This past month has been interesting. Here's a lowdown of what's been happening.
CruiseI was quite looking forward to the cruise. We visited New England and Eastern Canada. Specifically, Boston, Portland (Maine), Halifax, Charlottetown, Quebec City, Sidney (NS), St John (NB). We started and ended in New Jersey, with a quick stop into New York City for a few hours before heading back home.
Eating. Well, the day we left Vancouver to drive down to Seattle was the day BabyL decided to have teething issues. By that I mean his gums were so sore that he refused to suck. Period. He wouldn't suck on the boob, he wouldn't suck on the bottle and he wouldn't even suck his own finger. We ended up spoon feeding him breast milk, formula and solids. I think once or twice we even use a medical syringe. I was so stressed that this was going to go on for the rest of the vacation, that I wanted to cry. Fortunately, this only happened for two days. BabyL either got used to the pain or it had lessened, but he started sucking again.
Sleep. The plan was to keep BabyL on PST even though we were in EST/Atlantic time, because I'd realized that once BabyL went to bed, we had to go to bed. Sleep went into the toilet because BabyL was in a strange environment, and despite the fact that I tried to keep the same routine, it wasn't enough for him. For the entire trip, someone had to hold him to sleep, so Hubby and I didn't get as much sleep as we wanted to. My mom offered to switch rooms with us one night, and even though I ended up sleeping on a crappier bed, I had the best sleep during the whole trip that night.
Bingo. About the third or fourth day, I played bingo. And won the big prize. Normally when they play bingo, they allow all players to check their cards against the numbers, and not take the first person who yells bingo, so sometimes there are more than one bingo winner per game. Well, this time, we couldn't share the big prize, so we had to play a tie-breaker game between the five winners. You cannot believe the shock I felt when I was the only one standing. And the prize: a free upgrade to one of the Royal Suites on the ship (it's the second largest stateroom on the ship). So we went from a 200+ sq ft room to a 700+ sq ft room, with a separate large bedroom, walk-in closet, large bathroom with jacuzzi tub, living area, dining area, a balcony with yet another hot tub and a butler! Whoo hoo! However, as much as we enjoyed the suite, it really helped us out with the sleep situation. We could put BabyL down for naps or for bedtime, and still allowed us to move around the suite without waking him up.
Fame!Although there were a few people on board under the age of 18, BabyL apparently was the only baby on board, so it's safe to say that
EVERYONE noticed him, particularly since he's so cute! We had people come up to us to pinch his cheeks or play with him. Both crew and passengers alike recognized him. They only recognized us as "the family with the baby who one the Royal Suite at bingo" because I was asked a few times how the suite was. It was a constant "Hello Baby!" or "Hey BabyL!" from everyone. BabyL certainly loved the attention!
All in all, despite all that, and the semi-crappy weather we had in a few of the cities, we had a pretty good time. I swear that BabyL grew an inch during the trip, even one of the passengers who sat next at the table next to us at dinner commented on it. I can tell you though, I was never happier sleeping in my own bed, and BabyL didn't have any problems falling asleep on his own like I feared once we got back home. He also has a tooth to show for his teething pains too!
IllnessUnfortunately, after we got home, I got sick. I had some GI thing, and an ear infection. Both Hubby and I had a bit of a cold during our trip. Hubby was allowed to take drugs. I couldn't take drugs, except for regular Tylenol, because I was breastfeeding, so I was left to suffer. My ear infection was probably from the cold. It took close to a week for it to clear. In the meantime, I had to contend with puking, feeling rotten and having the room constantly spin.
While this was happening, life kept marching on outside of my little bubble I was apparently living in. We came back to news that they had already started H1N1 vaccinations. I was bombarded with news of ever shifting priority lists, and 3 hour waits at clinics. It took me a few days before I had gotten myself together enough to call BabyL's doctor; apparently he didn't have enough vaccines, so that meant I had to go to a clinic. I was prepared for the worst, but apparently, the big rush happened the first couple of days. We were in and out within 45 mins. I'm just glad that BabyL never got sick amidst all this craziness and people constantly touching him, I don't know how I would have handled a sick baby.
Life marches on...
