When we decided that we wanted to go down to celebrate the holidays with my parents and siblings as well as visit my newly born nephew (Fin's cousin, Owen), it was unclear whether we'd take a plane or drive. I was an early proponent of driving, but Dan was voting for air travel. We weighed the pros and cons (price, time, packing limits, germ levels, security, delays, traffic, etc.) and driving won out.
Dan packed the car early Thursday afternoon (can you tell he's an engineer and former tetris champ?) and we headed out.
Finley was an absolute champ! I sat in the back to monitor his feeding needs (it pays to feed infants before they become hysterical with hunger) but he slept for the first three hours without a peep! We stopped for lunch in CT and Dan ordered us some deli sandwiches while I fed and changed the little man in the car. I felt quite accomplished after a successful diaper change in the back seat, especially since the diaper was quite a doozy!
We stopped again in southern NJ since we needed gas and we assumed Finley was hungry even though his deep slumber continued. He wasn't so happy post-meal while we waited in the full service NJ gas line, but once we were back on the turnpike he settled in. We arrived at my parents' house just after 9pm, which made for about a 9 hour drive--not bad!
Conversely, our ride home yesterday morning was a different story...while the car got packed just as well and we made an on time departure, Finley had a much rougher ride. We hit some very upsetting traffic in northern NJ and it was a coin toss for which was worse: Dan having to drive through the brutal stop and go traffic in the middle of a Monday afternoon or me having to sit in the back and attempt to calm a hysterical Finley. I think driving would have been easier and less emotionally draining, but that's just me!
We had to make three stops total on the ride home instead of two and got home in just over 10 hours. Long day for all three of us. We learned a lot about driving with the little guy and I'm sure our future long drives will teach us even more. We're still pretty sure that Finley loves riding in the car, but even he has his limits :)
it's SO much easier being the driver, i learned that one early on! and something we just learned this past trip -- traveling at night instead of the day will likely ensure a much easier trip, baby sleeping-wise :) glad you're back!
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