First Overnight Travel with Grace w/Pictures

This weekend was our first overnight trip with Grace. It actually went very, very well. It took me all evening Thursday to pack though and I had so much stuff for Grace, but we ended up using almost everything, so I'm glad I brought it all.

Friday Eric called me at work because he had a loan coming in late, so I had to go pick up Grace. When we got home, I cleaned out her diaper bag, changed clothes and fed her. Eric got home while we were still feeding and started loading up the car. When we finished feeding we changed Grace into a comfy sleeper and headed out. Eric realized he left the cash out on his desk at work, so we had to swing by there first, but we were officially on the road by 7:00 p.m. Grace fell asleep almost immediately in the car. We considered stopping around Indianapolis, to wake up Grace and feed her, but then decided to just keep driving until she woke up or we got there and we managed to drive all the way without stopping for a feeding. We got in around 10:45 p.m. Once we were there, Eric brought in the stuff and I fed Grace. Unfortunately, she had another vomiting incident and pretty much brought it all back up, but we tried. Luckily, she decided she was sleepy, so we put her to bed around midnight in her pack and play in Donna's room. Donna gave me the bed, she slept on the couch, and Eric slept in a recliner in the living room. I think the room was too cold, because Grace woke up at about 1:30 a.m. and I decided to put her in bed with me. We then got up at 6:00 for a bottle.

Once we finished the morning feeding, I thought I'd see if Grace would go back to bed with me, but she was just cooing and kicking me. Donna came in and got her and hung out with her until her next feeding at 8:30 a.m. Nana decided to feed Grace for me, so I showered and dressed (Eric too). Once we were done feeding Grace, we hit the road for my Grandparents house, an hour away. We ended up spending about 4 hours there just visiting. Two of my cousins came by with there kids too, so it was a very nice visit. Unfortunately, Grace had several very loose stools, so we went through 3 outfits! Good thing I packed a ton. Here's a picture of Grace with her Great-Grandparents. She's so lucky that she gets to know them.

Here's another picture from the visit. Notice the pacifier. Last week we bought a different kind of pacifier and amazingly, she can keep this one in her mouth all by herself. Apparently, Nuk's just don't work for us.

After visiting with the Great-Grandparents, we went back to Eric's Mom's and then out to dinner with Donna and her boyfriend Larry, and Eric's Uncle Lenny and Aunt Darlene. It was such a good time. Grace actually just sat in her carseat and slept the whole time. We also managed to keep Grace to her normal schedule, so after dinner we went back to the house and gave her a bath. After bathtime, Nana was playing with her and Grace was all smiles. (We get lots of these now!)

She also got to go to bed at her normal 10:00 bedtime and slept until 4:00 a.m. (then I brought her to bed with me until 6:00).

Sunday morning I again left Grace with Nana and went back to bed for a little while. After we were all ready and Grace had her 9:00 feeding we headed down to Kyle's for my niece Ashton's 7th birthday party. Grace and her Nana were all dressed up, so we got this picture.

The party was at Magic Planet so we there were kids everywhere and too much to do, so we didn't actually get to see much of the birthday girl. We did get to see Kyle & Leslie, along with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Christie, though, so overall it was a really good trip. We got to see pretty much everyone. After Grace's 3:00 bottle we headed home. I didn't want to complete disrupt the nighttime schedule by trying to drive straight through again, so we stopped around 6:00 p.m to get us some dinner and give Grace a bottle. All was going well, but after 4 ounces, Grace again threw up. This time all over Eric and the floor at Burger King. Poor baby. We cleaned up and I had a change of clothes in the diaper bag, so we cleaned up and left. I think she may get a little carsick after long rides, because those were the only bottles she had problems with.

Today, I've had the day off work, but I sent Grace to daycare anyway. Although she woke up at 2:30 and 4:30 and I couldn't delay the bottle past 5 a.m. this morning. I also couldn't get her back to sleep before daycare, so after Eric and Grace left I went back to bed until about 9:45 a.m. Then I got up and cleaned the house. This is the first whole house cleaning I've been able to do since she's been born. I cleaned every room, steamed spots on the carpet that needed it, did all of our laundry, all of Grace's laundry, made a spot for the new treadmill and workout stuff in the basement, and hung a picture and toy net in Grace's room. All that just in time to go pick up Grace from daycare. It's been a busy day, but my house is clean! Well, that's about it. I'm hoping this will be a slow week with not much going on.