Family Vacation 2015 - Day 9 - Why do we even try?

There's those days, as a parent, that you wonder why you even try. The kind of day where you do all the preparation you can so that it goes well, and it still ends up in the toilet. Today produced an event such as this. 

It started as your typical day. Breakfast, swimming, lunch, afternoon naps, etc. But, little did we know what dinner time had in store for us. We should've learned our lesson a long time ago, two years ago to be exact. On our family vacation 2 years ago we went out to eat one night during the whole vacation. We went to a local eatery and everything was fine until right when we got our food. Rylynn was only 6 weeks old at the time and decided it was the perfect time to get upset. We tried to prepare and had brought a bottle of milk, but she wouldn't take it, of course, and I scarfed down my food and me and Melody ended up in the car the remainder of the time at the restaurant. It was an awful, stressful, and disappointing experience. But, that was then. This was going to be way better. We fed Denver immediately before we left so we had a solid three hours, but we brought milk and a bottle just in case. And we brought snacks and toys for Rylynn to have while we waited for our food. We went to a local place called the Salt Water Cowboy. It was a cool little place with a great view. 

But, again, preparation was pointless. We had realized that we forgot to bring the wipes on our way to the restaurant. Oh well. How likely is it that either will have a dirty diaper in the short time we were going to be there? If you want an actual percentage... 100%. According to a recent study: 2/2 babies will have dirty diapers in a restaurant if wipes are forgotten. Oh, and this happened just before we got our food. We actually didn't even know about Denver's because Rylynn was acting up so bad we were trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Then, after Erin bravely asked another parent at the restaurant for some wipes, Melody went to go change Rylynn's diaper and found that she had a huge, terrible, bright red rash all over her bottom. That's right about the time when Denver started to become inconsolable. So, Melody struggled to change Rylynn's diaper while she screamed bloody murder and then came in and saw Denver and me having a terrible time and decided we just better go, and I imagined the restaurant slaughtering the fattened calf in celebration of our departure. 

I don't think we, as parents, are unique to a situation like this. But, when going through it I think to myself "Why do we even try?". Is it worth it to leave our house and risk a situation like this to pay for food? Eating out is one of my favorite activities, but sometimes you wish you would've just sat out.

We rode home listening to 2 screaming children. When we got back we decided to deal with the older one first because she was truly in pain. That was obvious. You can tell just by the cry if a child is grouchy, in pain, sad, faking, etc. and this was serious pain. The short version is that it took both me and Melody to pin Rylynn down to change her diaper and put cream on her, and we were struggling. Little kids can really get strong when they're in pain and you're making it worse. But we got her new diaper on, got her calmed down, and she was good... For now. The little one was easier... Change him and hook him up to mom. Finally, all was calm again. 

Our family was very supportive and helpful through the ordeal. When they finished eating and came back to the house we were blessed by Erin and Mollie with 2 milkshakes :) While savoring my milkshake I almost completely forgot about the whole thing :) But it wasn't too long until I was reminded again because Rylynn had a dirty diaper :/ Once again it took both me and Melody and a lot of muscle just to change her diaper. We felt so bad for her. I was trying to calm her down while Melody applied to rash cream and I was right up at her face talking to her. She was just screaming and I could see the immense pain and terror in her eyes. She wouldn't look at me. She was just looking up and, even if I was deaf and I only saw her tear soaked little eyeballs, I would be able to tell how much pain she was in :( But, we made it through that and an hour or two later she finally dozed off. Luckily, Denver actually slept that whole time. Of course, I don't blame anything that happened today on the kids' behavior. Of course they would be upset. One has terrible rash and doesn't want to sit down and the other is hungry and has a diaper filled with poop. I'd be upset in either of those situations too and I feel awful for both of them. All we can do is try to remain patient and solve the issues. The patient part is way harder. 

I'm trying not to be a pessimist, but all I can think about is our upcoming 15 hour (or more) car ride and how uncomfortable and irritated Rylynn will be if she has this rash. Luckily, my mom roped me into playing a card game with the family and, for a short time, I was pleasantly distracted by the laughter, jokes, cookies, cream puffs, and love that surrounded me. Even though I did absolutely awful during the game, it was worth it. 

Thoughts on the day - What do we learn from past experiences? If we would base our decisions on our last family vacation dinner outing, we wouldn't ever go out to eat with kids. Ever. But, do we keep trying to go out even when it constantly bites us in the rear? I don't know. All I know is that you can pray for us in several ways.. Patience in difficult times. Healthy, rash free, happy children for a loooong drive home. And that we would trust that God will work in our lives and help us through all situations. Thanks! And please keep us in your prayers over the next 2 days :)