Alaska Part 1 - The Sleepless North

On February 12^th we flew from Toronto to Anchorage for two weeks in Alaska. This tour has been on my mind since baby was conceived last year. It is also the tour that has led many to question my desire to bring a baby on the road.

“You’re bringing a 4 and a half month old to Alaska? In February?” (Picture eyebrows raised, sarcastic tone.)

My answer: Yes. I am.

Annabelle and I on a pre-show walk in Valdez, AK

To some, going on tour in Alaska with an infant makes me foolish and unmotherly. But to me, this tour is no different than bringing the baby to Florida (aside from 10 extra flights, 2 ferry rides and some cooler temperatures). After all, there is no such thing as bad weather, just unprepared people. I would be with my bandmates (the Aunties) and my sweet husband, and we would have a system in place to keep the baby safe everywhere we went.

Also, it’s not like there aren’t any babies that live in Alaska.

I am happy to report that this tour has been unbelievable; an adventurous work trip that has had us experiencing more of Alaska than the average "Sourdough". To read more about our Alaskan tour from the point of view of the band, check out the Good Lovelies blog.

The road-baby in all her glory

Sleepless in Alaska

The time change has been the most difficult part of the tour thus far (I am embarrassed to say that I thought we’d be on Pacific Time during this trip, not that we’d be dealing with a 4-hour time difference).

At first, we tried to mitigate the jet lag by keeping Annie on a similar schedule to home. At the beginning of the tour, Colin would leave the venue after dinner and put Annie to bed at around 7:30 pm AST, a little later than her 11 pm EST bedtime. We thought this would be the least disruptive to her schedule, and the easiest way to transition back to our own time zone once we got home.

Well, this plan failed. Despite Annabelle’s ability to adapt easily to new environments, her sleep schedule has been whacked...aside from wicked naps in her bamboo mama carrier on afternoon walks.

The first few nights she woke up twice (and was wide awake by 4 am…balls). She has continued to wake up several times a night since. This is worrisome and unusual; Annabelle generally sleeps about 8 hours straight, has a quick feed and then goes back to sleep for a couple more hours (Please don’t roll your eyes…I know other parents are cursing me right now!). I am really hoping this is not her new “normal”.

As the tour has progressed, Annabelle’s bedtime has continued shift to a later time. After a few shows, we decided that Colin would leave for the hotel with the baby after the first set.

In retrospect I should have tried to get her on this schedule earlier. It works well for all of us - I get to hang out with her right up until the show starts and “top her up” at set break before Colin puts her down for the night with a bottle of milk. I could finish the show and pack up knowing that she was settled. And most importantly: she would wake up a few hours later in the morning.

Sleepy Annabelle with the Aunties

A sleeping schedule roadblock occurred last week after our shows in Healy and Delta Junction. As our hotel was in Fairbanks, we were driving back to the hotel after the shows. This posed a new challenge to us; how were we to maintain an evening schedule for Annie when we’d be packing her into a 10-seat van and driving for two hours back to our hotel?

We did our best to settle her down backstage. Colin would read her a book and feed her expressed milk from earlier in the day. In our minds, the van would lull her to sleep and we’d transfer her to the bed once we got back to the hotel room. In theory, it’s a great idea, but never works out that smoothly. She woke up each time we arrived back at the hotel, and it took another half an hour or so to settle her down again.

We had a major hiccup on our return from the show in Healy. After a gas station pee stop and snack purchase (twizzler nibs, yes), Annie woke up HANGRY. Unfortunately we had used up all the milk, and I couldn’t limbo my boob over her carseat, so she proceeded to wail for a good hour. It was awful watching her squirm in hunger, desperately sucking on my finger. It was also awful worrying about my bandmates trying to rest up after the show and a fun day for Kerri with kidney stones (read more at the Good Lovelies blog).

Three’s a crowd

I am also finding it challenging to share a room with her. Because she is not rolling too much, we are able to place her on the second bed or in a pack and play if available. The problem is that because she is in the room with us, I wake at every movement, sigh, and whimper. Most of the time she just squirms a bit and then falls back asleep, but it has me wide-eyed anyways.

Annie & Dad hanging out in the hotel

Combine those restless nights with late evenings and early mornings for flights (oh the flights…so many flights!), interviews, school workshops and ferries (I am writing this at 7 am on a ferry from Juneau to Haines), and you have a very tired family - and band. I will not discount their fatigue; baby or not, this is a busy and tiring tour, and it has been difficult to maintain any type of routine.

Aside: Sometimes I dream of the days when I had hotel rooms to myself, when I could while away the late evening reading books and watching trashy T.V. and then sleep in until 10am and go to the gym before a late departure for the next show. What I could have accomplished in those hours!

