Don't.
Just kidding.
But it is quite a challenge!
We traveled to Columbia and St. Louis over the holidays. We started by going to Columbia on the Friday afternoon before Christmas. It took me a full two days prior to make lists of what to bring and then to pack everything and finally put it in the car. Babies need a ton of crap! I feel like I tried to pack pretty lightly and I still ended up with an entire carload worth of stuff.
The packing was only the beginning. Once the car was packed up, we had to actually do the traveling part. Thankfully, we didn't run into any traffic along the way to Columbia and Archer and Lyla slept the entire time. Adam and I were feeling pretty confident a this point.
Once we got to Columbia, we went out to dinner. The babies did well at dinner, though they wanted to be held the whole time. Luckily, my parents and my brother were there to take turns holding them. They behaved even though we were out past their bedtime. They even stayed up long enough for baths when we got back to my parents' house. Once again, Adam and I were feeling pretty good about how things were going.
The babies did pretty well sleeping that evening and the following morning we had our first Christmas of the weekend with my parents and brother. The babies did a nice job and still managed to take a nap that morning. They were fun to be around and enjoyed looking at the new surroundings. Look at how happy my mom is with her grandbabies!
The next challenge was to pack up all the stuff I had spread out all over my parents' house so we could take it with us to St. Louis. Thankfully there were extra hands to feed and entertain Archer and Lyla so Adam and I could gather all our crap and get it into the car. Once again, the babies did beautifully and slept the entire way to St. Louis.
Once we were in St. Louis, we visited with family and ate dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. This was once again, past Archer and Lyla's bedtime and they did pretty good. They both had to be passed around and walked around to keep from screaming, but there were enough hands to keep them occupied. They stayed up to take showers with Adam that evening. Archer loved it, while Lyla wasn't as big of a fan of the water in her face.
They slept in the same room as Adam and I that night. We were reminded of why we booted them out of our room. They were noisy little sleepers! I felt like I had to be super quiet and pretty much tried to sleep in the same position all night so my moving around wouldn't wake them up. They did a pretty good job and we all managed to get some sleep.
The next day was Christmas Eve. We hung out at my Grandpa's house and eventually got ready to go to mass. Once again, Archer and Lyla surprised us by behaving during mass. I thought there was no way they'd last more than five minutes. Lyla managed to sleep the whole time, while I only had to take Archer out for a couple minutes when he got fussy. It was a Christmas miracle they made it through mass!
After mass, all of my dad's side of the family gathered at my Grandpa's for our second Christmas. The babies did a good job until they got too tired. Then they lost their shit. They both seemed to blow up at the same time. I was upstairs with my mom and the babies while Adam was downstairs with the rest of the family. I tried to get their pajamas on them while they were flipping out and feed them their final bottles of the evening. Thankfully Adam came up to help and my mom was around to help too. It was stressful and I felt bad for my babies. It was clear all the people and activity was just too much for them and they had had enough. Eventually they both went to bed and I could take a breath.
I didn't really get to talk with my family as much as I had wanted to and I was too tired to stay up and play cards with the few family members that lingered after the festivities. It was definitely a far cry from last Christmas! Last Christmas we had just found out we were pregnant and so wanted to spill the beans, but decided to keep things quiet until further along in the pregnancy. While it was stressful and crazy, I was so incredibly grateful that Archer and Lyla were a part of this Christmas.
The following morning was Christmas morning. I woke up to Archer crying around 4 in the morning. I fed him his bottle and put him back to sleep. I then got my pump out so I could pump since I had been exclusively pumping and bottle-feeding Archer for a couple of months now. I plugged in the pump, turned it on and then nothing happened. I sat there for a moment trying to figure out what my next move should be. I had to pump. My boobs were about the burst since I hadn't pumped since the night before. I decided to see if Archer would nurse. So I woke him up and stuck him to my boob. He was not having it. I don't know if he just wasn't hungry or didn't remember what to do, but he was no help to me. Thanks a lot, Archer.
So then I remembered hearing about hand expression during one of the breastfeeding support groups I attended. I Googled how to do it on my phone and tried it out. I squeezed my boobs for a good 5 minutes and only ended up with a few dribbles of milk. Clearly that was not the answer.
I was starting to panic a bit at this point. I didn't want to end up with mastitis from going too long without pumping. It was 5 o'clock in the morning on Christmas day, so it wasn't like I could just go to Target and buy a new plug for my pump. I thought about waking up Adam or my mom and asking them for help, but I rationalized they wouldn't know what to do anymore than I would. That's when I remembered the breastfeeding support group page I was a member of on Facebook. I posted about my dilemma and asked for help or ideas. I was blown away by the kind mothers who offered me a pump to borrow. Unfortunately I was out of town. One of the mothers suggested getting a hand pump at Walgreens. As much as I disapprove of making people work on holidays, I was so incredibly thankful that Walgreens was open on Christmas! So at 7 o'clock in the morning I, along with my very full boobs, was the first customer in the door. I got back to my grandpa's house and was pleased to find that the hand pump actually worked. Not quite as well or quite as fast as my electric pump, but it got the job done. I didn't have to worry about getting mastitis or my supply decreasing too much.
