What is not to love about good ol’ Valentine’s Day? Ava can’t think of one thing. A holiday where you MUST wear red and pink is a holiday right up her alley.
happy valentine's day

And me? I got exactly what I wanted. I got a roll of quarters. Laundry day again. Yeah. But we really need to start re-wearing our clothes a bit more. I think I’ve spent close to $20 in quarters in 11 days. What is wrong with us?
handing me money for laundry.

Dan finally strung up some Christmas lights to fit in with the rest of the lit up trailers at the Shady Dell. And he set up a chair outside for each one of us too. Funny how Mila has the biggest “chair” nearest to the door. And where are we headed? For a Valentine’s Day treat down the street.
our airstream at the shady dell.

Dot’s Diner. Once again. With my best girls.
still waiting.

Where Ava waited so patiently for her special treat.
waiting at dot's diner.

Ice cream sundaes. Yum.
valentine's day ice cream sundaes.

All high on sugar, we moseyed our way back to our Airstream.
vintage trailers.

Mila needed a nap.
nap time.

And Ava was craving some art time in the sunshine.
our spot at the shady dell.

But today was a rough day for Mila. She has been sleeping worse and worse at night. I swear she woke up at least 8 times last night and refused to sleep longer than 10 minutes during nap time while on the bed. (Hmmmm, maybe I should stop taking pictures of her at nap time!) . Anyways, that makes for one grouchy baby and one sleepy Mama. But lookie here. Dada to the rescue. And who says tough guys can’t wear baby slings? Not me.
dada with the sling. bravo!

Thanks to Dada, I had a second cup of coffee and Ava (still on her sugar high) covered every trailer with a coat of bubbles. Free of charge. Sorry everyone!
bubbles.

And just as she was growing tired of hanging out with us ‘big people’, a friend shows up with her shiny vintage Airstream in tow.
a new friend and airstream at the shady dell.

And Ava couldn’t be any happier. Wait a second! Where is Ava?
where's ava?

Oh there she is!
there she is!

We all headed to a local Mexican food restaurant for dinner and talked about life on the road with our new friends. We also talked about how our littlest ones are not sleeping too well. Mila’s sleep pattern is really doing a number on me at the moment. It is totally my fault. I currently have her sleep in the bed with us instead of in the crib we brought along for her.  So for Valentine’s Day, I got Mila her first sleep training night. Sorry little one. At their bedtime, we normally throw both of the girls on the bed and close the divider so Dan and I can stay up past 8 pm… and then move Ava out to the gaucho later on. But tonight we set up the crib right away. And to block the light, we threw a sheet over part of the crib. Don’t laugh. It totally worked. Yeah, Mila cried for 20 minutes but then guess what? I slept from 2am-7:30am. Straight. And that hasn’t happened in 5+ months.
cry it out baby mila. cry. it. out.

the end,
marlene


6 Comments

Freely Living Life · February 16, 2010 at 6:51 am

We can certainly can relate to children not sleeping through the night. It’s enough to send you to the nut ward. Especially when you have more than one child to deal with the following day. Our oldest did not sleep trough an entire night until a couple months past his first birthday. Honestly, that was one of the hardest things we’ve been put through. Sleepless nights are no fun. Our boys still wake up during the night for a cry. And isn’t it when you always fall into a deep sleep that they decide to let out a yelp? LoL. So *cheers* to you for finally getting our FULL night of sleep 🙂 Here’s hoping for many more. <3

marlene · February 16, 2010 at 7:33 am

Thanks. And our oldest doesn’t like to hear Mila cry. Ava will repeat over and over again that “Mila’s cryiiiiiiiiiing”. That obvious statement with the crying with the sleepless night is enough to send me to the nut ward for sure! Lol.

Lani · February 16, 2010 at 10:58 am

I’m really enjoying your updates! Sounds like things are going well. Is traveling with an infant difficult? I seem to be getting mixed feedback from those around me. Some say I need to stop what I am doing and buy a house immediately while others assure me that babies are small and I will do just fine in my Airstream with an infant. Thoughts?

Safe travels!!

marlene · February 16, 2010 at 10:02 pm

Hi Lani!

I personally feel that having an infant on the road is just fine. Sure it takes work but it is well worth it. Mila does great while we are set-up at a campsite. She just goes with the flow… as does our 3 year old. But the hardest parts for us are the travel days. We REALLY have to plan our departures just right. If we have a 2 hour drive, then we drive at nap time. And if we need to drive a bit longer, then we take long breaks or just drive at night. It is a little more of an adjustment from what we were used to but it’s not a big deal. It is just different… and part of the adventure.

Are you staying in the south for a while? We would love to meet up.

Lani · February 17, 2010 at 7:31 am

Thanks for the reply. I’ve got a lot to learn! But, you’re right…it’s part of the adventure.

We are staying in the south until mid-April. We are definitely staying in Florida through February and not sure where we will head in March…will have to check out the weather to help us decide. We will need to be in Atlanta in early April. After that, I think we are headed north to New England to settle for a few months while we await the arrival of our new addition.

That would be great if we could meet up!

Mali Mish - An Airstream Travel Blog. » Blog Archive » Day 25: En route to Galveston, Texas. · March 1, 2010 at 9:11 pm

[…] have been traveling with them since Valentines day and could not believe from here on out, we are going to be on our own. It definitely has been a […]

Leave a Reply