Enjoying the Outdoors with a Toddler

Those of you that know me, know that I am an avid outdoors-woman.  Camping, mountain biking adventures through the Rockies, hiking, water-skiing, etc.

But something happened in May 2011.  I had a little burrito.  And my life (and my lifestyle) instantly changed.

My experience has been this: Years ago, I thought, "I will not give in to the demands of a child and put my outdoor lifestyle on hold."  That has not turned out to be true.  Weston and I went camping last month out in Utah with my sister, and yes, it was challenging.  First of all, he did not want to fall asleep, and when he finally did, he did not sleep soundly nor long enough.  It wasn't a disaster, but it was a good reminder that neither he nor I were accustomed to sleeping in a tent with each other.

I imagine that had Nate and I taken Weston camping frequently throughout the past 15 months, then perhaps it would have been a little easier.  I have read that people say it's not that bad camping with a baby, as long as they're not crawling or walking yet.  Then after about age 3 or so, it gets easier to camp as they're able to understand adult directions and consequences.  So it seems that there's a window of a couple of years where it's fairly difficult to camp with a child.

We're currently in that window.  Weston wanted absolutely nothing to do with lying down for bedtime while in the tent.  It was much more exciting to run around and push on the sides of the tent and bounce back onto the squishy sleeping bags and air mattress.  I tried doing all the normal bedtime routines, like reading a story to calm down a bit.  Forget it--the zippers on the tent are A.MAZ.ING!

A couple of weeks ago, we took a little family vacation to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky to meet up with my dear friend from college and her hubby.  They were going to camp and wanted to know if we wanted to share their site with them.  I instantly flashed back to how sleep deprived I was on Friday morning after our camping experience in Utah.  I checked the weather--in the low 90s with 80-90% humidity.  How would he nap in that?

I googled "camping with toddler" and read a comment from someone about how our ancestors lived in the wilderness and so there should be no reason as to why we can't take our children camping.  I'm all for that, buddy, but our ancestors also didn't have tents set up in the blazing sunshine, and they had innovative ways to deal with the elements that may or may not be available to us (like sleeping under a rock overhang to keep cool at night).

So, I made the decision to rent a tiny cabin for two nights that had A/C and a bathroom.  It was still crazy trying to figure out how Weston was going to sleep in a one room place...we ended up setting up the pack and play in the bathroom, but realized that we couldn't close the door, so Nate took the shower curtain off the shower and hung it in the doorway to block out sound and light.  It worked quite well.  And I slept well both nights!

Weston's helping Kenton pack the Ninja cooler for our hike

Where'd it go?

Leah and I taking a break from carrying our children...

At Creation Falls

What the What??!? Happy 1st Birthday!

Height: 32 in (96th percentile)
Weight: 21 lbs. 8 oz (30th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47 cm (70th percentile)

It's funny to think that a year ago Weston wasn't much more than a newborn pile, barely able to hold his head up.  Now he walks around everywhere, says "nana" for banana, and can shove a toothbrush into his mouth when I ask him to brush his teeth.

Cooking a birthday breakfast

Washing his face in a puddle

We went out to dinner to Weston's favorite restaurant, Dusmesh.  He loves Indian food for some reason.  However, I do not love his diaper the following day...

He got a doll from Grandma and Grandpa, and it was so cute to watch him check it out after I took it out of the box.  He feeds her with the spoon and gives her drinks of milk out of her sippy cup.

Checking out her face

A thirsty baby...

My good friend Molly came in for the weekend from Pittsburgh, and she baked a chocolate cake for the Birthday Boy.

Safety First: He lets us know that the match is hot several times while we sing (we didn't have candles).  He knows the sign for "hot" and he makes a good effort at signing it while he stares at the candle.




He wasn't sure about the cake experience at first, but as you can see at 0:29, he successfully guides a giant chunk of cake into his mouth.

Our little creation

Finally here's a video of him walking around.  He's pretty confident, and now that he realizes that he can carry something in his hands and walk, it's a much better alternative to crawling.

HappyBabyJumpingTimes

Our little spaz loves his bouncy seat, a gift from his "aunties" back in Milwaukee.  We're training Weston to capitalize on his nearly off-the-charts height percentile by working on his vertical jump, complete with a little Adidas warm up outfit from Grandma.  Doesn't he look like Ari and Uzi from The Royal Tenenbaums?

April Showers

Last weekend, my "family" from the elementary school I worked at for three years (before I was unexpectedly and involuntarily transferred last August) threw me a baby shower.  It was still March, so the title of this post is a bit misleading...

Anyway, it was so much fun to see the many amazing teachers that I spent most of the past three years of my life with.  They all took time out of their weekend to celebrate the fact that I'm having a baby--a baby that no one's even met yet, but is truly excited about.  Being the emotional person I am these days, I came home from the shower exhausted and weepy.

Nate: "Honey, why are you crying?"  This seems to be a standard question from him these days.


We were surrounded by onesies, toys, receiving blankets, leftover cake, and mounds of tissue paper, and I was sitting there with tears pouring down my face.  I blubbered, "This past year has been stressful being in a new building and away from the work family that I had come to know and depend upon.  I miss them!"

Sure, it's sad being away from them, but I think I just had this tremendous feeling of gratitude for the fact that even though I don't work with them anymore, they all chose to be a part of such an amazing time in my life.  Thanks, Pershing.