Greg and I are avid campers. Or should I say were. B.C. That stands for Before Children. We own 3 tents, lanterns, percolating coffee maker, ultra-plush mummy bags good to 0*F and all the other paraphernalia that camping entails. We did plenty when we were first married, as well as many years of it in our single days. Well, I have to admit that I've had a bad habit for going camping and then pretending to sleep in the morning until I could hear coffee bubbling and bacon frying. I mean, who wants to get out of their warm sleeping bag to start a fire at the crack of dawn. My rule was "I'll go camping as long as I don't have to get up first in the morning". With the sun up and birds chirping as early as they do in the Alberta summer, you have to fake sleep for a while if you want to not get up first.
Since having children, we've had one disaster after another, starting with camping in AZ when L was a baby. Being an Arizona baby, he had few warm clothes (well, 1 warm clothing item, to clarify), and one hat. We went camping in northern AZ, and got up there, and it was getting chilly in the evening. I changed L into his 1 warm outfit, only to have him have a major diaper blowout minutes later. Hmm. Nothing else warm. Well, we layered his other stuff, but then I was concerned that he'd be cold all night since the 1 hat he owned was too small. I neglected to check that before we left too. So, as a new mom, I was up most of the night worried about this little guy, and was pretty tired by morning. (we sleep on an airbed, which is not a good choice for people with children, so I couldn't bring him in bed with us to stay warm, as the bed tends to get canyons in it that are impossible for babies to get out of safely) Oh, and did I mention that we were all loaded up in our 4 Runner ready to go, only to have it not run, so we had to unload everything into our other 4 Runner and then Greg and my brother had the joy of fixing the car when we got home. The only good part of the trip was that I had Greg and my brother watch L in the morning so I could get a couple hours of sleep, and they rigged up his carseat with some rope between 2 trees and made a wonderful swing for him. Necessity is the mother of invention they say.
The other times we've camped, we've had kids wake up many times a night because they would hit the side of the tent and the crinkling has woken them up. We had a toddler get dehydrated => crying all night because he was constipated, diaper leakage (again) with a whole wet bed to change...the list goes on.
But, I'm not willing to give up yet. Baby E sleeps quite well at night, so I asked my sweetie if he'd be willing to try camping again. He agreed, so we set up the tent in the back yard. Last weekend we had a very successful night sleeping out there, and last night was a success again. The kids wake up pretty early, since it gets light so early, but then take longer naps, so that is fine. We all feel refreshed from the fresh air, and then come in the house as needed. I'm hoping we can keep this up, and maybe someday even venture further than the driveway. Oh, the dreams...
