Last updated on November 28th, 2023 at 06:40 pm
“Imagine if you can, a fussing baby awake at three in the morning. Same routine as always…pick baby up, change baby, feed baby and put baby back to sleep…right? Sounds easy enough. Now imagine that you are camping in the middle of nowhere. Still sound easy? Let me walk you through it.
It’s dark and the great idea I had to make the rear of my SUV the baby station now seems…. moronic. But I know that if I don’t get my fussy baby boy comfortable and fed he is going to wake up the his peacefully sleeping twin sister. I’m not about to let that happen!
So I desperately try to exit the tent with my one free hand while holding a baby who is throwing a fit. And the zipper is stuck! Great! (Insert choice words here) I look around in the dark… did I mention it was dark… for somewhere to put my baby down long enough for me to wrestle with a stubborn zipper. (The nifty lantern that we bought for just such an occasion is sitting happily outside on the picnic table.)
So….I strain my eyes…is that lump the bouncer? Yes! So I sit him down in bouncer and strap him in; because who knows how long this procedure is going to take. At this point he is quite loud in his protest. My husband as well as the rest of camp are still sleeping quite soundly…grrrr…BUT…at least my baby girl is still sleeping.
I shall retaliate tomorrow for the entire injustice of it all! I finally give the zipper a good yank, the rasp of the zipper sounds like a jet plane flying into the tent. I give a quick peek around to see if anyone is disturbed aaannnddd…nope. Whew! At last I am free! Now I grab now my practically screaming baby boy and try to re-zip the zipper to keep mosquito’s the size of condors out!
I then make my way in the dark, with a squalling baby to the fabulous baby station in the back of my SUV (that for some ungodly reason was parked across the camp.) I lift the hatch… the hatch that hasn’t quite learned that it is supposed to stay up if I tell it to do so; so I prop up the hatch door with a boat paddle; don’t ask where I found one at 3:00 A.M.!
I swear to the camping God’s that I will NEVER… EVER… DO THIS AGAIN! I quickly and efficiently change my mad as a hornet baby boy (this I CAN do in the dark) and I fix a quick bottle. As there is no light anywhere else at the campsite I pull up a lawn chair under precariously held hatch and proceed with a feeding. My little boy quickly and efficiently consumes his bottle then sullenly goes back to sleep.
I tip toe back to tent and unzip the zipper, surprisingly it unzips smoothly, and sneak my sleeping baby boy back into his cabana. (:::sigh:::) I try to lay down quietly on the vinyl the air mattress but this is next to impossible. I get some what comfortable and slowly allow my body to relax. Ahhhhhh…sleep. Well sort of… there seems to be a snoring contest between my husband and his sister in the tent over. They are in perfect tandem and annoying harmony. But I have not been married to a man that snores for 16 years with out learning how to tune that out. Sleeeeeeeep. Oh, but the night is young! Next my baby girl wakes up in a screaming fit. This is not her hungry cry, it’s her scared cry. I lumber out of a now nearly flat air mattress and pick her up and “shhh” and sway her back to sleep. This doesn’t take that long and finally around 4:30 a.m. I am back asleep. Bliss.
Enter 5:00 a.m. with, “Psssttt…..hey…you going fishin’ this morning?” This is from my brother-in-law and directed to my husband that I am convinced is in a coma. But to my shock hubby miraculously bolts up with… “Yeah!” Murder and mayhem dance in my head as I consider all the possible ways to hide bodies in the middle of nowhere.
Bright and early 7:00 a.m. rolls around and my babies are up and ready to start their day. Clearly they slept fine last night. Both are smiling, wiggling, giggling and so sweet I can’t possibly stay in a bad mood. As I watch them play I realize… sleep is over rated anyway. This is what life is all about. I have overcome tremendous obstacles and conquered small mountains in the small span of one night. I can laugh at myself in the face of great adversity. Camp life is good. With a bigger tent…and more flashlights…and copious amounts of bug spray…and…okay…I admit…sleep.
Thank you Deanna for sharing your camping experience. So glad that you can look back with a positive attitude and realize that the obstacles we face make us stronger and it’s all worth it for the smiling faces of our precious children.
Deanna Burkett (Twiniversity Pinterest and Forums Manager) is multi-tasking mama of two year old boy/girl twins and teens and a wife of 19 years to a very patient husband. On any given day you can find her pinning her heart away at Twiniversity’s Pinterest page, saying howdy to a new member of Twiniversity’s Message Board, working on school work while she earns her double degree of History and English at Ashford University, catering to her teenagers every beck and call or chasing one or two naked babies around the house! Look for her on Facebook, & Twitter!
