Saturday, February 26, 2011
35/35
Friday, February 25, 2011
First Business Trip to New Brunswick
This past week marked a first in our marriage. In the nearly 5 years we've been married, we'd NEVER spent a single night apart from each other. A lot of people think that's weird or crazy, but that's just the way it is. Anyway, we can no longer make that claim because Nate had to go on a business trip to Saint John, New Brunswick and was gone for 4 days. In case you're not exactly sure where that is, it's on the southern border if you look at the map below:
I've spent the last 6 weeks dreading this trip for several reasons: I'm very near the end of my pregnancy, and if something happened while he was away, he probably wouldn't have been able to make it back in time. Single-parenthood is a lot of work. Trying to get myself and Bridget ready and out the door before 7 am in the mornings was going to be a huge challenge alone. And last but not least - I would miss Nate and the feeling of safety I have when he's home.
We did survive, but I'm so glad it's over with. The days were fine, it was just the nights and getting ready in the morning that were a little rough. Here's the highlights of how it all played out:
DAY 1: Nate left the house at 4:30 am to drive to the airport for his 6am flight. It took him nearly all day to get to his final destination for that night - Bangor, Maine (also pictured on the map above). Bridget and I had a pretty laid back day together because it was President's Day. My awesome friend Emily came over for a play date with her daughter to help cheer me up. Also, Bridget came down with her millionth cold of winter over the weekend, but it wasn't too horrible - yet. I also found out late in the day that I didn't have day care for her the next day because the woman who watches her wasn't going to be able to make it home from her weekend trip in time. If I wasn't completely swamped at work with grading and trying to get my long-term sub plans done, I would have just taken the day off the next day. Thankfully, my friend Emily helped me out and watched my sick child for me.
NIGHT 1: Bridget's cold took a big turn for the worse. Between her nose running like a faucet, a fever, congestion, and the worst cough she's ever had, she was up 3 times in the night. I should also mention that one of those times included having to change her PJs and all of her bedding because she wet the bed for the first time in about 4 months.
DAY 2: We made it out the door on time that morning! I felt like the worst mom ever not being able to stay home with my sick child, but I really appreciated my friend helping me out. I spent the rest of the day taking care of Bridget and resting myself. Nate and his co-worker drove the 3 hours from Bangor to St. John that morning and spent the rest of the day in meetings.
NIGHT 2: This was by far the worst part of the whole 4 days. Her cold continued to get worse, so she wasn't sleeping well at all. Between 2-4am she was up almost constantly, not to mention the other couple of times she was up in the night. I think in total I got maybe 5 hours of sleep (which is not nearly enough for me). And she even woke up for the day by 6:15 (not good).
DAY 3: Even though her cold was horrible, I had no option but to take her to daycare (not that it matters too much considering most of the other kids have colds already). We made it there on time and after I picked her up, we had a pretty lazy day together including naps for both of us. Nate was in Saint John until the afternoon, and then they drove back to Bangor that evening.
NIGHT 3: This night was the best of the three, and she was only up a couple of times for a quick trip to the bathroom, and her cough seemed to finally be a little better. I actually didn't feel exhausted when I woke up that morning.
DAY 4: I could hardly wait for Nate to get home that afternoon. We made it out the door again on time (I was so proud of how well we did with this all 3 days), but it was hard to wake her up that morning because she was so tired. By the time she woke up from her nap that afternoon, Nate was home, and we were both so glad to have him back.
All I have to say about that experience is that I'm grateful for technology and being able to talk to Nate on the web camera every night. I also don't know how single parents do it. I know that there will probably be future business trips, and by then we'll have more than one child. But hopefully, I won't have the stress of working outside of the home to deal with because that would make it a lot easier. By the way, Bridget slept through the night completely Nate's first night back. Grrr...not fair.
