camping: a saga

Whew.... I never thought I would look forward to coming home from Jack Creek — one of my favorite places on this planet — but I sure did this year! Aven, who is normally very smiley and happy, was sick with some virus and also teething like crazy-nutso and was a bear the entire time. Not just a bear, but a BEAR. IN CAPS.

She had fevers (Saturday they were in the 103 range - yikes!) and if she wasn't all lethargic and clingy, she was throwing herself around in a violent tantrum. Didn't matter the surface; me, my mom, the dog, rocks, black dirt... she thrashed and screamed and we were all o_O??! and would just have to let her go. It was crazy bananas. And it made me so tired. So, so tired. Mentally, emotionally, physically. I had a minor emotional breakdown Monday afternoon on a beautiful hillside while Kyle hugged it out of me. He is an awesome hugger, that boy. I felt better after a good cry and then went back into mommy mode. Thank God my parents were there with us -- their help was priceless. You know when you just reach That Point of "I'm either going to punch someone in the face or join the circus like right now!" feeling? I was pretty much in that state the entire time we were there. It totally wore me down. Not to mention I was super sleep-deprived which always makes everything 2903847032978 times worse. Sigh. I mean it was still fun just because it was Jack Creek and that place is my heart, but man. Like. I don't even know.

I kept trying to put it in percentages, like how much fun I was having. It was like 20 percent fun and 80 percent I AM GOING TO HAVE FACE-CHANGING PLASTIC SURGERY AND MOVE TO MUMBAI (is that a place?) IF THIS TANTRUM DOESN'T END IN ONE SECOND.

Yeah.

Crazy. Crazy crazy. (Note: she is peacefully asleep in her own bed as I type this. This is the first time since Friday that she has gone to sleep without screaming/being possessed for 30 minutes before finally giving in. Awesome.)

In her defense, I'm pretty sure she's getting like all the rest of her teeth at the same time. Her first ever tooth came in on Kyle's birthday, January 15, when she was 9 months. Since then she'd gotten (up until about a week ago) 5 more (two on the bottom, four on the top). And then nothing. For like 5 months.
Then her mouth was like "Oh I have a great idea! Let's grow all teeth at once! GREAT FUN!" and she got four molars all at once --- those started last weekend. One broke through last weekend, the other three she was still working on this weekend along with two more on the bottom. So FIVE teeth. At once! What was she thinking, right? I mean she should have started when she was around 6 months old and taken it slow. One tooth a month would have been good. Instead she was a huge procrastinator (must get that from me) and waited until her 16th month to pop them all through at once.

Bet she'll never do that again.

One of the best moments of the entire trip was when both girls wanted on my lap the very last night when we were sitting around the campfire. Kyle was playing James Taylor on the guitar, it was peaceful, I was relaxed and Jovi climbed up onto my lap and I wrapped her in a blanket. Aven, not wanting to be left out, lunged toward me from my mom's arms and snuggled right in. I had both of my girls wrapped up tight, warm and safe. It's those moments that make all the other hair-pulling-out ones worth it.

Jack Creek always has a way of fixing things that way.