Road Trip!

Oliver went on his first long road trip and stayed in his first hotel last weekend. My mom and I took him up to Midland to visit my grandmother. The last time she saw him he was one month old so I was looking forward to showing her how much he’s changed!

We left Austin Thursday morning and headed northwest towards Midland - I’m not even going to talk about how much stuff we brought with us (it looked like we were planning to move to Midland). We decided to take the backroads because, even though it would add time to our trip, there would be more towns to stop in should the need arise (and it arose). We were so lucky with the weather on Thursday - it was cool and overcast for our whole trip (perfect road trip weather). Oliver did really well in the car on the way out there. We had to stop more times than we otherwise would have (but not too many more times) so that I could feed him and we could stretch out a little bit. We ate lunch at a barbeque joint in Brady and Oliver hung out in his Bumbo on the table while we ate. Then we were back in the car. Oliver had some fussy moments but nothing too terrible. We got into Midland around 4:00 in the afternoon (after seven hours in the car) and went to the hotel to check in and change Oliver so that he would look cute and refreshed for his great-grandmother and then headed over to my grandmother’s house. My grandmother was so excited to see him! And it was great to finally introduce him to his Great Uncle Ken. We spent some time watching Oliver (one of the best forms of entertainment there is), ate some dinner and then Mom and I headed back to the hotel. 

As a side note, I discovered what I find to be the secret to a successful hotel stay with a baby - nesting. As soon as we got into the room Thursday evening, I unpacked all of our stuff and set up Oliver’s sleeping area, changing area, etc. The hotel room was great and had lots of room for all of our stuff. I changed Oliver, swaddled him up, fed him and put him down (still awake!)  in the pack and play that the hotel provided. He chattered for a few minutes and then went to sleep and slept for seven hours (that’s a LONG time for Oliver)! The car ride must have worn him out. I was grateful for the sleep and surprised at how well he slept in a room with my mom and I (we even stayed up for a few hours after he went to bed and it didn’t bother him one bit).

We woke upon Friday morning around 8:30 - we were all shocked that Oliver let us sleep in that late - and then headed over to my grandmother’s house. Oliver played for a little while and then took a long morning nap. When he woke up we went to eat at a nice cafe inside a plant nursery. The food was great and the setting was beautiful - the restaurant was inside the greenhouse so we were surrounded by lots of pretty plants. Friday afternoon/evening we took my grandmother back to our hotel so that we could take a swim. Oliver had a good time in the pool despite the fact that it was really really cold. After the swim, my mom took my grandmother back home while I tried to get Oliver to bed. Oliver slept pretty well again on Friday night.

On Saturday we spent some time hanging out at my grandmother’s house and then went to visit some other family that lives in Midland. My grandmother’s cousin, Audrey, and some of her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids all live really close to each other in Midland. We went over to Audrey’s house and visited with her and her great-grandson, Wesley, and Audrey’s daughter, Debbie, and Debbie’s daughters, Jennifer and Kim and their five kids. It was a full house and Oliver seemed a little overwhelmed but he stayed pretty calm and let everyone hold him and love on him. That evening we went to eat at On The Border and Oliver made my mom and I carry him around throughout the meal (he’s not much for sitting in his carseat for long periods of time anymore). Then we went back to the hotel, went for a swim and put the knucklehead to bed (he fought me a little on bedtime but finally caved).

On Sunday morning we went to church with Grandmommy so that she could show off Oliver to all of her church friends. Oliver was very well-behaved in church (he only fussed for a little bit but then I took him out of the sanctuary and nursed him until he fell asleep... he stayed asleep in my arms for the rest of the time... he’s gotten really heavy). 

Mom and I had to leave after church on Sunday so that I could be home for work on Monday morning so we loaded into the car around 1:00, said our good-byes and hit the road. We decided to take I-10 home since Oliver had done so well in the car on the way out there. We started out pretty well but then Oliver started to cry (okay, he started to scream). We would get about an hour of quiet out of him and then he would start screaming. We would pull over, I would nurse him until he calmed down and then we’d start the whole thing over again. We finally got to the point where we just had to drive through the screaming (it seemed like he screamed for the whole six hour trip but I know it wasn’t really that bad). It’s a little stressful to drive with your kid screaming his head off in the backseat but after we knew that he was fed and had a clean diaper there really wasn’t anything we could do for him. I figured he was just sick of the car so we soldiered on to Austin. We finally arrived at our house and Mom unpacked all of my stuff as I tried to nurse Oliver. Mom headed on to San Antonio and I was left alone (Brian was at his book group) with a baby who was still crying. That’s when it became obvious that the screaming wasn’t just from being in the car. Poor baby was teething. I got him something to chew on (my finger) and took him into the bathtub to calm him down. We finally got him into bed around 10:00 that night and I crashed shortly after.

Despite the nightmare car trip home, though, we had an awesome time in Midland. It was great to let Oliver hang out with his great-grandmother. She lives too far away and we miss her! But we will see her again in October when she comes down to San Antonio to visit and, in the meantime, we’ll send her lots of photos and videos!