I've spent the last 6 weeks dreading this trip for several reasons: I'm very near the end of my pregnancy, and if something happened while he was away, he probably wouldn't have been able to make it back in time. Single-parenthood is a lot of work. Trying to get myself and Bridget ready and out the door before 7 am in the mornings was going to be a huge challenge alone. And last but not least - I would miss Nate and the feeling of safety I have when he's home.We did survive, but I'm so glad it's over with. The days were fine, it was just the nights and getting ready in the morning that were a little rough. Here's the highlights of how it all played out:
DAY 1: Nate left the house at 4:30 am to drive to the airport for his 6am flight. It took him nearly all day to get to his final destination for that night - Bangor, Maine (also pictured on the map above). Bridget and I had a pretty laid back day together because it was President's Day. My awesome friend Emily came over for a play date with her daughter to help cheer me up. Also, Bridget came down with her millionth cold of winter over the weekend, but it wasn't too horrible - yet. I also found out late in the day that I didn't have day care for her the next day because the woman who watches her wasn't going to be able to make it home from her weekend trip in time. If I wasn't completely swamped at work with grading and trying to get my long-term sub plans done, I would have just taken the day off the next day. Thankfully, my friend Emily helped me out and watched my sick child for me.
NIGHT 1: Bridget's cold took a big turn for the worse. Between her nose running like a faucet, a fever, congestion, and the worst cough she's ever had, she was up 3 times in the night. I should also mention that one of those times included having to change her PJs and all of her bedding because she wet the bed for the first time in about 4 months.
DAY 2: We made it out the door on time that morning! I felt like the worst mom ever not being able to stay home with my sick child, but I really appreciated my friend helping me out. I spent the rest of the day taking care of Bridget and resting myself. Nate and his co-worker drove the 3 hours from Bangor to St. John that morning and spent the rest of the day in meetings.
NIGHT 2: This was by far the worst part of the whole 4 days. Her cold continued to get worse, so she wasn't sleeping well at all. Between 2-4am she was up almost constantly, not to mention the other couple of times she was up in the night. I think in total I got maybe 5 hours of sleep (which is not nearly enough for me). And she even woke up for the day by 6:15 (not good).
DAY 3: Even though her cold was horrible, I had no option but to take her to daycare (not that it matters too much considering most of the other kids have colds already). We made it there on time and after I picked her up, we had a pretty lazy day together including naps for both of us. Nate was in Saint John until the afternoon, and then they drove back to Bangor that evening.
NIGHT 3: This night was the best of the three, and she was only up a couple of times for a quick trip to the bathroom, and her cough seemed to finally be a little better. I actually didn't feel exhausted when I woke up that morning.
DAY 4: I could hardly wait for Nate to get home that afternoon. We made it out the door again on time (I was so proud of how well we did with this all 3 days), but it was hard to wake her up that morning because she was so tired. By the time she woke up from her nap that afternoon, Nate was home, and we were both so glad to have him back.
All I have to say about that experience is that I'm grateful for technology and being able to talk to Nate on the web camera every night. I also don't know how single parents do it. I know that there will probably be future business trips, and by then we'll have more than one child. But hopefully, I won't have the stress of working outside of the home to deal with because that would make it a lot easier. By the way, Bridget slept through the night completely Nate's first night back. Grrr...not fair.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Valentine's Day
We've never really been into celebrating Valentine's Day much, but this year I decided it was time to do a little something special because Bridget seemed to show some interest after hearing advertisements and other people talk about it. For several days beforehand, she asked if it was "Valentime's Day" yet, so she was pretty excited when it finally rolled around. When I picked her up from daycare that day, she knew it was here because the woman who watches her had a banner and some decorations up in her house.
So what did we do? Really nothing too exciting, but it was enough for her. We made some delicious chocolate cupcakes and made some chocolate dipped strawberries to go on top (and just to snack on, of course). Then I helped Bridget make a card for Nate.
We surprised him with our treats, and then I made one of his favorite meals for dinner - meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables.
If we hadn't already made heart-shaped sugar cookies a couple of times during the couple of weeks before, I might have continued my mother's Valentine's Day tradition of making individual giant heart-shaped sugar cookies with everyone's name on them. But I needed some variety, so that will have to wait until next year.
So what did we do? Really nothing too exciting, but it was enough for her. We made some delicious chocolate cupcakes and made some chocolate dipped strawberries to go on top (and just to snack on, of course). Then I helped Bridget make a card for Nate.
We surprised him with our treats, and then I made one of his favorite meals for dinner - meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables.If we hadn't already made heart-shaped sugar cookies a couple of times during the couple of weeks before, I might have continued my mother's Valentine's Day tradition of making individual giant heart-shaped sugar cookies with everyone's name on them. But I needed some variety, so that will have to wait until next year.
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