Cuba

It’s been well over a month since we’ve returned from our week-long trip to Cuba. I’ve been avoiding writing about it, because I’ve needed time to reflect on the experience, and to let the disappointment fade away. Unfortunately, it hasn’t, and I’m still left with a bitter taste in my mouth. While I’m glad that we were able to go on a vacation away from the nasty cold Canadian spring, it was made very clear to me during the trip what roles exist in our little family. My intention here is not to air my dirty laundry, or to complain about the current state of my marriage. But when one parent acts like a vacation is also a vacation from being a parent, it puts alot of pressure on the other parent who has to pick up the slack. That is all I’m going to say about that issue.

Nikolas did great on the entire trip. I was pleasantly surprised how well he did and how adaptable that little guy is. Sure, he had his moments on the plane where he’d cry and fuss, but it was only because he was tired, and if handled in a timely manner (i.e. not letting him jump up and down like a monkey after he has made it perfectly clear that he’s tired) we could get him settled and sleeping for most of the trip. I made sure to have a bottle ready to take off, and each time we descended he was sleeping, and the changes in air pressure did not seem to affect him.

The resort we stayed at was absolutely huge. Luckily, our building was close to the “quiet” pool, where we spent most of our time. Once settled into our room, we quickly discovered the things we’d need to improvise on to handle our day-to-day tasks of having a baby:

1. I forgot to pack the brush we use for cleaning bottle nipples. Improvisation: wrapping a dish cloth around the end of a q-tip or toothbrush.
    
2. The sink in the bathroom didn’t have a plug. Improvisation: Take all the wipes out of a large wipes container and store them in a zip lock bag (any parent knows to pack lots of extras of these) and use the container as a mini sink.
    
3. The power converter/adaptor did not allow for 3-pronged electrical appliances, specifically, the kettle I packed to boil water. Improvisation: Trust that the bottled water provided by the resort would not cause my baby to ingest too much bacteria, or anything that would make him sick.

I’d have to say that having a baby with us really helped with getting excellent service from the resort staff. You get to know the staff quickly, as you see them day in and day out. And it’s amazing how far being nice to them will get you.

Because we were there for Matt’s brother’s wedding, and Matt was the best man, he was unavailable for the first few days because he was needed alot to help out with preparations. Fortunately, Matt’s parents were extremely helpful with caring for (and doting on) Nikolas the whole week. They would proudly show him off and even get into a little trouble with him when we weren’t around. Matt found our son here, after Grandma took him off our hands for a bit:

Another factor that contributed to the suckiness of the trip was the fact that I developed severe heat stroke. As much as I was trying to remember to drink water, I was more focused on saving what water we could come across (getting other family members to give us theirs from their room) for Nikolas’ bottles. Dehydration + hot hot heat = 24 hours of puking and shitting my guts out and then another 24 hours to recover. It was so bad that I could only suck on ice cubes to get any fluid into my body. It was just simply rejecting everything I tried to ingest. Unfortunately, my recovery day also happened to be the same day that everyone went for an excursion into Havana. There is no way I would have survived that, so I got to sleep in, relax, sip peppermint tea and read a book while Grandma & Grandpa took Nikolas for the day. It really is a shitty feeling to be so sick that you can’t even look after your own kid. On a selfish note, I read more in those two days than I’ve been able to read in months.

If I were to try to sum up the trip on a positive note, I’d have to say that it was great to hang out with family for a week, go swimming with my boy every day, and see the beach, if only for a short amount of time. We have decided, however, that until Nikolas is older, we'll just be doing road trips with him.