Sandy Island Part 2: Long, Cold, Scary Nights

I'm starting with the nights, since that was what we experienced first. Let me begin by saying that the babies slept very well every night they were there. All night every night, in fact. Lucas and I did not do the same.

We went to bed excited, enthusiastic, & exhausted the first night. I woke up about an hour later feeling much colder. I checked on the babies, grabbed a blanket, and curled up in bed. 1 1/2 hrs. later I was awake again significantly colder. I checked on the babies and was getting ready to curl back into bed when I heard Lucas whisper my name from across the room (there were only twin beds in the cabin). Lucas (who only brought shorts to wear to bed) was freezing. We debated about whether or not the babies were warm enough (wearing a onesie, socks, fleecy pjs, mittens, and a hat), decided they were, and then tried to figure out how we could be as warm without fleecy pjs.

In the end, we decided to try to snuggle up in the twin bed. It was about this point (roughly 2:30) that Lucas and I got slap happy. We could not stop laughing as we tried to squeeze both of us in the tiny bed. That uncontrolable, middle-of-the-night laughter is one of my favorite memories of Sandy Island 2009.

The l-o-n-g night finally ended at 6 a.m. when our bundled babies woke up happily babbling. Thankfully, they seemed un-fazed by the cold (it had gotten down to 42 that night - and we were in cabins that had no heat).

The first time we saw the view from our cabin as the sun was rising the first morning.

The next night went much more smoothly. The babies slept, and the night was significantly warmer. I actually woke up once and thought, "this isn't bad, I'm sure the babies are fine," and rolled over and went back to sleep! Lucas was having allergy problems (we think the very necessary blankets were the problem - especially since they were a problem for others) and took 2 Benadryl. He actually got 9 hours of much needed sleep that night!

The final night was filled with terror for me. I had gone to bed earlier than Lucas (who was staying up with the youth). I was lying in bed when I felt a funny tickle. Having felt this funny tickle in the daylight, and knowing what it was, I quickly turned on the flashlight and my deepest fears were confirmed. There was a spider on my arm! I flicked it onto Lucas' bed (we had pushed our twin beds together by this point), but knew I needed to kill it to have any chance of sleeping. Any of you who know me know that the thought of spiders makes my heart race and causes hyperventilation. Being face to face with a spider that was on my arm, and having to get close enough again to kill it is almost enough to cause real heart failure. Somehow, after much prayer, I was able to do it. However, the rest of the night I felt tickles. Whether they were real or not I don't know (although twice during the night I got the flashlight out to check again - which Lucas did not appreciate...).

I can say that I was never more happy to hear the babies talking at 5:30! The night was over! The next night would be spent in my bed where I had no fear of sleeping with spiders! Where I could control the temperature of my babies' room so I wouldn't have to check on them 20 times a night to make sure they were warm enough. Where I could sleep next to my husband in a bed that was big enough for both of us and had no danger of me falling through the middle. Although they contained one of my favorite memories, the nights were not my favorite part of Sandy Island.