Road Trip!

Husband, Baby, and I have made a road trip to FL from TN for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. We have spent some days relaxing, but mostly we've been doing a lot of driving between the homes of Husband's parents, extended family members and a few friends, including T!

I've done a lot of road trips in my life.  In college, I'd ride between FL and PA over holiday breaks and summer vacations.  In grad school, I drove back and forth from Atlanta to both PA and FL to see family and friends, respectively. I don't do the crazy 18-hour trips any more... once I started making a reasonably steady paycheck, I gave myself an 8-hour limit. Still, after all those long ones in college, the 5-hr trek to or from Asheville seems like a breeze.

Road trips with a baby are a new experience, though.  Babies don't know to wait till the gas tank gets close to empty before they cry because they are hungry.  Babies don't know that there are 9 miles till the next exit, and that it's impossible to play peek-a-boo when they're in a rear-facing car seat.  They can't help it when they poop in the confined space of the car--when they gotta go, they gotta go! Our baby is still too young to appreciate one of those car DVD players, as a movie is only entertaining for ten minutes or so, max. We read stories and pulled out a bunch of toys which were generally fun for a few minutes each.  I sat in the back for most of the trip (thank you God, for Dramamine!) and entertained and/or soothed as needed. (This is also b/c the new car seat is so big that the passenger seat is practically up in the dashboard.)

So the drive that should have taken 9 hours took 11, which is still worth it to see Nana and Pappy, and to watch them experience her for the first time in six months.

Any advice on road trips with babies?
How 'bout teething babies?

T- good to see you, an hour wasn't enough!