There and Back Again

We have gone off and had our big adventure and returned in one piece (and even tolerably well rested). We had a very good visit -- Grandma and Grandpa (and an aunt and an uncle) enjoyed seeing the babies and Max had a fantastic time "jugging" a new and exciting house and playing with Grandma's stash of toys. As it turned out, it wasn't the going to bed that was a challenge, it was the three-hour car ride. I purposely left mid morning on Tuesday -- right after Molly's feeding and right at Max's normal nap time. The first hour and a half of the drive was glorious (in spite of the crummy, drizzly weather) -- Molly zonked right out in the car and Max looked out the window for a while before falling asleep himself. I was patting myself on the back and thinking how awesome my mothering and organizational skills were ... until Max woke up. Since his usual naps last two hours and he only slept for one hour, he woke up crabby and proceeded to whine and fuss for the rest of the trip.

I sang songs. I recited many of his bedtime books from memory, including his all-time favorite "Moo, Baa, La La La." I suggested he look at all the cool cars and animals that we passed. Max was not appeased. I managed to dig some crackers of questionable freshness out of the car diaper bag, which bought me about ten minutes of happy toddler silence -- at least until he finished the crackers, asked for more, and discovered that there weren't any more. The whining resumed -- I turned up the radio. Molly, who was the one I thought might act up in the car, slept peacefully during the whole trip. We did eventually reach Grandma and Grandpa's house and Mom only had a slight headache.

However, Max did surprise me by going to bed at night like a perfect angel. I brought his pack and play (which he hasn't been in for at least six months), his favorite blanket, his stuffed monkey from the NICU, his comfort blanket (i.e. burp cloth), his binky (yes, he still sleeps with his paci), and his large, plastic musical crib toy. I set up his bed and we followed our normal bedtime routine (pjs, brush teeth, read a story, turn out the light, sing a song in the dark, kiss mama, get tucked in, turn on musical crib toy, and say goodnight). After Max was all tucked in, I left the room, closed the door, and he whined for all of 30 second before going to sleep. Then he did it again the second night. That's my good boy! Since Molly and I were sleeping in the same room with him and Max is a very light sleeper, I was afraid that we'd wake him up and he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. We did wake him up, but he would just pop his head up, say "Mama, HI!," and then go back to sleep. Molly slept pretty well also, although she did wake up every 3-4 hours to eat, as per usual.

We did have some fun firsts this weekend. Molly took her first walk! We bundled her up, but her in the sling, and zipped her into my coat. She fell fast asleep and was nice and cozy while the rest of us enjoyed the walk (or the stroller, in Max's case). Max also took his very first bath in the big tub, without his little inflatable tubby. He thought it was strange and was a little scared for all of 30 seconds, until he figured out how much more fun it was to splash in all of that water (not to mention playing with the bath toys). Max also took a nap in a big bed. He was so tired by the last day of our visit that he crawled up on my lap after breakfast, laid his head down on my shoulder, and started rubbing his eyes. I'd already packed up the pack and play and put it in the car, so I laid down with him in the big bed and covered him up with his blanket. After about ten minutes of "Mama, HI!" and having him beep my nose, he zonked out and slept there for over an hour. Maybe moving him out of the crib won't be so difficult after all ... (hehe, right).

And, in reference to my previous post, although I felt like I was bringing WAY too much stuff for a short trip, I really wasn't! The musical crib toy was, in fact, necessary and I've discovered that it isn't possible to bring too many burp cloths. I thought I had packed too many outfits and sleepers for Molly, but she went on a clothes rampage. We had FOUR diaper blow outs, two pee babys, and countless attacks of the 'gurge. By the time I put her into her car seat for the ride home, she was wearing her very last clean sleeper. We also managed to blow through ALL of the wipes we had packed.

The ride home was much like the ride up North, without the calm and quiet first half. :P Molly slept most of the way, but Max wasn't happy about being in the car. We did stop to see some friends about 2/3 of the way through the trip, so Max got to get out and stretch his legs and play with his little friends' toys for a while (thank you!). Max finally fell asleep about 45 minutes from home ... at which point Molly promptly woke up and started fussing. She complained for about ten minutes before going back to sleep, but not before she woke up Max, who carried on the whining for her. Needless to say, we were all happy to pull into our driveway!

So, now we begin the mad dash to Halloween. Mom hasn't finished baby costumes yet (ok, I haven't really even started), so it should be an interesting few days of wrangling with the sewing machine and lots of fake fur.