Road trips

Some people enjoy road trips. I am not one of them. When I was young I didn't mind them. My opinion changed when I began to get motion sickness if I read in the car. I was a MAJOR bookworm as a child so most any activity was fine with me if I could read while doing it. Sitting in the car became boring to me when I wasn't able to read, and it became physically painful if I sat too far back in a vehicle. Once I became old enough to drive road trips became slightly more interesting as at least I had something to do (drive). However I still was of the mentality of "let's get this over as quickly as possible." When I was driving to college (Maryland to Ohio), my goal was to make the 8 hour trip without any stops if at all possible. If I filled my Tercel's tank up right before I left, didn't drink anything with my breakfast, and brought some snacks, I could usually make it. We took a wide variety of family vacations. I preferred the ones that involved spending the entire time at one location versus those that involved driving hundreds (seemingly thousands) of miles after we flew to our destination. This preference of mine has meant that my owning a time share has worked out well as Paul and I usually have stayed in one place for many of our vacations. The biggest exception would be our trip to Italy. (Note: this first picture was taken on the shuttle bus we rode after we returned our minivan to Alamo)

My dislike of road trips has greatly increased over the past almost 2 years since long periods of crying are usually involved. I know some babies fall asleep when they are in their car seats. Nadia wasn't like that the first few months of her life. There was a period of several months where if we traveled at night she would sleep the whole trip. That doesn't work any more for her. Lately she can endure an about 3 hour drive with minimal crying if she watches VeggieTale DVD's, eats snacks, and takes an about one hour nap. Note: This photo was taken in my mom's minivan as we were leaving the children's museum last night. Nadia initiated holding Ian's hand. What a sweet moment!!

Up until today, Ian has been a great traveler. The longest he ever cried in the car was 18 minutes (coming home from Grandma and Pop Pop's house). Most of the time he doesn't cry at all or cries at the most 5 minutes. Prior to today, he had been with me for four trips that were at least 3 hours long and he often cried a total of 15 minutes the entire trip. Excellent! Last night was a very bad night so I decided to leave Maryland this morning after Ian had been up for 2 1/2 hours in the hopes that he'd take a long morning nap on the way home. He did fall asleep soon after we left, but he only slept for 30 minutes and then he cried and cried and cried. After about 30 minutes of crying, I stopped at a McD's just over the PA border to give Ian some milk and change his diaper. This break took about 20 minutes. He then fell asleep for another 30 minutes and then screamed for another 30 minutes until I stopped at a gas station and nursed him in the parking lot. This break took about 40 minutes. He cried until he fell asleep about 15 minutes from home. Altogether, he cried about 2 hours over a span of 4.25 hours. He only slept 1.25 hours between the hours of 5:50am and 12:40pm. He's never cried 2 hours in one day. It was very hard on me emotionally and physically. I am hoping that the next time we take this long of a trip (probably in the fall) that it goes much better.

The kids did really well on the flight from PBI to BWI. Nadia slept on Paul for about 1 hr 20 minutes. The flight wasn't full (like it was on the way down last week) so Nadia was able to sit in her own seat for part of the time. An elderly man came up to Paul and I as we were leaving the airplane and said what good parents we are and how good our children are. That was music to our ears! He might not have said that had he seen the melt down both of them had in the van on the way to the Children's Museum a few minutes later, LOL.

Tonight is Ian's first night sleeping in his crib without a Nap Nanny. When we first got home I mowed the lawn while he napped in the Snugli. His next nap was in the crib. I think that transition is going to go very smoothly. I might be selling the Nap Nanny on eBay in the near future. I didn't attempt this transition earlier because I would have needed a second pack n' play. Hopefully tonight will be a better night as Mommy needs more sleep!