Taking a Breather

Life has been hectic lately. Nothing new, but you know, hectic as in, "Doing Something Everyday Single Day of the Week and Having to Bundle Kids Into Coats and Hats and Mittens" hectic. Thinking back not too far, Friday was babysitting for friends and going to work, Saturday was work (LONG day) followed by a big girl's night out with Madeline to Elmo Saves Music at Sheas where we had front row seats (which meant that she couldn't see and stood on my lap bladder throughout the entire performance) but all in all a fun day. Pictures on Flickr. Sunday was lots of cleaning and then dinner at Mr. JuJu's parent's house. Monday was spent at the Buffalo Marriott Niagara in a meeting for work. Tuesday was groceries and haircuts for the kids and today is: NOTHING. Ahhhhh.

Except later when we need to take Julian out for new shoes since he ruined his jumping in mud puddles, which he KNEW BETTER THAN TO DO. But it's a trip to Target, so no big problem.

I have a week long paid vacation coming up (WOO!) on March 16th which I am trying to fill with doctor appointments, home organizing and a trip to visit my family for Easter. The last trip left me feeling like I never want to travel with these kids again. They were sick, crabby, didn't sleep and cried quite a bit in the car. Mostly the baby...but enough for my nerves to retaliate against me and make me miserable. I also got a kidney stone in the car on the way there, which didn't exactly help matters.

So anyway, any tips for traveling happy with the under 3 set? Julian does great aside from the occasional "are we there yet?" bullshit. He can watch DVDs and play Gameboy and be fine. Madeline does pretty well as long as she has copious amounts of food and drink, so mainly it is Andrew who cannot understand why he needs to be strapped down for close to 4 hours without being able to move.  Discuss.

Off to mop the floor. Some breather that was.

Comments

[Lori]

The only thing I can think of is go when he's really tired so hopefully he'll sleep a good portion of the way. Good luck.

[Mom]

Baby Valium.
I'll stock up for you for the ride back home. Oh, wait... Would you rather I got the Mommy kind? I hear it's way easier to administer.

[Chris Cactus]

Earplugs and a portable DVD player. That'll do it for a while.

[Michelle]

We have a similar problem. Our baby is 14 months and the only way we've been able to make the trip to visit my parents (9 hours one way) is to do so while he is sleeping. We leave as soon as he falls asleep and then it's much more peaceful for everyone. It's not convenient for my husband since he drives all night and has to nap when we get there but it's much quieter that way. Good luck!