5 Months Old- Baby's First Road Trip

     5 months old, I can't believe how fast time flies. Next month Roxas will be a whole half a year old! Our little munchkin is growing up, and things are just getting more and more exciting with each day.  He is fascinating to watch as he learns all kind of new things. He is pretty mobile if he wants to be. He will scoot, shove and roll around on the floor or any other surface he is put on! He is starting to grasp the idea of sitting up on his own but usually topples over after a few seconds. He is such a smiley little boy, and quite the flirt too. He is sleeping much better now, he goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes at 11 and 4 so really it's not too terrible.

     We took our first road trip as a family this past weekend, hence the late blog. What a trip it was. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal at all...HA! I refuse to take anymore trips with a baby now. Brace yourself, it's a long story. We went to Palm Springs to attend the wedding of a friend. The ride up wasn't too bad, he only got fussy towards the end of the ride but other than that it went well.

As we left the house Saturday morning

     This is where the trip starts heading downhill. Once we got to hotel we thought we would check in and get him a nap, get ourselves ready and relax a bit. Nope. The hotel didn't have our room ready, turns out check in time is 4pm. The wedding was at 3:30. You see the problem here. We camped out in the hotel lobby for a few hours waiting on our room. All the while Roxas was in desperate need of a nap but with so much to see he wasn't thrilled with the idea of sleeping. I finally got him to sleep for maybe 45 minutes in my arms but it was nothing compared to a real nap.

Camped out in the hotel lobby

     We got into the hotel room at about 2 and frantically got ready to go, throwing ourselves and our supplies together. We made it to the wedding on time and the ceremony was wonderful but Roxas decided it was too quiet in some parts and wanted to fuss, so I stood in the back with him for some parts but really it could have gone much, much worse so I wasn't too stressed...yet.

Then we got to the reception, and my anxiety level went through the roof. We didn't know anybody at the table, and Roxas was in full freak out mode before long. We didn't even get a chance to eat before we very quickly said "Hi" and "Bye" to the bride and groom. We hightailed it out of there with a very unhappy, tired, and cranky baby. We stopped at a California Pizza Kitchen to grab some food and had a beer while we waited. I'm sure we were an interesting sight. We were so relieved to just head back to the room and get Roxas to bed, eat and have a bit of relaxation time. The rest of the night went great and was probably one of the highlights of the trip. Just sitting in our hotel room enjoying dinner together. Although Roxas was up at least 4 times in the night and I was dead tired the next morning.

Just chillin' in the hotel room

The next day we drove a little bit to visit my aunt and uncle in a nearby city. Roxas has finally met all of his great-uncles and his great-aunt! We went out to lunch and had a nice time visiting with family.

 Roxas with his Great-Uncle Ron

Roxas with his Great-Aunt Ginger

     After lunch we started heading home. So far the trip hasn't been terrible but we are glad to be going home. We headed out on the road and our first snafu was trying to locate a darn bathroom in one of the towns. I swear, we had the worst luck at picking just about every place that didn't have public restrooms. After we finally got ourselves sorted out we though everything would be fine from then on. Nope. We were driving along the road and due to a navigating error we ended up making a wrong turn and driving about 60 miles backwards. In the wrong direction. Not exactly productive. After realizing we were driving the wrong way we turned around and started back towards home. Now this wouldn't be much more than severely annoying if we weren't in the middle of absolutely nowhere with the gas needle dangerously close to E. I started trying to find the nearest gas station and all of our technology was completely useless. Our phones couldn't find signal, and the GPS unit was of no help either. So there we were driving through the middle of the desert with nearly no gas. Great. Then Roxas decided we weren't on edge enough and started fussing like crazy. I had to dig very deep to try and find every last ounce of patience my body possesses just to keep from exploding. I finally managed to get a gas station location on one of our phones but it was 26 miles away still, and the needle was on E. Yeah. The tension in that car was palpable to say the least. Kenny took it to 60mph and kept it there, hoping to make the most efficient use of gas possible. I don't think we said a single word for a very, very long time. I just kept praying "Please God don't let us run out of gas, please, please don't let this happen." over and over and over. While we were coming across this stretch of desert the gas light comes on. Then, in a clear answer to my prayers...we come upon the gas station. I've never been so happy to pay nearly $5 a gallon. I think I actually took a breath for the first time in about an hour. I was so relieved and happy I was crying and laughing like a hyena. Roxas started fussing again on the way home but I just hopped in the back and sat with him for the rest of the trip. We made it back home without further incident but let me tell you, it was a rough trip. I have never been so happy to be back at home. 

Conked out on the way home

     So that's our first road trip. It was quite a doozy and I hope we never have that experience ever again! It was great to get back to our regular schedule today and have some normalcy!

     This week is my last week at work and it seems so surreal that I will be starting nursing school in just a few weeks. I'm excited and terrified still but I think excitement is winning right now. I just hope I have the smarts, and the endurance to make it through to the end.

Until next post...