Camping with the cautiously pessimistic

We had a blast camping at the beach in relatively chilly weather.  I am freaking exhausted, but I have a very busy week coming up, so this exhausted blog update will have to do.

First:  cold camping is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  Granted, we were only down to the upper 30s, but it was not the uncomfortable pain and crying I thought it would be.  (And seriously, I'm talking about myself, not the twins.  Or Dave.)

By the second morning, waking up at 48 degrees (and calm winds) was comfortable enough to not wear a jacket.  I'll be honest though:  waking up the 3rd day at 48 degrees and strong winds was freakin' ash cold.  Brrrrrr.

Also, I just really love camping.  This was our first group camping with about 6 families and three flocks of children of youngish, mid-elementary, and teens ages who all hung out and played with each other and impressed this adult with their conversation.  My strategy with kids--including college age ones--is to let my freak flag fly. They find that interesting enough to talk with me and sometimes even "hang out."  I figure their parents will figure it out soon enough (i.e., I'm not a normal adult), and I might as well cut to the chase and get to know the interesting kids quicker.

As for the Cautiously Pessimistic:  that is how I describe myself with Bridget.  The phrase I'm supposed to use is:  Cautiously Optimistic, meaning that I should think good things are going to happen, but I'm not going to get too excited about it.  I, on the other hand, am cautiously pessimistic:  I'm pretty sure bad things will happen, but perhaps it will be better than I think.

So, one of our neighbor children got a really bad cough two weeks ago.  Then Conor got the same cough a week ago.  And Dave and I have been hovering over the twins for the last week waiting to see if they would cough and we would need to cancel the trip.  Hooray, they did not!!!

Until Saturday morning, when both woke up with some serious snotty noses and wet coughs. Saturday was actually fine and not so many coughs.  More coughs Saturday night and Sunday during the day and substantial coughs last night and pretty much ongoing for Bridget today.

So was it sleeping in the cold or the onset of this crappy ass cold/cough that is going around?  I vote cold.  But I'm not sure it matters.  Bridget's numbers have generally been good until today.  She's asleep right now bouncing between 95 and 96.  Those are not bad numbers.

But, you know, I'm cautiously pessimistic.  So we'll see.

UPDATE Continuing on the cautious PESSIMISM: last night were Bridget's worst continuous numbers we've seen out of the hospital, but I will CAUTIOUSLY add that they were clearly better than the hospital numbers because we'd have gone last night. In any case, this cold is the real deal. We'll see how she handles it.  I did a mild amount of chest PT overnight to help her out.  Starting the shaky vest this morning.    It's amazing how much the coughing helps get a 92 to a 96, which is a very, very good thing.