>12 hrs camping with a >12 week old

Possibly the worst idea I've ever agreed to.  V wanted to go up to his uncle's cabin with the family for Labor Day weekend, his parents even agreed to let us use their 5th wheel so we'd have more privacy.  Seemed like a great idea...

Until we actually got there.  Liam just didn't like it.  First the smoke from the campfire seemed to bother him, then immediately people are handing him off.  Great.  V wanted to go look for rocks (his hobby) together, I won't lie to you I was not interested but wanted the time with V so off we went.  I knew G'ma would take good care of Liam while we were away (she rode up with us and we talked about her watching him while we were gone).  So off V and I went, it was ok.  I got a text for the whole 4 minutes we had service about my dear friend being admitted to labor and delivery while we were gone so that was priceless (I had spoken to her earlier that morning and knew the baby was coming).  I didn't love looking for rocks but it was a nice enough time.  I dunno, I don't really consider being in the same general area as someone "quality time" but whatever.  We were only gone about 2 hours before we returned to camp, Liam was sleeping (G'ma was holding him, I'd rather he was sleeping in his pack-n-play but whatever).

I took Liam and snuggled with him in the 5th wheel, we even got a short nap together!  He woke up hungry but G'ma/G'pa and V were milling about as dinner was about to be prepared.  I'm sick to death of G'ma watching me breastfeed so I sat off in a random corner/closet type area where I could close the door.  Shortly after being fed Liam started to fuss, no biggie except G'ma kept trying to take him from me.  I wanted to just say "hi, I'm his mom I can handle it!"  Good Golly!  Everyone else ate while I walked around with Liam (he loves to be outside so we walked and talked and he was fine.  V came and took him so I could eat but after a few minutes handed Liam off to G'ma again....ugh.

Basically Liam fussed the rest of the night, it just kept getting worse and worse.  I think most of it was he was out of his element and his routine was all off but I also think a big part of it was people wouldn't leave him alone, he had no time to just breathe without people all up in his face.  Poor baby was probably stressed!  I know I was.  By 9pm V could tell I was done, probably because I said "I'm miserable."  We loaded up the car while Liam basically screamed.....not five minutes down the road he fell asleep, exhausted.  Poor little guy!

We drive the hour home by the light of the moon (and our headlights).  It was so peaceful, I was so glad to know my little baby was getting rest!  I enjoyed watching the farm-houses go by, every once in a while one would have the lights on and you could sorta see inside.  It was fun to let my mind roam and wonder about the story behind those farms (had they been in the family for hundreds of years, or where they just starting out, where they doing well or struggling, what would it be like to grow up on a farm?)  All the while I watched the road carefully, Labor Day weekend is the deadliest in our start for highway deaths and I lost a friend, Jamie, two years ago this weekend.  There was a fair amount of traffic for it being so late, that combined with the forest fire area we had to drive through made it a fairly interesting drive home.

Finally close to 11pm we arrived safe back at home.  Liam slept the entire time and was easily transferred to his crib without a peep.  The stress of it all kept me up another two hours (I haven't stayed up that late in forever!)

Long story short, camping with a >12 week old is a very bad idea.  In retrospect we should have just gone up for a day.  Lesson learned.  I'm sorta glad this summer is essentially over, I don't even want think about camping again until next summer, far too much stress.