I’m exhausted…no, wait, I am enervated.  Travelling with a kid is overwhelming and this ain’t my first rodeo, well it’s my first ROAD trip with my son.  If you’ll remember, we did fly with Davey back in December when he was only 2 and a half months old.   It was a piece of cake especially since he slept the entire time.  Flash forward almost 4 months, and Davey doesn’t sleep as much as he used to.

Let’s rewind for a moment at least to the past couple of days where I’ve been overwhelmed with my roll of mommy in the aspect of not just packing for me and my husband, but also for a 6 month old who now needs entertainment.   I do so miss the days of just throwing a few outfits into a piece of luggage and hopping into a car.  I miss the days of just worrying about me and not my child. 

Early this morning, my husband and I were up precisely 3 and a half hours BEFORE we needed to hit the road, trying to load up the car.   Our inventory of luggage, or should I say necessities to survive our excursion, included the following:

1 small piece of luggage for our overnight stay in NC.  1 large piece of luggage to get us through our 10 days in NY, a cool mist humidifier, a cooler, a breast pump, a bag of snacks, a bag of Davey’s toys, one stroller, one jumperoo, a diaper bag, and two laptops.  Whew!  I thought I was going to start naming this all off in the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas.

The first hour and a half of our trip, Davey slept.  Not at all surprising considering the fact that if I need to get him to take a nap, I just stick him in his car seat and either go for a run or go for a ride in the car.   It knocks him out faster than you can snap your fingers.  

Going into hour two, Davey became fussy and we stopped to feed which prompted him to immediately fall back asleep for approximately 45 minutes.   Hey, this is way more nap time than I’m able to get him to take when we’re at home!  Then the final hour of our first leg became the ticking time bomb phase.  

Davey is not used to being cooped up.   He’s used to stretching his legs, jumping around, crawling, getting into mischief, not being confined into the bowels of the backseat of my car!   At first he entertained himself with the sights of the trip, but quickly his ADD kicked in (no I don’t know that he has ADD).   No longer was it good enough to watch the passing cars, houses, trees, parks, buildings, or trucks.   Davey wanted out and he wanted out now! 

Finally, we were able to check into our hotel room where we quickly got him settled long enough to eat lunch, then Davey and I were off to do a little sight-seeing while my husband concluded some work matters.   Now, here’s the exciting and yet regretful part of our trip.   The hotel we’re staying in has an indoor heated pool!  

After returning from our short shopping excursion, and while my husband was still working, Davey and I decided to take a respite and visit the pool.  I rolled up my jeans and sat down with my feet on the first step.  Davey was in a shorts romper, so no need to do anything further with him.   He stood for a moment, then jumped around, giggled and cooed, kicked some water, then bent over at the waist reached into the pool and threw some water up into the air before nearly toppling over as he tried to put his head in the water.   Needless to say I shouldn’t have any problem with him this summer at the pool and the event has even encouraged me to check into swim lessons for him when we return.

As nightfall is nearing, one day of our journey is behind us.   My husband is taking over his normal nightly duties of feeding Davey before bed and then we’re ALL off to sleep as I don’t expect a restful night considering the fact that the “crib” the hotel supplies is a pack n play and it’s in our room.   No more privacy for the next 10 days. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s exciting journey.   We’ll see just how well a baby does when faced with a 10 hour drive.   How will mommy and daddy survive?  Will they be at their wits’ end, or will they become closer?