Why we drove to Midland. Aren't they gorgeous?
Traveling with three small children is always an adventure. The girls have always been awesome travelers. Logan has done a great job up to this point, too, but this is the first trip we've taken where he was confined for that long after becoming mobile. The boy HATES sitting still. I had a plan, though, and it was going to work. There was no doubt in my mind.
We turned his car seat forward facing to open up a whole new world for him. He could see me, he could see the TV, he could see better out of the windows. I know this isn't the advised practice anymore. He's only 14 months old, not 14 years or however old they are supposed to be to turn around these days, but you know what? When we drive in town for more than 20 minutes, he loses it. We thought it would be safer all around to have him happy and not screaming for 6 or 7 hours.
Packed in and ready to go! Happy faces all around.
The first hour was hilarious! He squealed and kicked his feet in delight. He would yell "ma" to get me to turn around and smile at him. I got the best grins I've ever seen out of him for that first hour.
At the hour mark, things quickly headed south. The fussing began. I threw snacks at him. That helped for about 10 minutes. I emptied his bag of goodies trying to find something he'd like. He'd take it from me, yell, and throw it. We exhausted the bag of goodies within about 5 minutes.
SO MAD!
I knew it was time for a nap. It was actually about 2 hours past time for a nap at this point. You guys, I have the ONLY kids in the whole world who refuse to sleep in the car. The girls have never slept in the car, either. We drove from Texas to Ohio (a full 24 hours) non-stop for Christmas when Hannah was almost 2 and Camden was around 4 months old. Hannah slept for 3 hours of the whole entire trip. Apparently, Logan takes after his sister. Lucky us!
Back to this story, though. I had a stash of about 6 pacifiers. The boy loves his binky. It usually does the trick quickly at nap time. He was screaming and crying and exhausted (just in case you missed that detail). I would hand him a pacifier. He'd pop it in his mouth, still screaming, leave it there for about 5 seconds, and then he'd take it out and throw it. Awesome.
He finally fell asleep for about 45 minutes...binky free because I was done climbing all over the car retrieving them. He woke up and continued his unhappy screaming. We made it, got him out of the car and he was a happy little camper again.
Sweet silence! Do you like his pink car seat? The hazards of being born AFTER two girls.
The weekend was so much fun. We had a great time with some people who mean a whole lot to us. The kids had a lot of fun and were relatively well behaved. Hannah got sick (and 5 days later is still sick), but she was trooper and got lots of snuggles and love. The trip was totally worth it. Until the ride home. Honestly, even with the unhappy traveling, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Trying to sleep off her sick. This was at 9 in the morning. The girl NEVER naps. Poor little lady!
On the way home, Logan did the same thing. Only this time, he was happy for the first 30 minutes, not hour. He fell asleep faster, but unfortunately, that happened 20 minutes before we got to our mid-way lunch stop. He did the same thing 20 minutes from home. Add to it a miserable little girl who felt horrible. She tried her best not to whine and cry, but she just couldn't help it. Sweet little lady.
Can I just tell you that I have absolutely no desire to ever leave my house again? We have a few trips coming up and I'm dreading the travel portion of the trips. Time to start shopping for drugs that will knock him out. Shhhhh!!!! I didn't say that. Or mean it. Not really. OK, maybe I did mean it...just a little. Anyone know where I can buy Benadryl in bulk?
I love the pink and brown car seat Logan gets! Funny how things change with the 3rd child. I'm sure at this point he thinks pink is normal for boys, his life is wrapped in pink having 2 sisters! Maybe you need the drugs?
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