First Mommy and Baby roadtrip=FAIL

I've always made a lot of roadtrips by myself. Being that my parents are 4 hrs away, my sister 6 hrs and most of my college friends 1 hr or more away...and with a husband that farms (aka: can't leave home often)...if I didn't go places without him, I'd never see my family or friends. So when Riley was born, I figured I'd just pack the baby up and take him with me. It took me a while to get up the nerve to try it but two weekends ago I had what I thought was the perfect opportunity. And remember a month or so ago, he and I made a trip 1 hr each way that went great, so I was feeling good about things. I had a baby shower to go to, about 3 hrs away...figured we'd drive to that, then of course have a few hours out of the car at the shower, hop back in and make the 45 min drive the rest of the way to the parents. We did it, and it went REALLY well! I was so proud of my boy...especially since he'd been rather grumpy before we left so I was a bit nervous. But he slept the majority of the way, we stopped once for him to eat and all was good. So I figured...no problem for the way home b/c it would be similar. I was driving about an hour south to my friend Julie's new house first, we'd be out of the car for a couple hours there, then hop back in for the 3 hrs home. Well, first...we got lost going to her house. While lost, Riley woke up screaming...he was hungry b/c he hadn't eaten enough at my parents (too busy looking around at everything to focus on nursing-he is a nosy little boy!). A static-y radio station calmed him down long enough to make our way to Julie's house. Fed him, toured the new house, chit-chatted, fed him once more and we were on the road again. Sound asleep for the first half of the trip....yay! Woke up to eat just in time to stop at an exit I knew and was comfortable with (a nice little town that one of my college roommates is from). Nursed, played a bit and back in the carseat to head home. Asleep. YES, this is going GREAT! Until about 45 min later. Screaming again. Um. Why? Can't possibly be hungry, he JUST ate! Static-y radio station...not doing the trick this time. Sing to him...nope. Talk to him...nope. Ok, we'll stop and let him have a break from the carseat. Crap, only gas station at this exit a bit scary...oh and next to a bar too. Nice. Ok...hopping in the backseat, leaving the car running and locking the doors from the inside. Baby calming down...whew. Crap, accidentally parked in front of the only diesel pump and that truck needs it. Awesome. Baby back in the carseat...seems calm...ok, on the road again. And we're pulling onto the highway...and... screaming again. Crap...double crap b/c the next exit has nothing but an "adult" store..um...NOT stopping at that one. Sorry buddy, you're gonna have to wait until the following exit which I know is a nice one. Ok, we made it to a good exit! Hey, lets go into the Pilot....ooooh, look at all the shiny bags of chips and all the pop! He loved looking at it all! :) Talk to the nice cashier lady....get Mommy a snack. Are we calm now? Ok...lets try going home now. Back on the road...and screaming. Seriously buddy? We are never making this trip by ourselves AGAIN. Call Daddy...hey, hear your son? Yep, we're having a fabulous time, really! Ok...I think I should have just fed him at the last stop...Kelly suggests we get off at the first Marietta exit, there's a nice gas station there, safe, and well-lit (oh yeah, its pitch dark by now). Get off, calm the hysterical child, do a mini-bedtime routine in the backseat of the car (nurse, diaper, jammies, binkie) back in the carseat and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. YES! Awesome, its dark now so he'll for sure sleep the rest of the way, and off we go, only an hour from home now! Hmm..what's with the detour signs? Hope it doesn't affect us...oh crap. It does. Can't very well go across the bridge that's not there....no prob, we'll follow the detour signs. What the??? Where on earth are they sending us...this d--n road is closed too and now I don't even know where I am!! GRRRR. Screw this, I'm turning around and getting back on the highway. So I get back on...drive down into WV so we can go through Parkersburg and back into OH...but hey, it works. No closed roads, no screaming...and only added an extra, what 40 minutes? What's 40 minutes on top of a 4 hr drive, right? Anyway...we finally made it home-about 5 hrs after we had left Julie's. My little boy was conked out, went right from the carseat into his crib and slept like normal. What a good boy :) Me? Also exhausted. Also...never making that drive alone again. Not until..um...whatever age he can tell me what he needs with words instead of screaming :)

So what are we doing this weekend, you ask? Haha..funny you ask. Looking for a challenge apparently. B/c smart parents that we are...we're driving to our college friend's house for a get-together of all Kelly's college roommates (about 9-10 guys plus families) which is 3 hrs from our house. Then Sunday we're driving to my parents from there (another 1 1/2 hrs) for my nephew's baptism...and back home again that afternoon (4 hrs). You'd think I'd have learned something from the last roadtrip, right? But this time at least we're all three going, so one person can entertain the baby while the other drives (I just hope it works!!!). I'll report back next week!!! Think good traveling thoughts for us!!!

Baptism

Baptism was a success. Everybody got there in time, despite some crazy schedules (nephews' baseball games, swim meets, etc.) and Riley was so good! He was even awake for a good portion of the mass, and didn't even cry when the priest poured that cold water on his head. Such a tough little guy! I think pretty much the whole church was impressed with that :)

This picture is awful...not sure who ended up with my camera, but all my pics are fuzzy. Hoping to get some good ones from our family, though I always say that and nobody ever sends me their pictures!


Afterwards, we had everyone over to our house for food, drinks and cake of course!



And we had to get a family picture. Don't worry, Kelly didn't actually wear jeans to the ceremony...he just changed before I could grab him for a picture. I also didn't actually wear flipflops...I just didn't want to wear my heels anymore once we got home :) And yes, that's our house behind us. Don't mind the half-finished front porch. I promise its a vast improvement on what was there a year ago...its just not quite done yet.




I had intended to talk about other things in this post too. But considering its taken me like a week to get this much written...and the baby that I thought was about to fall asleep appears now to be wide awake....I better get this up as is or it'll be another week. haha! :)

If I get to it, I need to tell you all about Riley and my first trip to the grandparents. It was not what I would call a success, I'll say that much!!