The Trip to Disney world

Today we travelled to Disney World.

I write that (ironically) in a compact little sentence on the pretence that it did NOT in fact, completely turn our lives upside down, inside out and present us with some of the most challenging moments we have ever faced as parents.

I suppose all that the previous paragraph entails is irrelevant as we have arrived safely, all kids are in bed and asleep and we are still married. So no REAL harm has been done. (Depsite the fact that, lingering in the back of our minds is the horrific knowledge that we will have to do it all again this time NEXT week…)

Disney is beautiful and magical and all that it is cracked up to be. Travelling with a 9 month old is, unfortunately, equally as predictable.

Mia is a wonderful baby. She took to sleep training with such integrity that it is now hardwired into her that sleep occurs at 9am and 1pm on the dot in the privacy of her crib with all of the usual fixins (lovey, sleep sac, white noise fan).

Apparently, this means that it does NOT occur in the following circumstances :

On a plane, in a car, in a bus nor a stroller. In mommy’s arms, on daddy’s lap or in front of any stranger.

(I Dr Seused it up in a desperate attempt at humour.)

The flight was a mixture of inconsolable crying followed by an intense hour of “I can’t feel my right arm but no amount of pain will justify a millimeter of muscle movement on the off chance that it will wake her up” followed by another intense hour of intense fussiness. I would consider aeroplane flying with infants an extreme sport.

There were many moments in the day in which the end was not in sight. If I had been a marathon runner I would have walked. If I had been a teacher I would have thrown down the chalk. If I had been a jaguar I would have laid my belly down in the cool grass of the Savannah and smiled as the Gazelles leaped off into the distance.

Apparently, when you reach this point as a mom, there ARE no such decadent options. There is no ESC button. You just have to close your eyes, suck it up, and deal.

Have I got you jealous about our trip to Disney, yet?

Alas, we have arrived. We found our room, our bed and our sanity in that exact order. We even managed to have some quality family time together at the pool (margarita and beer in tow) before calling it a day.

Toby’s good night song, (in which I recount all the tales of the day to the tune of Brahms’ lullabye) went on and on and on tonight; there were so many details he wanted me to include. (Apparently it wasn’t NEARLY as traumatic for him as it had been for us.)

After I left his room and crawled onto the couch with Rob, pen in hand to plan the rest of our “adventure” I noticed that Rob had his shirt on backwards.

In hindsight, maybe this isn’t the funniest thing that has EVER happened to me, but sleep deprived, exhausted, relieved and excited at the same time united to unveil a moment of adult hysteria at this thought; the longest day of our lives and Rob did it all with his shirt on backwards.