We Survived!

We are back from our insane road trip (I believe it was something like 17 hours total in the car with a 4 1/2 month old who hates her car seat) and I am back to my first day at work since then. (Very nice to have two days off after the convention. I highly recommend it.)

Now if you would like to just skip to the pics, click here. Otherwise, here we go: We left Wed. evening a little after 6 for our first 3 hour leg, after we both worked the whole day. Mom made soup with our organic vegetables of the week (we joined a co-op at the organic farm in town) so we ate before we left (and Elena ate too, of course). She was very fussy for the first 25 min. or so until I remembered the pacifier. That helped keep her somewhat quiet for a while. We stopped halfway at the first rest stop on the Mass Pike so I could feed her again. Back on the road she decided to scream herself to sleep for the first time in her life. That was fun. But then she slept until we arrived at the hotel in Albany around 10. We brought the co-sleeper with us that she's been sleeping in at home, swaddled her in her swaddle blanket, and she slept great. That was a bit of relief.

Thur. morning - our next 3+ hour drive for our 11:00 AM appointments in upstate NY. Stopped in a Walmart parking lot b/c there was a Mickey D's there. Breakfast for all. And we made it on time! Met up with my parents for the first time since leaving RI (we stayed at the same hotel the night before but they left after us). So we all saw Lorrie and we all had major things worked on, even the baby, although her session was very short and she cried pretty much the whole time because she had to be in one place and not being walked around.

Then our longest stretch - 4ish hours in the car to Vermont, where we were staying with the Nevilles for the convention. We left around 4:00. I think she fell asleep somewhat easily this time and slept for a while. I had one bottle of breastmilk with me that I had been saving and gave it to her after she woke up. She downed it in no time. So we stopped about an hour later in an Enterprise parking lot, but at least that was 3 hours into the trip. We were trying to make it to the Nevilles before 9 (it was their convention too so we didn't want to be real late). Lenny made PB&Js while Elena ate again. Back on the road, we made it about 8:45, I think. Their other guest, Susan Green, had just gotten there, and my parents showed up about 20 min. later.

Now for the convention. The Nevilles live about 45 min. away, but it was an easy drive and most of the hotels on the list are 30-40 min. away. I thought we were going to be there before it started on Friday, but we weren't (looong walk from the parking lot, the other two days Lenny dropped us off at the back door near our seats), and never made it for the opening song, but we were there for the final song and prayer on Sunday! Well, Elena and I were in the nursing room, but we were there! My parents had gotten there earlier and saved us seats (technically against the rules, I guess, so don't tell anyone).

Our convention is in the arena at UMass in Amherst. So the nursing area is actually in the locker rooms just off the arena floor. One room has private areas rigged with ropes and shower curtains and the other room is just chairs. I went to the private one every time and only once had to wait for a couple minutes. It was cool and you could even hear the program when there weren't other people talking or babies screaming.

The girls (Mom, Elena, and I) went outside at lunch time and we tried to find a discreet place for me to feed her (with a cover on, of course), but I gave up b/c there were just people everywhere and ended up back in the locker room. Sat., though, the weather was beautiful and I actually fed her in the car with the windows rolled down. Tried this again on Sunday, but it was HOT! Oh well. Now, Little Miss did not sleep AT ALL Friday or Saturday except for a few minutes while/just after nursing. Friday we left during the last talk. Saturday she had a major poop and Lenny came back with her in a different outfit. I tried nursing her in the car again so we could listen to the program on the car radio, hoping she would fall asleep, but she didn't and we left during the audio drama and went home and gave her a bath. She did actually sleep through dinner that night at an outdoor BBQ place.

So now Sunday, by some miracle she fell asleep in Mom's lap at the beginning of the drama and stayed asleep the entire drama and song/annoucements! That was the only stretch where all 4 of us were able to stay in our seats and listen to the program. Dad was a cleaning supervisor so a few times he took her on his walks around to check on things and of course Lenny took her around and Mom took her. We rotated. She was a big hit.

Right after the program, we made a dash for the car and were off for the last 3ish hour stretch (should have been less, but there was TRAFFIC!). She slept again for a while, then another Mickey D's stop for dinner for all, then HOME! I am told next year will be even harder since she'll be walking. We'll see...