traveling woes

Once you have a baby, traveling takes on a whole new level of stress. I decided to go with my mom and dad this week to Florence, where they used to live. Of course E.A. came, so that we could show her off to friends.

First of all, there's the packing. In addition to my stuff, I have to pack TONS of stuff for her: clothes, diapers, wipes, toys, etc. It took me two hours to pack, and I had 3 bags and a bulky plastic toy (her play mat that has a cow, a pig, and a chicken hanging from a musical plastic arch).

My parents, God love them, are kind of slow when it comes to traveling, so I thought I was running late when I got to their house, but it was 2 more hours before they were ready to go. My mom made ME call her friends and tell them that we were running late. We called her friend Marsha, who was expecting us mid-afternoon. When I told her I wouldn't be there until around 7 she said, "Oh my goodness. I figured you would be a little late, but not that late!" Of course, I just blamed it on the baby: "ha, ha. you know how it is, traveling with a baby."

The trip, which is about 2 1/2 hours, went smoothly. E.A. slept most of the way, which was great. But when it came time to go to sleep that night, things got ugly. She didn't want to go to sleep, and didn't until almost 10:30, about 1 1/2 hours past her usual 9 p.m. bedtime. She slept in a pack-n-play that Marsha has here at her house, which was great. But she kept waking up. She was up at 1:30 a.m., and didn't go back to sleep until almost 3, and then up again at 6. I hardly slept all night. So I was a zombie all day yesterday at my mom's friends' house. Since E.A. was tired, she fussed most of the day yesterday, and didn't even want to nap much. It was a rough day. I was really nervous and exhausted by the end of the day. I think it's gonna be a while before I go out of town again. I need a few weeks to recover and forget the stress of traveling with an infant.