Over the River and Thru the Woods...

Yep. We did it. Survived our first road trip with Eileen! She did pretty well. She really is a little trooper. We went to Grandpa and Beanie's house in Memphis, about six hours from here. Of course, with her, it took about 7.5.

We left here last Thursday in the late afternoon, thinking that she'd sleep since it was close to bedtime. Her teachers had even kept her awake most of the day to make her tired so she'd sleep. yeah, right. She did not sleep for the first half. Got really mad at about the halfway point (can you blame her? Stuck in a seat facing backwards all that time?!). Luckily it was our regular stopping exit for food. Once she had a little break and a meal, she was in better shape. Josh did ride in the back seat with her for the second half of the trip, and that helped keep her calm.

Of course we hit rain and it was dark and OH! how I hate that. I swear the truckers go 100mph in the rain.

Anyway, we got there safe and sound around 11pm that night. I was worried she'd be all out of whack. But she's really just so laid back! After she hung out with Beanie and Grandpa for about an hour, we all went to bed. She slept in the pack-n-play- and did great! I don't know how we got so lucky in the baby lottery, but I know better than to take it for granted (and that we'll probably pay the price when number two comes along!).

These pictures are from the trip back. Since driving at night clearly didn't buy us any extra sleep, we just did it during the day. It was a GORGEOUS day. So we stopped at one of the 'nice' rest stops (really?! isn't that an oxymoron?) and had a baby picnic. She's a big fan of her portable high chair - she might like it better than her big one!

I fed her some lunch.. which was fine.. except that she was fascinated by the big rigs and motorcycles giong by. Every time one passed, she just stared in amazement. Visions of tattoos and mullets on my little butterball were haunting me.


We stopped again later for mommy and daddy to eat. The poor souls at the Wendy's where we stopped had to deal with one smelly baby. I had no idea she had a dirty diaper until we were already all buckled in to the little restaurant high chair! And of course there was no changing station at this Wendy's. So we ate fast and then went out to the car. And she got a diaper change and an outfit change (never a good sign!) right there in the parking lot. Of course Josh took pictures. We must have something with which to blackmaiul her when she is a teenager.


We finally rolled into town around 6 Sunday night. So most of my first mothers day was spent in the car, but that's OK. It was actually pretty fun.


This last picture is her in one of her new outfits Beanie got her from Gymboree. I admit, I have never actually walked into that store for fear I will bankrupt our family. I was happy to get any of the hand me downs from Mary Kate. And now I know my fears were spot on. Just the most a d o r a b l e outfits you have ever seen. I really think Beanie and I could have bought out the whole store. It's a good thing the one here is not super close to my house. We really would be in trouble.

Anyway- you can't see a great deal of the outfut - but it's too cute. And of course, the shoes stayed on all of 5 minutes. but again, too cute.

The entry below this one has more snippets and pics from the trip!

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