More Coffee? Please?

Gaaaahhhh. You know what two things don't go well together? Buster and a hotel. There are simply too many things to smell and hear, and there is that small bundle of cuteness we call Charles that needs protecting. I think it might take this whole week to recover from our Thanksgiving trip.

It all started out well... we left fairly early on Wednesday, and only had stop-and-go traffic from Federal Way through Olympia, so that was a bonus. Charles only got really cranky about being stuck in the car at about South Bend, so that equalled only about 45 minutes of screaming for us. This, if you have never made a long car trip with a boisterous, ebullient, vocal toddler with lots of personality, is really not so bad. We have made that trip before when Charles was inconsolable the entire time. It is a common statement in our household that we don't know how we ended up with such an outgoing child (ha! You know, because Tony and I are so introverted). We know lots of kids, and all of them are wonderful and have "personality," but Charles is just so big in every way. I gather that most children have periods during the day when they are not going at top speed and are still awake. Charles, however, has two speeds: On and Off. He is either happy as can be, screeching and babbling and moving as fast as his chubby little legs will take him, hugging and slobbering over everything, careening around corners and chasing the dog, or he is crying, fussing, squirming and so cranky that he bites, bites, bites everything and everyone in his path in a red-faced rage until he is asleep. And then? Dead to the world for two hours or overnight. Buster in a hotel room barking at other guests as they walked the halls outside our room or above us? Charles didn't even stir.

So, with the coming of more teeth (it had better be a whole mouth full for what it has cost us in sanity this time), Charles has a cold and didn't sleep too well at Grandma's house, waking us up at 3 and staying awake for an hour or two all three nights. We figure this is as much from the teething pain as it is from waking up in unfamiliar surroundings. Normally, Charles puts himself back to sleep in the middle of the night (if he even wakes at all, which he rarely does anymore) with five minutes or less of crying. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, was a shriekfest of epic proportions.

Overall, though, we had great fun during the days, relaxing with our folks and the dogs and stuffing ourselves with good food. We even had a relatively nice drive to Sequim and then a wonderful day at Aunt Lynda's with the whole family, eating another fabulous meal. But then! Then, Buster had HAD IT by about 2:30 am in the hotel room. He paced and whined and paced and whined. He went out with us FIVE TIMES. We finally locked him in the car at 5 am, which, of course, coincided exactly with Charles waking up. And refusing to go back to sleep. At 6:30 we decided to head home, skipping breakfast with the family and making an early ferry. I am glad we did, as I slept on the way and Tony consumed large quantities of coffee and we made it home by 11 am. Tony crashed last night at 7 pm and I was able to stay awake and bathe Charles and put him to bed. We truly would not have made it home if we had left later.

So anyhow, there's our Thanksgiving saga. I truly hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and that you slept better than we did.