The longest distance we've traveled with Leighton in the car is the ninety miles from Chicago to my parents' house in Milwaukee. Until today, that is. My husband's parents live in St. Louis - a mere 288 miles from Lincoln Park.
Sometimes we fly, but we usually drive so Luella can come along. This was our first trip with both Luella and Leighton, and car was the obvious method of transportation.
I washed all 26 Fuzzi Bunz before we left so they could air dry (Now desperately trying to prove that cloth diapers have less environmental impact on the environment than disposable per a previous post) while we're gone. I grabbed the little stack of leftover cheaters, pulled one one out to change Leighton and let Ryan load the car.
I've grown accustomed to Fuzzi Bunz to the point that I have trouble with disposable diapers. I can't tell if the little thing is up high enough in the back while I'm putting it on so that it doesn't leave a sag in the crotch. To compound this issue, the only cheaters I have left are a size 1-2 and at four months old and almost fourteen pounds, Leighton has definitely outgrown them. Proud of my tape job with such limited resources, I quickly realized that this diaper looked more like a bikini brief than a full coverage garment. Still, confident that the supremely engineered flavor crystals were more than absorbent enough, I put Lei in her car seat.
My husband is an efficiency expert when it comes to driving. He can mentally calculate the time it will take to arrive at our destination given an assumed number of stops lights and potty breaks plus traffic. Surprisingly, this does not translate to all other areas of his life. For example, it is far more efficient for him to remove his socks and other clothing items and toss them right in the hamper, than it is to first drop everything on the floor and get crabbed at by his wife until he traces back your path of initial disrobement, collects his stuff and subsequently take it to the laundry room. I feel for him on some level. His refusal to embrace the hamper is akin to my ability to do quick and proper math only when seated at a blackjack table.
Ryan rented a full size SUV so we could effectively haul our stuff and sit comfortably for the five and a half hour journey. We packed the Bugaboo and bassinet, Leighton's clothes, Bebe Pod, breast pump and accessories, toys, blankets, burpies, our suitcase, laptops, stuff for Lue, snacks, drinks, cell phones, camera and bag of chargers. Off we went.
We blew Ryan's trip estimator within the first few two minutes of movement. I was so busy rushing around laundering and packing everything all morning that I had forgotten to eat. I turn into a bitchy lunatic when my blood sugar drops. So that's fun.
What's worse is that Leighton's nukka fell out as we were pulling out of the driveway. And, in this rental car, she was seated behind me so I couldn't even reach over to put it back in. She can't sit behind Ryan because he's 6'5" and needs all of the space behind him. The middle seat didn't have clips for the latch system. Just in case you are wondering. The bitchy lunacy and fussy baby made Lue nervous and she wouldn't sit down. In fact, she started panting because of the circus we'd become and also because she and I were sitting in the blazing sun. The commotion made me car sick and I needed to pee.
Awesome. Ryan was super happy. The traffic coming out of the city made the whole deal even more amusing.
We made it out of the city and stopped at McDonalds. We aren't fast food people, but Ryan couldn't fit my sass-delivering pie hole with a Filet-O-Fish fast-enough. Instantly, I was an new woman. Whew! Mom is back!
Once back to cruising speed, our efficiency expert announced that we would not be making another stop for two hours. What? I fed Leighton "right before we left" at 2:15. Unfortunately, we didn't actually hit the road until 3:30 and it took an hour to get to Micky D's. Since Lei eats every three hours (this week anyway), I reminded Ryan that we would be stopping again in thirty minutes. Utter deflation.
He tried to tell me that she could wait. Lei argued from the back seat. He chose a mile marker that we had to make it to. And we did. Right around 5:15. I fed (sat in the back with baby, Boppy, booby, and blanket over the window), changed our sweaty little peanut and put her back in her seat. She was sweaty because it was 90 degrees outside and no matter the a/c level, she was so snug in her car seat, the cool air didn't quite get in there.
We spent the rest of the ride shivering, while Leighton snoozed comfortably. We made a few more stops, growing more efficient with each, and arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house at 9:40. Six hours and ten minutes ... not bad. I'm interested to hear Ryan's plan and accompanying rules for the trip home.
Do you have any amusing travel stories or tips for new moms? Please post a comment and share the fuss with us.
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