We arrived and Kate was in heaven. Horses to ride, a cat to pet, and nooks and crannies to explore. We stayed in the city for a few days, went to a baseball game, and then headed to the lakehouse. There she fished a lot, drove the boat, and swam her heart out.
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| Perch Fishing |
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| Swimming with Grandpa |
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| Took Jacob a while but he got used to the lake |
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| Petting the barn cat |
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| General Joy |
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| Signing "tractor" which he did constantly. The horses freaked him out and he constantly asked to see the tractor. |
She made it through the baseball game in good spirits and got to see the Cardinals score 12 runs in one inning (after a run-less game to that point). She was adorable with her Uncle Adam, who she quickly took to (as I think every child automatically does).
I heard a lot about fishing. She fished for perch, nothing we would eat, but would identify fish as a "grown up fish" or a "kid fish" based upon their size. At first I thought she meant the fish itself was a grown up but quickly realized she was claiming which fish she wanted to eat. She is still talking about how to fish, and what she caught, and what Grandma caught, and on and on.
Daytimes were nice.
The nighttimes however... Paul and I averaged about 4-5 hours of sleep a night I would say. My daughter is not adaptable. Anyone who has been reading this blog since her birth knows she is the classic "highly sensitive child." She does not adapt well to change and is plain overwhelmed by her environment a lot of the time. Poor girl gets this from dad and mom both, so she's pretty well cursed. So far, Jacob is anything but. That, however, is another story.
Because of this among other factors, the trip was very hard on her little nervous system. She had almost a night terror a night, and on top of that had multiple tantrums. She slept in the same room as I did and needed me present to fall asleep. She quickly became sleep deprived which made the daytimes a struggle and filled them with tantrums. And, the cycle continues.
Daddy P and I quickly realized we had to leave before we were too tired to drive. We were worn down and exhausted. We decided the best way home was to collapse the two day drive into one. We woke at 3am, loaded up the car, woke the kids at 4am, and headed out. After several stops, and lots of flexibility (not to mention multiple "thank you" prayers for buying a car with a third row to entertain the baby), we arrived home at 6:30pm.
Things are not back to normal. I think we slept about 5 hours last night and maybe a generous 4 the night before. Our home is small and screaming fits of one child quickly wake another. Last night I gave up and just let Jacob sleep on me in my room. The grown-ups are hardly passing muster at this point and are doing our damnedest to find things to keep our hope and spirits up.
Hopefully things will readjust soon. In the meantime, Kate has already printed out pictures of "her horse" and put them on the walls and fridge everywhere.
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