Road Trip

We survived our first road trip this past weekend with both baby and puppy. I admittedly wasn't too thrilled about the idea of 10+ hours in a car with both of them, but I was pleasantly surprised.

In the past few weeks, G has acquired a lovely witching hour syndrome from around 7:30-8 until 10 or 11. I'm not sure why they call it the witching hour when it lasts for hours. If you have never heard of this awesome phenomenon, I found a great website that explains it in detail here.

We are looking forward to this particular phase of his ending, but I have to remind myself to take it all in stride and to soak up every minute, both good and bad, while it happens because it really does go by fast. It seems like I blinked my eyes and my sweet little newborn somehow is going on 10 weeks old.

So yes, the witching hour. While noticeably exhausted, G is hard to console and will just not go to sleep without a fight. A big fight. I have found that it is much better if we can get a jump start and start our soothing techniques before it rears its ugly, witchy head. And by "our" techniques, I really mean mine. Aside from his cantankerous evening 'tude, G has also grown into a new phase called, "All I want is Mommy."

At first it was endearing. "Awwww, I TOLD you he was going to be a Mama's boy." But now it's kind of annoying. He has a serious attachment to me that bothers R when G wants nothing to do with him. I told him that if he could lactate, he would probably be a frontrunner for G's love and attention.

Having a newborn already makes a mama feel like she has an extra growth because the baby is always on you, near you, etc. With G's attachment, I feel like I can't cut this growth off... it just doesn't want to go away! Don't get me wrong, he still cries and is fussy with me at times but substantially less than if someone else holds him. I think part of it is because I know him so well and know what he likes/dislikes, but it was never this bad before. He used to sleep on R just fine - not so much these days. The boy knows what he likes and he likes his mama!

Going back to the road trip... we decided to leave around 7:00 at night to get a head start on G's witching hour and thought that he would sleep better if we drove through the night. The dog was quiet and the baby slept: operation success! I sat in the backseat next to him, and I think that helped out a ton as well. He slept for most of the 13 hours that it took to drive to Kansas City - 3 extra hours with construction traffic, bathroom stops, doggy stops, baby feeding stops, food stops, etc.

Our time there was another story, however. G wasn't terrible by any means, but the change in environment threw him for a loop. We didn't have his swing, and that is where he normally naps during the day if he isn't napping on mommy. I didn't realize until this trip how much we love the swing! Instead of taking his normal day naps, G was awake for most of the day. We took several walks in his sling (which he also loves) and he would fall asleep, but once you sat down or tried to transfer him from the sling to the bed, he was INSTANTLY awake again. Yes, good times.

We drove to KS to drop Oliver off at training school and to visit R's parents. Phase II of construction is about to be underway, and just like last time during Phase I, we will be staying with my parents where it is a no dog zone. I don't think the average dog has received as much training as Oliver! He has so far been to 2 other training schools for a total of 5 weeks, and now he is going for 7 more. I'm expecting him to be able to scoop his own poop by the time it's all said and done. :)

It was my first time in the midwest (not counting airports) since I had been to Iowa in the 5th grade for a funeral. The weather was beautiful and the neighborhood R's parents live in is absolutely gorgeous. They live right on the state line but on the Missouri side of Kansas City. Everything there was so green and the trees were amazing. I don't usually say that about trees, but I did get some tree envy after being there for the weekend. We just don't have trees that compare to those in Texas.

We didn't stay long because R had to be back at work. I must say that I love that I didn't have to worry about work. Not that G isn't work, but you know what I mean. The drive home was even more fabulous - G cried all of 20 minutes MAYBE the whole time. I switched to the driver's seat a couple of times to give R a break, but G would start to fuss and R couldn't console him. He quickly wanted to retain his driver status and G quickly calmed down once I was back there again.

Besides realizing how much I depend on the swing for relief, I also realized that I don't take enough pictures! Most of the time I end up taking pictures with my iPhone because it is the closest thing nearby. I didn't take ANY pictures while we were there, so I've decided to make that a goal of mine.

I'm not sure when our next road trip will be. As good as G was in the car, I will still prefer flying any day. :)