I feel like the last time I was this tired was the 2010 Juno weekend. And that involved a heck of a lot more beer than I’ve had on this trip. All it takes is one and I’m done (baby too!). Thankfully the Alaskan brews are super-tasty, as every sip counts these days.

More of Alaska to come!

‘Til next time,

Caroline

First Class Baby

We are home from Florida. No surprise - it was a wonderful, whirlwind two days in a perfect balmy climate with warm audiences and great hangs. Life is tough, folks. Touring with the Lovelies is pretty wonderful, baby and all.

Annie = gator bait. Take it easy, Florida. 

While this blog attempts to shed light on the difficulties/challenges of touring with a wee one, I thought this week I'd write about some of the benefits of travelling with a baby (aside from the obvious benefit, which is travelling with your baby).

Early Boarding
I have become Ms. antsy-pants when it comes to boarding. Let's just say the whole airport experience doesn't bring out the best in me; line-ups fill me with dread of missing flights, delayed customs, cancelled shows.

Thankfully, I currently have Elite status (no big deal) with the Star Alliance family of airlines, so I'm used to early boarding. However this is about to run out in February, and I am grateful that because of the little one we will be able to continue with early boarding. It's not easy, with Annabelle in tow, to get our piles of stuff to our seats without knocking our fellow passengers in the head. Really, we're doing you a favour by getting on that plane first!

Hotel Room Upgrades
This has happened to us twice on tour so far. Most recently, I was checking us into a hotel in Green Valley Arizona, and asked whether they had any laundry facilities (laundry machines are as important as my telecaster on tour these days). They took a look at the baby and said, "Yes we do. But why don't we just move you to a suite with a kitchen, living room, dining room, and washer/dryer? Oh and here, take this pack-and-play too."

Well, thank you very much.

Our sweet Arizona Hotel upgrade, and the sweet view from within.

Preferential Treatment
In general we have found that people are very kind and patient when they see us with baby in tow. Annabelle, in a way, gets us preferential treatment - mostly from other parents and thoughtful people who know or surmise how challenging it can be to travel with an infant. For example, if there's a lineup for the ladies room, I almost always get offers to jump to the head of the line when Annie's with me. Strangers also offer to carry bags for me all the time (We have so much stuff - really I need a better system. That's a whole other blog entry...).

I'm waiting for someone to offer to change her diaper, but no luck so far.

As an aside, I do want to remember that it's okay to be treated like everyone else. It's okay to wait, and most of human beings just have to have patience. Annabelle will hopefully learn that important lesson over the next few years of travel.

First Class Baby
On our way to Florida this weekend, Sue, Kerri and I were bumped to Executive Class. Colin, and Paul however, were to remain in economy while while lounged up front. Even though I was excited about a first class flight, being separated from Colin stressed me out.

My first concern in sitting with a stranger was not being able to hand off the baby while I went to the washroom or while readjusting our things (again: SO...MUCH...STUFF!). Also, I would be climbing over him every hour or so, needing to get her changed or to settle her with a bouncy walk up the aisle. Honestly, I was mostly worried about annoying him.

I was about to give up my seat and head back to Economy to sit with Colin when the lady behind me started cooing over Annie. When she heard that I was going to swap seats with the person sitting next to Colin, she told me not to be "stupid" and not to worry about the baby making noise. This is just what I needed to hear. Then Kerri closed the deal by swapping seats with me so that I could sit next to Sue - my flight husband for the evening. I'm happy we stayed. Annie cooed and gurgled and slept. It was one of the most pleasant flights I've had in a long time, baby or not.

Aside: I felt a bit guilty going back into Economy and seeing our tall men - Paul and Colin - both seated in middle seats. The four girls were just hanging out up front, drinking wine (well, not Annie) and stretching out comfortably in our large seats. My First Class baby.

Hanging out in the Air Canada lounge at YYZ.
Annie is unimpressed with my Guinness pouring skills.

Merchandise Table
A big benefit of having Annabelle on tour: bringing her to the Merchandise table. Sometimes after a show, if she feels up to it, we'll bring her out for a few minutes. Inevitably we get swarmed by eager baby-oglers, while Colin sells CDs. My hope is that while they're there, they pick up an extra CD or two. Annabelle has to earn her keep!

Now, all we need are some Good Lovelies onesies.

Tuesday we leave for Alaska and I am hoping for some sweet upgrades along the way! We have two weeks of shows in and about the state, and I'm guessing that it will be very different from touring California, Arizona and Florida at this time of year. And we have twelve flights on that tour. Yep, you heard that right, TWELVE. Well, bring it on! Annie's packing her own suitcase this time.

For full details, go to www.goodlovelies.com.

Til next time,

Caroline