When I found out that one of the conferences in my field, hosted by the International Society on Infant Studies, would be held in Baltimore this year, I set my mind on figuring out how I could attend. First off, it's a conference that is very relevant to my work and I enjoy attending. Second, one of my best friends, Tracy, lives outside of Baltimore. And third, it's within driving distance of Boston and I knew the only way that I could go was if the whole family came along. There is no traveling alone in mine and Derek's futures for quite some time...
Tracy and her husband, Brock, were willing to have us stay with them at their new house in Laurel, MD, so Derek got the time off of work and the plans started falling into place. The first challenge was figuring out how to pack for the babies. It was quite the process, but we managed pretty well!
We decided it would be best to drive to Laurel overnight, in hopes that Silas and Zoe would sleep most of the way. Julia came a few hours early on departure day so that Derek could get some extra sleep. I put the babies to bed at 8pm as usual, and then Derek got up and we started loading the van. We woke up the babies at the last minute, gently put them in their carseats, and headed on our way. We were VERY nervous as we set out a little after 10pm on Wednesday...
The bottom line is that they did GREAT! They slept most of the way, and Zoe cried just a little here and there. The first stop we made was for Derek, my overnight driving hero, so that he could stretch and take a break. The babies stirred a little during this stop but ultimately fell back asleep. Zoe was fussing a little when we made the second stop at 3am, so we ended up giving bottles and changing diapers in the van. Having the 3rd row seating definitely made everything easier - I was able to lay down and it also gave us a lot more room for diapers, etc. Overall we made great time and got to Tracy & Brock's at 5:15am.
After having a great 3-day visit (separate blog post to come), we hit the road to head home around 10:30 am on Sunday morning.
I must say, we were a lot more relaxed going home than we were on the way down! We felt more confident knowing S&Z wouldn't cry the entire drive :). They slept for 2 hours and 45 minutes from the outset, so we didn't make our first stop until 1:30. We decided to spend some quality time at a "service area" on the New Jersey Turnpike for coffee & lunch for us, and bottles and diaper changes for them.
The babies were in a great mood during the stop because they had slept for a long time in the car. We parked ourselves at a table in the back, and started off with coffee for us and hot water to warm the baby bottles. After the babies were fed, we had a quick lunch and hit the road again.
Unfortunately, it rained the entire way home and there was a lot of traffic to boot. We were stuck in traffic the next time hunger struck, so I improvised.
We made one last stop for burps and diapers somewhere in CT.
As we left the rest area, both babies were crying and we had 70 miles left to go. By this point everybody was ready to be home! Thankfully they fell asleep the rest of the way. In total, it took us 9.5 hours to get home. They were total troopers and were glad to stretch their legs for awhile before bed last night.
This trip gave me hope that we are not trapped at home for the rest of our lives :) I'm already planning when we'll go back to see Tracy, Brock & the new baby later this summer, and I might have a few other trips up my sleeve as well...
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