Christmas day involved packing up all of our crap once again and driving back to Columbia for our third Christmas with my mom's side of the family. The kids slept the whole way once again. When we got to my parents house to regroup before going to my grandma's, we noticed Lyla was soaking wet. We weren't sure if she got too hot from the blanket and car seat cover we had on her or what. So we changed her outfit and headed over to my Grandma's. When we got there, once again, Lyla was soaking wet. Adam figured out that she must have thrown up. Of course I didn't pack any extra clothes in the diaper bag. I left all of their extra clothes at my parents' house. So Adam kindly offered to go get her another outfit. I wrapped her up in a blanket in the meantime. Luckily she didn't act like she felt bad and was actually quite cheery.
Both babies slept through our meal, so Adam and I had both hands to use while eating. When they woke up from their naps, Lyla promptly threw up all over the kitchen floor. Luckily the meal was over. We were definitely sure she had thrown up and not just spit up a bunch. The poor girl emptied everything in her belly. I forget exactly the order of things, but she also ended up getting poop on my jeans as well as throw up on my shirt. I ended the evening wearing some of my grandma's pajamas. We took our sick girl and sleepy boy back to my parents' house for the night. Adam had to completely disassemble Lyla's car seat and wash it all out since it was covered in throw up. Ah, the joys of parenthood.
The next morning we packed up all our crap, yet again, and headed home. Our car looked a little something like this:
Believe it or not, there are actually two babies back there among all that stuff.
We finally made it home and Adam's mom was kind enough to be there when we got home so she could help with the babies while Adam and I attempted to put away the carload worth of stuff. As I was running around doing laundry and putting things away, I started feeling a bit queasy. I bet you can see where this is going. Yep, I ended up with the same stomach bug as Lyla. It also hit Archer before the evening was over. There was one point where I was sitting in the hallway because I was too dizzy and weak to get up holding Archer who was covered in throw up. Fun times. The only thing worse than being sick is your kids being sick.
Thankfully Adam didn't get hit with the full-blown stomach bug that the rest of us did. He didn't feel great, but he was well enough to manage the babies while I tried to sleep. Dad really stepped up!
The next day I was feeling better, but both babies were not quite well. There was still lots of outfit changes and full bottles of breast milk I had to dump down the sink because Archer had no appetite. That hurt! And our house was a complete wreck! We hadn't managed to put away all the stuff we had in our car and all the household chores took a backseat while everyone was sick. If you know me, you know how this scene made my blood pressure rise.
Since I was sick and all I had was my hand pump, my milk supply plummeted. Eventually I called the company I got my breast pump from and they sent me a new power cord. Thankfully that was all my pump needed to function again, but I still wasn't getting much milk. So I called a lactation consultant and she recommended pumping every two to three hours! This sucked. I had gotten it down to pumping only 4 times during the day and not at night. Now I had to pump every 2-3 hours around the clock. Luckily my mom had come into town a few days later and helped with the babies while I pumped. I'm still pumping about every 4 hours, but my milk supply has gone back up. While I hate pumping, I'm glad I'm able to do so for Archer's sake. Though I'm kinda bummed my breast milk didn't prevent Archer from getting sick like I assumed it would.
I'm exhausted just writing this post! Our travels around Christmas and the aftermath were a lot of work. I don't think I really relaxed at all or really enjoyed myself all that much. I was constantly thinking about what event was next and what I needed to pack/prepare/do in preparation for it. It was a lot of activity for my babies who are used to a calm routine with me during the days. However, it was all worth it to see my babies with all of my family. To watch my grandpa hold his great grandson Archer definitely brought a little happy tear or two to my eyes.
Seeing my brother interact with my babies was also incredibly sweet. We asked him if he would be Archer and Lyla's legal guardian in case something should happen to us. We told him to think about it before he gave us an answer. He texted me a day after Christmas with this response, "I accept your legal guardian offer even though those kids might've given me the flu. You should ideally hold off on dying until they are as least potty trained." Ever the joker. It turned out that the stomach bug that started with Lyla hit not only Archer and me, but my parents, my brother, Gruncle (my uncle, Archer and Lyla's great uncle) and Adam's mom. Lyla is quite skilled at sharing.
Maybe next year we'll stay home. :)
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