I actually started to type them up on my phone last night in bed, but passed out in medias res and when I woke this morning, discovered that it didn't save. BOOOOO. Such is life.
We drove to Saskatoon on Friday. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, on Thursday we were informed that Jeff's grandmother, who has been in the hospital since Boxing Day, was to being moved to palliative care. To this moment, she still hasn't been physically moved to that ward, but is on the list. We already had a hotel room booked for Saturday and were planning on going up with the kids for one night, but when the news came on Thursday that she was sliding downhill, we quickly booked a room for Friday night as well.
The weekend went as well as one could have hoped. Grandma has really rough days and not as bad days, but the truth is, it's only a matter of time. She will eat and drink sometimes and other times flat out refuses or gags. She randomly falls asleep, mid-sentence, and moves in and out of sleep. She's very frail and weak. Sometimes she is coherent, other times, not at all. I didn't actually get to see her, because my priority was making sure that Jeff was able to go, completely without worry about the kids, and that the kids were happy and cared for. He/we did not take the kids up to see her. Carter doesn't really know/remember who she is and Jeff didn't feel that he needed to see her in the state she was in.
It was an emotional weekend for Jeff and my heart hurts for him as he faces losing her, but it had some bright moments.
So, here we go.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20
1. The drive up to 'Toon town was smooth. The weather was good, the highways were good, the kids were good. #Success
2. When we got into Saskatoon, Jeff got the kids and I into our hotel room, brought up all of our stuff, and took off right away to to to the hospital for his first visit with Gma. I took the kids to the pool at the hotel. They were such good boys and we had a great time. The whole time, of course, I thought of Jeff and wondered how his visit was going. But looking at his little boys, safe and having fun, was something that I knew he would very much have appreciated.
3. The kids went to bed really well for us. We had the TV on the cartoon network as we were winding the evening down (yes, bad, I know, but a weekend away in a hotel feels like an appropriate time to cheat on the rules). It was well past bedtime (9:00 p.m.) and the boys were in their pyjamas. Grayson asked to come up and sit on the bed with me. He cuddled into me and ended up falling asleep. Normally, I put him to bed totally awake, so this was a treat. I loved it.SATURDAY, JANUARY 21
1. The first good thing about this day was that the night in the hotel room was a success. In the past, we've always gotten rooms that were more suites, in that there was a separate room (with some kind of actual door) so that we could put the kids to bed at their normal time (or as close to normal as we could) and not be stuck, ourselves, going to bed at that same time. But this time, we figured we'd give the regular two-double-bed type room a go because, realistically, we aren't getting the kids to bed before 8:30 p.m. anyway (if we're lucy) and maybe being forced to go to bed early ourselves wouldn't be such a bad thing. We do both have Kindles, after all. 🤓📑
The other worry about not sleeping in a room slightly more separate from the kids has been that if Grayson (who still sleeps in a playpen on these trips) wakes up and sees us, he will want to get up... whether or not that happens to be at 5:00 a.m. See, in his own room, if he wakes up at 5:00 a.m., he would go back to sleep (maybe after a brief chat with himself) but this, being the first time we have have all slept in the same room, felt like a bit of a test. And he passed! He was awake shortly after 7:00 a.m., which is earlier for him (especially since he went to bed pretty late the night before), but Jeff brought him into bed with us and he fell back asleep until about 8:30.
It was nice to know that in the future, we can book a regular room without much concern about how bedtimes and mornings will go, and that's kind of exciting.
I'm also kind of a lame-O in this way, but there's something cool about all four of us in the same room. It's my little gang and we're on this adventure together. There's something about that, that gives me the warm fuzzies. Also, it's cool that we're at this stage - the "regular family hotel room" kind of stage.
2. Jeff went back to the hospital to see Grandma and the boys and I went out for breakfast with Janette and the girls. It was a little chaotic, just Janette and I with four kids -- excited to be out and see each other, but they were all pretty well behaved and we did it. And it was nice to get some alone time with them.
3. After breakfast the boys and I went to the pool again and were there for quite a while before Jeff came back, donned his swimming trucks, and joined us. I won't bore anyone with the details of the rest of the day, but there were just a whole bunch of really good moments: watching Jeff waterslide with Carter, playing Crazy 8's with Carter and his cousins in the hotel lobby after we all got together to order pizza; watching the kids all pile onto one bed in my hotel room while Janette and Jeff went back to the hospital for another visit with Gma; having a drink with Janette when her and Jeff got back from the hospital; the fact that all day, Carter insisted on sitting next to Ava at every opportunity: breakfast, pizza, etc.
Again, while I don't want to downplay the sad/serious reason that brought us to Saskatoon in the first place, the good thing is that the boys, who really know nothing of the situation, had fun. Ultimately, this visit had two purposes: 1) a weekend for Jeff to see/visit with his grandmother, and 2) a fun weekend for the kids. After getting the kids to bed, I went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth and Jeff snuck in. He hugged me and thanked me for making this difficult weekend a little easier. It felt nice to hear that, because that was exactly what I was aiming to do. ❤️
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22
1. We are home! We are home! We are home! Did I mention how grateful I am to be in my own house -- in my own bed. I didn't sleep worth a crap the entire weekend, and being in our quiet house, in our big bed, in our own room, is HEAVEN.
2. I finally got me a Starbucks. I have been wanting one all weekend and today, on the way home, this desire was finally fulfilled.
3. My Mr. Chomps is sitting right here next to me in bed. I missed this fool cat, as big a pain in the ass as he is.
And with that, we start another week.
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