LLM's First Road Trip (picture reel)

Note: LLM's limit in the car is 8hrs. Then the tantrums begin.  He was smart enough to realize on our long travel days, that when we put him in the car seat, he was going to be there for a while.  It really didn't help that his schedule was abruptly changed for the weekend.

We started off probably on the wrong foot the day we left because we started off with our 4 month appointment and agreed to go ahead and get his shots done instead of me coming back with him after the trip.  He wasn't happy and he ran a bit of a temperature.

Then, I took him with me to the salon to get my hair done.  He was rather good there 'til he got bored. Good thing Grandma was there to entertain him.

He was looking at me with foils in my hair. Probably wondering what the hell I had on my head

And instead of relaxing for a bit, we hopped right in the car and started the 6+ hr drive to Lexington. It was alright since it was naptime anyway and he started off in a pretty good mood.

Good mood to start

The trip to Lexington was fine for the most part, got a bit fussy around his usually dinner/bedtime but once we got to Grandma Karen's we were ok.

Here we are watching everyone eat

After dinner, little man was still rather wide awake so a short stroll around downtown Lexington seemed in order.  He didn't seem interested in the fountains however.

chillin in the stroller

The walk seemed to calm him down enough to the point where as soon as we got back and I got the bed ready, he fell asleep quickly.

The next morning though, we were off again on our way to Atlanta. We enjoyed a fatty breakfast of the most amazing fresh donuts at Magee's in Lexington.

I highly recommend this place if you're ever in Lexington, KY

Leg 2 of the trip to Atlanta began well...

But after about 6 hours of intermittent napping and only having portions of meals, little man started to really get crabby.  It really didn't help that somewhere in Tennessee they ran a 20+ mile detour through the mountains keeping us on the road for another hour!

Eventually, he really needed a good nap so I tried to give him a little fort in his car seat...

asleep and still holding on to his travel buddy

But, that didn't last very long and he still wasn't able to get a good nap in, because we arrived at the hotel and went to meet Great Grandpa Ray and Patty before getting dressed.  (Those pictures are still on my camera)

Dad took a well needed nap, and although we tried to make little man comfortable enough for a nap, he really wasn't having it.  Instead he wanted to hang out with MadMommy while I got ready.  But, he was really needing it when we got him ready for the rehearsal dinner and just threw a fit when I got him in his outfit...

"get me out of this monkey suit!!"

He passed out on the way to dinner and we let him sleep for a while, but then Grandma decided she wanted to wake him up after dinner.  He was good, tired, but not crying too much.

zonked

I should have insisted that we go back to the room earlier to get him to bed, because he ended up not sleeping well at all that night. Which meant, I didn't sleep well at all that night either.  The next morning, bright and early, we ventured to a donut shop that we'd read about in an article listing the "Top 10 donut shops" in the country.  Sublime Donuts.  Totally worth it.  And yes, donuts for breakfast 2 days in a row. This was not a low calorie vacation.

After breakfast, instead of getting to nap, we went to visit the Badgers, our neighbors from home who are moving to Atlanta this year.  Mr Badger and Kinnari already moved down there so we stopped by to visit and have lunch.  He was happy to see Kinn again it seemed...

Kinnari's Pic

He thankfully slept through lunch and wasn't crabby when we took a short stroll around Historic Roswell.   But after a short 20 min nap on the trip back, we had to wake him up again and it was a mad rush to get ready for the wedding.  All the trips in and out of the car seat, and he started adamantly protesting getting in again.

He REALLY needed a good nap at this point, and when we got to the church it was clear he wasn't going to be able to handle it. So, basically, I didn't get to see much of the ceremony and we hid in another part of the church to eat and sit in a quiet place to try and nap.

Alas, that only lasted until we got back to the hotel room and grabbed the stroller to go down to the reception across the street.

Poor little man was quite uncomfortable yet again but there were plenty of people to talk to and things to see so it kept his attention.

Grandma Karen soothing a crabby little man

However I did insist that I take him back to the room after dessert because I knew without a doubt how tired he was.

happy with all the people to talk to, but you can tell he's exhausted

I'm glad I did take him back early, he went right to sleep and slept for a good several hours.  But that still didn't mean I didn't wake up every time he moved, shifted, grunted, sighed, or made any other kind of noise...including farting.  (I'm pretty sure the 3 days of fast food meals were getting to him)

The next morning he was well rested and happy, but I was anxious about the 13 hour car ride ahead. We left early, hoping to get home around dinner.  By lunchtime, little man was done with the car ride. Unfortunately, after lunch we hit some major traffic in Kentucky near Mammoth Cave, adding 3 hours to our travel time, and more traffic coming into Louisville.  I think at that point we were all done with the car. 

So, my mother's day dinner was...wendy's. At least, when it was time to try and get little man to go down for the night he seemed in a better mood...

changing at a rest stop, soo happy to be out of the car seat!

When he was fed, dressed in pajamas, and covered in his car seat fort, he protested a bit but eventually fell asleep and stayed asleep for the rest of the drive home.  Hooray!

Things to remember for future roadtrips: don't bring too much crap. bring plastic bags for dirty diapers. bring a roll of paper towels. forget bringing all the diapers, bring enough for a few days and if you need more, you can always buy more. it's not necessary to bring all the baby bottles you can fit in a bag. bring a few...you can always wash them.  In fact, you should wash them...after a day of milk scum on the inside, it reeks.

Well, that was an adventure.  On to the next one!