19 months & counting
18 February 2016 | Mexico - Puerto Vallarta
Erin - Perfect Weather
Trenten Reef Paul turned 19 months yesterday and I can hardly believe how quickly the time has past since his birth in Papeete, Tahiti. We have been on quite an adventure, as always.
Once we returned from Asia we settled in on the boat at the marina for the remaining 4 months of my pregnancy. His birth was 100% natural in a clinic downtown Tahiti. It was quite quick being only 7 hours of hard labor. I had a great midwife, doula & Len to help in the process. It was an unforgettable experience.
Shannon, my sister, arrived in Tahiti 10 days later where we sailed out to Moorea. Trent's colic kicked in right around that time and lasted about 3.5 months. Yes, folks... around the clock crying. We pushed through and anchored off of Bora Bora for about 6 weeks. It wasnt easy being on the boat 24/7 with a crying baby but we did a lot of dinghy rides & bouncing in the rocker for hours on end - the only thing that would help! It was too much to move on to Tonga and we had to leave French Poly due to immigration status so we opted to put the boat back in the marina in Tahiti and wait out the storm on land while in Mexico. We stopped for business in San Diego, a trip to Canada to meet the grandparents, a retreat up to Tahoe and then packed up the truck and drove to our beloved Puerto Vallarta. By this time Trent's colic was subsiding. (a little) In come teething.... Having a baby is like making the longest passage of our lives... intermittent sleep patterns, uncontrollable circumstances and mother nature combined into a very long challenging storm of events. And not unlike cruising the highs are as extreme as the lows... totally addicting.
We flew back to Tahiti at the start of the cruising season 2015, I made a trip to meet my sister's new little girl in New Zealand. We enjoyed another season in the leewards of French Polynesia - the place is really wonderful. The new law allows your boat 3 years in territory waters so we have taken full advantage... this year the boat must move on. It is going to KILL us to move past the Tahitian islands but we have been here before... the toughest part of the cruising life is making friends in beautiful places and then having to leave those places too soon. As hard as leaving is, it is also very exciting to enter a new chapter. In April Len will take crew and make passage to Fiji where Trent and I will fly in for the cruising season 2016.
Our family is currently back in Puerto Vallarta since Dec 1, 2015 for the 'land' based cyclone pacific season. It has been wonderful being surrounded by good friends here in PV, the mexican people are so wonderful to children and families. We always feel 'at home' when we arrive here.
Hope everyone is well - we are blessed, enjoying our new life with Trenten and doing great. xxoo