Adelyn's First Road Trip

Maternity leave has given me a wonderful opportunity to do all kinds of things that I wouldn't be able to do if I was working. My sister was headed off to graduate school in Louisville, KY and my youngest sister would have been the only one available to make the trip with her. Instead, Adelyn and I were able to make the trip as well.

On the road
We got on the road around 2:30pm on Sunday, August 15th. Leaving was hard. I was nervous about being able to manage Adelyn on my own for such an extended period of time, and of course, we were leaving Jordan behind. Saying goodbye was sad. I felt a little guilty about taking Jordan's daughter away for a week. Of course he had said it was ok, but mainly because he realized how badly I wanted to go and how disappointed I would have been all week if I was just sitting at home thinking about what I could be doing.
So, we said goodbye and got on the road. Adelyn was really good the first day...maybe because we didn't try to push it to make it too far. We only got to Little Rock and we stopped around 8pm. We got a hotel room, I fed Adelyn, and then we decided to look for a place to go for dinner. Apparently we were just a little too far past Little Rock and we had waited too late, because nothing was open. We grabbed some fast food and went back to the room.
Probably to most eventful thing that happened was when we got back to the room and let Alissa's cat out. We had given her a sedative for the car ride, and when we let her out, she started stumbling around. At first we figured the sedative hadn't worn off, or she was just stretching her legs, but after an hour or so when she was still stumbling around, we were starting to get worried. She couldn't even jump up onto the bed or walk without running into things. We finally realized that perhaps she had been given too much of the sedative. Sure enough, we had given her a whole pill instead of a half of a pill as instructed. Oops!
We were a little worried then, but after a night of stumbling around, she seemed fine. We decided not to give her another dose for the ride the next day...and I guess the initial effects hadn't worn off because she was still very quiet.
Since we hadn't gone very far the first day, we still had pretty far to go. Unfortunately, we also had to stop every three hours for 20 minutes or so to feed Adelyn. After all of that, we didn't end up getting to Louisville until 10pm. To make it worse, Adelyn decided around the middle of the day that she was tired of being in her car seat. Who can really blame her, but she cried and cried. The only thing that would make her stop crying was someone's finger to suck on. She wouldn't take the pacifier, only a finger. So, my youngest sister sat crooked on her bucket seat for many hours with her finger in Adelyn's mouth.
Once we arrived in Louisville, we checked in to our hotel and went to bed. We were in a suite, which was pretty nice, but the sleeping arrangements included one queen bed and a pull out sofa. I couldn't share the queen with one of my sisters and have easy access to Adelyn in the middle of the night, so I chose the pull out sofa. Of course it was crooked and the mattress was lumpy. I ended up putting the mattress on the floor, and that was a little better. The best thing about the sleeping arrangements was how difficult it was to get Adelyn to sleep in her travel crib. It didn't rock and I couldn't put my hand in it from the bed to hold the pacifier in her mouth. Because of that, she had to share the mattress with me. I never thought I would believe in co-sleeping, but it turns out I want that baby in bed with me every night! Being in a hotel was a great excuse for that!

Louisville
Being in Louisville was great. It was the fist time since Adelyn was born that my whole day did not revolve around her. I felt useful and busy...and exhausted! We moved in Alissa's stuff on Tuesday while taking turns being in the apartment with Adelyn unpacking.
Wednesday we went shopping with Alissa to purchase all of the things you need to start an apartment (cleaning supplies, basic cooking supplies, some groceries, and other stuff). We also went to the Habitat Re Store. If you haven't heard of this and you need cheap furniture, you should definitely check it out. It's where people donate things that they don't need anymore and then the Re store sells it. They have furniture, toilets, door knobs, tiles, etc. We found a couch and a coffee table for Alissa and spent only $70. After all of our shopping, we had only a few minutes to get ready for the ice cream social that the seminary was throwing for the new students. We made it...a little late and got to visit with some of the people from her program. Then we decided we had earned a break for dinner and went out to eat.
Thusday Alissa had orientation, so Gillian and I were in the apartment unpacking and building furniture. We built a breakfast table and chairs that we had bought, put a couch cover on the sofa from the Re store and did a load of laundry. Good thing, because Adelyn had spat up on all of the burp cloths I had brought. I know that doesn't seem like a whole days worth of work, but it's a lot of work to put chairs together, and Adelyn needed a lot of attention. We rewarded ourselves with Graeter's ice cream. Graeter's is the thing I miss the most from living in Cincinnati. Delicious! It has magic chocolate in it that doesn't get too hard from being frozen. You have to try it if you ever have an opportunity!
Friday was our last full day...and we had a lot of building to do. My mom had ordered a lot of furniture and it had finally arrived. So, Gillian and I spent the day constructing a bed, a dresser, and a desk. I got a blister from the screw driver! When Adelyn needed to eat, I would feed her while reading the instructions to Gillian. Alissa had dessert plans with her classmates that evening, so we treated ourselves to Graeter's once again. Adelyn is definitely going to have a sweet tooth!
Saturday we had to get ready for the drive back. Alissa had class until 12:30, but we were planning to get on the road right after that. Gillian and I tried to put together the end table...the one last piece of furniture that we hadn't gotten to yet. I guess we were in too big of a hurry because we really botched the job! First we put the back on crooked so that it stuck up above the top a little. Then, when we turned it over to take the back off and fix it, we realized that we had put the bottom on upside down. Then, we tried to take to back off to fix both problems, and broke the wood. Then Alissa called to say she was done with class, and we left the whole thing and got on the road. I hope she figures out what to do about it...sorry :-/

Returning home
The drive back was much the same as the ride there had been, except we were in a bigger hurry. We were trying to make it to Hope, Arkansas where we were planning to meet Jordan. That's right, he drove from Dallas the Arkansas so that he could spend the night with us Saturday. Sweet guy really missed his girls! Because we were in a hurry, I pumped in the car and Gillian gave Adelyn a bottle. The rest of the time, Adelyn was sucking on a finger of course.
It was really good to see Jordan. He admitted that she hadn't changed as much as he thought she might. It was even better to have someone to help with feedings and diaper changes in the middle of the night.
Overall the trip was great. It was really good to spend time with my sisters and my baby daughter. As nervous as I had been about being responsible for her all week, I really enjoyed being the only one she depended on. It really made me feel like her mom!