weren’t making any friends…we bailed on our trip and headed home, 4 hours away…..so, trips with Babies and Toddlers are a crap-shoot…